Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead
We have just passed the unofficial end of summer, and the week ahead includes at least one meeting some of us have been anticipating for waiting for more than a year.
- Today, Tuesday, September 3, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6 p.m. at City Hall. No agenda for the meeting is available.
- On Wednesday, September 4, the Common Council Youth, Education, Seniors, and Recreation Committee is scheduled to meet at 5:30 p.m. at City Hall and the Housing and Transportation Committee is scheduled to meet at 6:45 p.m. at City Hall. It is likely, however, that one or both these meetings will be canceled because from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 4, at Bliss Towers, there will be a "Conversation on Affordable Housing with Congressman Antonio Delgado." Apparently allowing himself to be a pawn in Hudson politics, Delgado, along with Third Ward supervisor Michael Chameides and First Ward alderman and mayoral candidate Kamal Johnson, will be at Bliss Towers to "listen to community members share their experiences, hear their questions, and learn more about the barriers they face while looking for an affordable apartment."
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| Photo: Dorothy Heyl |
- On Thursday, September 5, the Zoning and Planning Task Force, whose creation was announced by Council president Tom DePietro more than a year ago, will meet for the first time. The meeting takes place at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. The nine member committee, which is to be chaired by Fourth Ward alderman John Rosenthal, will be made up of Walter Chatham (chair of the Planning Board), Lisa Kenneally (chair of the Zoning Board of Appeals), Phil Forman (chair of the Historic Preservation Commission), a representative of the Conservation Advisory Council, Mayor Rick Rector, Council president Tom DePietro, Craig Haigh (code enforcement officer), and Fifth Ward alderman Eileen Halloran.
- On Saturday, September 7, Antonio Delgado returns to Hudson for another forum on affordable housing, this one in collaboration with Kite's Nest. The event takes place at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. and will focus on "the experience of young people growing up in Hudson, as well as families raising children in Hudson." The invitation on the Facebook event page reads: "If you are under 25, or are raising children in Hudson and want to share your experiences, ask the congressman a question or just learn more about what we can do to improve access to housing, please come and be part of the conversation!"
COPYRIGHT 2019 CAROLE OSTERINK
“Apparently allowing himself to be a pawn” in Hudson politics is unproductive and pessimistic phrasing. What you insinuate as a pawn, many others may view as grateful participation to listen to challenges first hand. Kuddos to Anthony and the efforts to get him involved.
ReplyDeleteWhy is it wrong to listen to people’s concerns about affordable housing. I do not believe Mr. Delgado is a pawn at all. These are the people that vote to put in office the people who listens to them and gets things done. We need more affordable housing because everyone cannot afford 2,000 a month apartments. And maybe another issue should be wages that keep up with the cost of living.
ReplyDeleteIsnt listening to the people an important part of the change for better?
ReplyDeleteIt appears to me that Hudson is a town that for it's size has quite a lot of low income, subsidized housing. It also has a fast growing tourist based economy that caters to people with high income. There appears to be a growing tension between these two elements. Affordable housing is not the same thing as subsidized housing. Perhaps what Carol was referring to is the use of the word "affordable" housing as a masked reference to "subsidized" housing and a means to apply pressure to the city to back the expansion of more subsidized housing. In this sense some people may be used as "pawns" by those trying to steer the development of he city in a direction that expands the population of their social and/or ethnic class.
ReplyDeleteVerity Smith submitted this comment:
ReplyDeleteAs an avid and appreciative reader of this blog, I was surprised and dismayed by this post. Calling Congressman Delgado "a pawn in Hudson politics" because he is participating in this affordable housing forum belies the good faith work he is doing, and his deep and sustained engagement with constituents all over the District. We've waited a long time for responsive and thoughtful representation like his, and the phrasing seems unduly belittling. Moreover, Congressman Delgado has made this and related issues a focal point of both his campaign, and now his service in his first term. Coming from a working class background himself, he frequently invokes the sad fact that so many of the opportunities he and his family had - including housing security - are slipping away. His worry that key components of the American Dream are increasingly out of grasp, is, he has said from Day 1, what motivated him to serve - e.g. the desire to help safeguard these protections and opportunities. I believe him to be sincere in this, and so it is jarring to have his participation in an affordable housing forum framed as mere political gamesmanship. Likewise, Supervisor Chameides and Alderman Johnson have both been actively engaged with this issue well before the current political cycle. In sum, I found this framing of the event to present an unfortunately cynical take on a critically important issue facing our community — though this blog’s detailed calendaring of key community events is greatly appreciated more generally.
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As a follower of your blog, it is profoundly disappointing to read such insinuations. How is it a bad thing for our Congressman to take an interest in one of the central issues our city is facing? Delgado should be commended for coming to Hudson to listen to his constituents' needs and concerns. Housing is not a Democratic or Republican issue--it is an issue that is of primary concern to the future of our city. Delgado coming here to discuss housing is no different than the Mayor's Housing Task Force. This is an effort by a Congressman who campaigned on promising to listen to his constituents doing exactly that.
ReplyDeleteI think the pawn comment was not derogatory or an accusation of the Congressman who has been doing a great job and has held public meetings in towns across the district. It appeared to be a comment about Hudson politics (and politics generally) where positions are made publicly to support underlying motives that are not public.
ReplyDeleteSubsidized housing is not part of the rental housing market and has nothing to do with affordable housing in the community at large. The rents are set by the government based on income. That being the case why was an affordable housing forum held in the community room of a subsidized housing project? Particularly at a time when the HHA is in the midst of proposals to construct additional subsidized housing on it's property?
Making public associations between subsidized and affordable housing in a city burdened by escalating taxes and at a time when public housing proposals are on the table is manipulative. The scrutiny of the public is warranted and critiques should lead to discussion and analysis, not accusations.