On Wednesday, two days after its initial special meeting, the board of the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) met again to update process in its effort to plan for getting Hudson back to thriving. Thirty-one people were present for the Zoom meeting--nine board members and twenty-two members of the public, mostly business owners but also two elected officials: First Ward aldermen Jane Trombley and Rebecca Wolff.
Bob Rasner, who chairs the HDC board, reported that thirty-four volunteers had so far responded to his urgent appeal for "the best skills, experience, and talent." He advised that the three task forces--Hospitality, Business, and Quality of Life--were now "well populated."
Kristen Keck, who heads up the Hospitality Task Force, reported that Columbia Memorial Health now has the rooms they need to house off-shift staff during the COVID-19 crisis. Rivertown Lodge, The Wick, and Wm. Farmer and Sons are all donating rooms for hospital staff.
Much of the discussion focused on the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) created by the CARES Act. Nick Haddad, who heads up the Quality of Life Task Force, described applying for a PPP loan as "a harrowing process for small businesses." He advised that HDC "needs to provide a real walk-through" of the process to guide those applying. He reported that some landlords were expecting business tenants to pursue PPP loans and relief through the CARES Act before they would consider any kind of rent deferment. Monica Byrne warned that SBA loans will not be fast enough and they will not address all the needs. She urged, "People need to have conversations with their landlords now."
At the initial meeting, Rasner expressed the idea that the task forces should come together twice a week to monitor progress and keep everyone on task. The next virtual meeting will take place on Monday, April 13, at 3:00 p.m.
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Rasner and Maholtz have done an excellent job managing the new meeting format, and the entire HDC board should be recognized for throwing their experience and expertise at the enormous challenges facing our community and proactively stepping up to identify the issues we need to address and working the problem. They’ve reinforced the intrinsic value of the Hudson Development Corporation, and they deserve kudos for their efforts.
ReplyDeleteJohn Kane you are correct -- the efforts on behalf of the community are necessary, welcome and impressive to-date organizationally. Of course there is plenty of work to do yet and no time for patting ourselves on the back. I have volunteered my services -- pushing a broom or using my legal and governmental experience -- whatever is needed.
ReplyDeleteBut it is worth noting that not too long ago -- less than a year if my rapidly fading memory serves -- that most of our elected leaders (then and now) were calling for the end of HDC and its sister agency, the HCDPA. Worth noting too, then, that it's only the HDC that's doing any work at all towards our collective wellbeing among the City establishment, not the mayor's office which seems to satisfy itself with poorly written and unedited press release. And definitely not the City Council that's too busy arguing over non-binding resolutions to consider doing any actual work all while the City rapidly descends into bankruptcy.
Once again, as always in the modern era, Hudson will succeed despite City Hall and not because of it.