Gleanings from a Day of Virtual Meetings

Yesterday, Gossips spent nearly the entire day monitoring virtual meetings. For those of you who did not do the same--and even for those you did--I will report the most interesting bits of information from each of those meetings.

HDC Special Meeting  The purpose of this special meeting was to get buy-in from members of the board on a plan to partner with the Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation (BTCF) to create a Hudson Fund, whose mission would be "to sustain, promote, and attract businesses that sustain the quality of life" and "support the economic health of Hudson." HDC would raise the money for the fund; BTCF would administer it. Speaking of the initiative, Bob Rasner, chair of the HDC board, said, "We are rekindling what HDC used to be."

Columbia Comeback Committee Meeting  In his comments at this meeting, Mayor Kamal Johnson said, among other things, that he was working with Future Hudson on signage to be posted throughout the city reminding people to wear masks and social distance. In her comments, Ann Cooper, from Columbia County Tourism, asserted that "tourism is key to the county economy" and backed up her statement with these statistics from 2018 (the numbers for 2019 are not yet available): In 2018, visitors spent $160 million in Columbia County; more than half that amount—$83 million—went to paying workers in tourism related businesses; tourism accounts for $19.8 in tax revenue.

HDC Emergency Business Task Force  The results of a survey of Hudson businesses done by the Hudson Business Coalition in early April are now available and can be viewed here. There were 64 responses to the survey. The businesses of 90 percent of the respondents were on pause; 60 percent reported difficulty making rent or mortgage payments; one-third indicated they were not sure how long they could continue; 20 percent were not optimistic about returning; 44 percent were optimistic; and the remaining 36 percent were uncertain. It was suggested that the survey be done again, because, a month later, the responses may be different. HDC board member Chris Jones talked about creating a "digital Warren Street"—"an online experience that allows people to wander from shop to shop."

It was reported that the Consumer Sentiment Survey has so far gotten one hundred responses. The survey, which will be available for one more week, can be accessed here.

Common Council Informal Meeting  Council president Tom DePietro announced that starting with its next meeting, which is Tuesday, May 19, public participation will be allowed for the Council's Zoom meetings. The meeting ID and password will not be revealed until an hour before the meeting. He also noted that comments on the proposal for 75 North Seventh Street are still being accepted here. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to make a comment or ask a question.

Members of the Tourism Board presented the draft of the RFP (request for proposal) for projects to be funded with the $400,000 now allocated to the Tourism Board. After some discussion about the need for funded projects to benefit the city and produce measurable results and questions about the kinds of projects that would be funded, the Council was assured that city attorney Cheryl Roberts had reviewed the draft RFP and contracts with grant recipients "will be written by the lawyers."It was also stated that "the next thing the Council will see is a list of applicants the Tourism Board wants to fund."

Before leaving the meeting for a Ramadan observance, Shershah Mizan (Third Ward) told his colleagues that he wanted the City "to write a letter to Airbnb owners to make people quarantine for two weeks." He also said he wanted the police to enforce wearing masks." Regarding the latter request, DePietro reported that the police had conducted ten one-hour "observations" on Warren Street and found that 360 of the 400 people seen on the street were wearing masks. Responding to this information, John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward) said, "It is not my experience that people are wearing masks."

Tourism Board member Chris McManus, who published a piece on imby.com reacting to the suggestions made at the Housing and Transportation Committee meeting about requiring visitors to quarantine, asked the Council to "cut the nonsense about having people who come to Hudson register with the police." Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward) defended the idea, saying, "It's an idea that's going around. It's out of fear." She equated it with contact tracing. Rebecca Wolff (First Ward) maintained that "because it is a tourism economy, it makes sense to prepare for the tourism season." She cited guidelines established in Massachusetts which discourage nonessential travel to Cape Cod and Nantucket and recommend that people who must come bring all the supplies needed to quarantine for two weeks. Jane Trombley (First Ward) noted that people do not come to Hudson for months at a time.

DePietro gave some hints about the signage Johnson mentioned at the Columbia Comeback Committee meeting earlier in the day. Apparently, the signage is posters showing Henry Hudson with the message "Henry Hudson says, 'Wear a mask.'" DePietro called it an "in your face constant reminder" and said the posters would be out today. Avoiding nonessential excursions out of my house as I am, I haven't seen them yet.

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