The City Has More Money Than We Thought

Earlier today, Mayor Kamal Johnson issued this press release:

The City of Hudson Announces 

$1.6 million-dollar additional funds

The City of Hudson has a $2.5 million-dollar unassigned fund balance, according to April report from the City Treasurer. That's $1.6 million more than $900,000 estimate the Treasurer gave in the prior month.

SAVING THROUGH SPENDING DECREASE

Significant savings were realized through spending decreases. Actual expenses were $1.0 million lower than budget, and significantly below forecast. In August of 2020 the Mayor asked all departments to create a spending reduction plan and issued an executive order that all expenditures $1000 or over had to be approved by the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (BEA). This led to savings beyond what the Treasurer's office anticipated.

SALES TAX

Furthermore, the City's sales tax revenue was greater than the April 12 report anticipated. By approximately $150 thousand. Studies have shown that cash assistance to people with low and moderate incomes stimulates the economy because people spend the money locally and immediately on essential services or use it to start small businesses. State and federal programs like increased unemployment assistance and stimulus checks added more money to the economy. Furthermore, the city started a universal basic income pilot program.

"Fourth quarter sales tax was the second highest on record, and is a good indicator of overall economic health," says City Treasurer Heather Campbell.

The city also participated and led several programs to support businesses. This included the Shared Streets program, The Berkshire Continuity Fund, the Galvan MWBE [Minority and Women Owned Business Enterprises] Fund, and Tourism Board grants.

Prioritizing public health is also a key to a functioning economy. The city took consistent measures to reduce the spread of coronavirus and reduce its impacts on our community. This includes the Hudson Safe campaign and the distribution of essential supplies.

LODGING TAX

While the pandemic has reduced tourism and hospitality economy, Hudson received more funds in lodging tax than previously anticipated. Ending the year strong with over $220 thousand in lodging tax revenue. "It was extremely encouraging to see lodging tax rebound, since it also bodes well for local businesses," says Campbell.

FORECASTING

In addition, the previous report had a miscalculation where some allocations were counted twice, so that it appeared that less money was available than there really was.

ESSENTIAL SERVICES

Throughout the pandemic, the city sought to reduce expenses but prioritized our employees.

"Our employees provide essential services that our residents, businesses, and visitors need,"  says Mayor Kamal Johnson. "Every department contributes to our city's safety and prosperity. During the pandemic, we needed our employees more than ever."

NO PROPERTY TAX INCREASE

Due to the financial burdens put on citizens in previous years the city did not raise property taxes.

"Given the fiscal difficulties residents struggled with this past year, we avoided adding to their financial burden," says Common Council President Tom DePietro.

FEDERAL AND STATE RELIEF

"The adjusted financials do not include any of our Federal or State Relief funds, the relief funds will make it possible to continue important projects and initiatives."

The city anticipates additional Federal relief from the American Rescue Act of $667 thousand, payable over the next two years.  

The news from the mayor's office prompted Michael Hofmann, who is challenging Heather Campbell to become city treasurer, to issue his own press release, which criticizes Campbell for double-counting assigned funds, an error she discovered while working on mandated reporting for New York State. The press release asserts, "An inaccuracy of this scale is a massive breach in public trust." Hofmann is quoted in the press release as saying, "Ms. Campbell has been quoting a wildly off-base number for our unassigned fund balance for months. That has real ramifications for our city. It has affected the way issues are considered and problems are solved." Hofmann also claims, "Ms. Campbell's original prediction was even weaponized among some circles as 'evidence' of mismanagement by other city officials and employees." The press release ends with an appeal from Hofmann, who seeks to be the city treasurer, "We need to use this chance to transform our treasury into an active participant in the health, equity, vibrancy, and long-term success of our community."

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been seven new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is one more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that six more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There is one more county resident in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19.  

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 1.6 percent and a seven-day average of 1.2 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 1.1 percent and the seven-day average is 1.5 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 13 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 188, and the number of active cases was 96. There were 138 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 14 were hospitalized, and 6 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

Today Is Arbor Day

National Arbor Day is celebrated on the last Friday in April, and that's today. On this Arbor Day, Gossips shares a message from the Hudson Conservative Advisory Council on the subject of trees.

Trees are amazing.

The Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) tells us that one hundred mature, healthy trees remove 53 tons of carbon dioxide and 430 pounds of other air pollutants per year, while creating oxygen! And that those same one hundred mature trees catch about 139,000 gallons of rainwater per year. Plus, strategically placed trees can save up to 56 percent on annual air conditioning costs.

You can add to the arboreal work-force by planting a tree. To plant a tree in your yard, talk with a local nursery regarding appropriate native NY trees to select from. We of the Hudson Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) recommend taking a photo of the area you want to plant, note any power lines, know the kind of sunlight and from what direction the area gets, and know your goals, such as reducing air conditioning costs in the summer, blocking wind in the winter, year-round privacy, winter view revealing, beauty, color, and/or size. For an extra charge, some nurseries will offer planting the tree and with that a one- or two-year guarantee of health and vigor. Now is a fine time to plant a tree if you will be able to water it regularly throughout the summer. Whether you or a nursery will be planting the tree, before digging always remember to call Dig Safely NY. They will check your digging location with Hudson Department of Public Works and all utilities. Once they are sure that it is safe, they will grant approval. Allow about four days to one week to get the go-ahead. This service is free. The phone number is 811; the website is digsafelyNY.com.

If you wish to plant a Street Tree, please go to the CAC webpage on the City of Hudson website and download the Street Tree Application form and the Street Tree Guide. The list of street trees for Hudson is on a grid, noting name, growth rate, salt tolerance, drought tolerance, and if mature height is good for growing under power lines. The Street Tree Application will be reviewed by the Department of Public Works (DPW) and the CAC. The DPW will know if there are power or gas lines in the sidewalk hear the hoped-for planting site and the CAC will know what size hole needs to be cut in the sidewalk for the selected species of tree to have the best chance of survival. In the Autumn, the DPW will cut the sidewalk for the planting of the tree. Autumn is the best time of year for planting street trees. It is the rainy season, the the trees get well settled in before winter, then flourish in the Spring.

If you can't plant a tree, befriend one. Select a favorite tree in a park or on a street and keep an eye on it through the seasons. Please remove weeds that may grow in the tree pit and tidy up litter that may accumulate around it. If you become aware that it needs pruning, or has suffered storm damage, that it might be stressed due to disease or mistreatment, please contact a member of the CAC. If you see a tree that you feel presents eminent harm to pedestrians or property, please call the DPW.

Our hard-working tree canopy, street trees and park trees, is about to get much deserved attention by professional foresters. The Hudson Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) is very pleased that the City of Hudson was awarded a NYS DEC Urban Forestry grant. This Summer, a team if ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) certified foresters will inventory all of the street trees and most of the park trees and write a five-year Community Forestry Management Plan. The city will receive all of the inventory data with GIS mapping location, species, size, and health evaluation electronically so that data on each tree can be kept up to date. This information will be very important for understanding our current urban forest, for planning maintenance, and for creating a planting plan for more trees.

A healthy tree canopy is good for the health and well-being of all. Trees help clean the air, keep buildings cool, keep tempers down, have traffic calming effects, drink up storm water, increase property values, create beauty and promote a connection to nature and to each other. All residents deserve to breathe clean air and live in a healthful environment. The environment and all residents can benefit by reduced energy for cooling.

A single tree belongs to our whole community and the whole community forest belongs to each individual. Trees take their civic duty seriously. Let's return the honor.

Happy Arbor Day 2021! 

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been eight new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is the same as yesterday, from which it can be inferred that eight more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are five fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 0.1 percent and a seven-day average of 1.1 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 1.6 percent and the seven-day average is 1.6 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 6 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 175, and the number of active cases was 87. There were 141 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 14 were hospitalized, and 4 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

Obsessed About Windows

Walter Chatham, the architect now representing the Galvan Foundation, seems to have persuaded the Historic Preservation Commission that windows configured as they appear in an early engraving of 400 State Street would make the building look "grim," "prisonlike," and "frighteningly institutional." Based on evidence provided by photographs of buildings in England, Ireland, and West Virginia, Chatham has argued that nine over nine windows not twelve over twelve, the configuration of the windows in the engraving, were what would originally have been in the building.

With a little help from a friend, Gossips has managed to put together some examples of buildings located in closer proximity to Hudson that have twelve over twelve windows, like those shown in the engraving of 400 State Street. The first example is Masschusetts Hall at Harvard in Cambridge (that's Massachusetts not England).

Photo: Wikipedia

Massachusetts Hall is the oldest surviving building at Harvard College and the second oldest academic building in the United States. It was constructed between 1718 and 1720 as a dormitory "containing 32 chambers and 64 small private studies for the 64 students it was designed to house."

Another example is the Old Town Hall in Salem, Massachusetts, which was built in 1816 to 1817, about the same time that the Hudson Almshouse was constructed (1818). 

The Old Town Hall is the oldest surviving municipal building in Salem.

A little research discovered several pictures to demonstrate that the twelve over twelve window configuration was neither "frighteningly institutional" nor exclusively institutional. To share a few of those examples, here is the Richard Derby House in Salem, now part of the Salem Maritime National Historic Site.

Photo: Wikipedia

There is also the Pierce-Hichborn House in Boston, which is immediately adjacent to the Paul Revere House and is now operated as a museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association. 

Photo: Wikipedia

And this house on Elm Street in Marblehead, one of several examples found in that Massachusetts town.

Photo: Instagram|rickinmarblehead

It is believed that Robert Jenkins, son of Seth Jenkins, one of the original Proprietors, designed the Hudson Almshouse. Robert Jenkins was born in Nantucket and came to Hudson with his family in 1783, at the age of 11. How much more likely is it that Jenkins would have been influenced in his design for the almshouse by buildings in Massachusetts than by buildings in England, Ireland, or West Virginia?

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Incident on the North Side of Town

Gossips just received the following press release from the Hudson Police Department.

Daylight Shooting--Man Injured

On Thursday, April 29, 2021, at 11:32 a.m. HPD received a called from a citizen reporting several gunshots in the 200 block area of State Street.

Responding patrols from HPD as well as the New York State Police and Columbia County Sheriff’s Office arrived quickly to the area. A 20 year old Hudson man was located, suffering from a gunshot wound. He was transported to Albany Medical Center, his condition is unknown.

HPD patrols stopped a suspect vehicle and several young men are detained and are presently being interviewed.

HPD is being assisted at the scene by the NY State Police Forensic Investigation Unit and the Columbia County District Attorney’s Office.  Sheriff Bartlett has assigned some of his patrols to help with call coverage within the city.

“The situation is stabilized. At this time this event does not seem related to the 'shots fired' call from April 17.” Chief

Another Hotel for Hudson

Last Saturday, Gossips reported that the Galvan Foundation had acquired the buildings at Warren and Fourth streets that had been owned for close to twenty years by Richard Cohen. Today, this press release was received from the Galvan Foundation, announcing the acquisition and its plans for the buildings. The press release began with this head: "The Hudson Public: Hospitality, Artist's Residence, Minority Social Enterprise."

Galvan Foundation announces the acquisition of 10-12 North Fourth Street and 402-406 Warren Street. Galvan plans to develop the corner site into The Hudson Public, a 30 room hotel with ground floor commercial space fronting North Fourth and Warren Streets.

Galvan is developing the hotel in response to the growing need for centrally-located hospitality options, resulting from the City of Hudson's Short Term Rental Law. The Hudson Public will also function as an "artist's residence" for artists performing in Hudson.

The Hudson Public will be among the first minority developed, owned, and operated hospitality venues in the city of Hudson. The Hudson Public will prioritize diverse and local hiring as well as commercial leasing.

Galvan Partners, LLC will provide gratis planning and development services.

The press release was accompanied by this image.

On the Truck Route

An audience survey taken during the public meeting on the Truck Traffic Route Feasibility Study on Tuesday confirmed the results of the online survey, which had been released earlier that day: the people participating in the surveys decidedly prefer Option 12.

In his opening remarks, mayor's aide Michael Chameides explained, "We need to demonstrate that Hudson and other communities will benefit from an alternate route." He also noted that New York State will make the ultimate decision about the truck route. Residents of some of the communities that would be affected by rerouting trucks out of Hudson were heard from on Tuesday night, expressing concern about traffic at the Bells Ponds intersection, trucks "already barreling on 9H and 23B," and rerouting trucks through the hamlet of Claverack. 

The next steps in the process are these, as defined by MJ Engineering and Land Surveying, the consultants doing the truck route study:

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been four new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is one more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that three more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There 49 more county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 1.9 percent and a seven-day average of 1.2 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 1.9 percent and the seven-day average is 1.6 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 14 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 169, and the number of active cases was 84. There were 141 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 15 were hospitalized, and 4 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

More About the Windows at 400 State Street

The Galvan Foundation, which owns 400 State Street, wants to replace all the windows in the building with new windows that have nine panes in the upper sash and nine panes in the lower sash. Walter Chatham, the architect now representing the Galvan Foundation, argued before the Historic Preservation Commission that the nine over nine configuration would have been the windows that were original to the building when it was constructed in 1818. To support his contention, he referred to the nine over nine windows in the Senate House in Cambridge, England, built in the 1720s; the 18th-century Damer House in County Tipperary, Ireland; and a house he happened upon in Harewood, West Virginia.   

 

Chatham chose to ignore the remarkable evidence that exists to show what 400 State Street looked like in its earliest years: this engraving which appeared in Rural Repository in March 1841, during the period the building was the Hudson Lunatic Asylum (1830-1850).

The engraving shows the building with windows that are twelve over twelve not nine over nine, making each individual pane in the windows a vertical rectangle rather than a square. Chatham maintained that the windows were changed in 1830--just twelve years after the building was constructed--to make the building more "prisonlike" and more appropriate to its use as a lunatic asylum. Understanding the history of the lunatic asylum puts that supposition in question.

In 1981, Dr. Norman Ames Posner, while doing a six-month sabbatical at the Albany Medical Center, was intrigued by seeing the name "Dr. Samuel White, Hudson, New York" carved on an elegant marble plaque that he frequently passed by. Curious to learn more about this doctor from Hudson, Posner devoted two decades of part-time research to learning about him. One of Posner's principal discoveries about Dr. White has that he had founded and operated the Hudson Lunatic Asylum. Over the years, Posner has shared his research in presentations and articles. One of the articles, "Who Was Dr. Samuel White? In Search of the Past," appeared in the Summer/Fall 2006 issue of History & Heritage, the magazine published by the Columbia County Historical Society.

The following excerpt is quoted from the article, with the permission of the Columbia County Historical Society and Dr. Posner:

. . . in 1829, [Dr. Samuel White] was elected as Mayor of Hudson. It was a time of insanity within his own family, by which "his domestic enjoyments were interrupted" and he was led to pay much attention to this disorder. It may have been his wife who was so afflicted. We know that this is understandable in cases of those wed to politicians. . . . Before the end of his first year as Mayor he abruptly resigned leaving the Common Council to choose his successor.

He quickly negotiated a rental for a building at 400 State Street. The building had been originally designed and erected for the City of Hudson under the supervision of Dr. John Talman, Judah Paddock, and Barnabas Waterman as an Alms House. It had been recently vacated when a County Alms House was opened in Ghent. The city found negotiations with Dr. White to be difficult but differences were soon resolved with the city "putting all necessary repairs for all ordinary purpose" and leasing the building "for the term of ten years from the First of May next for the rent of $175 per annum." The Doctor's obsession with "insanity" now appeared to be his major medical interest and the Hudson Lunatic Asylum was opened. Dr. White was to introduce new methods in the handling of his patients. Though often they were brought in chains and strait jackets, these were at once discarded as incompatible with successful treatment.

Upon entering his retreat for the afflicted, instead of shrieks of the maniac or the clanking of chains, which is usually associated with an asylum for the insane, one was greeted with notes of the piano, the cheerful conversation of the inmates engaged in backgammon, checkers, chess, and other amusements. Others were occupied with sewing, knitting, reading newspapers, periodicals, or books from a library which was devoted entirely to the institution. The building was surrounded by cultivated gardens and extensive grounds where the inmates could exercise and be diverted by games of ball and quoits while others were occupied in gardening.

At night each patient had a separate apartment--males in the eastern wing and females in the western. The rooms were airy, fitted with elastic bottomed bedsteads and had hair mattresses guarded with necessary appendages. The windows were rendered secure with iron sash painted white to give a cheerful appearance and, due to the building's high positioning, allow views of the mountains and the surrounding city. Male and female patients met in the parlor for evening worship and other events under the watchful eyes of the attendants. 

Reprinted courtesy of Columbia County Historical Society, New York, © 2006. All Rights Reserved.

When 400 State Street was the Hudson Lunatic Asylum, the building was still owned by the City of Hudson. It's hard to imagine that replacing all the windows was part of "all necessary repairs for all ordinary purpose" agreed to by the City, and security, which Chatham has argued was the reason replacing the windows, was achieved with "iron sash painted white." Also, given the humane principles of Dr. White's care, it seems unlikely he would have wanted windows that were, to use Chatham's terms, "prisonlike" or "frighteningly institutional."

During the public hearing on the proposal, which took place last Friday, Ronald Kopnicki observed, "What is being proposed will not restore the building to anything it was in the past." Although Chatham suggested it was a fantasy "to assume that an engraving is the last word on the building's appearance," HPC member John Schobel asserted the engraving "does represent documentation." Responding to the statement that nine over nine windows would be "nicer to look at and less grim," Schobel said, "This is not the Aesthetics Committee; it's the Historic Preservation Commission." In the end, though, Phil Forman, who chairs the HPC and had earlier in the meeting opined it was "unreasonable not to give some deference to what the applicant wants to do," moved that they give Chatham permission to proceed. The others concurred. 

At one point during the HPC meeting last Friday, Chatham challenged the HPC, "Show me your research to prove the lunatic asylum engraving is what was there originally." It seems Dr. Posner's research accomplishes that. 

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been five new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is two fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that seven more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are eleven more county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, one more is hospitalized, and one more is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 3.3 percent and a seven-day average of 1.2 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 2.4 percent and the seven-day average is 1.6 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 2 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 154, and the number of active cases was 73. There were 146 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 15 were hospitalized, and 4 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

Regarding Truck Traffic

In advance of this evening's public meeting on the Truck Traffic Route Feasibility Study, the results of the most recent survey regarding trucks have been released. It will be recalled that the survey asked respondents to state their preference, among five possibilities, for an alternate route to get through-truck traffic out of the City of Hudson. The survey results can be found here. But I won't keep you in suspense. The popular favorite was Option 12, which completely detours trucks out of the city. 

The public meeting on the truck route is today at 6:00 p.m. Registration is required. If you haven't already registered, click here to do so.

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Church Receives Sacred Sites Grant

The Friends of the First Presbyterian Church announced last week that the church has received a $22,000 grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy, a statewide preservation group dedicated to protecting and preserving important landmarks throughout New York State, as part of its Sacred Sites program. 

The grant will be used to help restore the church's metal roof. The church is one of seventeen historic religious properties recognized by the Landmarks Conservancy in 2021.

The press release from the Friends of the First Presbyterian Church announcing the grant says this about the church:

There is an unmistakable aura to the church and its location in Hudson. It was on the church site that the Marquis de Layfayette addressed the city's citizens in 1824 as the last surviving French general of the American Revolution. The visit was part of a 24-state tour in recognition of Lafayette's critical role in helping win the Revolution. Originally built in 1837 of locally quarried stone, it was also the place of worship for President Martin Van Buren and his wife. Landscape artist Frederic Church, who brought dramatic light and panoramic views to the Hudson River School of painting, chose to worship in this architecturally important building and was instrumental in the church's ultimate design.

As the City of Hudson has evolved, so has the church. Now, in addition to being a center of religious worship, the church is a lively hub of community activity, including hosting plays and concerts, community meetings along with Hudson Promise Neighborhood and community radio station WGXC.

"We are so grateful to New York State Sacred Sites for once again coming through to support First Presbyterian Church," said the Rev. Kathryn Beilke, the church's pastor. "They recognize the significance of this building to Hudson both historically and culturally and that it has a viable future ahead in service to this city we all love, Knowing they are behind us provides us great momentum to take steps in our fundraising ahead."

The total cost of the roof replacement is expected to be $250,000. The $22,000 grant must be matched by the Friends. To make a donation to the roof project, go to FriendsofFPC.org or send a check to First Presbyterian Church, 369 Warren Street, Hudson, NY 12534.

Recalling What Transpired Nearly 20 Years Ago

Once upon a time, 317 Allen Street was the dream house of Morgan Jones, a young man who had inherited a fortune from his father's manufactured soap company. Jones, who was born in Pittsfield, graduated from Williams College in 1901. He had traveled in Europe, and the buildings he saw there shaped his taste in architecture. In 1903, Jones commissioned the architect Marcus Reynolds, a fellow Williams alumnus ten years Jones's senior, to design a house for him to be built in Hudson. The Jacobean and Dutch inspired mansion, which was completed in 1906, is thought by many to be Reynolds's richest and most successful design.

Jones also commissioned the landscape architects Townsend and Fleming of Buffalo to design the gardens for the house, which extended back toward Willard Park. 

At some time during the 20th century, the house, which many long-time Hudsonians remember as the Scovill Mansion, became the Martin Residence, an assisted living facility for people with disabilities. The spectacular gardens were replaced by an addition to the building, a single-story wing that housed the majority of the residents. 

Around 2002, after the Martin Residence had ceased to exist, Eric Galloway, then operating as Lihtan Inc., purchased the property. He owned it for only a couple of years, but during that time he demolished the institutional wing on the building and subdivided the property--separating the carriage house from the main house and making the southern end of the property into a separate lot. On that lot, two houses, of different sizes but of nearly identical Greek Revival design, were constructed.

The problem was that the two houses did not have access to the street that passed in front of them. There was a strip of land, an embankment, separating them from the paved roadway. That strip of land was part of Willard Park, the cul de sac which had been deeded to the City of Hudson in 1969 when Willard Place, originally a private street, became a public street. To remedy this problem, Galloway requested the right to buy the land from the City. The price was arbitrarily set at $3,000, and in August 2004, the Common Council voted unanimously to sell the property to him. Don Christensen, who then owned 8 Willard Place, across the park from the two houses, sued the City for selling parkland, which cannot be sold without an act of the state legislature. Gossips has told the story of Christensen's legal battle with the City elsewhere, but the upshot was that the parcel of land was sold with covenants to ensure the parcel would remain intact and green, and the stairs installed in the slope would provide access to both houses.

Fast forward to 2021. On April 9, a proposal came before the Historic Preservation Commission from the new owner of 9 Willard Place, the larger of the two houses. 

The proposal involves replacing the wooden balustrade on the upper balcony with a decorative wrought metal balustrade, removing the balustrade from the porch and replacing the stairs with stairs that extend the width of the building, moving the stairs that lead down to the street to line up with the entrance to the house, and carving out a space in the embankment for offstreet parking.

The HPC reviewed the proposal on April 9, during a meeting whose agenda included fourteen certificate of appropriateness applications, and decided to approve it. The final vote on the certificate of appropriateness was to happen this past Friday, but attorney William Hurst, representing the owner of 10 Willard Place, the smaller of the two houses, intervened. He asserted that restrictions put in place by the City when the parcel was sold to Galloway in 2004 would be violated by the plans being proposed. He explained that the lots on which the two houses are sited were, at the time of their construction, a single parcel. When they were subdivided, the 163-square-foot parcel of parkland sold to Galloway by the City was appended to 9 Willard Place, but it was still subject to all the constraints put in place when the parcel was sold in 2004. Hurst stated that the intent of the conditions imposed by the City was to hide parking behind the houses and not have it encroach on Willard Park to "preserve and protect the historic character of the cul de sac." He concluded, "This information should lead to a denial [of a certificate of appropriateness]."

HPC member John Schobel asked, "Was parking presented to us?" Responding to Schobel's question, Victoria Polidoro, counsel to the HPC, said that offstreet parking was mentioned in the application, but it was not presented to the HPC. She advised, "If the restriction was imposed by the City, the HPC must abide by it."

Phil Forman, who chairs the HPC, opined, "This is something that is not quite appropriate for us," and recommended that further consideration of the application be deferred until the HPC's next meeting, which will take place on Friday, May 14.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, which was the last time the numbers were reported, there have been thirteen new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is ten fewer than on Friday, from which it can be inferred that 23 more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are 36 fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than on Friday, but the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19.  

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 0.7 percent and a seven-day average of 1.0 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 2.7 percent and the seven-day average is 1.7 percent.

The number of new cases reported between April 23 and April 26 last year was 14. The total number of cases was 152, and the number of active cases was 75. There were 142 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 15 were hospitalized, and 3 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in the county attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

This week, we come to the end of April and move into May. Tra la! In the last days of April, here's what's happening.

• On Monday, April 26, at 4:00 p.m., the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition, joined by Mayor Kamal Johnson, Third Ward supervisor and mayor's aide Michael Chameides, and Common Council majority and minority leaders Tiffany Garriga and Rebecca Wolff, will rally in front of Assemblymember Didi Barrett's office at 420 Warren Street to call for the New York State Legislature to extend the eviction moratorium and offer rent relief to tenants who lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Also on Monday, April 26, the Tourism Board meets at 5:00 p.m. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
• On Tuesday, April 27, Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC) holds its annual meeting at 8:30 a.m. Billed as "Columbia County's premier annual economic development event," the meeting features Dr. Carlee Drummer, president of Columbia-Greene Community College, who will provide "her perspective and timely insights on how the College is preparing students and adults to enter a post-pandemic workplace and its role in supporting Columbia County's ongoing economic recovery." Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
• At noon on Tuesday, April 27, the board of the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) holds its regular monthly meeting. Items on the agenda include opening sealed bids for a landlocked parcel of land on Mt. Merino owned by HDC and report on an offer and pending offers for the Montgomery Street Property, a.k.a. the Kaz site. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
• Also on Tuesday, April 27, the public meeting on the Truck Traffic Route Feasibility Study takes place at 6:00 p.m. MJ Engineering & Land Surveying, the consultants doing the study, will present the proposed truck route alternatives under consideration, and the public will be invited to provide input on proposed alternate routes, as well as how nearby communities may be impacted by possible route changes. Registration is required for the meeting. Click here for more information.

• Finally on Tuesday, April 27, the Tourism Board holds another meeting at 6:00 p.m. The topic of the meeting is Project Hudson. This year, the Tourism Board has allocated $50,000 for projects proposed by members of the BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) community. Click here to join the Zoom meeting. 
• On Wednesday, April 28, the Common Council ad hoc committee dedicated to selling City-owned property meets at 5:00 p.m. At the last meeting of this committee, it seemed 429 Warren Street was the prime candidate for sale, since it was "the one with the least problems." The plan was to move the Code Enforcement Office, now located in the building, into modular units parked across Washington Street from the Central Fire Station. Every City-owned property is still on the table, including the three parcels on the waterfront north of the Dunn warehouse, which, according to Council president Tom DePietro, someone has approached the City about developing. The link to the Zoom meeting should appear on the City of Hudson website prior to the meeting. Scroll down to the calendar.  

• Also on Wednesday, April 28, the subcommittee of the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meets at 6:00 p.m. The topic of this week's meeting is tenant relations. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
• At 6:15 p.m. on Wednesday, April 28, the Common Council ad hoc committee pursuing the idea of building a solar farm on City-owned land north of Charles Williams Park holds its monthly meeting. The goal set at the last meeting of the committee was to have a draft of the RFP (request for proposals) ready for review at this meeting. The link to the Zoom meeting should appear on the City of Hudson website prior to the meeting. Scroll down to the calendar. 
• On Thursday, April 29, at 6:00 p.m., the History Room at the Hudson Area Library and the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History present "Coping with Life's Necessaries," a lecture on colonial hygiene by Ian Mumpton, from the Schuyler Mansion State Historic Site. Click here for more information and to register for the event.   
  

Lady Undressing for a Bath, c. 1730/1740. Attributed to Gerardus Duyckinck.
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.

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Gravel on the River

Gossips learned last week of a plan to install a seasonal barge mooring on the river in Germantown, not far from Lasher Park. The proposal is being made by Marine Highway Transportation, a Troy barge operator.

The application to the Army Corps of Engineers describes the purpose of the project in this way:

New York State Marine Highway Transportation LLC (NYS Marine) is a Tug & Barge operator based in Troy, NY. We transport by Barge bulk aggregates (stone, sand, rock, etc.) from quarries in Catskill (Peckham) & Hudson (Colarusso) to the NY metropolitan area. 

Both of these quarries dock's are in narrow sections of the River immediately adjacent to the Navigation Channel. This proximity to the nav-channel does not afford a safe berth for multiple barges. The purpose of this permit request is to provide a lay-berth for barges while waiting for berth availability at the quarry's loading facility. Typically barges are switched out within 12 hours or less. Additionally the mooring will provide a safe location with adequate sea-room to make/break tows that are going to the two Hudson and Catskill Quarries.

We plan to install and remove the Mooring seasonally dependent on when the River freezes and thaws.

A fact sheet shared with Gossips questions the problem being solved by the proposed mooring, with specific reference to the Peckham dock in Catskill: "We are not aware of any collisions, accidents or other problems at the Peckham Dock." The same can be said regarding the Colarusso dock.  

The concern in Germantown is having tugs dropping off barges next to a public park, a public boat launch, and fire department rescue launch. For us in Hudson, it's hard not to think this plan to create a lay-berth for barges may signal an anticipated increase in barge traffic at the Colarusso dock and a corresponding increase in truck traffic from the quarry to the river.

The current status of the project is this: According to Randy Alstadt, the community representative for the Hudson River Safety, Navigation and Operations Committee (HRSNOC), who sought the input of several Germantown residents, "The Committee voted to support this proposal . . . to add a seasonal mooring site to make loading and unloading safer." Even though the committee has already decided to support the proposal, it is now asking for community input. The community whose input is sought is Germantown, but there is no reason why users of the river from other locations cannot also make their opinions and concerns known. Comments should be sent to ralstadt@pokwater.com and copied to barges@lasherpark.org. 

More information about the proposal can be found here. The next step in the process is for the proposal to go to the Army Corps of Engineers for its approved. The ACOE will also have a public comment period.

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In Memoriam: Allon Schoener

Gossips learned earlier this month of the death of Allon Schoener. His obituary appeared in the the New York Times on Friday: "Allon Schoener, 95, Dies; Curator Caught in Furor Over 'Harlem' Show." 

What the obituary doesn't mention is that Allon and his wife, Mary, who predeceased him, lived here in Hudson from 1999 to 2010, before moving on to California. They arrived in Hudson from Grafton, Vermont, on the very day, I'm told, that St. Lawrence Cement announced its plans to resume operations in Greenport and Hudson. Allon, as did most of us here at that time, became involved in the fight to prevent the giant cement plant from being built. The picture below is a screen capture from the 2006 film Two Square Miles, which documents Hudson during that time, showing Allon with Sam Pratt at a "Stop the Plant" gathering at TSL.  

Allon was the designing force behind the exhibition Seeing South Bay, conceived and curated by Don Christensen. The exhibition was installed in the main hall at the Hudson Opera House in February 2001. Don recalls, "Allon didn't decide to allow his name to be associated with the South Bay show until minutes before the doors opened for the first time. He went through the exhibition, looked at each item, read each accompanying description and gave his approval to be credited as 'Exhibition Consultant.'" Don further comments, "As it turned out, the design he did for the South Bay show was the last exhibition he was involved with."

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Real Estate News

Gossips has written often about the cluster of buildings on the northeast corner of Warren and Fourth streets and the unrealized plan to turn them into a boutique hotel, the most recent post being two years ago, in the series Nine Not to Ignore. 

A month or so ago, the rumor started circulating that Richard Cohen, who acquired the buildings in 2002 and owned them as Harlem Hudson Organization, was selling them. That rumor was confirmed today, when a reader provided this evidence of a deed transfer that took place yesterday.

The buildings are now part of the Galvan Foundation's inventory of vacant buildings in Hudson.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been ten new cases of COVID-19.  The number of active cases being reported today is three fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that thirteen more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are eighteen fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday, April 19.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 1.1 percent and a seven-day average of 1.2 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 1.5 percent and the seven-day average is 1.9 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 7 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 138, and the number of active cases was 72. There were 140 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 9 were hospitalized, and 3 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in the county attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 13.

Evidence of Progress

Whenever I'm waiting for the light at the corner of Green Street and Fairview Avenue, I wonder when we are going to get our new intersection, with its promised safety and aesthetic enhancements. It will be remembered that the City got $200,000 from Stewart's Shops, as part of a host community benefit agreement, in exchange for amending the city's zoning to allow Stewart's, which was a nonconforming use, to expand into two adjacent lots and build a big, new gas station and convenience store. The new store opened in January 2020, the landscaping that was part of the proposed project was completed in July 2020, but nearly a year later, the intersection remains unchanged.

On July 13, 2020, the Council Council passed a resolution to enter into a contract with Creighton Manning "to provide professional architectural/engineering to develop detailed construction documents, drawings, and specifications for intersection improvements . . . at the intersection of Green Street and Fairview Avenue." The improvements were to involve a complete replacement of the existing traffic signal system, as well as these pedestrian improvements:

• Traffic island with landscaping
• Curb ramps with detectable warning
• Conduit run, Pull boxes
• Pedestrian pole with pushbuttons
• High visibility crosswalks

The resolution indicated that Creighton Manning was to be paid $16,870.00 for their services.

Peter Bujanow, commissioner of public works, is overseeing the project for the City, and there hasn't been a lot of information forthcoming about its progress or what the final design will look like. There has been, however, some evidence that work is moving forward. At the April meeting of the Common Council on Tuesday, one of the bills the aldermen agreed to pay was $4,976 to Creighton Manning for "Stewart's Intersection."

When the host community benefit agreement was reached with Stewart's, it was believed that the redesigning the intersection would cost between $135,000 and $140,000, leaving $60,000 to $65,000 available to fund redoing the City's zoning code and updating the comprehensive plan. Given the recent experience with the proposed changes to the entrance to Promenade Hill, it seems likely that the estimates for the "Stewart's intersection," made two years ago, are woefully inadequate, and the entire $200,000 may not be enough to pay for the sought after enhancements to the intersection, never mind updating the comprehensive plan or the zoning.

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