This year, Hudson Summer Shared Streets is being called Warren Street Seasonal Usage 2021. With the decision not to close Warren Street to vehicles and the realization that a 5 mph speed limit is neither enforceable or easily doable, safety is a major concern. The Tourism Board, which has taken charge of the program this year, is spending $7,500 on concrete barriers to be placed around parking spaces into which restaurants and shops will expand in the warmer months. Aliya Schneider has that story in the Register-Star: "Concrete barriers required for Shared Streets."
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| Photo: JD Urban|Hudson Hall |
The Warren Street Seasonal Usage 2021 Program entails helping businesses on Warren Street expand into parking spaces in front of their businesses to increase dining and retail opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and guiding the activation of Warren Street pocket parks for businesses and organizations without Warren Street brick and mortar locations, with the goal of expanding equity and inclusion.
There is a link to the responsibilities of the job, which doesn't work. Here are the responsibilities as they were presented to the Tourism Board on March 29 by board member Kate Treacy.
The Project Manager will:
Report to the Mayor and serve as the single point person for the public and for all city departments, liaising among them, answering questions, communicating clearly and managing enforcement.
In collaboration with the Hudson Police Department (HPD), Hudson Fire Department (HFD), Hudson Department of Public Works (DPW), the City Code Enforcement Office, and the Hudson Tourism Board, develop and finalize the Warren Street Seasonal Usage 2021 Program. The Program will be subject to final approval by the Mayor and include the following:
- Create a uniform safety standard for the build-out of parking spaces and pocket parks, including barriers, other safety and design requirements.
- Communicate the details of the uniform safety standard for the build-out of parking spots and pocket parks, including barriers, other safety and design requirements to permit holders.
- Oversee implementation of the uniform safety standard for the build-out of parking spaces and pocket parks, including barriers, other safety and design requirements by permit holders.
- Communicate any updated safety standards or regulations to permit holders.
- Assist with the administration of the permit system for parking space usage with HPD and City Hall.
- Assess the need for and organize rentals for hand sanitizing stations, portable toilets and maintenance for same.
- Assist the Mayor's office and HPD and Code Enforcement Officer with enforcement of the guidelines for the Program and enforcement of the permit system.
- Create and manage the budget for the aforementioned including reporting and actualizing all expenses, changes of scope and necessary approvals therein.
The Project Manager may:
- Oversee outreach to non-Warren Street brick and mortar-businesses, promoting diversity and inclusion.
- Oversee the production of any necessary signage, street banners, planter banners, maps of participating businesses, and any other signage determined necessary in consultation with the Tourism Board and City departments.
- Work to help execute a marketing plan which follows the one completed last year including publication to local publications including but not limited to relevant blogs, newsletters and mailing lists.
- Work to find an underwriter to mitigate the lost revenue for the use of the parking spaces with the Mayor's office, Tourism Board, and other interested entities.
- Work to find additional underwriting opportunities.
Applications for the project manager job must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, April 16. Click here for details on how to submit an application.
On the subject of the "activation of Warren Street pocket parks," the Tourism Board plans to hold two virtual brainstorming sessions, led by Tourism Board member Chris McManus. The first will take place on Tuesday, April 13, at 6 p.m.; the second on Thursday, April 22, at 6 p.m. McManus described the proposed brainstorms as "controlled forums" in which "there are no bad ideas."
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Kate Treacy for City Manager, at least she is getting something done. Of course the details are what matters... Will the DPW invoice the Tourist board for this work?..When money is tight and its hard to get,bill all you can.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I've found Ms. Treacy to be mostly performative in her duties, as evidenced both by the lack of any substantial work in her role on the Dems Committee and the eleventh hour, half-ass approach to Open Streets 2021.
DeleteEarly in her tenure on the Tourism Board, she complained it was being treated like a pork barrel buffet. This was apparently before someone handed her a plate to fill.
The Council argument to cut this maximum $30K allocation to $15K was that this was "just really a permit approval position", something that the clerks in City Hall could do, since they issue other permits.
ReplyDeleteNow, the job description is to develop; implement; be a liaison to city departments; manage and monitor budgets; find additional underwriting/grants; be on call as the primary point person.
In contract work, you try to find the best in the field, and one way is paying them for the experience that they bring to the table.
Why the Council slashed this amount, makes no sense. It was not a $30K salary - it was an amount to be provided UP TO $30K.
Another great example of setting the City up for failure before the project even gets off the ground.
Maybe a 'it's only a permit approval position' Council member can offer up their services for this position. I'm sure we'll get our money's worth.
The position evolved somewhat past the description listed above, though take another pass and you'll see it's mostly just word salad. There is a safety standard to be documented and communicated, which can be built off last year's project, but most of the rest just looks like puffing up an intern's job description.
DeleteThere was certainly a path to a better version of Shared Streets for Summer 2021, (and if the Tourism Board was serious about helping local businesses, they would have shown it by partnering more deeply and actively with Hudson Business Coalition throughout) but it seems to be getting rapidly managed out of existence to make room for the collective optics of self-righteousness on behalf of the Tourism Board.
Local businesses should be wary of making too much investment in this project, especially given the very different expectations around social distancing this year's visitors are likely to have.
The link now works. The position requires the contractor to carry a minimum insurance of 1,000,000 per event and an aggregate of 2.000,000 re bodily injury and property damage. It also requires maintaining workers comp. insurance. So this is not an intern position. It seems to carry a fair amount of responsibility for safety and overseeing unspecified people to implement the project. There is no mention of requirements re experience or skills. I can see that anyone with the background and experience to successfully meet the requirements of the job as laid out would bother to apply.
DeleteYeah, no qualified contract PM will do all of this, for 5 months, for $15K. Especially considering all of the complaining they’ll have to deal with from the “what about parking” crowd all summer long. But maybe a Public Administration major can do it as a paid summer internship.
DeleteActually, getting an intern from Columbia's Hudson Valley program or Vassar's urban studies program would have been a great idea.
Deletein my earlier post should say "I cannot see" not "I can see"
Deletehow many interns carry $2million in liability insurance - the only required qualification
DeleteWhy can't that be the City's obligation and not the project manager's? It's a citywide event being paid for with City money and the hire will be paid through the City.
DeleteYeah, that insurance premium will cut into that barely minimum wage pay. Does anyone in that council own a calculator? Hint: there’s one in your phone
DeleteThe concrete barriers are an improvement. Rhinebeck had them on either side of all businesses on Market St. last year with success.You weren't dining among cars parked around you! Traffic moved through on the 2 traffic lanes as usual. Because of the pandemic, tourism was considerably slower and parking was adequate. It's 2021 and things look different. I expect Hudson will see a healthy number of visitors. Parking? The nightmare of parking is always omitted in these proposals. What's the explanation?
ReplyDeleteOne solution: Force visitors into the municipal lots where parking is free on weekends. City doesn't do a good enough job of this, esp. City Hall lot. I recently counted 110 meters in that lot, and about 4 of them have adequate information on them, almost all have nothing written on the outside to assist visitors any time of week. How does anyone know parking in lots is free there on winds? No one does, there's no stickers on meters, there's no sign in the lot. Not one helpful bit of info besides a quarter gets you 30 minutes. Its embarrassing.
DeleteThe concrete barriers are a nice touch, giving Warren Street that much-sought-after "Green Zone" of Kabul ambiance.
ReplyDeleteI just have to give a shout-out to this comment for a very effective visual.
DeleteUgh. Normally I try to be diplomatic, but I can’t here.
ReplyDeleteFirst, hideous concrete barriers are a huge waste of money, and another example of Hudson’s municipality doing nothing to beautify the city, leaving that all to the local businesses, who should as a much more primary role is planning of any street closure than they do now, or did last year. Small business is often demonized by many in local government, when small businesses are a huge part of Hudson’s identity, as well as supporters of civic engagement, and local non profits.
Further, the complete lack of understanding of what it takes to produce and manage a project like this not only displays huge ignorance, it’s also insulting and demeaning to those who do this kind of work, and know the time, labor, and deep challenges and frustrations involved in coordinating so many personalities, and layers of bureaucracy. Paying this person such a paltry amount flies directly in the face of lobbying for fair wages, and higher minimum wages. By grossly underestimating the work involved, it’s easy to overinflated what the “hourly rate” will be, but more than just disingenuous, it’s a flat out lie.
You're dead on, Monica. Hudson's small businesses spent a lot of time and money last year building welcoming spaces for customers to dine safely outside. I take Mr. Perry's point that there are safety considerations to keep in mind, but I'm not sure concrete barriers strike the right balance, and one way or another, it's just replacing a sunk cost with a new one.
DeleteI'm also not nuts about this one-strike policy the Tourism Board seems to be adopting. After acting as a pork barrel buffet for the last year and a half, it now seems to be availing itself of some kind of statutory authority pulled out of the ether.
As to your point about the cost and outcome of the project management, the role and the project themselves haven't been clearly defined in a way that seems to justify cost. The job description goes hither and tither but the role and the project themselves seem to be evolving as an eleventh hour bid to handout taxpayer money. (I'd bet you a Coke they just hand it over to Operation Unite or someone adjacent to same as an act of patronage disguised as a contract position.)
Well, let’s see: what is the work experience of those in charge? The council president? Easy — none. Man hasn’t had a real job since the earth cooled. Mayor? Slightly more — he did some “organizing” for the school district until he was fired for night putting (don’t know what that is? Watch Caddy Shack) or something similar. Neither has ever managed a second person, paid rent, purchased insurance, established a business plan, been given or otherwise had P&L responsibility or in any way run anything more complicated than an electric toy train.
DeleteTo put it simply, the idiots are in charge and making decisions they are unprepared to make.
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DeleteHow about just leave well enough alone. Hudson is not Rhinebeck and we certainly don't want that Kabul/Greenzone look thanks to the General Worth comment which I agree with. How about take some of that $15k, get about 25 volunteers on a weekend and prune the trees, plant some flowers and clean up 7th street park so it doesn't look like such a disaster and make it more inviting. Much better investment. BTW, Warren St businesses don't appear to be hurting to much right now. Reports are that most are thriving quite well and the streets appear to be very busy and getting busier by the day. :)
ReplyDeleteWhile I agree with the first part of your sentiment, you are wrong about the small businesses. In spite of appearances most small and micro businesses lost between 40-90% of their business in 2020. While closed, continued amass debt, and as really small businesses most did not qualify for aid to meet the needs of fixed expenses. In addition most restaurants and small businesses operate on incredibly small margins, so the cushion to sustain the blows of last year (and it’s not done yet) simply don’t exist. This is why hundreds of thousands of small businesses closed last year. Hudson lost far too many, and for those who were forced to close, the losses are huge, even life’s savings for some. Appearances never tell the full story.
DeleteMonica is correct. Most small businesses ended up with revenue shortfalls, in spite of what people may have seen on the sidewalk (those outdoor seating areas were also not cheap to build or maintain, and offered no rent reduction on the mostly unused indoor space that brick-and-mortar establishments still had to pay rent on) and they are going to be playing catch-up for a while. Kudos to those small business owners who took out PPP and made the investment to support our local workforce, rather than some who just cashed the checks and kept the doors closed.
DeleteI will add that Galvan holds a number of commercial leases and I heard from not one commercial tenant who said their rent was reduced due to Covid. At least one, Stella's, decided to shut down, which is a shame. This is the same developer who is trying to squeeze a PILOT out of the IDA because he's such a supportive presence to the community?