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 fourteen fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 22 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are six 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 August 19. The Times Union reported today that the Capital Region, of which we are a part, is now averaging more than two deaths from COVID-19 a day. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 2.2 percent and a seven-day average of 3.2 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 5.7 percent and the seven-day average was 4.6 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 542, and the number of active cases was 8. There were 22 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Columbia County and Vaccinations

A press release today from Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, contained the following information:

Today, Columbia County hit the "magical number" of 70 percent of those aged 12 and above who are now fully vaccinated. "I feel pretty good about that," said Director [Jack] Mabb.

Ear to the Ground

Those who know him from New World Home Cooking in Saugerties, New World Bistro in Albany, or countless appearances on WAMC's "Food Friday" will be interested to know that Ric Orlando is the uncle of one of the young men from Return Brewing, the craft brewery that will be opening in what is left of the Gifford-Wood Building on Columbia Street. The brewery will include a restaurant, and Orlando will be involved in planning and establishing the restaurant. 

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Saturday, there have been fifteen new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is four fewer than on Saturday, from which it can be inferred that, in the past two days, nineteen county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine today is 24 fewer than on Saturday, but the number hospitalized with the virus and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since August 19. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County from Saturday to Sunday of 2.9 percent and a seven-day average of 3.4 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 4.4 percent and the seven-day average was 4.6 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 542, and the number of active cases was 8. There were 31 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

It's going to be a quiet week in Lake Woebegone as August ends and September begins.

• On Wednesday, September 1, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) holds its regular monthly meeting at 1:00 p.m. in Suite 301 at One City Centre. The agenda for the meeting is not known, but we can safely assume it will not include any deliberation or decision on the proposed Galvan project. The IDA cannot act on that project until the Planning Board has completed the SEQRA process, and that hasn't happened yet.
• At 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, September 1, Mayor Kamal Johnson holds a public hearing on the proposed local law regarding the registration of bicycles. The hearing will take place in the Council Chamber at City Hall.
• On Thursday, September 2, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting takes place at City Hall. Certain to be on the agenda is the draft Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI) for the solar farm project. Peter Bujanow, Commissioner of Public Works, presented the RFEI to the Common Council ad hoc committee on Wednesday. Bujanow's earlier suggestion that the capped landfill be included in the RFEI had been an issue of concern for the CAC. After the CAC meeting on June 1, it was assumed that the landfill was no longer part of the RFEI, but the maps included in the draft RFEI indicated otherwise. The RFEI was posted on the city website on Friday, without the maps, but it has since been removed altogether. Earlier today, in a comment posted on Gossips, "unheimlich" reported: "I've been reassured by Council President DePietro that the draft RFEI was entirely in error, and that there's no plan whatsoever to site a solar array on the landfill." The CAC is likely to need further assurance. 

And those are the meetings for the week.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

Preserving the Character of Hudson

Once upon a time, when Hudson Development Corporation was still thinking of overseeing the development of the Kaz site, people like Walter Chatham and Matthew Frederick urged that the site be divided up into smaller lots for development. That advice was not heeded. Advice that was heeded, by DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) Committee, came from the developer Bonacio Construction, who advised that the three parcels on the waterfront, north of the Dunn building, be included in the Request for Expressions of Interest for the Dunn building. There was even talk of adding the Kaz site to what the City was offering for development. The latter didn't happen, but in June 2020, the Common Council passed a resolution authorizing the addition of the three vacant parcels to the Dunn warehouse REI. All of this runs counter to what is known as Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND), a concept that we in Hudson should probably be embracing.

An article of interest, originally published in February 2019, appeared today on the Strong Towns Facebook page. It argues that, although developers may consider smaller parcels to be "substandard," small parcel size and diverse ownership are keys to successful urban development: "Savor Your Small Parcels, and Create More of Them." It is recommended reading.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

COVID-19 Update

It's not a good sign that the Columbia County Department of Health has returned to reporting COVID-19 statistics on the weekend, but here are the numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been ten new cases of COVID-19. Oddly, the number of active cases being reported today is fifteen more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that there was an error somewhere in the CCDOH's reporting. There are five fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but there is one more hospitalized with the virus. The number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19. 

The New York Forward dashboard reported yesterday a daily positivity rate for Columbia County of 1.6 percent and a seven-day average of 3.4 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 3.6 percent and the seven-day average was 4.5 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 540, and the number of active cases was 7. There were 38 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Turtle House for Sale Again

Heading out to ShopRite this morning, this hand-painted sign at the side of the road caught my attention. 

The only brick mansion in the area that I knew of is the Joab Center House, the early 18th-century house built for Captain Joab Center and his wife, Eunice Jenkins Center, which is known familiarly as the Turtle House. A little detour off Fairview Avenue confirmed that was indeed the house.

 

The house went on the market in February 2020, a few months after the death of its owner, Zane Studenroth. The original asking price was $450,000.

In August 2020, Zillow indicated that the price had dropped to $349,000, and there was a pending offer on the house.

Columbia County assessment records indicate that Peter Schram bought the house in September 2020 for $250,000. (Studenroth had purchased the house in 1998 for $175,000.)  We can assume that it is Schram who. eleven months later, is now selling the house.  

The house is looking better today than it has in a while, but sadly the restoration of the front veranda ignores the evidence from these photographs the 1934 Historic Building Survey.  

The historic photos show that the base of the veranda followed the arc of the roof, and the railing was curved, with stairs at one side. These photos very likely provide evidence of how the house was originally meant to be.  

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

RFEI Now Available for Review

The draft request for expressions of interest (RFEI) for the solar farm being proposed for City-owned land on North Second Street is now available on the City of Hudson website. To access the document, click here.

Vaccinations in Columbia County

A press release today from Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, shared the following information. 

As of today, 77 percent of county residents above the age of 18 had received at least one shot. The percentage for those 12 and above now stands at 75.4.

On Wednesday, September 15, the Columbia County Department of Health will conduct a vaccination POD (point of dispensing) at the Columbia County Fairgrounds in Chatham from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m. Registration for the POD is now open at the CCDOH website: columbiacountynyhealth.com.

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 three fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, ten county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine is 26 more than yesterday, but the number hospitalized with the virus and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19.

The New York Forward dashboard reported yesterday a daily positivity rate for Columbia County of 2.4 percent and a seven-day average of 3.6 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 3.6 percent and the seven-day average was 4.1 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 540, and the number of active cases was 7. There were 35 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 23 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is seven more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, sixteen county residents have recovered from the virus. There are thirteen fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, and there is one fewer hospitalized. The number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19.  

The New York Forward dashboard reported yesterday a positivity rate for Columbia County of 5.1 percent and a seven-day average of 3.6 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 4.2 percent and the seven-day average was 4.2 percent.

 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 4 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 540, and the number of active cases was 8. There were 35 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

News from the Ad Hoc Committees

Two Common Council ad hoc committees met last night--the one dealing with City-owned property, the other pursuing a solar farm on City-owned land. Michelle Tullo, the City's Housing Justice Director, appears now to be part of the "property committee," along with aldermen Rebecca Wolff and Jane Trombley and Council president Tom DePietro. 

At its last meeting, the property committee seemed set to move ahead with the sale of 429 Warren Street as soon as the Code Enforcement Office was relocated to 751 Warren Street, but there seems to have been no progress on either the move or the sale. Last night, Wolff suggested that the City should keep the building and renovate it to provide offices for Code Enforcement and the Housing Justice Director as well as rental apartments. That notion was rejected by DePietro, who pointed out that an elevator would have to be installed in the building to make it ADA compliant. It was more or less decided that the committee would move forward on the sale of five buildings: 429 Warren Street, the cemetery house, the house near the water treatment plant, 1 North Front Street, and 10-12 Warren Street, now the Hudson Daycare Center.

   

DePietro said it was time to "go to the Council" for funds to do title searches on all five buildings in preparation for selling them.

One interesting bit of information that emerged from the meeting is that the City is applying for a $75,000 grant to go toward paying for a new comprehensive plan which is estimated will cost $200,000.

The meeting of the ad hoc committee pursuing the solar farm was mostly taken up with Peter Bujanow, Commissioner for Public Works, presenting a draft request for expressions of interest (REI) in partnering with the City to construct a solar array on City-owned land along North Second Street. In his presentation, Bujanow said the City was seeking "somebody who is looking for a challenge" and stressed that the REI was a means to "get ideas" which can be used to develop a request for proposals (RFP). Although at one point Bujanow had suggested that the capped landfill be considered as a possible site, the REI specifies just two parcels, neither of which involves the landfill.

It appears that the larger parcel, which extends on both sides on North Second Street, abuts the Hudson Dog Park. 

Bujanow noted that, although the larger parcel is 60 acres, all but 5 acres is wetland and hence not a possibility for a solar farm. 

The REI will be reviewed by the Conservation Advisory Council at its meeting on Thursday, September 2, and will be presented to the Common Council at its September meetings, with the goal of issuing the REI on Wednesday, September 22. The REI will also be available for public review on the City of Hudson website, but that hasn't happened yet.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

All Is Revealed

Yesterday, Gossips wondered about art installations in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park.  

Sculpture by Kris Perry, Back to the Land

This morning, I received an email from Aaron Levi Garvey, chief curator with the Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation, which provided this information:

In 2020 as COVID-19 made public events and gatherings nearly impossible, arts organizations had to come together to create alternative programming avenues for their constituents. The Hudson Eye did as well, with so many Hudson partners, and expanded its programming to the public spaces of Hudson by implementing a rigorous Public Art Initiative including the work of local artist David Hammons. These partnerships were very deeply felt.

In 2021, we are back again, and after yesterday's successful installations, as a Curator I am honored to announce with clarity and fact-based information another round of ambitious Public Art installations by artists now that the Local Artists and Local Venues have completed their works yesterday.

Jeffrey Gibson on the Hudson River Skywalk: "The Spirits Are Laughing"

Credit: Matthew's Signs local fabrication, and the Artist's Studio

Kris Perry at the Amtrak Station: "Back To The Land"

Credit: Countless Local Partners, an Angel, Amtrak, and the Artist's Studio

Daniel Rothbart at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park: "Water Clock"

Credit: Department Of Public Works, Its Staff, Julie Skrzypek, and the Artist's Studio & Chosen Family 

For more information about The Hudson Eye, which begins tomorrow, August 27, click here and here.

Of Interest

The Register-Star reported yesterday on the Hudson City School District's plans for the school year, which begins on September 9: "Hudson school officials outline reopening plan." The article includes this guidance from HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier:

[Suttmeier] said showing symptoms of COVID-19 and vaccination status are crucial in determining who must quarantine--those fully vaccinated and exposed to a positive person will not have to quarantine. . . . "So the key here is if you're fully vaccinated, and you don't have any symptoms, and you came in contact with somebody in your own household or someone socially, you do not need to quarantine," Suttmeier said.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been eleven 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 eleven more county residents are now recovering from the virus. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine today is three more than yesterday. The number hospitalized with the virus and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 1.3 percent and a seven-day average of 3.5 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region was 5.5 percent and the seven-day average was 4.2 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 1 new case of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 536, and the number of active cases was 5. There were 39 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 1 was hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Ear to the Ground

A reader shared this story with me this morning. I retell it here, not as an indictment but as a kind of cautionary tale about the uncharted waters we are entering as a community when the schools reopen in a couple of weeks.

It seems that children who will be starting kindergarten this year in the Hudson City School District were offered a two-week school experience to preview what happens at school and acclimate them to the idea of going to school. That "quick start" program took place over the past two weeks. The class size was small. It was reported there were fewer than ten children in the classroom, in an otherwise empty school building.

Yesterday, the parents of the children who attended the two-week program were contacted by HCSD and informed that a child in the class had tested positive for COVID-19. As a consequence, all the other children in the program have to quarantine, along with their parents and siblings.

Rebuttal: This morning, Thursday, August 26, Gossips received an email from another reader questioning the veracity of the above report. There was more than one group in the kindergarten prep program. The reader who contacted me this morning, reporting the experience of an HCSD teacher whose child attended the program, albeit in a different group, asserted that this never happened. If it had, she (the mother who is an HCSD teacher) would have been notified, and she was not. 

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

Who Makes These Decisions?

In April 2019, Gossips wondered who made the decisions about sculpture installed at the train station here in Hudson. There was a lot of fallout from that query, but it turned out that Linda Mussmann of Time and Space Limited had established a relationship with the Amtrak station over time, and it was she who made arrangements for sculpture to be installed there.

Today, Gossips has occasion to wonder again about art in public spaces. This morning, a giant metal sculpture was being installed on the lawn next to the Dunn building.

I have no issue with the sculpture, and I'm thrilled that this lawn is being treated as if it were part of the park. I'm just curious to know whose work this is and how it came to be installed here on City property. Perhaps we will never know.

I noticed too on Monday there was an installation of Daniel Rothbart's floating sculptures in the slip next to Rick's Point, and I don't recall ever seeing any announcement about it. 

Perhaps the intent is that we should discover these things by accident and be surprised and delighted, but curious minds would like more information, and the works deserve to get more attention.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

This article appeared in the publication called Glossy earlier this week: "Hudson is the next Hamptons for fashion and beauty retail." Here are a couple of interesting paragraphs from the piece:

With real estate prices climbing, yet still more affordable than the Hamptons, Hudson's new city transplants tend to be the "younger creative generation," said France. "One person told me that upstate New York is for creativity, and the Hamptons is for consumption. That's kind of true."

The person quoted here is Hillary France, founder of Wylde, which replaced Ör in the building on South Third Street that was once Harmon's Auto Repair.

With more creatives in town, the social scene in Hudson remains "very easygoing," said Draghi. While the Hamptons tend to be associated with glamorous parties to see and be seen, in Hudson, "no one ever leads with who they are or what they do, or what their resume is," he said. "No one seems to care to impress."

The person being quoted here is Christopher Draghi of Source Adage at 314 Warren Street. 

Gossips' comment: Hudson has been compared with the Hamptons before and survived.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

Dog Tales: Socialized Joey

As some readers may recall, in our early years together, my dog Joey did not handle encounters with other dogs well. His innate fear of just about everything was exacerbated by being on a leash. Tethered to me, his fight-or-flight response was reduced to a single option: fight. He had terrible leash aggression--lunging and barking and sometimes even snapping at other dogs. After several instances of charting bizarre and mazelike routes through Hudson, struggling to avoid encounters with other dogs, we took to walking in places where there was little expectation of meeting other dogs. The cemetery was our favorite place for walking, but even there we couldn't count on being alone. On a walk there one late winter morning, as I was bending over, back to the road, to pick up Joey's poop, a dog I hadn't seen before bending over rounded a corner, jogging with his human. Joey lunged and barked, and I toppled over, falling right into that which I was in the act of picking up.

Off leash, Joey has always been a different dog. From his first visit to the dog park in Germantown, just a couple of weeks after I had adopted him, Joey has displayed perfect dog park manners. I never have to worry about him getting into trouble, because the minute dog play starts getting a little rough, he comes running back to me.

Even though Joey's dog park manners were impeccable, his street manners were still iffy, even after a year of daily visits to the Hudson Dog Park. Consequently, it was with some trepidation, while walking in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park on Monday morning, that I saw Sala and her human approaching. Joey knows Sala from the dog park, but in the past that hasn't stopped him from barking and carrying on when he encounters a familiar dog while on his leash. Much to my delight, Joey welcomed seeing Sala, and they enjoyed a brief walk, side by side, to the end of the path. 

Unfortunately, I didn't have the presence of mind to take a picture of Joey and Sala on Monday, but this morning, we met up with Sala and her human again in the park. This time, I did get a picture of the two of them, although not a very good one.

Joey is a testament to the benefits of dog parks.

COPYIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have 22 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is nine more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that since yesterday twelve county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine remains the same as yesterday, as does the number hospitalized and in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County on Sunday of 4.9 percent and a seven-day average of 3.9 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region for the same day is 5.0 percent and the seven-day average is 4.2 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 1 new case of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 535, and the number of active cases was 4. There were 38 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

On the Subject of Workforce Housing

As most readers are aware, Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress has been working on creating an Affordable Housing Development Plan for Hudson. This morning, Kate Stryker and Eric Pierson of Pattern for Progress held a focus group on Zoom intended to be for "local business leaders" for the purpose of ensuring "the study provides an accurate assessment of workforce housing needs and related issues." There were eleven participants in the Zoom meeting. Of the eleven, only two were business owners in Hudson. The topics to be considered were:

1. What are the housing challenges from your perspective as an employer?
2. Is housing a reason for workforce shortages or other employee challenges?
3. What is the impact of housing conditions on worker availability/productivity?
4. Do you have workforce challenges, if so, what are they and why?
5. Where do workers live and how far do they have to travel to get to work?

With so few participants, there could be no definitive answers to the questions, but some interesting information did emerge. Kristan Keck, co-owner of Wm. Farmer and Sons, said some of her employees needed to cap their hours and how much they earned in order to keep their subsidized housing. Later in the discussion, Keck spoke of a meeting she had with Benchmark Development, the group that earlier this year proposed constructing a market rate apartment building at First and Warren Street. She reported the principals of Benchmark had argued that, if there were a larger supply of market rate housing in Hudson, people now living in income-based subsidized housing would have a place to go if their incomes increased, disqualifying them for subsidized housing.

Commenting on this information, Sarah Sterling, First Ward supervisor, spoke of seniors in Hudson wanting to downsize and sell their houses but having nowhere to move to in Hudson. Peter Frank concluded, "We just need more housing." Martha Lane concurred, saying, "We need all levels of housing."

Mike Tucker, president and CEO of Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), shared information troubling to anyone to cares about the architectural character of Hudson. According to Tucker, "The state is not thrilled about investing in existing housing stock in Hudson, because it is cheaper to build new." To this, Keck responded, "We have to protect what we have here."

Although Tucker said, "We want people to be able to walk to work," a comment by Frank put things in a different perspective. He noted there was "a tendency to think we need to solve all our problems within the two square miles of Hudson" and suggested that the solution needed to be regional. That led to conversation about public transportation and the bus that runs between Hudson and Greenport, which Frank characterized as a "shopping shuttle for seniors" rather than transportation for people coming and going from work. 

At the end of the Zoom meeting, Stryker provided an overview of the project. She said they were looking at vacant sites and projects "in the pipeline," which includes projects that have only been proposed, such as the one for 11 Warren Street, Hudson Housing Authority's plans for development, and plan for the former John L. Edwards School.

Pattern for Progress will suggest a timeline for development which considers funding sources. The goal is to complete the work this fall, by the end of October.

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, there have been 21 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is five fewer than on Friday, from which it can be inferred that, since Friday, 26 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine today is 38 fewer than on Friday. There are two more county residents hospitalized with the virus today than on Friday, and one more of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Thursday, August 19. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County on Saturday of 3.1 percent and a seven-day average of 3.8 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region for the same day is 4.1 percent and the seven-day average is 4.2 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 1 new case of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 534, and the number of active cases was 6. There were 33 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed for COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Watch This Spot: 427 Warren Street

In 1871, the home of J. H. Lant occupied the lot at 427 Warren Street. 

Eighty years later, in 1951, the building, then a combination of residential units and commercial space, was destroyed by fire.

PhotobyGibson.com

Sometime in the 1950s, the building was replaced by single story commercial building. It wasn't constructed to be a police station, but that's what it became sometime in the early 1980s and remained so until 2017, when the Hudson Police Department and the city court moved to their new digs on Union Street.

In the past year, the building was been transformed and is now the location of Finch. At its last meeting, the Historic Preservation Commission granted a certificate of appropriateness to yet another change to the building: the addition of a second floor, into which Finch plans to expand.

  

The addition of a second floor will be welcomed by many. The building's greater mass will make it more compatible with the 19th-century buildings that surround it and less of an interruption in the street wall than it has been for the past seventy years.

Photo: Google Maps

  COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

More rain is expected for tomorrow, and thunderstorms are predicted for Thursday, but the rest of the week seems fine weatherwise. Here's what's happening otherwise.

• On Monday, August 23, the Tourism Board holds a special meeting. This meeting takes place at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall.

Update: Today's special meeting of the Tourism Board has been canceled.

• The book launch for Hudson Talbott's latest work, A Walk in the Words, which was supposed to happen on Sunday afternoon, was rescheduled because of the impending storm. The event will take place instead on Tuesday, August 24, at 6:00 p.m., at Hudson Hall. Click here to reserve your spot.

• On Wednesday, August 25, there are two Common Council ad hoc committee meetings. The committee dealing with the sale of surplus City-owned property meets at 5:00 p.m.; the committee pursuing creating a solar farm on City-owned property meets at 6:15 p.m. Both meetings take place at City Hall.
• Also on Wednesday, August 25, the sloop Clearwater will be in Hudson for Waterfront Wednesdays. The event takes place from 5:00 p.m. until dark. Click here to see what else is scheduled for the evening.

• On Friday, August 27, the Common Council holds a public hearing on the City's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application for the 2021 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act. According to the announcement of the hearing, "The City of Hudson proposes to apply under the environmental improvements in housing for safe shelter activity area, prioritizing necessary renovation to owner-occupied housing for low-income homeowners to bring their residences up to code." At its August 17 meeting, the Council passed a resolution to authorize applying for this grant. The hearing is meant to provide further information about the program and "allow for citizen participation in the development of the proposed grant application." The hearing is to take place at City Hall.
• At 10:00 a.m. on Friday, August 27, the Historic Preservation Commission holds its second meeting of the month. At the last meeting of the HPC, it was determined that two projects before the commission merited a public hearing. The subject of the first public hearing is to be the after-the-fact approval being sought for removing the colored glass at 508 Warren Street and replacing it with clear glass.

The subject of the second public hearing is the proposal to construct a new building of modern design, to be an artist's studio and residence, at 556 Union Street.

Because the agenda for Friday's HPC meeting has not yet been made available, Gossips has not been able to confirm if these public hearings have in fact been scheduled for August 27. More word on that to come.  

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK

History Repeating Itself on the Waterfront

In the late 18th-century, before the Revolutionary War and before the Proprietors founded Hudson, what is now the part of the city nearest the river was known as Claverack Landing. There were two wharves at the river, and a road known as the "waggon-way," which followed the path of the present-day Partition Street, connected the river to Claverack and the farms to the east. Wagonloads of agricultural and manufactured goods came from those farms and were transferred to river sloops that sailed from Claverack Landing downriver to markets in New York City.

On Friday morning, Gossips came upon a 21st-century scene that recalled those early days at Claverack Landing. Malt, produced by Hudson Valley Malt, from grains grown locally and organically, using techniques not commonly employed since the 19th-century, was being unloaded from the back of a pickup truck parked at Rick's Point in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park.

The malt was in 50-pound bags, each labeled with the name of the brewery where it was bound, as well as the variety of malt and the name of the farm where the grain had been grown. On Friday, most of the malt was heading to breweries in Queens, although one shipment was going to Sing Sing Kill Brewery in Ossining.

Once all the bags of malt had been unloaded from the truck, they were reloaded onto a kind of flatbed trailer attached to a bicycle and thus were transported to the dock, where the cargo sailboat Apollonia was waiting.

At the dock, the bags were released, one by one, down a sailcloth slide onto the schooner. 

Yesterday, more goods were loaded onto the Apollonia before the wind-powered schooner set off on its downriver journey. 

Today, the Apollonia is making its first delivery in Kingston, at the Hudson River Maritime Museum. The entire schedule of its current voyage, downriver to New York City and back, can be found here. 

COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK