One of the people arrested today, as part of the group calling itself "Men in Business," was Kevron Lee. Lee was charged with a number of offenses, including attempted murder. According to the HPD press release, Lee is currently a resident of Columbiaville.
Two interviews with Lee can be seen on the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition website, among the "Tenant Testimonials." The intro to Lee's comments on the subject "On Police & Defunding" reads: "Fuck the police. They violate our rights. They have a badge and they don't treat all people the same way." The intro to his comments "On Housing" summarizes: "The only jobs are fast food jobs, grocery stores. It's hard to come up with the money to afford the rent."
It's not indicated when these interviews were done, but it appears at the time Lee lived in public housing in Hudson. In the interview "On Housing," videotaped, it appears, with Columbia Apartments in the background, Lee says he has been a resident of Hudson "for . . . all my life."
COPYRIGHT 2021 CAROLE OSTERINK
Hudson and the Culture of Crime -- one of hudson's biggest businesses. and all financed by your tax dollars.
ReplyDeleteConstantly use public housing to generate fear this is disgusting,even for you Carol. If someone did an interview at the waterfront does it appear that they came out of the river, the lighthouse.
ReplyDeleteGossips of Rivertown when was the last time you walked in the doors of public housing and listen to the board meetings and factually report the incredible work and changes the board members have been/are doing for the residents.
But it was Mr. Lee himself who raised the subject: "On Housing."
DeleteUnknown, you are too quick to judge.
Here are some facts. Many of the apartments in Bliss Towers are currently uninhabitable.
DeleteSupposedly, there is no money to rehabilitate them. However, Hudson was given 10 million dollars by the State to rehabilitate the downtown.
No money went to the poor. A lot of money went for things like sidewalk lighting.
Somehow the managers never could repair the damaged apartments
Why they were so badly damaged is another story but now no one can live in them.
This is standard operating procedure in the State of New York. Look at the NYC Public Housing Authority. the governments cannot manage these buildings or the services that are required to keep them standing.
But now you want more huge developments of this housing in the tiny City of Hudson. And you have gangs in the City plotting murders and drug deals, in possession of illegal firearms.
Faced with the facts, you all ignore it.
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ReplyDeleteI'm having trouble understanding the purpose of this story. If it's to inform me of the details surrounding this man's arrest well then I'm still clueless, maybe even more so than before I clicked this story. Good thing I got such valuable imformation like the man may have been a tenant of public housing (not at all valuable information!) Looks like another piece written to make the haves fear the have nots. Damn shame.
ReplyDeleteTwo reactions:
ReplyDelete1) I’m glad arrests were made, especially given the seriousness of the charges and the inherent risk to public safety. I am glad we have a police force competent enough to carry out an investigation and protect the public.
2) I squirmed at this piece. I do not know its intent because it is not stated. A set of facts are assembled and published without conclusion, leaving us to draw our own.
Here’s mine: this associates people who are outspoken against police, who live in public housing, with violent crime, which further stokes suspicion and prejudice.
I think in this instance, some note on intent would’ve helped. Or just not publishing it.
For what it's worth, there are 'help wanted' signs all over the place and even apparently Ginsburg's was offering warehouse jobs for, I'm told $25 an hour and a bonus for signing up. I hear everyday that contractors can't find people to work.
ReplyDeleteAnyone notice that Lowe's as been understaffed? They just can find workers.
DeleteGinsburg's is usually advertised as night shift positions. Working in a refrigerated environment from midnight to 8 am sounds great.
DeleteOMG, what snobbery!
DeleteI've worked a hundred jobs like that, sometimes in factories on the graveyard shift, sometimes in extremely dangerous conditions outdoors, sometimes in the freezing cold, and sometimes in filth and great heat.
I feel great pride knowing that my own c.v. is so far beneath you.
OMGoodness, what sanctimony!
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DeleteOkay, I got a bit touchy there, but pride is not sanctimony. Anyone who does any sort of manual labor should feel proud.
DeleteYour philosophy, which is probably politically motivated, only insults this sense of pride.
But it's only for political reasons that anyone would cultivate false expectations and societal resentment. It's for these reasons that I see you as a misguided person who's doing actual harm.
Sounds like they were entrepreneurs and started their own “business.”
ReplyDelete~10% of humans alive today (mostly in Africa) live in extreme poverty (less than $2 per day), and cannot physically escape environments of violence and deprivation due to closed borders and lack of resources [www.ourworldndata.org].
ReplyDeleteHudson, and the state of New York, is enjoying one of the greatest periods of new job postings, ever, with nation leading hourly wages [DOL Data covered extensively by NYT].
At the same time the City of Hudson (and the local HUD) subsidise housing for citizens (like Mr Lee) who try to shoot and kill other Hudson residents in cold blood, in the middle of the day, shortly after publicly advocating for defunding the police.
But Black Lives Matter.
Your comment regarding public housing was unfair. I live on a mixed block with private and public housing. In my experience in Hudson over the past 5 years I observe that most of my neighbors are hard working decent people. Many of us have family members who have been hurt by drugs. Addiction and substance abuse knows no socio economic limits. That is a fact.
ReplyDeleteI agree that most of the people in subsidized housing in Hudson are good, hardworking people. The issue at hand is that public taxes are being used to assist those less fortunate to obtain affordable housing. This is a good thing, and reflects a societal judgement that housing those less fortunate economically is an obligation of those more fortunate in our society. That being the case, we can also surmise that the obligation is that of society, not one of selected cities or towns. The City of Hudson has already more than fulfilled it's obligation and assumed a much larger burden than other communities that have more open space, pleasant environments and a wealthier tax base than Hudson. It seems reasonable that Claverack, Chatham, Kinderhook, Ancram, and other outlying communities need to step up and provide an equivalent percentage of affordable housing stock before placing an additional load on Hudson tax payers.
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