Among the documents for tonight's informal Common Council meeting is a communication from Victor Meyers--a letter to the editor that appeared in the Register-Star on July 29. The letter advocates for moving City Hall to 400 State Street, an idea proposed back on January by the Galvan Foundation, which owns the building and has offered to give it to the City.
Hudson is in the process of selling off some of the many properties which it does not need. The City Clerk's Office should soon be on the market. The sale of other properties is also being discussed. What is the HDC is going to do with the proceeds of the sale of the Montgomery Street property, which is supposedly in the neighborhood of $2,000,000? There are probably grants available from both public and private institutions for the restoration of a historic building. The Galvan Foundation has offered to contribute. A bond issue might be a possibility, particularly now that interest rates are at an all time low. Possible rental income from the building and from moving the Clerk's Office into the Library are a source for paying off the bonds.
There are a few problems with these recommendations, First, the City Clerk's Office has never been located anywhere other than City Hall. It was the office of the City Court Clerk that was located at 429 Warren Street, and it is the Code Enforcement Office that must be moved to a new location before the building can be sold. Also, the charter and bylaws of the Hudson Development Corporation very likely prohibit the agency from turning over $2 million to the City for the restoration of 400 State Street.
The timing of Meyers' letter is curious. There has been no public conversation about relocating City Hall to 400 State Street since May, when the Common Council voted six to four (with one alderman, Jane Trombley, regretting her yea vote and wanting a do-over) to accept $100,000 from the Galvan Foundation to do a feasibility study. No information has been forthcoming about the progress of that feasibility study.
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400 State St. is an absolute mess. Galvan made a mistake in buying the property, and now that they have realized that it's a structural nightmare, they want to unload it on the City. Total boondoggle.
ReplyDeleteIt seems clear to me that Victor, whom I know and have worked with on City and private business over the years, is acting as an advocate for a particular interest -- that of Eric Galway who is apparently so desperate to alleviate himself of the white elephant that is the old asylum/library that he's willing to offer the sucker who takes it $1m to study how much it will cost to rehab it. Think about that for a minute.
ReplyDeleteThink, too, why someone who lives in Greenport and no longer even works in Hudson cares about this issue at all, let alone strongly enough to put pen to paper.
All Victor's letter seems to be is lobbying on behalf of a particular interest holder who has shown, time and again, that his interests and those of the citizens of Hudson stand in opposition to each other: we need a functional city hall; Galvan needs to offload a losing bet. Let's not be his sucker.
I'd love to see that historic building restored, but only if it can be done with some combination of Galvan largesse and grants of some sort. Putting any of the huge restoration expense on the taxpayers ought to be a non-starter.
ReplyDeleteDON'T DO IT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
ReplyDelete