Charles Williams Park, at the end of Mill Street, on the Empire State Trail, is Hudson's newest park, not counting the Hudson Dog Park. In 2007, the City of Hudson received a $250,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Fund to create the park. Work began on the park in 2009 and was completed in 2012. Much of what was originally planned for the park was never realized.
Improvements to the park, to make it more inviting, more engaging, and more connected with the rest of the city, are now being considered. The Spark of Hudson, in a public/private partnership with the City of Hudson, has begun collaborating with landscape designers Lucy McFadden and Scott Shinton on preliminary conversation and schematics to enhance Charles Williams Park and link together the larger park system in Hudson and beyond. The intention is to have the community "take the lead in dictating the design of the park." Toward that end, people are being asked to complete a survey about possible improvements to the park. The survey, which takes only a few minutes to complete, can be found here.
Improvements to the Charles Williams Park are surely needed. Right now with no trees that big empty field is pretty uninviting, particularly in the hot summer.
ReplyDeleteWhat needs attention even more than this is the North Bay Park, that has been maintained by the city as a monument to the Furgary going on nearly a decade now. If the city is so devastated and emotionally crippled by the loss of the dear Furgary club that we can not get rid of those rotting shacks and put some grass and a few picnic tables there, we should give it back to them. The North Bay, with its water access and mature trees has much more potential to become a beautiful city park than Charles Williams, but there it sits, year after year. What a waste. How much taxpayer money was paid to lawyers to recover that property?
Would strongly recommend that any improvement to the Charles Williams field (which actually or originally was the field across the street) include a plaque of tribute to the incredible Mr. Williams......we would be willing to write the brief tribute and to pay for the plaque being made and installed. More than ever we need our local heroes to be held up as model Hudsonians. He loved kids, they loved him; he loved Hudson and Hudson loved him.... and so it is fitting and right. This is what proper stewardship of our history should feel like. Ken Sheffer
ReplyDeleteSorry, my email is kensheffer25@gmail.com
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