COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health released its numbers earlier today, while Gossips was getting a booster shot. Since yesterday, there have been 18 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 2 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 20 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU is the same as yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12. 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 8 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 5,062, and the number of active cases was 107. There were 325 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 4 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 102.

News from the Planning Board

The Planning Board meeting this afternoon lasted for only about half an hour, but in that time, the five members present--Theresa Joyner, Valerie Wray, Dustin Duncan, Gene Shetsky, and John Cody--accomplished a fair amount of business. They made a negative declaration, approved the merging of parcels, and granted site plan approval to Hudson Public, the hotel the Galvan Foundation plans to develop from the buildings at northeast corner of Warren and Fourth streets.

They granted site plan approval to 508-510 State Street, which is being renovated to be an eight-unit residential dwelling. The building, now vacant, previously had six units. 

And they voted to authorize the attorneys handling the latest lawsuit brought by A. Colarusso & Sons against the Planning Board to file a Notice of Appeal. They voted unanimously, as Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the Planning Board, explained, to authorize the attorneys to do what they have already done.

Other items on the agenda--the public hearing on the proposal to create a kind of subdivision on Hudson Avenue and the public hearing on the redevelopment by the Galvan Foundation of the former Community Theater into a theater to be called Hudson Forum--were postponed until the Planning Board's next meeting, which takes place on October 11.

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Of Interest

In an episode of History Room on Zoom, Chief Ed Moore talks with Gary Sheffer, library trustee and chair of the History Room Committee, about the long history of the Hudson Police Department, the legendary state police raid on Hudson that took place in June 1950, and the plan to create a memorial garden at the Hudson police and courts building. Click here to view the conversation.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 14 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 7 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 21 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU remains the same as yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12.  

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 22 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 5,054, and the number of active cases was 114. There were 278 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 3 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 102.

Tonight in Stuyvesant

At its meeting tonight, it is expected that the Stuyvesant Zoning Board of Appeals will vote on a proposal to construct twenty "agro-tourism cabins," along with other tourist amenities, on a farm on Sharptown Ridge. On August 29, the Zoning Board held a public hearing on the project. Ten Stuyvesant residents spoke out against the proposal, arguing that the proposal was principally lodging, lodging was not agriculture, and therefore Stuyvesant's zoning did not allow it. No one from the public spoke in support of the project. The following is quoted from a comment submitted by a resident in the Zoom chat during the hearing:

Why would an investor look at Stuyvesant? It is a question worth looking into. Maybe they were rejected by other towns in our county and then they saw this open field and decided to give us a try. Maybe not. But it is worth the time and energy it takes for the town to review. A venture capitalist putting up housing in Stuyvesant--or anywhere for that matter--has one goal: to make money. Money. Not community. Money. It has nothing to do with our town as a community. It has everything to do with their bank accounts. If anyone in town is associated with this project they'll get a portion of the wealth, but ask yourselves if it is worth it to see this Florida-condo-type project go up in our zoned-for-agriculture town and in ten years watch it collapse from lack of maintenance. There are plenty of examples out there of venture capital money making the bucks and then leaving it to the crows.

Interestingly, both opponents and defenders of the proposed project in Stuyvesant have cited Liberty Farms in Ghent, which describes itself as a "boutique glamping site," as an example.

Photo: Liberty Farms

For opponents of the Sharptown Ridge project, Liberty Farms is an example of a commercial tourist destination for which agriculture is only a minor component rather than an ancillary business that supplements income from farming. A defender of the project cited Liberty Farms as a precedent, telling Gossips it is "already up and running in Stuyvesant." Its existence was presented as justification for the Sharptown Ridge project, despite Liberty Farms being in Ghent not Stuyvesant.

The Stuyvesant Zoning Board meeting takes place tonight at 7:00 p.m. at Stuyvesant Town Hall, 5 Sunset Drive in Stuyvesant. Also on the agenda for tonight's meeting is a proposal to install a utility-scale solar project on Schoolhouse Road.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 8 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 17 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 25 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU is the same today as yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19 and 21 new cases. The total number of cases was 5,032, and the number of active cases was 111. There were 245 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 3 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 102.

On the Subject of Sidewalks

The Common Council ad hoc committee dedicated to solving the problem of Hudson's sidewalks met last night. The first official act of the committee was to draft and distribute with the water bills a letter informing property owners of their responsibilities with regard to the maintenance of the sidewalks adjoining their property. Interestingly, that letter seems not to be available anywhere on the City of Hudson website.

Last night, Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward), who chairs the committee, laid out an action plan "for attacking a sidewalk law," a law inspired by the City of Ithaca's City Sidewalk Policy, which "moves away from burdening individual property owners with the entire cost of sidewalk installation and maintenance for sidewalks adjoining their property, toward the creation of 5 Sidewalk Improvement Districts (SID) funded by an annual sidewalk assessment fee." The action plan proposed by Merante involves three parts:

(1) Identifying the Sidewalk Improvement Districts in Hudson.
It was suggested that the five wards could be the SIDs in Hudson. It's a simple solution, but it doesn't seem quite right. The ward boundaries in Hudson are now based on population. As a consequence, the geographic area of the wards differs significantly, as does the amount of sidewalk in each ward.

(2) Figuring out how to prioritize districts or areas within districts.

Merante suggested that they develop a system of rating sidewalks using numbers, with the highest being for sidewalks that are most used and in the worst condition. Councilmember Vicky Daskaloudi expressed the opinion that assessing all the sidewalks is "a lot of work." Merante suggested they might seek volunteers to do the assessment.

(3) Figuring out how the sidewalk assessment fee would work. 

It was decided that this issue would be handled by Councilmembers Ryan Wallace (Third Ward), who was absent from the meeting, and Amber Harris (Third Ward). 

Although the committee is pursuing a plan to "move away from burdening individual property owners with the entire cost of sidewalk installation and maintenance for sidewalks adjoining their property," Daskaloudi seemed to stay focused on ways to get individual property owners to repair or replace their sidewalks. She suggested that there should be a law "giving people sixty days to fix their sidewalks" after purchasing a building. She commented, "I see some properties that are selling for a million, two million dollars, and they're not fixing the sidewalks, and it really makes me angry." Toward the end of the meeting, mayor's aide Michael Hofmann offered the information that in other communities sidewalk improvement is required of the seller before a deed transfer is issued.    

The entire meeting can be viewed on YouTube.

On the subject of sidewalks, I have a personal observation. For the first time in almost nine years, I've been doing a lot of walking in my neighborhood with my dog, Joey. Our regular ambles are on the south side of town, usually between Second and Fourth Streets, and it has been my observation that there are very few sidewalks that could pass muster. The most egregious sidewalk issue we have encountered lately, though, is not uneven or broken or missing sidewalks but this stoop which juts out so far onto the public way that there's only about two feet of sidewalk between the stoop and the curb and even less between the stoop and a utility pool. 

A check of the tax rolls revealed that this house is owned by the Galvan Foundation.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, there have been 52 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 3 more than on Friday, from which it can be inferred that, since Friday, 49 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are 4 more county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today than on Friday, and 1 more is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12. 

A year ago, September 26 was a Sunday, and the CCDOH did not report COVID numbers. On Saturday, September 25, the CCDOH reported 14 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 5,011, and the number of active cases was 134. There were 353 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 6 were hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 101.

On the Subject of Paint

The plan for repainting 529 Warren Street (pictured below) sparked a discussion at the Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Friday about the appropriate role of the HPC regarding paint on historic buildings. 

The HPC currently does not opine on paint color. In 2003, when Hudson's preservation ordinance was originally adopted, jurisdiction over paint color was deliberately omitted because a prime fearmongering claim uttered by opponents of historic preservation, usually in horrified tones, was, "They're going to tell you what color you can paint your house." Because paint is not permanent and does not alter the historic fabric of a building, the HPC only intervenes when paint is being removed from masonry or being applied to masonry that has never before been painted, because both actions can damage historic materials. 

Hudson today is quite a different place from what it was in 2003, and the plan for painting 529 Warren Street has raised the issue of paint and its use negatively impacting the historic character of Warren Street.

Craig Haigh, code enforcement officer, said he had known about this plan for painting 529 Warren Street for more than a month before it was brought to the attention of the HPC on Friday. He said he had studied the code and consulted with the city attorney to see if there was any legal basis for him to refer this to the HPC, but the conclusion was there was nothing in the code that addressed this. He also pointed out that a precedent had already been set for buildings whose colors and paint design disrupted the character of the streetscape. Examples cited during the course of the discussion were 249-251 Warren Street, which has been painted orange for more than a decade; 318 Warren Street, the location of Culture Cream; and 612 Warren Street, the art gallery called Shakespeare's Fulcrum. 

  

         

In the discussion of paint and its application to buildings, murals were also mentioned. Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, cautioned that any attempt to ban or regulate murals might violate First Amendment rights.

HPC chair Phil Forman noted that amending the preservation ordinance, Chapter 169 of the city code, required an action of the Common Council and warned, "If we try to change one thing, they could change another." He argued that the HPC "has a very good compliance record" and cautioned against creating "something onerous." Similarly, HPC member Hugh Biber opined that "to add more on to the process" would be problematic "from a PR point of view" and suggested any attempt to regulate paint would be "opening the door to more problems than it's worth."

Architect member Chip Bohl proposed that the HPC create guidelines for paint. "We cannot, as a commission, begin to control color," Bohl told his colleagues. "What we can control is what is painted." Bohl suggested, "A good guideline is you don't paint one wall a bunch of different colors." That prompted HPC member Miranda Barry to ask rhetorically, "Do we really want to outlaw murals?" She later opined, "It is a first amendment issue."

Early on in the discussion, Polidoro recommended that the HPC form a working group to come up with a proposal regarding the use of paint in historic districts. In the end, it was decided they would look into how other communities with historic districts handled the issue of paint--both paint color and paint application patterns. Although the commission generally agreed on this course of action, no members of commission were appointed to the proposed working group.

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Autumn officially began four days ago. This week, September ends, and October begins. As we move deeper into fall, here is what's happening this week.

• On Monday, September 26, the Common Council ad hoc committee seeking to solve the problem of Hudson's sidewalks meets at 5:00 p.m. The meeting will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely. 

• On Tuesday, September 27, Waterfront Wednesdays will be featured in a panel discussion titled "This River Is a Place: Activating a City's Waterfront" at The Future of Small Cities Institute in Troy. The event will explore three Hudson riverfront cities--Hudson, Beacon, and Kingston--and "hear about their journeys to activate their waterfronts, how they formed public and private partnerships, what has worked and what has not worked, and what steps cities just starting on the process should take." Adam Weinert will represent Hudson, talking about Waterfront Wednesdays. The event takes place at 6:00 p.m. in person at FOCUS Lab, 21 Third Street in Troy. It will also be livestreamed on Zoom. Those who register here to attend will receive the Zoom link.

Photo: David McIntyre

• On Thursday, September 29, the Planning Board meets at 4:00 p.m. This meeting was originally scheduled to take place on September 13. The agenda for the meeting, which can be found here, includes, among other things, the proposal for Hudson Public, the hotel the Galvan Foundation plans to develop at the corner of Warren and Fourth streets. The meeting will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

• On Friday, September 30, at 6:00 p.m., there is a public hearing on the City of Hudson's funding application for the Crescent Garage at Warren and Eighth streets. The notice explains: "The project involves rehabilitation of a vacant building for mixed-use as community gallery space, office, film and video editing facility, studio apartments, and event venue." The funding sought is from the Restore New York Communities Initiative (RestoreNY). The hearing is in person only at City Hall.

• On Saturday, October 1, at 10:00 a.m., Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street, holds its annual blessing of the animals. All animals are welcome so long as they are leashed or in a crate.

• On Sunday, October 2, the Conservation Advisory Council celebrates Arbor Day 2022 by planting five street trees in different locations in Hudson. Those wanting to help with the planting are asked to meet in Seventh Street Park at 10:00 a.m.

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A Teaching Tale for a Sunday Night

Shortly before 7:00 this evening, I drove to City Hall to purchase trash bags from the machine. As I was parking, I witnessed a young couple swipe a card and enter their selection several times but leave disgruntled and bagless. Despite their experience, I was determined to try it for myself, but before I could fetch a card from my purse and exit the car, someone else stepped up the machine to try his luck. His experience was the same. He swiped his card and made his selection two or three times, but nothing happened. No pack of trash bags dropped into the tray. He too left unhappy, commenting to me as he left, "It's going to be a smelly week." 

Refusing to learn from the experience of others, I stepped up to the machine and swiped my card. I waited, and within a few seconds, the display indicated that my card had been approved and I should make my selection. I did as I was told, but nothing happened. After a bit, the display again indicated I should swipe my card, which I dutifully did, but again making my selection yielded nothing. 

I had an advantage over the people who had preceded me. I knew how to get in touch with DPW superintendent Rob Perry. With apologies for bothering him on a Sunday, I texted Perry, primarily to ask if there was a chance the machine would be fixed by morning, in time for me to get some trash bags before the garbage truck came by my house. After sending the text, I drove home.

Perry's house and mine are about equidistant from City Hall, albeit in opposite directions. To my surprise, by the time I got home, I had two texts from Perry. The first one, sent within seconds of my original text, suggested there was probably something already in the tray of the machine. The second one, received just as I entered my house, confirmed what he had suspected and provided a picture.

Perry speculated, "It looks like someone purchased a bag as a curiosity . . . opened it. Then, realizing they weren't going to use it, thought they'd be nice and put it back for the next customer." Unfortunately, what someone thought was a nice gesture prevented at least three Hudson residents from getting the trash bags they needed for the morning.

Lessons learned:

 

(1) Always check to make sure there is nothing in the tray before attempting to purchase trash bags. There is a sensor that does not allow a new purchase until the previous purchased has cleared, that is, until the bags have been removed from the machine.

(2) Don't wait until you are out of trash bags and it's the night before collection day to try to buy bags. 

I must admit that the second lesson is one I have yet to learn. I'll be at the trash bag vending machine first thing in the morning.

Restaurant News

Photo: Trixie's List

Cafe Mutton, located a bit off the beaten path at 757 Columbia Street, is definitely the restaurant in Hudson getting the most attention and accolades these days. Earlier this month, it was included in Bon Appetit's 50 Best New Restaurants 2022. Last week, it made the New York Times list of America's Best Restaurants 2022--"50 places in America we're most excited about right now." 

On October 27, you can hear Shaina Loew-Banayan, chef and owner of Cafe Mutton, in conversation with food writer Tamar Adler, talking about Loew-Banayan's book, Elegy for an Appetite, a short, poetic memoir that "follows the author's journey from voracious childhood to starving teen years and then to challenging early adulthood." The event takes place at Hudson Hall. Click here for more information.

Considering Trucks

Photo: NYS GIS

At the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) meeting this past Tuesday, Mary Susan Knauss, who joined the HDC board in 2019, announced her resignation from the board. Her reason for leaving is that she is soon to become president of the not-for-profit NYS GIS Association, and time does not permit her to continue on the HDC board. GIS stands for Geographical Information Science. Knauss, who now works as a consultant, was for thirteen years Senior Transportation Analyst for the NYS Department of Transportation.

As a parting gift to HDC and Hudson, Knauss presented a document called "Truck Route FAQ," which she said was "meant to distill all I might have contributed to the board" regarding the perennial issue of truck routes through Hudson. She told her HDC colleagues that she has offered her assistance to the Common Council ad hoc committee pursuing the issue of truck routes.

In her comments at the HDC meeting, Knauss said she cannot see any benefit the truck route has brought to Hudson. She recommended that people "stop talking about the truck route as if it is something you can just ban altogether." She warned that no effort will be successful unless the City addresses the problem in pieces. Because there are alternative ways to get to destinations outside the city without passing through the city, she advised that Hudson needed to make it harder and take longer to drive through the city than to go around it.

In the FAQ and in her presentation to HDC, Knauss pointed out that permitting can be used to discourage trucks from passing through Hudson. The default for a tractor trailer in 48 feet. A 53-foot tractor trailer is considered a Special Dimension Vehicle (SDV) requiring a permit. Most trucks entering Hudson are 53 feet, which means that "any street in Hudson is where they should not be." A truck's registration indicates the length of the truck, so enforcing length restrictions would not require an involved truck inspection. 

Krauss's FAQ makes this point, which is frequently brought up in discussions of trucks in Hudson:

In the age of GPS, accurate and efficient navigation of trucks on the proper routes occurs when a "truck route" designation is programmed into the system. With today's technology, a change to a truck route is basically a simple "flick of a switch" at the state level. 

Knauss's FAQ makes one point that will not be well received by many in Hudson. 

Can we at least get rid of the gravel trucks?

Yes, by giving them another way to go. The gravel trucks are local, and for where they go and what they do, they have permits. Hudson City Planning Board approval of access to the Haul Road from 9G/23B would rid the city of all the gravel trucks once and for all.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that such action by the Planning Board would "rid the city of all gravel trucks once and for all." Representatives for Colarusso have stated in Planning Board meetings that they will continue to use city streets to get from the quarry to the waterfront in cases of emergency and when weather conditions prohibit use of their private road.

The next meeting of the ad hoc Truck Route Committee is scheduled to take place on Thursday, October 6, at 6:00 p.m.

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Of Interest

Word is that the lecture at the library on Thursday about urban renewal in Hudson was very well attended. For those who missed it, the urban renewal photographs that make up the Arthur Koweek Collection can be viewed online by clicking here.

Northwest corner of Warren and Front streets. The only building that survives today is 1 North Front Street, which now houses the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce.

Information Behind Today's COVID Numbers

The following is quoted from the press release issued today by Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors:

COVID-related hospitalizations have hit their lowest level in the county this year, Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb said today. Four individuals are currently in area hospitals, with three of the four seriously ill enough to be in the ICU. One person is on a ventilator.

COVID-19 new positive cases, which hit their highest weekly totals this summer with last week’s 152, have dropped back slightly to 129. Director Mabb added that the recent outbreak at The Grand Rehabilitation & Nursing/Barnwell facility in Valatie is still partially fueling the jump in new cases. As of this morning, 47 residents had tested positive, in addition to 13 staff.

“I think it’s reasonable to say at this point that the higher-than-expected positive cases we’ve had over the summer months will continue on into the fall and likely increase with all of us moving inside more,” added Director Mabb. “I just hope this downward trend in hospitalizations continues. Perhaps this is confirmation of what we have been told by the CDC and others that the variants we’re seeing now may be more contagious but less virulent.”

County DOH reported that 57 individuals came to A.B. Shaw fire department on Thursday for COVID-19 booster vaccines. Director Mabb called this a good number, since the county currently can offer only the Pfizer bivalent vaccine. The department was able to order Moderna vaccines this week, after the company had experienced a backlog in vaccines in recent weeks.

As of Monday, per the CDC, Columbia County’s rate of new COVID-19 cases remained in the low risk category. On Thursday, the CDC-reported current average of new daily cases per 100,000 of population stood at 17.4. The positive test rate is 14.7 percent.

Although New York State has lifted the mandate for mask wearing while inside a business, local health care officials continue to encourage the wearing of masks while indoors, particularly for those with health problems.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 22 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 6 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 16 county residents have recovered from the virus. There is 1 more county resident hospitalized today than yesterday, and the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 30 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,972, and the number of active cases was 125. There were 357 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 8 were hospitalized, and 2 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 100.

Ear to the Ground

In January, Gossips reported that Rebecca Wolff, then an alderman representing the First Ward and a vocal opponent of short-term rentals, had listed an apartment in a house she owns on Union Street as a short-term rental for $3,000 a month or $200 a day. Given that precedent, it seems only fair to report that Councilmember Ryan Wallace (Third Ward), who is now making decisions about constructing more income restricted housing in Hudson, because of Hudson's affordable housing crisis, is currently offering his condo at Mt. Ray Estates as a long-term rental for $6,000 a month. The listing appears on Zillow.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 36 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 5 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 31 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today is 7 fewer than yesterday, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12.  

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 14 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,942, and the number of active cases was 112. There were 361 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 7 were hospitalized, and 2 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Columbia County at this time last year was 100.

More About the Housing Proposal

Roger Hannigan Gilson has an article in the Times Union today about the proposal for affordable housing presented to the Common Council on Tuesday by Hudson's chosen development partners, Kearney Realty & Development Group and Hudson River Housing: "Hudson hopes to ease housing crisis with scores of affordable apartments." 

Gilson posted the link to his article on Facebook, on the Hudson, N.Y - Public Community Board, which generated a number of comments, including some from Mayor Kamal Johnson. There is also an announcement about the project on the City of Hudson website, which provides links to Tuesday's PowerPoint presentation and to a statement from the mayor's office about the project.

Update on Arbor Day 2022

Earlier this month, Gossips reported on a grand plan to plant twelve trees on Arbor Day in Hudson this year, on Fifth Street and Sixth Street. As it turns out, there are "underground conflicts" preventing trees from being planted in the chosen locations, so the Conservation Advisory Council (CAC) is back to planting only the five trees that have been donated, a donation that was facilitated by Hudson Development Corporation.

Hilary Hillman of the CAC reported at the HDC meeting on Tuesday that they were still seeking locations for planting the trees. She mentioned that one would be planted somewhere on Union Street, another on North Fifth Street, and another in the 200 block of Columbia Street. That leaves a two more sites still to be identified.

Arbor Day in Hudson takes place this year on Sunday, October 2. The CAC is recruiting volunteers to help plant the trees. Those interested in helping with the tree planting are asked to gather at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, October 2, in Seventh Street Park.

New Executive Director for HDC

Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) has been without an executive director since the end of June, when Branda Maholtz resigned. At its regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, the HDC board ratified Misty McGee as the agency's new executive director. 

Photo: Jason Marlow 

In introducing McGee, Chris Jones, HDC board president, said that the search committee had reviewed fourteen candidates before making its recommendation. The job description identified helping to define HDC's long-range mission as a major responsibility and stressed the ability to think strategically and translate goals into actions as critical skills. Jones told the board, "Knowledge of Hudson was key to assessing the applicants."

McGee, who lives on Union Street, had a long and successful career in women's merchandising for Ralph Lauren. Most recently, she was Business Development Director for the architectural firm Spacesmith here in Hudson. She is also an adjunct professor in the fashion program in the School of Communications & the Arts at Marist College. 

McGee officially takes on the role of executive director of HDC on October 3.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 17 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 3 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 20 county residents have recovered from the virus. There is 1 fewer county resident hospitalized today than yesterday, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since September 12.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 31 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 4,928, and the number of active cases was 115. There were 262 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 8 were hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Columbia County at this time last year was 100.

More Housing for Hudson

In February, Gossips reported there had been eleven responses to the City's RFQ (request for qualifications) for a development partner to help implement the Affordable Housing Development Plan. At that time, a committee made up of Mayor Kamal Johnson, Council president Tom DePietro, Commissioner of Public Works Peter Bujanow, First Ward councilmember Art Frick, Mayor's Aide Michael Hofmann, and Housing Justice Director Michelle Tullo had narrowed the choices down to four: 

• RUPCO
• MPACT Collective and Pennrose
• Home Leasing
• Kearney Realty & Development Group and Hudson River Housing

Since the meeting that took place in February, at which it was decided they would hear presentations from the four groups, the committee has held no public meetings. Last night, at the Common Council meeting, Kearney Realty & Development Group and Hudson River Housing, obviously those chosen by the committee to be the City's development partner, presented their plans for constructing new housing in Hudson. The plans involve three projects on three different City-owned parcels.

Two houses, each with a rental unit, are proposed for City-owned property located on Rossman Avenue. These are intended for affordable homeownership.

A building providing mixed income rental units is proposed for what is now a playing field at Charles Williams Park. An audience member who asked was assured that repurposing this parkland for an apartment building with parking for residents did not interfere with any of the plans to upgrade the underused Charles Williams Park, which so far seem only to involve creating an outdoor Fitness Court.

A mixed use building with apartments and commercial space is proposed for the southwest corner of Fourth and State streets, the vacant lot owned by the City of Hudson (once the location of the Fourth Street School) which is now being used by the county as a parking lot.  

In talking about this building, which oddly appears in the rendering to be oriented toward Long Alley rather than either Fourth Street or State Street, the representative from Kearney talked about a workforce development plan and a daycare center. He also mentioned an internship program in real estate development. That a daycare center is part of the proposal for this site suggests that the Adirondack Community Development proposal for the John L. Edwards site across the street, which included a new building for the Hudson Daycare Center, may be off the table. Nothing has been heard of that project since last December.

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Fifty Years Later

On Thursday, a lecture by Ted Hilscher at the Hudson Area Library commemorates urban renewal which, through massive demolition and reconstruction, transformed Hudson fifty years ago. Yesterday, Hudson Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA), an agency that is a legacy of the urban renewal era in Hudson, took action to, in the words of Quintin Cross, "right the wrongs" of urban renewal and, in the words of Councilmember Ryan Wallace, correct "the massive injustice done by urban renewal." Four of the five members of the HCDPA Board voted unanimously to enter into an option agreement with the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) which would allow HHA to include three parcels of land currently owned by HCDPA in its RFQ (request for qualifications) for a development partner for new construction to replace HHA's current properties, Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments. The members voting were Mayor Kamal Johnson, Planning Board chair Theresa Joyner, Common Council majority leader Dominic Merante, and Common Council minority leader Ryan Wallace. Revonda Smith, who serves on the HCDPA Board by virtue of being chair of the HHA Board of Commissioners, recused herself from the vote.

The three parcels involved in the agreement are (1) the vacant lot at the northeast corner of Warren and Front streets, now maintained as a park; (2) what remains of the community garden at the northeast corner of Columbia and Second streets; (3) the vacant land along the north side of State Street from Front Street eastward.

According to the agreement, HHA will offer these parcels to prospective development partners in the RFQ as possible sites for new development, and the developers will assess and select which they want to use. HCDPA will sell the sites chosen to HHA for half the fair market value of the property.

Before the HCDPA Board went into executive session to discuss the agreement and afterward vote, Brian Lawlor, attorney for HHA, asserted that acquiring these properties was a key part of HHA's development strategy. He explained that HHA's major goal was to demolish Bliss Towers, which he called an obsolete building and not worthy of further investment. Before they could raze the building, they had to find or create places to relocate the people now living there. He spoke of expanding the supply of affordable housing, creating housing options that do not now exist, providing choice, and deconcentrating poverty. Wallace clarified that what's being contemplated is "affordable, mixed income not market rate" dwellings, all of which would be income restricted.

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