It's Always Something

At the end of 2022, Hudson is struggling with the challenge of improving its sidewalks. At the end of the year 150 years ago, the city faced a different challenge: how to provide the city with an adequate supply of water. The following article appeared in the Hudson Daily Star for December 31, 1872.

We know that the water supply problem was eventually solved, because in 1883 the city installed the Venus fountain in the Public Square--fountains typically being a municipality's way of bragging about its water supply. When the fountain was installed, the Hudson Evening Register described it as "exhibiting in the most effective manner the power of our water supply."

Photo: Columbia County Historical Society

As we move into the new year, Gossips will follow not only the progress of the proposed sidewalk law in Hudson but also the 19th-century solution to the water issues in the city. 

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 29 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 11 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 18 county residents have recovered from the virus. The number of county residents hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same today as yesterday. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since December 20.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 102 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 7,451, and the number of active cases was 364. There were 346 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 22 were hospitalized, and 6 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 115.

All Gone

Where three days ago there were three little houses, once providing homes to four or five families . . . 

there is now nothing.

Assuming Galvan gets its funding from NYS Homes and Community Renewal, this is what will someday be constructed on the site.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 16 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 1 fewer than yesterday. There are 3 more county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today than yesterday, but 1 fewer of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since December 20.  

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19 and 76 new cases. The total number of cases was 7,349, and the number of active cases was 294. There were 332 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 22 were hospitalized, and 6 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 115.

Last Night at City Hall

After an executive session that lasted for half an hour, the Common Council voted unanimously to place the amended sidewalk legislation on the councilmembers' desks. The most recent version of the legislation can be found here. This is just the beginning of the process of enacting the law, and at last night's meeting, the Council heard staunch opposition to the law from residents of the Fifth Ward, the "suburban" part of the city, where, for the most part, there are no sidewalks.

The first to speak was former chief and now Fire Commissioner Timothy Hutchings, who wanted to know, among other things, when it had been decided that a sidewalk fee would be charged to people without sidewalks. "Why do I have to pay," Hutchings asked, "for an Airbnb on Union Street to get new sidewalks that's charging $600 a night?" He questioned why the City was not simply enforcing the current law. "It's in the code. Just enforce it." Council president Tom DePietro explained, "That will not satisfy the Department of Justice."

Paula Taylor questioned the veracity of DePietro's statement, wanting to know why enforcing the current code would not satisfy the DOJ and asking to "see it in writing."

Hutchings and Taylor were the principal voices of dissent. Hutchings repeatedly returned to the question of why he should pay to correct a situation that he did not create and why he should have to pay for people who neglect their property. Taylor wanted to know what the penalty would be if the City did not comply with the DOJ's requirements. She also questioned the timing of the proposed legislation, saying she only found out about the law the day before, when her daughter sent her an article. "I didn't read about it in the Register-Star," Taylor said, adding, "I read it every day. I don't buy it. It's not worth it." She also seemed to question the City's priorities, asking if Warren Street would be the first street to have its sidewalks repaired and commenting critically, when the DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) was mentioned, "Everything is about the waterfront."

Councilmember Margaret Morris explained, as she has before, that the alternative of bonding for sidewalk repairs would be far more costly. The increase in property taxes needed to pay off the bond would far exceed the annual $100 sidewalk fee, and given the 2 percent cap on property tax increases, the City would have to reduce programs and services in order to pay off the bond and not exceed the cap. She also reiterated that the burden of paying off a $5 million bond would be borne only by property owners who pay taxes, whereas the sidewalk fees would apply to all property owners, including the county and not-for-profits. She argued, "We all benefit from sidewalks. We all benefit from not being penalized by the DOJ. . . . We all benefit from us taking this approach. We should look at this more as a community."

The contention over how best to address the problem of the city's sidewalks is not over. The Council has yet to vote on enacting the law, and there is the possibility of a permissive referendum. Last night's special meeting can be viewed, with the exception of the first half hour, on YouTube by clicking here.

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It's Back!

For everyone eager to get in touch with City Hall or with their representative on the Common Council, the City email system, which fell victim to the ransomware attack on Rackspace on December 2, is up and running again and has been for almost a week.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 21 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 7 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 14 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 December 20. 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19 and 103 new cases. The total number of cases was 7,273, and the number of active cases was 291. There were 262 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 22 were hospitalized, and 3 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 114.

Another One Bites the Dust

Yesterday, one of the three houses to be demolished to make way for the apartment building Galvan proposes to build at 75 North Seventh Street was bashed to smithereens. This morning, a second house suffered the same fate.

Photo: Bill Huston

Photo: Lisa Durfee

Photo: Lisa Durfee

As a reminder, this is what is to be built on the site.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, December 23, there have been 29 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is the same as on Friday. There is one more county resident hospitalized today than on Friday, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since December 20.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19 and 44 new cases. The total number of cases was 7,170, and the number of active cases was 285. There were 292 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 22 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 113.

HPBA and the River

The recent flooding along the riverfront has called to mind past episodes of flooding at the Hudson Power Boat Association.

The building that is the HPBA clubhouse is right on the river, so it is very vulnerable to flooding. It has been there for a very long time, having started its life as the ticket office and waiting room for the Hudson River Day Line, as well as for the Hudson-Athens ferry, which used the adjacent slip.

Since I published the pictures taken by Howard Gibson yesterday, documenting the flooding that the HPBA clubhouse suffered in 1970, some readers have reminded me of the spectacular incident of flooding and ice that occurred in January 1996. There was an ice jam upriver, where the Hudson and Mohawk rivers converge. The Army Corps of Engineers used explosives to break up the ice jam, causing an enormous surge of floodwater and ice to come crashing downriver. These photos, taken by John Cody, show what happened to the HPBA clubhouse in that ice flood.

More of Cody's photographs of that memorable event can be found here.

The flood and destruction of January 1996 is recalled in the history of the Hudson Power Boat Association that appears on the club's website:  

January 1996 was the most damaging episode by far and the membership came very close to losing the clubhouse. A huge ice jam on the Mohawk River broke up and caused a five foot surge of flood water. Added to the very high tide, it caused a monumental ice flood down the river and right into the north side of the club. Ice floes broke through the wall and were stacked up inside floor to ceiling. Appliances and furniture were washed out of the club into the river and the fuel tank floated away as well, later to be rescued and returned by the coast guard.

Members responded and using equipment and blood, sweat, and tears saved the day. A huge oak beam was milled on the spot at member Nick Tipple's saw mill and put in place to support the roof and structure of the building. Members had to finance the rebuilding of the club and it was a major project featured in the local newspapers of the time. It is still remembered and talked about on the river and in the community. The club was led that fateful year by Dara Laraway, the organization's first woman commodore.

HPBA members are veterans at dealing with flooding. More recently, the building was flooded on Christmas Day 2020. Once again, the event was documented by John Cody.

The rest of Cody's photographs of the flooding at the waterfront on Christmas Day 2020 can be found here.

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It's Not the First Time

There's been some speculation in comments on this blog about the possible consequence of the flooding at the Hudson Power Boat Association. 

Gossips has no information about the extent of the damage to the building caused by the high water on Friday, but this is not the first time something like this has happened. These pictures, taken by Howard Gibson and posted on photobygibson.com, document a flood in the building that occurred in 1970.

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How High Did It Rise?

An email exchange with a reader inspired me to post this picture, taken by John Cody on Friday, juxtaposed with a picture taken when the river was at a normal level.

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Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

In this holiday period between Christmas and New Year's Day, there is only one meeting, a special meeting that was scheduled just four days before Christmas.

• On Wednesday, December 28, the Common Council holds a special meeting to consider the sidewalk legislation that was tabled last Tuesday. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Much of the meeting will be in executive session, but for those curious about the outcome, which may simply be laying the law on the councilmembers' desks, you can join the meeting remotely by clicking here.

Photo: Instagram | thehudsonwail

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A Message on Christmas Eve 1872

Once upon a time, the Register and the Star were two separate and competing newspapers in Hudson. This item, which appeared in the Daily Star on Christmas Eve 1872, suggests just how competing the two publications were.

A shootist is a marksman; quietus is defined as "death or something that causes death." What is going on between the editors of the two newspapers is not clear, but this message, which appeared in the newspaper on Christmas Eve, is certainly intriguing. Even if it's meant in jest, which it probably was, it's pretty weird. So much for the spirit of Christmas back in the day.

Flooding in Hudson Continues

The flood watch remains in effect through tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, here are some more pictures of the river overflowing its banks. These were taken by John Cody and are shared here with his permission.

Flooding in Hudson

We've received warnings about flooding, and it's happening. Reports are that Route 9G heading out of town is closed, so if you need to head south, you must go by way of Route 9.

Before the sun set and it got dark, this is how things looked at the waterfront--at riverfront park, the state boat launch, and the Furgary Boat Club.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 13 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 7 more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 6 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are 2 more county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 today than yesterday, and 1 more of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Tuesday, December 20.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 69 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 7,044, and the number of active cases was 243. There were 441 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 21 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 112.

On the Eve of Christmas Eve in 1872

If it were 150 years ago, this is the sort of entertainment you could enjoy tonight. The item below was found in the Hudson Daily Star for Monday, December 23, 1872.

City Hall, of course, is what we now know as Hudson Hall, Laura V. Ellis (the Star misspelled her name) was a spiritualist, and 1872 was the heyday of the Spiritualist Era in America. Gossips' research uncovered two more news items about Ellis, these from the Lowell Daily Citizen and News--Lowell, Massachusetts, being, according to the University of Massachusetts Lowell Library, "one of the locations with the highest levels of spiritualist activity in the country, especially in the third quarter of the 19th century."   

What "cabinet manifestations" were requires a bit of explaining. "Spirit cabinets" were used by mediums in the 19th century. They were introduced into the American Spiritualist movement by Ira and William Davenport in the middle of the 1850s. The website American Hauntings explains:

The idea behind the cabinet was to be able to section off the medium from the sitters so that they would be out of direct view when producing strange phenomena. This would prove to be both popular and astounding to audiences as the mediums were generally bound hand and foot in the cabinet while seemingly impossible phenomena manifested around them. 

The Davenport Brothers first got the idea for such a cabinet thanks to a suggestion from an audience member. This person asked if they could produce their phenomena in a sealed container to prevent any sort of collusion by accomplices. . . .

The wooden cabinet soon became an essential part of their séances and it would be widely imitated for many, many years to come. The Davenports' cabinet was seven feet high, six feet wide and two feet deep. It was always located on sawhorses that kept it about 18 inches off the floor. A hole was cut into the middle door for air (and for spirit hands to protrude). Behind the doors, the Davenports were bound hand and foot by audience members and musical instruments were often placed on the floor. Once the audience was satisfied that the Davenports could not move about, the doors were closed.

Within moments, spirit hands of men, women and children appeared in the hole in the door, the musical instruments began to play and musical sounds were heard coming from within. When the doors were opened though, the brothers would still be found tied up.

The act was an immediate sensation and soon no practicing medium could continue his or her séances without a similar cabinet. . . . 

This was the entertainment the people of Hudson could look forward to on this night 150 years ago. 

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 5 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 6 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 11 county residents have recovered from the virus. There is 1 more county resident hospitalized today than yesterday, and 1 more of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Tuesday, December 20. 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19 and 47 new cases. The total number of cases was 6,975, and the number of active cases was 225. No data was provided on the number of county residents in mandatory quarantine, but 21 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 112.

Depot District, Phase Two

Last summer, the proposed "Depot District" was divided into three phases. Phase One was the historic train station, whose restoration was already complete. Earlier this week, Upper Depot Brewing Co., located in the restored depot, announced that its Grand Opening would happen on Wednesday, December 28.

This past Tuesday, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) approved the regulatory agreement for what was identified as the "project at 708 State Street," in other words the building to be constructed on the east side of the street, 76 North Seventh Street, Phase Two of the "Depot District."

This building is what IDA legal counsel Christine Chale described as a "middle income building." Of the 63 residential units in the building, 36 will be one-bedroom, 19 will be two-bedroom, 8 will be three-bedroom. Twelve of the 63 units (4 one-bedroom, 4 two-bedroom, and 4 three-bedroom) will have rents affordable to moderate income households (80 percent of area median income), and 51 of the units (32 one-bedroom, 15 two-bedroom, and 4 three-bedroom) will have rents affordable to middle income households (130 percent of the area median income). The area median income (AMI) is determined for Columbia County by the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It was noted that AMI is currently $78,000. The estimated rent for a one-bedroom apartment in this building is $1,800.

Councilmember Ryan Wallace (Third Ward), who chairs the IDA, observed that the rents in the building were "not dissimilar to the rents at The Falls in Greenport." Others were quick to point out that The Falls did not have a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) agreement. This project, however, has a 20-year PILOT. For the first ten years, the property tax on the residential portion of the building will be 25 percent of the assessed value. For the next ten years, the PILOT will increase by 5 percent every year, reaching 95 percent in the final year and 100 percent when the PILOT agreement is over, which will be in 2042.

The members of the IDA present for the meeting--Ryan Wallace, Dominic Merante, Heather Campbell, Theresa Joyner, and Richard Wallace--voted unanimously to enter into the regulatory agreement.

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