The agenda for last night's Planning Board meeting indicated there was to be a presentation by the Hudson Housing Authority and Mountco Construction about the redevelopment planned for HHA properties. On Monday, at the informal meeting of the Common Council, Theresa Joyner, who chairs the Planning Board, said, because the Planning Board had a very full agenda, HHA and Mountco would be making a presentation next month. It seems no one told HHA and Mountco about this. Both Eu Ting-Zambuto, director of development for Mountco, and Jeffrey Dodson, executive director of HHA, attended last night's Planning Board meeting on Zoom and stayed for the entire meeting, which went on for three and a half hours. Just before the meeting ended, Ting-Zambuto posted this message in the "Chat":
The "preliminary redevelopment proposal," which can be found here, consists of the same five drawings that Gossips shared three weeks ago. Of interest is the "prelim Q&A," particularly this question and answer.
Tomorrow night, the Common Council holds a public hearing on the application for Restore NY funding for HHA's redevelopment project. The hearing is in person only at City Hall. On Monday, May 20, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners holds its monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person in the Community Room at Bliss Towers and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
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What an insane idea, converting all the open space in town into apartment buildings. How does it serve the people who live in Hudson to intentionally degrade the quality of life of everyone who lives here? It's mind boggling.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what is the justification is for the goals of the City, HHA and the Housing Task Force in targeting every available open space in Hudson into an affordable apartment complex? According to the Mayor, due to displacement, the black population has gone down and needs a boost. On city-data.com, if you look at the census data, the percentage change in Hudson's black population is 0% since 2000. The Mayor has also said that school enrollment has gone down, we can't field a football team and we need a population boost, but if you look at the data the population of the Hudson City School district has not gone down, it has been going steadily up. School enrollment is likely down for other reasons, like kids vaping, fighting, doing drugs and having sex in the bathrooms and people home schooling or sending their kids elsewhere. Within city limits there has been a slight reduction in population, but the population of Greenport and the surrounding areas has been increasing, so it appears people are moving nearby out of city limits. One thing that has not been mentioned is the huge reduction in shootings and crimes of all types. According to City-data.com, the crime index in Hudson was 406.5 in 2012 and in 2022 was down to 107. Thefts down from 282 to 68, burglaries from 47 down to 6.
DeleteSo why is it the goal of our City planners to convert all our open space to affordable and low income apartments? What is the benefit of importing residents, increasing population, traffic, cars, pollution and the crime rate? What is the reason and based on what statistics? Doesn't City government represent its constitutions, that is the people living, paying taxes and renting in Hudson now, or does it represent people living elsewhere who want to come rent a new apartment constructed for them in Hudson? The idea that local government would be involved or sponsor the construction of residences for people living in other cities or towns seems absurd and contradictory to the concept of representative government. Perhaps I am missing something?
SlowArt, I get a sense that the population across the whole county is slowly shrinking. There was spike from 59.5k in 2020 to 61.8k in 2021, probably pandemic-induced. But it has then fallen by 500 people in the next year. 2005 we had 63.7k people and overall it's been slowly going down.
DeleteThat said, I absolutely agree that the current HHA redevelopment plan makes no sense. The mayor has identified lack of affordable housing as the reason for why businesses are withering away. More housing won't fill these jobs considering the low unemployment rate of the county unless his plan is actually to import people from elsewhere into Hudson's expanded public housing.
It's a pipe dream. What we need is an influx of jobs that pay significantly more than minimum wage.
It's also about time that Hudson does something about its astronomical vacancy rate. City officials know full well why it's so high.
Actually it's a myth that the regional population has gone down, in the past 10 years the population of Greenport and the Hudson City School District have gone steadily up. Within the city limit (which is very small) it has gone down slightly, but that also isn't considering that many recent residents have homes here but are counted as population numbers elsewhere as this is a secondary home.
DeleteThis is the problem, you have people here who mistakenly believe they are fighting for social justice while actually pushing a construction agenda that benefits developers to the detriment of the local environment, all based on false statistical need. Sure, anyone you ask wants “affordable housing”, that is they want lower rent and lower taxes (who doesn't,) but turning every open space into a site for an apartment building isn't a productive way to manage a small historic city. I am pretty sure if you showed most residents the open, grassy, tree lined field on Mill Street and asked them it if was an appropriate spot for a 70 unit apartment complex they would think you were out of your mind.
I am going by the official numbers that I can find. Some of them are from the most recent census and I am well aware that they are at best an approximation.
DeleteI am personally not one of those that is particularly afflicted by fighting for social justice for appearance purposes while accidentally pushing the agendas of developers. I get the impression though that some members of the Common Council were voting against their own beliefs when they yay'ed the HHA grant resolution, for fear of being perceived as being against affordable housing.
This is painfully real. Our mayor recently scolded Linda Mussmann for speaking up against this BS and accused her of not being pro-housing. It was between the lines but nonetheless very clear and it was an implication he made very consciously. In his word, Linda should be "apart [sic] of the process and not the problem".
Both Jennifer Belton and Mohammed Rony argued convincingly against the resolution and then proceeded to vote in favor of it nonetheless.
A number of elected officials in Hudson are incapable of grasping the severity of the situation. They are either mentally lazy (the mayor) or too concerned with how the public perceives them.
While on many topics I do not agree with her, I am personally very grateful that Carole is shining a spotlight on this boondoggle that would be putting a massive stain on Hudson for decades to come if it was allowed to go forward.