Gossips has learned that the CGS Group collaborated with the mayor's office on the grant application for NY SWIMS, and the plan is that the municipal/community swimming pool will be located on the northern part of the Dunn Warehouse site.
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Hopefully the drawing proposed isn't to scale, as the size of the pool looks like something you would have at a hotel, not a municipal pool. A 50 meter pool would be ideal, but at the minimum 25 yards. The pool down in Red Hook is a decent size, something like that, L shaped with a diving area, would be good. No point in going through the trouble of making a municipal pool if it's only good for floating around. It should be large enough so people can swim laps and the kids need one large enough to have a summer swimming team.
ReplyDeleteIsn’t there an Olympic size pool available for community use at the high school?
ReplyDeleteOlympic pool is 50 meters, the high school pool is 25 yards. An indoor and outdoor pool for summer swimming are also totally different things.
DeleteI guess I'd want to know what will come first: build a pool then worry about the reconstruction/renovation or vice-versa? There just seem to be so many questions pertaining to the pool and warehouse space. If there is an event going on, is the pool closed? Who gets to use the pool? Will they have to pay for admission? If, as SlowArt suggests, the pool is on the small size, will there be a limit to how many people can use it at one time? It just seems there is a lot to think about and a lot of decisions to be made before we celebrate being awarded a grant to put in this pool.
ReplyDeleteWhat new tax will the City impose on property owners to help pay for maintence, etc?
ReplyDeleteSince this is being done with the CGS Group I assume that this will be a private/public partnership and the city will not be on the hook for management and finances? I think a community pool would be a good thing, even though we already have one at the High School. But it will cost a lot more than the grant to remediate the land and build a sizable pool. There will need to be user fees to cover maintenance and staffing. Low income admission could be sponsored by a non-profit like Spark or a fundraising "Friends of the Pool" type group. This can't be something that is given to the Hudson Youth Dept. from both a management and financial standpoint. One of the main problems with a such a large tax burden is that citizens are already fed up and have little appetite to fund more projects, even if they are for a noble purpose.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I hope they invest in good filters because they're gonna get clogged up with gravel dust pretty quickly.
ReplyDeleteWhere else on earth do citizens enjoy the privilege of swimming in proximity to dump trucks whizzing by?
ReplyDeleteIt would be an act of insanity to put a swimming pool at this low-lying location near the river. The likelihood that the pool would be flooded by the Hudson is high, and the odds get even higher as time goes by owing to climate change.
ReplyDeleteOn the nose. It’s in the existing annual floodplain. Beyond foolish. Stupid. A poor use of the public’s funds due to its location.
DeleteCan't disagree with that, it's not a very good site for a pool at all.
DeleteNice idea ... wrong location ... clearly not grand enough ... go big or don't go at all ...
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty clear that intelligent land use policy is not one of the outstanding features of Hudson, NY.
ReplyDeleteThis a comedically apt case study of Strong Towns' warning against short-term leaders pursuing shiny infrastructure grants for new projects without properly accounting for long-term maintenance costs and responsibilities.
ReplyDeleteWell intentioned, but unwise.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/6/17/if-were-not-going-to-maintain-what-we-have-then-why-bother-building-anything-new
Why not fix existing infrastructure first...
In a year or so, we will have a sparkling new Comprehensive Plan that is meant to "express the vision, goals, strategies, and policies of a town or village over a 10-15 year period."
ReplyDeleteAnd there is not a single person who works for the City of Hudson who has any training in urban planning and development.
There is no one whose professional expertise is in the implementation of our shared vision.
From the article above:
"This isn’t difficult to do. See a streetlight out: replace it. See a weed: pull it. See a crosswalk faded: repaint it. See a sidewalk broken: fix it. It’s lunacy that anyone at City Hall would be working on expansion of anything when these urgently simple things are not being tended to.
I’ll note: Nothing of what I’m suggesting is efficient. In fact, it is the opposite of efficient. If the Walt Disney Corporation was acting efficiently, they would let the majority of the sidewalks between the Dolphin Hotel and the Boardwalk area fall apart and fail and then go out and replace them all at one time. That would be efficient, but it wouldn’t be lovable.
We can have nice things, we just need to shift our priorities. A Strong Town is well-maintained. Maintenance isn’t glamorous, but doing it expertly must not only be an obsession, it has to be a prerequisite for even considering an expansion of what we have. If it’s not, why bother?"
I am more than happy to be wrong.
DeleteWould you be willing to share what you know?
Hudsonite, I am sincerely interested in the answer.
DeleteWhat city employees have what would be considered professional planning & development backgrounds?
I have an update on the presence of professional planning in the City of Hudson. First, to review, I made two assertions:
Delete1. “There is not a single person who works for the City of Hudson who has any training in urban planning and development. “
2. “There is no one whose professional expertise is in the implementation of our shared vision.”
Challenged by Hudsonite, I did some of my own research.
(If only there were journalists nearby!)
To my first assertion, I have discovered I was wrong.
This is because I was misinformed.
I had been told, in no uncertain terms, that she was not a city employee.
When I reached out for clarification, I was told it is a bit of a Schrodinger’s Cat.
That it is both a city employee, and not a city employee.
That it is paid through the city, but not with city (tax) money.
That it is hired not by the City, but by the Hudson Housing Trust Board.
So, I stand corrected.
The City of Hudson hired a professional planner because it deemed affordable housing a significant enough challenge to warrant expertise.
To my second assertion, this remains true.
And, I continue to believe that the essential incoherence of the City that is the consequence of the planning gap is the single biggest obstacle to sustainable growth in Hudson.
Thank you for the intellectual honesty and research Peter.
DeleteFor the residents not in the know.... who is the person who is a city employee or not, paid by the city or not?
Since the role is either elected, or appointed, and has public administrative duties, the role is most likely considered a "public servant", and therefore I think it would be reasonable to mention title/name?
Has the city hired an official City Planner?
Awesome to hear Hudson has more experience within the city limits.
The employee with urban planning training is Michelle Tullo, whose job title in Hudson is "Housing Justice Director."
DeleteIt was by mistake that what I posted did not include her name. My apologies.
DeletePerhaps also of some relevance in the whole conversation about professional planning in Hudson, Sheena Salvino, who served as the executive director of HDC and HCDPA from 2011 to 2018, has a Master's Degree in Regional Planning and Urban Planning from the University at Albany.
DeleteI had the opportunity to ride down and inspect the proposed pool site over the holiday weekend. As a former community pool manager and lifeguard many years ago, I think I have a good sense about these things. I think an alternative site should be chosen due to the following: flood zone and potential water contamination; too much dust from the haul rood and commercial operation next door; and the danger of children/cars/bikes going over the tracks to rush to the pool and rush home after spending a lot of time at the pool! So many better sites on higher ground and more easily accessible.
ReplyDelete