Two weeks ago, Gossips reported that the BEA (Board of Estimate and Apportionment--the mayor, the Common Council president, and the city treasurer) was contemplating increasing the property tax by as much as the law allowed to finance the city's expenditures in 2025: "Dividing the Pie." On Thursday night, Mayor Kamal Johnson presented the proposed budget for 2025 to the Common Council. It seems that in the intervening two weeks the BEA found a way to lessen the impact on Hudson taxpayers. According to the mayor, $800,000 will be taken from the fund balance, resulting in the City's share of property taxes increasing by only 1.5 percent.
The propopsed budget for 2025 can be found here. A public hearing on the budget is scheduled for Thursday, November 21, at 6:00 p.m., in City Hall. COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
I commend Gossips for getting the scoop on the increase early. I think that had a role in the last minute reduction in the planned increase. Unless the higher increase was leaked on purpose in order to make this one not seem so bad. Who knows? The MTA used to do that regularly. Basically a good cop/bad cop budget.
ReplyDeleteBut we do know that they are still increasing the budget and have been doing so at an increased rate. As well as increasing other fees well above inflation. As I mentioned before, they’ve been using methods to obscure the impact felt by these increases like unequal increased assessments on newcomers to keep the mil rate relatively flat. This year they will be taking from the reserves, our city’s savings account, to cover an increase for just one year’s operating expenses. So, what happens next year? They’re just kicking these cans down the road to get past the next municipal election. The loose spending and increasing obligations being done today will be felt harder in the years to come.
Speaking of obligations. One time grants, like the one that created the Housing Justice Director position, end up costing the city money when we have to create positions and increase bureaucracy in perpetuity. This position has provided little to no value to the residents of Hudson. It’s merely an expensive virtual signal by the name of the position alone. And since being created from seed money from that grant, has been given an almost 3x raise and one of the highest paid positions on the city payroll, while also bringing on an extra consultant to help her do whatever it is that she does. I mean, who really knows? They can’t even update the Instagram they made for their department in nearly 5 months and have not posted anything on their section of the city’s website in over 2 years. All of these optics do not help the major ethical concerns around this position that everyone knows about but seems to look away from.
I understand that we have increased costs and employment obligations, but there are ballooning wasteful trends that need a closer look. I’m glad to hear the council is starting to look to the county to pay its fair share on things like the Youth Department, especially since our supervisors have been MIA for years.
I also agree with the council about the library referendum. If we allow everything to be budgeted from the ballot box we’d go bankrupt in one day. We elect representatives to appropriate from the legislative branch. How can we complain about taxes while voting to increase them. They have a point.
Thank you, Union Jack. I'm pretty sure the information wasn't leaked with the intention of softening the blow.
DeleteThe BEA has regularly taken money from the fund balance to balance a proposed budget. Fortunately, there is policy in place to control how much needs to be in the fund balance to ensure that the City is neither putting itself in fiscal jeopardy nor taking more from taxpayers than is necessary. Of course, that policy is self-imposed and could be altered at any time if the Common Council so chose.
I commend Margaret Morris for questioning the expectation that Hudson taxpayers should support an afterschool program at the Youth Center when it seems that 40 percent of the kids participating in that program do not live in Hudson. What Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon did not mention in her report was a comment by the mayor that he was happy to have his taxes go to this cause. The mayor, whose income is derived from Hudson taxpayers, is not himself a Hudson taxpayer, at least not when it comes to property taxes. Of course, renters are impacted by increases in property taxes, but the mayor is a tenant of an entity that regularly (and usually successfully) grieves its assessments in an effort to lower its contribution to the City's coffers.
Every house or apartment building that sits vacant for a year is supposed to be generating revenue for the city in the form of $1,000 the first year, $2,000 the second year and so on. This is laid out in CHAPTER 91 of THE HUDSON CITY CODE! It's not only a fair and just means of creating much needed revenue for the city (to squander), it's a critical means for the city to force negligent property owners to get their properties (often eyesores) removed from Craig Haigh's Vacant Building Registry and for the houses TO BE LIVED IN BY PEOPLE WHO PAY TAXES AND SPEND MONEY LOCALLY. It's one important step in creating a livable city and getting as far away as possible from Hudson's ugly past.
ReplyDeleteBut none of this EVER HAPPENS. I'm not saying that vacant houses never get fixed up and lived in, I'm saying that the city is failing to force owners to do what is right for all of us who live here. It's not difficult to spot these properties, just go for a short walk primarily north of Warren Street.
How much money do you suppose Galvan has paid to the city in the past 4 or 5 years for their two derelict properties at 618 State Street which have both been on the CEO's vacant buildings list for years and both been deemed Dangerous and Unsafe by the CEO for 4 or 5 years? (The Dangerous and Unsafe signs posted by Craig say NOTICE TO VACATE at the top, so of course the buildings are on the vacant buildings list!) How about Galvan's (aka "Hudson Collective Realty") disgraceful shithole at 336 State, also deemed DANGEROUS and UNSAFE by our code office years ago? How about not one penny paid to the city for all 3 of these rotting Galvan properties? How about not one hammer lifted in 5 years or more? But it's not just Galvan. There are several properties in town -- usually owned by people who don't live in Hudson and most of them disgraceful, unsafe eyesores we don't need -- that continue to be ignored and neglected year after year without any consequence, monetary or otherwise. Why is there even a vacant building registry list if it doesn't mean a goddam thing? Why is there even a Code or a Code officer if City Hall acts as if Chapter 91 of the code doesn't exist and we lose out on money daily while being constantly subjected to such wretched properties? How can the city raise taxes while at the same time ignore chapter 91 of the city code year after year after year? It makes no sen$e! "Gee, why are we short again this year?"
I don't think that Hudson City Hall is penny wise and pound foolish. They are completely foolish, period. All the effort being made to site parking kiosks all over town and bring our parking system into the 21st century while someone can let their shit DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE EYESORE property rot for years or decades and not pay one penny to the city for doing so? GMAFB!
The Housing Justice Director is the mayor’s girlfriend. The mayor gets the council president to agree to the HJD’s ludicrous salary. One must assume the council president gets something for his agreement. Meanwhile, as Union Jack points out, the city has gotten not one affordable apartment approved let alone built. Instead, the city through its laughably amateurish and blatantly obstructionist Planning Board, does everything in its power (and lots of things beyond its power) to stymie market rate developments which, by their existence, would put downward pressure on rental prices in the city.
ReplyDeleteShe’s also his direct report. This wouldn’t be allowed at Taco Bell, and this involves the public funds and trust. It also leaves the city with a major lawsuit liability if things go south.
DeleteI don’t see the potential liability on the city’s part here.
DeleteThere have been several notable cases where former employees have filed lawsuits involving romantic relationships with their bosses, often focusing on issues like harassment, wrongful termination, discrimination, and retaliation. Here are a few examples:
Delete1. Lisa McNeal v. BDO USA LLP (2017) – McNeal, a former administrative assistant, sued her former employer BDO USA LLP, a consulting firm, alleging sexual harassment and retaliation after she ended a romantic relationship with a senior executive. She claimed that after the breakup, she faced workplace harassment and unfair treatment, which ultimately led to her termination.
2. Tracie Fisher v. EXCO Resources, Inc. (2014) – Tracie Fisher, a former executive assistant, sued EXCO Resources, an oil and gas company, claiming that she was sexually harassed by her boss, who allegedly coerced her into a romantic relationship. She argued that when she tried to end the relationship, she faced retaliation and was ultimately terminated.
3. Jennifer C. v. L’Oreal USA, Inc. (2015) – In this case, a former L’Oreal executive assistant sued the company and her boss, alleging that she was coerced into a romantic relationship with her supervisor. She claimed that her boss manipulated her into the relationship and then retaliated against her when she attempted to distance herself, which led to her resignation.
4. Katherine Smith v. Spherion Atlantic Enterprises LLC (2006) – Smith, a former employee of a staffing company, alleged that she had a romantic relationship with her boss, which she ended after realizing the negative impact on her career. She filed a lawsuit alleging that she faced retaliation after the breakup, including changes in her job responsibilities and eventual termination.
5. Ashley Alford v. Aaron’s Inc. (2011) – Although this case involved sexual harassment rather than a consensual romantic relationship, it’s relevant because it highlights the power imbalance in workplace relationships. Alford sued her employer, Aaron’s Inc., after her boss allegedly harassed her and retaliated when she tried to stop it. She won a significant settlement.
Each case varies significantly based on the specific allegations, whether the relationship was consensual, and how employers handled the relationship’s impact on workplace dynamics. In many situations, employees allege retaliation, wrongful termination, or discrimination after ending a relationship with a superior.
Those are all claims against private companies. In a private company, there's a hierarchical leadership. In a NYS municipal corporation such as Hudson, there are a constitutional separation of powers. So the only "boss" a mayor has are the voters. The legislature can't impeach the mayor. It can "censure" him or her -- that is, pass a meaningless resolution -- but it can't stop or otherwise dissuade the head of a co-equal branch from doing anything. So I'm a bit at a loss to understand how liability for such a municipality arises when there's nothing the municipality can do. Can a mayoral aide who feels harrassed or retaliated against sue? Of course. Anyone can sue anyone or anything for anything (if they've the cash to bring the claim). But claims are dismissed all the time and, as a general rule, the law is loathe to find fault where no action could or couldn't be taken that would avoid or forestall a negative outcome (such as harassment, etc.). And, as a final note, all mayoral appointments serve at the pleasure of the appointer. That's pretty wide latitude.
DeleteNow, can the affected appointee sue the mayor in his or her personal capacity? Of course -- and that's where the liability certainly lies in these cases.
So, to recap:
ReplyDelete👑 Hudson has boosted the Mayor's salary to near six figures, then introduced a queenly-paid Housing Justice Director at the same rate of pay. And there is a Mayor's Aide at a princely $50k plus for a town of 5,000… that got by for decades with only an unpaid Mayor.
🚌 Meanwhile, despite a hefty $50 million school budget and a plethora of youth-focused nonprofits, the city has upped the Youth Center's funding—curiously for 'youth' largely non-resident in Hudson.
🚓 Concurrently, funding cuts have forced our Police Chief to seek federal grants just to staff a full contingent… and this is before the Mayor's proposed housing projects on Mill Street and Bliss increase the town's population by 10-20%.
🍒 And the cherry on top?
🗑️ A hike in the price of city trash bags by 50 cents, while parking fees on Warren Street have doubled, and municipal lots tripled.
~
⚖️ It appears Hudson is enriching its top brass and bolstering _selective_ services for some, all while skimping on _essential_ services for ALL.
🤔 Someone is not reading the national mood or room…
If you want to be angry and inaccurate continue on, but if you want to be objective you cannot say that the HPD is being cut and the Youth Department is getting a budget increase. They both are having their budgets increased but short of what they asked for. Up to you how you conduct your criticism but for people who looked at the budget this comment seems dishonest.
DeleteHi Henry!
DeleteNot angry, and not inaccurate.
🤡 Mainly excited for whoever first sells this as a mockumentary and hoping they would endow some amazing parades on Warren Street. 😉
🎥 Looking at you Hudson Wail and Mark Allen…
So if you read the Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon news story linked in the Gossips post, it mentions that HPD requested an increase for 3 officers, but only got 1. And that HPD will now have to apply for federal funds.
The story says the Youth Center budget increased by roughly the same % (5.13% vs. 6.18% for HPD) but is silent on the requested budget increase vs. actual budget allocated. The story then goes on to explain some issue around 40% of the youth served being non-resident. And mentions that the Youth Center staff have now unionized.
❓ Could you please share with us how much the Youth Center requested this year, and how much it received?
❓ Do you perhaps know what % of the Hudson Library is funded with tax dollars vs. private donations? Before and after this tax petition/referendum, which was not supported by the Mayor we should add…
You seem to be close to it so any and all facts would be great. Let's get the EXACT ratio of requested to actual budget and then look at that together, shall we?
~
📈 Regardless, my broader point is that services that benefit ALL citizens (Police, libraries, trash pick-up etc.) seem to not get their requested budget, have to petition for reasonable funding and have private fundraisers every year to make ends meet, or are increasing in price, respectively.
~
🚨 Also… why are we paying the Mayor and Mayor's Aide roughly $150k combined?
Kinderhook, Ghent, Claverack have roughly the same population size as Hudson but their mayors/supervisors get ~ $25k honorariums.
💡 Why don't we cut the mayor's salary and give every household 1 free blue bag per week?
Sounds like the Keysers need to find more jobs for family members at HPD. Our police dept is their family business. Rick/Gary
Delete@friendly Immigrant don't know if they have put out how much the agencies requested so I'm working off of the same articles you are quoting to me and the video of the meeting, But if you call a budget increase that falls short of what was requested a cut in one sentence and an increase in the next based on what you think of the departments, that is dishonest no?
DeleteHi Henry -
DeleteI did not do a line by line analysis yet on this draft budget (stay tuned...) and I am very happy to amend/edit my high-level comment above to say that BOTH the Youth Center, AND the Police Departments may have their budgets increased by 5-6%. Voila, happy to do so!
Spoiler alert; the Youth Center had one of the smallest ask/get spreads of all the Departments and HPD one of the largest.
Greater precision is always welcomed. Thank you!
But that mainly rhetorical and directional edit does not change the underlying facts and trends:
1️⃣ The Mayor and Common Council President claims to "not raise taxes" but they have only ever raised taxes.
2️⃣ They are now also taking "$800,000 ... from the fund balance" to pay for their expenditures without raising the taxes to reflect the true increase in expenditures.
3️⃣ The Mayor himself gets paid $85k while other similarly sized town leaders get 1/4 of that, and none of them have a $50k plus Mayor's Aide.
4️⃣ Hudson residents also have to support the Hudson Library out of their own pocket, pay for their own trash pick-up, and now HPD has to apply for outside grants.
5️⃣ Hudson's population have stayed largely the same over the last decade, but somehow the cost of the Youth Center and the Mayor's Office more than tripled...
💡 Perhaps the solution to Hudson's affordability crisis lies not in showering Universal Basic Income on a select few, subsidizing housing for others, or providing employment for the politically connected.
Instead, it may be as straightforward as lowering the tax rate for ALL residents.
Henry - rather than quibble semantics... what do you think is the best and worst use of taxes in this budget?
If you were Mayor, where would you spend more or less tax💰?
FNI, to be fair in comparison, since Hudson is incorporated as a city, our mayor is the chief executive of Hudson and has responsibility over all the departments. The other towns in the county have boards and supervisors that manage the responsibility along with the county. The mayor of a village is basically a ceremonial role. Current mayor notwithstanding, I think we should offer a salary that attracts talent so that someone qualified could do it full time and get by. And I would pay double that for a qualified city manager
DeleteIt’s not really semantics, cut versus increase is fairly binary. You wouldn't want me as mayor I’m irritable and would rule the town like my personal fiefdom with black sites and a subservient director of the interior to quash dissent. We will have to settle for being transparent and objective in our criticisms of the leaders we have.
DeleteThe first thing they need to do is a proper assessment of property values. We purchased in the Historic District over a year ago and when we got our new assessment because the property had changed hands it had gone up 150%. After doing some research our little house was assessed more than million homes including a 6 unit, newly renovated apartment building on Allen (Our Assessment was 100k over that million dollar apartment building). We decided to attend the grievance hearing and present our case since they pulled the value directly off of Zillow (insane) and is was completely out of line with other similar properties. We presented to the board and they seemed in complete agreement that it was out of line, but when we got the revised assessment it was just a few thousand less, still higher than more valuable properties. We contacted the assessors office and she was completely unhelpful. She could not or would not provide how they came up with the value. Nor, could she explain why other properties of greater value were assessed for less. I explained that there must be a formula, or you would open yourself up for discrimination or favoritism cases. She actually send a photo of the before and after renovation photo and said "Maybe this is why?" I gave up and have filed a lawsuit against the city. Turns out there are about 30 of these cases. The trouble to live in Hudson between approval boards, tax offices, etc. really makes us reconsider our decision and it likely we will sell and move. The only saving grace has been Craig in the Code Office. If properties were accessed properly, you wouldn't need a tax increase.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteA footnote to Union Jack: In a comment submitted recently, Dorothy Heyl, wife of Tom DePietro, made it known that she has resigned from the BAR (Board of Assessment Review). I just checked the city website, and it appears that the BAR, which is supposed to have three members, now has only one.
DeleteThanks for the update and footnote.
DeleteAfter LuckyDogs comment about all the assessment lawsuits currently filed against the city, I looked up all the cases in Columbia County Supreme Court where the city is a defendant. And yes, there are several ongoing assessment disputes. But interestingly enough there are a handful of personal injury lawsuits over sidewalk accidents. People are adding the City to the lawsuits because of negligent enforcement. This was something that I feared when this recent sidewalk district law was passed. If the city assumes responsibility from property owners, they could possibly be held liable.
DeleteOne case in particular is very interesting. A person who fell last year on the notorious stretch of sidewalk on the 5th street side of the vacant lot on Warren St, the one owned by Galvan, is suing both Galvan (as the owner) and the City (lack of enforcement). But also, Galvan is suing back and adding a third party, the Yummy Food Truck, for creating a nusince on the sidewalk, and the City, for not enforcing vendor laws around the truck. Wild!
I remember I had randomly come across that lawsuit last year for some reason. I believe that defendant had also sued 420 Warren LLC in 2019 for negligence to maintain safe conditions and that got eventually settled out of court.
DeleteI guess that person has a propensity towards slipping and falling. Thus afflicted, Hudson's a dangerous place to live in.
Your fear is well-founded. Under NY municipal law, a locality is only liable for dangerous conditions it's aware of (burden of proof on complainant to show actual notice). Given that the City commissioned a sidewalk study and officially received it, that burden is obviated. Ergo, without showing anything more, any injured pedestrian has a clear path to the City's insurance carrier and, if that coverage is already consumed, then to the treasury. And the City put itself against the wall: by adopting the sidewalk statute, it sent a clear message to property owners that they'd be making an expensive gamble to replace or upgrade their sidewalks given that the City was going to hit them with surcharge and might still replace their work.
DeleteOnce again, the taxpayers of Hudson -- property owners and their tenants -- are treated like the teats on a cow by an amateur administration and unled Council. The time to remedy this dysfunctional, overly and overtly political and do-nothing form of government has clearly arrived. Charter change is the only solution that can prevent a recurrence of such a confluence of ineffectiveness.
The counter-claims are by Galvan are harder to prove or make meaningful (though I've not read the answer/cross-complaint). I look forward to doing so, however, as I'd love to know how the food truck, even if it constitutes or creates a nuisance, has anything to do with the fact that Galvan ignores its responsibilities as a property owner including as to its sidewalks, even before the new sidewalk statute was adopted.
Hello Union Jack, the assessor Cheryl Kaszluga. I normally brush off nasty comments about myself, but where I draw the line, is when you spread nasty lies regarding the way I do my job. To publish that I stated that I was told to only increase sales is a blatant lie. I would like you to remove that statement asap. There isn't a person in city hall or any other municipality, that tells me how to do my job. Yes, I increase assessments, as I should with good reason. You spoke of (welcome stranger) you are correct, UNLESS there was improvement to the property that was either done without a permit or the assessor was not aware of the change. How fair would it be to the neighbor that owns a home that had never been updated for many years and the home next door had a complete renovation done with an assessment of 350,000 and sold for over 1 million. As for increasing the assessment to the sale price, another lie, I will use the equalization rate to guide my assessment increase which is legal. If you look at every municipality in the county you will see how far the equalization rates have dropped since covid. I work in five municipalities in two counties and its the same story regarding high sale prices. The state looks at the assessment from the previous July, to determine if we are assessing at market value. Reassessments cost money and if the supervisors or the mayor are not on board, the assessor has no recourse but to try and keep an equitable assessment roll. Two of my towns are at 100% and two others are looking into doing a reassessment in the very near future. You also mentioned trending, yes trending is a great tool, in the correct municipality. Since Covid, I did a trend in another municipality for the last four years, 4% in 2021, 17% 2022, 13% 2023 and 6% in 2024. This only works when the assessments are not far off from market value. Still waiting to hear from the state for 2025. As for the ignorant remark about computers, that is when I realized I probably have never even spoken to you about assessments or anything else for that matter. I admit, sometimes when I'm stressed with all my jobs, I like to read the comments on the yahoo stories that were made from bullies like you, it gives me a good laugh and they can be very amusing. Lastly, I probably have ONE of the most difficult job there is. When the housing prices are through the roof, and taxes are high, assessors take the heat for it all! Hi Carole, as for BAR members, I am hoping to keep Phil on for another term, he is one of the best I have ever worked with and extremely knowledgeable of how it all works. We also brought on Holly who worked out very well last year. Her and Phil worked great together. With a board of three, we are looking for one more. Its a very difficult position to fill.
DeleteThank you Union Jack for that information. I have emailed a copy of this post and your comments to my attorney for review. I am not surprised they are breaking the law, but disappointed. It is my first home, we saved several years for the down payment. We didn't purchase it with an inheritance or gift from our parents, nor do we have more that one residence. I refuse to allow the obviously corrupt and dishonest Hudson government to take advantage of us and will continue forward on this matter. It seems like the review board, the tax assessor and the mayor are all breaking the law, therefore making them criminals. I am grateful for your comment.
ReplyDeleteI would’t go as far as saying “criminal.” Since it’s more about not following the guidance of state administration code. It would also be almost impossible to prove any “conspiracy” since intent would be mostly speculation and gossip. The truth lies in the numbers and data. Follow your lawyers advice and don’t expect anything near swift justice. Best of luck
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ReplyDeleteHi @ Union Jack -
re: Your comment about Hudson as an incorporated city vs. a town
1️⃣ - love your nom de plume 🇬🇧, and you make a fair observation so allow me to share some thoughts.
Happy to discuss this over a flat white in person, Union Jack.
🤝 And Mayor Kamal, I have emailed you to share these observations so that you hear from me directly. Feel free to respond here in the comments, via email, or in person. You have my cell. Please correct me if I have any numbers wrong or if I misunderstand anything.
2️⃣ - We created this problem:
The CITY of Hudson might be slightly more complex (legally and technically) than the VILLAGE of Kinderhook or Claverack, agreed Union Jack, but only because we make the City more complex and political by growing the number of career politicians, committees, and departments.
3️⃣ - What changed?
Hudson was roughly the same size and same complexity when Rick Rector, Tiffany Martin, Bill Hallenbeck, and Rick Scalera served as mayors over the last 20 years.
They were not paid $85k plus benefits and the town was, by all accounts, less divided and frustrated. And they certainly did not have a $20m budget for 5000 people.
📈 At some point the Mayor of Hudson's role was an unpaid labor of love, then they added a Mayor's Aide because the Mayor had a real full-time job, then it became a part-time job with a small honorarium, then the honorarium grew to become a salary… and now it is a full-time role... ostensibly? What's next a $100k salary and a City subsidized car to drive to Albany?
🗳️ Did the residents vote on this? Who decided that the Mayor's salary should increase?
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ReplyDelete4️⃣ - City Manager (City Charter Reform) is the solution:
I agree with you 🇬🇧... A great City Manager (within a "Council-Manager" system) selected based on merit, is certainly worth the investment.
This professional can enhance efficiency and strive towards achieving objective Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) set by a small, democratically elected council from each Ward. Imagine the caliber of a competent operational leader we could secure by reallocating the salaries of the Mayor and the Mayor's Aide to hire someone focused solely on administering the city, rather than engaging in politics or running for statewide office, as reported by the Daily Gazette in September.
Also, spare a thought and a hug for the Mayor, and all previous mayors of Hudson. The mayor is in a very tough spot having promised everything to everyone. He has not run a small or large organization before this, and he did not design the century old City Charter that incentivizes politics and diffuses responsibility.
Kamal, if you are still reading this I will buy you and your friends a beer at Governor's Tavern (under $75 as per code) to say thank you for your service.
A reasonable person could argue that it is unfair to put anyone in the position of powerless mayor in a town that is too big, complex, and opinionated to be a neighborhood, and too small and poor to justify so many full-time leaders.
5️⃣ The real cost = Hidden Costs, and Opportunity Costs:
Of course the real cost of an inexperienced and untrained employee, whether an intern, executive, professor, or Mayor is not their direct salary and benefits…. but the opportunity cost and unchecked knock-on costs that they bring with them.
😇 Inversely, good employees solve problems for residents and save tax dollars.
🦸♀️ And City Hall has many unsung heroes, civil servants, who actually do the work, and do it well.
Mayor Kamal might cost us $85k in salary….
🅰️ - but then his decisions costs us more than $200,000 for a flawed and biased "Community Survey" / Comprehensive Plan with an expensive national firm (Public Works Partners) that only rubber stamps a pre-determined opinion. It is like a Fortune 500 CEO hiring McKinsey & Co to complete a "study" when the decisions have already been made.
Read more here:
https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2024/05/a-tale-of-two-municipalities.html#comment-form
Hudson paid roughly $500 per survey respondent, in a town where the median household income is $46k per year.**
[This is KamalA level expenditures…. 😉 Too soon? Sorry, but you get the point.]
We could have paid for a Citizen Assembly (Go Peter Spear, you handsome legend 🔱 ), we could have had Council Members lead quarterly coffee chats ☕️ and office hours with their constituents in every ward and spent that $200k on local businesses and created the context and opportunity for face to face meetings and dialogue.
Hell, we could have fixed some sidewalks… speaking of…
🅱️ - the Mayor's decisions costs us millions when he appoints inexperienced and highly conflicted people (e.g. the Planning Board Chair) who then makes preventable mistakes that will embroil the City in Article 78 proceedings and civil litigations for a decade (Mill Street etc.). Not to mention the private investors who turn away from Hudson because of this dysfunction.
🚨 Or simply see your own comment below about the 5th Street / Food Truck / Hudson Sidewalk / Galvan property personal injury lawsuit. I did not read that complaint yet but taking only your summary at face value… a tax paying resident injured and harmed, lawsuits, costs and drama… whose job is it, if not the Mayor's, to identify and prevent these issues?
🇺🇸 Where does the buck stop?
-------------------------
References:
** https://datausa.io/profile/geo/hudson-ny
Thank you to everyone who is calling/emailing me with gratitude and support for these longer comment/opinions.
ReplyDeleteLater when time allows we will ship a proper Substack at www.HudsonCommonSense.com.
It will be free and monthly with many voices.
But all credit goes to Carole / Gossips who do the hard work of reporting and understanding all of this.
Without her tireless work, and linking to all the source documents, it would be impossible to understand the town.