Where We Are Now

At the Common Council meeting on Tuesday, the Council unanimously passed a resolution denouncing "hate crimes and hate incidents in the City of Hudson." The resolution contains some disturbing statistics. The following is quoted from the resolution:

. . . incidents of hate crimes, which involve acts and speech motivated by a victim’s race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion or other protected characteristic, in New York State have been increasing over the last five years, with a increase of 12.7 percent reported in 2023 alone and a 69% increase since 2019; . . . between 2018 and 2023, anti-gay male incidents rose by 141% with hate crimes against transgender New Yorkers rising by 140%, and hate crimes against Jewish and Muslin New Yorkers rose by 89% and 106% respectively; . . . the number of anti-Asian incidents remains 11 times higher than those reported in 2019 with hate crimes motivated by race, ethnicity, and ancestry compromising 52.5% of all hate crime incidents nationally in 2023; . . . between 2018 and 2022 the number of hate crimes involving serious assault increased by 122% across the State of New York with simple assaults increasing by 139% and property damage incidents accounting for 45% of hate crimes in 2022. . . .

The resolution also contains this information:

. . . in response to the increase in hate crimes and hate incidents, New York State launched a new hotline (844-NO-2-HATE) and website (https://forms.ny.gov/s3/DHR-Bias-Incident-Form) to report hate crime incidents. . . .

The entire resolution can be found here.

Also at the Council meeting on Tuesday, a law was introduced that would make interference and harassment of any city officer a Class B misdemeanor. The proposed law, which can be found here, describes harassment as "strikes, shoves, kicks, or otherwise subjects a City Officer, Code Enforcement Officer, or Building Inspector to physical contact or attempts or threatens to do the same." Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon has an article about the proposed law in today's Register-Star: "Hudson Council considering law against harassment of city officials." In the article, Council president Tom DePietro is quoted at length about the need for this law. It's hard not to be reminded of an incident that took place back in 2019, when DePietro, then as now the president of the Common Council, grabbed a constituent at the top of a staircase and shoved him against a wall. 

The incident was captured on video and reported about by Roger Hannigan Gilson: "Video: Hudson Council President Grabs, Shoves Man Outside City Meeting." 

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