Photo: Will Waldron | Times Union |
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Of Interest
A New Chapter for Ockawamick
Ockawamick School in 2008 |
In a spirit of cooperation, six midsize art galleries are extending their reach beyond Manhattan with the purchase of a sprawling abandoned school in Columbia County, N.Y., that will be inaugurated as a new exhibition platform called the Campus on June 29.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Affordable Housing Elsewhere
Photo: Dave Lucas | WAMC |
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead
- On Tuesday, May 7, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Wednesday, May 8, the Housing Trust Fund Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Thursday, May 9, at 6:00 p.m., Susan Stessin-Cohn speaks about her more than twenty years of research into the history of slavery in the Hudson Valley and the second edition of her book In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831. The event takes place in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 501 North Fifth Street. Click here for more information.
- On Friday, May 10, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
This Week at the Library
In
addition to the reproduction and transcription of 774 archival newspaper
notices for runaways from Hudson Valley enslavers, In Defiance also includes
notices advertising runaways captured and enslaved persons for
sale, notices offering to purchase enslaved persons, and selected runaway
notices from outside the Hudson River Valley region. Nine tables analyze the
data in the 774 notices for runaways from Hudson Valley enslavers. The book also includes a glossary, indexes of names, locations, and subjects, thirty-six illustrations, and five maps from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Following the presentation on Thursday, Stessin-Cohn will be on hand to meet and answer questions and to autograph copies of In Defiance. Books will be available for sale courtesy of Spotty Dog Books & Ale.
Friday, May 3, 2024
A Tale of Two Municipalities
As much as we need a professional firm, they cannot do their job effectively without input from local residents. Our town planning and zoning boards know best what issues are challenging our town.
We have planned a joint workshop for April 30th at 6 pm at our town hall. This is an open meeting where I look to gather ideas from all involved. Those ideas can become goals for either a grant application or direction for a professional firm to guide us through this process. Please come and discuss your perceived challenges that could help guide Stuyvesant for years to come!
Residents of Hudson are asked to complete a Community Preference Survey to provide their input for the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
The City of Hudson is actively developing an updated Comprehensive plan to guide its future land use and legislative priorities. The Plan will focus on all aspects of the City's future, including housing transportation, parks, economic development, and urban design, among other areas.
To ensure the Plan accurately reflects the community's priorities, Hudson residents will be engaged throughout 2024 and early 2025 through community meetings, surveys, and visioning sessions. Public Works Partners and SLR Consulting will assist the City of Hudson throughout the planning process.
The survey can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/hudson2035.
PURPOSE of the COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The City's existing Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2002, is no longer reflective of the challenges and opportunities faced by the City. From the rise of short-term rentals to the expanded possibility of remote work for many jobs, the context that guides Hudson's land use priorities changed in the years since the previous plan's adoption. As a result of these changes, the City's demographics, key industries, and cost of living have affected residents--some benefitting, but others facing housing and employment challenges. An updated Comprehensive Plan, led by a community driven process, will ensure that land use decisions are aligned with the City's current needs and priorities.
COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING PROCESS
The Comprehensive Planning Process is an iterative process that begins with an analysis of existing conditions in Hudson, then seeks community input and feedback based on this analysis to craft a vision and goals for the future. Over the next year, the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan will be shaped by the public engagement process, input from City boards and stakeholders, and insight and feedback from the Steering Committee.
The general timeline looks like:
- Jan-Mar 2024: Existing Conditions analysis and Steering Committee development
- May 2024: Community preference Survey Launches
- Late May/Early June 2024: Community Vision Workshop I
- Summer 2024: Community Vision Workshop II
- December 2024: Community Vision Workshop III
- February 2025: Draft Recommendation
- April 2025: Final Comprehensive Plan
STEERING COMMITTEE
A Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee of Hudson residents will volunteer their local expertise and vision throughout the planning process. Committee members will help ensure that engagement activities reach a diverse array of Hudson residents, provide feedback on early iterations of the Draft Comprehensive Plan, and contribute input at every stage of the project. Steering Committee members include:
- Alex Elmasri
- Alex Petraglia
- Javed Iqbal
- Jayden Cross
- Jess Wallen
- Joshua Cohen
- Kali Michael
- Kim Hunt
- Liza Dolan
- Pat Molly
- Piper Olf
- Shaina Marron
- Sonja Okun
HOW TO STAY ENGAGED
The project seeks to develop a consensus-based vision and goals for Hudson’s future through a robust and accessible engagement process. Opportunities for residents to contribute to the City’s future will include:
- In-person Community Visioning Workshops
- Virtual Focus Group Sessions
- Community Preference Survey
We will be hosting the first Community Visioning Workshop later this spring, so stay tuned for the event details. You can also sign up for updates regarding events related to the Comprehensive Plan here:
https://www.hudsonny.gov/business/comprehensive_plan/index.php
Thursday, May 2, 2024
May Is Historic Preservation Month
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
On the First Day of May
On the list this year is a historic place near and dear to us here in Hudson: the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. Here's what the announcement had to say about our lighthouse:
Opened in 1874, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse used to be one of several "middle-of-the-river" lighthouses on the Hudson River. Now it's one of only two left standing. The lighthouse was built to guide vessels around a shallow area in the river near Athens and Hudson, New York, and continues to serve as a navigation aid today, helping commercial and leisure mariners safely navigate this portion of the Hudson River. It is also open to the public as a museum, welcoming visitors and schoolchildren to learn about the lightkeepers and their families who lived in the building up until the 1940s.
However, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse may not stand for much longer. Erosion caused by ever larger and deeper commercial ships traveling the Hudson River, as well as ice floes, tides, and currents, has significantly damaged the 200 underwater wood pilings that support the lighthouse, and engineering reports indicate the building is at risk of collapse within three years if no action is taken. Preservation challenges only compound as roof leaks cause plaster damage, shifting causes facade cracks, metal gutters and railings rust, and timbers supporting the fog bell are weakened by rot. An estimated $7.5 million in funding is needed to stabilize the pilings and address preservation needs.
Since 1982, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society has worked to preserve the lighthouse and operate its museum. They have begun a campaign to raise funding to restore the lighthouse and install an underwater steel curtain which would keep it from collapsing into the river. Significant additional funding and partnerships will be needed to protect this iconic beacon on one of America's great rivers.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
The Outcome of Last Night's Meeting
WHEREAS, the Hudson Housing Authority agrees to hold future public meetings concerning the design of this project and will remain in communication with the Common Council by appearing regularly with updates at Council meetings.
The resolution we are voting on is to approve an application for Restore NY grant money for the demolition of Bliss towers. This is part of a larger project to build replacement housing for Bliss Towers, and then to demolish Bliss Towers and build additional housing on the site. The project as presented to us at the regular meeting of the Common Council expands the public housing capacity from 135 units--104 of which are currently occupied--to 315. Placing this volume of public housing in one location is not consistent with the Strategic Housing Action Plan, which specifically speaks to locating affordable housing in multiple locations within the city, rather then concentrating them in one location.
Restore NY guidelines state:
Projects should be architecturally consistent with nearby and adjacent properties or in a manner consistent with the municipality’s local revitalization or urban development plan.
It is further anticipated that the improved community and business climate will result in an increased tax and resource base thereby improving the municipal finances.
What was presented to us at the Common Council does not meet these criteria.
Additionally, the building categories listed by Restore NY are vacant, abandoned, surplus, and condemned.
Currently Bliss Towers does not fit into any of those categories.
Priority is given to projects based on feasibility and readiness. To quote: "Applicants that can demonstrate that plans are in place, project financing has been committed, and that the project is expected to start within a year of a Restore NY award will be considered more competitive”
The demolition of Bliss Towers will not begin within one year. We have been told that this application is only for demolition, so the demolition of Bliss IS the project.
Further, the application requires submission of a Project Proposal which we have not seen. Nor have we seen any analysis of the financial impact on the municipality as a whole.
The application also requires evidence of public hearings which have not yet occurred.
Given the dearth of information provided to the Common Council, I do not believe that voting to approve an unseen application for a component of a project that has not undergone input from the community at large is responsible or in the best interest of the city.
Finally, given how this demolition project appears to meet few of the criteria for Restore NY, what is the urgency? It is my belief that a vote in favor of this resolution will be used as a signal to future investors and to the State that the residents of Hudson are in favor of the overall project--a project, mind you, that has not been presented to them. Almost all of the comments I have received have urged me to vote no on this resolution. That is how I will be voting this evening.
Monday, April 29, 2024
Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead
- On Tuesday, April 30, Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 4:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- Also on Tuesday, April 30, Jennifer Belton and Rich Volo, councilmembers representing the Fourth Ward, hold a Town Hall meeting for their constituents from 6:15 to 8:00 p.m. in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street.
- On Wednesday, May 1, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 10:30 a.m. It is expected that the hotel proposed for 620 Union Street, which was granted a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) and other tax abatements in 2020, will reappear before the IDA at this meeting. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at 1 City Centre, Suite 301, and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- Also on Wednesday, May 1, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda is available for the meeting, but at its April meeting the committee discussed amendments to the city's vacancy law and its law prohibiting formula businesses. It is likely this discussion will continue. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Thursday, May 2, the Common Council ad hoc Truck Route Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. At the special meeting of the Common Council on Thursday, April 24, the Council passed a resolution authorizing an agreement with The Transatlantic Group to do falling weight deflectometer testing to determine the load-carrying capacity of our streets. The testing is expected to cost $32,640, which will be paid for with what remains of the $100,000 grant received in 2019 for the origin and destination truck study that was completed in 2021. The proposed testing will likely be a topic of discussion. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
Be Careful What You Ask For
I think throwing a massive housing development into the public sphere, without taking responsibility for helping the community understand it, is irresponsible.
I don't think it's enough to claim that housing leadership has done its job simply by having its regular operating meetings open to the public.
This transfer of responsibility of comprehension onto the recipient of this proposal is unkind and counterproductive.
Hudson Housing Authority has proposed a 300+ apartment project where Bliss Towers now stands.
But the residents of Hudson and the Hudson Common Council have little information about the project, other than than cost of $700K for each unit. We have seen no design for the buildings themselves, only a street map, and there has been no study of the actual impacts on our city.
- The seventh Whereas has been changed from "the City of Hudson is requesting $2,000,000 in funding assistance from the Restore NY Communities Initiatives Program to support this redevelopment" to "the City of Hudson is requesting $2,000,000 in funding assistance from the Restore NY Communities Initiatives Program to support for [sic] the demolition of Bliss Towers."
- Also, a twelfth Whereas has been added to the resolution: "Whereas, the HHA agrees to hold future public meetings concerning the design of this project and will remain in communication with the Common Council by appearing regularly with updates at Council meetings."
Sunday, April 28, 2024
Auspicious Beginnings
Sidewalk Update
- Annual maintenance fees will not be charged to property owners until 2025. May is the deadline for adding those fees to the annual property tax bill, and there isn't enough time to calculate the fees before the deadline this year. The annual fee for most residential property owners will be $200.
- The first focus for sidewalk repair and replacement will be the sidewalks between key areas of service which were the subject of a sidewalk audit done in October 2020. (That study can be found here.) Those sidewalks are;
- Warren Street from Third Street to Seventh Street
- Seventh Street from Union to Washington Street
- North Fifth Street from Warren Street to Prospect Street
- North Sixth Street from Warren Street to Prospect Street
- South Third Street from Union Street to Warren Street
It was originally estimated that repairs to these sidewalks would cost $5.5 million. In 2022, the City requested $5 million in Congressionally Directed Funds (CDF) to make the repairs to these sidewalks, but the request was not granted.
- The DRI-funded Hudson Connects project, about which the public has heard nothing for a few years now, will address sidewalk repair on Warren Street below Second Street, but Allen, Union, and State streets below Second have been eliminated from the project. What the project actually looks like at this point, after it has been, as Council president Tom DePietro said, "condensed, condensed, condensed," is not known, but that's another story.
Thursday, April 25, 2024
The Evolution of the "Depot District"
If at First You Don't Succeed . . .
- Tom DePietro councilpres@cityofhudson.org
- Gary Purnhagen (First Ward) gary.purnhagen@cityofhudson.org
- Margaret Morris (First Ward) margaret.morris@cityofhudson.org
- Mohammed Rony (Second Ward) mohammed.rony@cityofhudson.org
- Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward) dewan.sarowar@cityofhudson.org
- Lola Roberts (Third Ward) lola.roberts@cityofhudson.org
- Shershah Mizan (Third Ward) shershah.mizan@cityofhudson.org
- Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) jennifer.belton@cityofhudson.org
- Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) rich.volo@cityofhudson.org
- Vicky Daskaloudi (Fifth Ward) vicky.daskaloudi@cityofhudson.org
- Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) dominic.merante@cityofhudson.org