Last night, I did not attend the public gathering to discuss the charter change being proposed, even though I encouraged my readers to do so. I wasn't there because my dog Freddy is suffering from old dog vestibular disease, and I needed to stay home with him. The meeting was well attended, as evidenced by the pictures below, provided to Gossips by HudsonCharterChange.com.
Tiffany Greenwaldt-Simon was there, and her report on the meeting will eventually appear in the Register-Star. When it does, I will link to it. A video was made of the meeting, and when that becomes available, I will provide the link to that as well.
Hope Freddy is feeling better. Dogs are properly more important than politics.
ReplyDeleteDiverse meeting. Makes you wonder about the outreach.
ReplyDeleteThe only group that was conspicuously absent was the mayor and his cheerleaders. He didn't even send his aide which I guess tells you a lot about his view on civic participation.
DeleteThat's the only group, huh?
DeleteWhat group did you identify and thought was missing?
DeleteHow many non-white folks did you see (who weren't reporters)?
DeleteI guess the mayor would count as non-white folk. Did you know that he got a personal invite to the event?
DeleteDid he show up? Did he pass it on to his people?
"His people"?
DeleteJFerris215, correct. His people are the ones that graduated from Hudson Sr. High School, just as he did. That's the majority of his base.
DeleteA number of them happen to be non-white, but not all of them.
I get that people in these comments like to make everything about the mayor, but my observation and question don't have anything to do with him.
DeleteI'll be specific: in a city whose population is 1/3 black and Latino, I'm asking what the outreach about this proposal to those communities looked like, given the underrepresentation in the room. If it's "we invited the mayor, we assumed he would tell his POC people", as Tassilo suggests, then that's a problem.
I'll state it again, this time more clearly: Invites were sent out to every member of the Common Council, every Ward Supervisor, the Mayor and the Common Council President.
DeleteI am of the opinion that these officials have the ex-officio responsibility to pass this on to the voters they represent. Some did, others didn't. Some decided to show up in person, others didn't.
Ignoring offerings like these is to the detriment of everyone. The organizers of course would have liked to see members of other communities at the meeting. But blaming the outreach is unfair because it now places judgement over whether it was done well or poorly firmly at those that decided not to show up.
They didn't show up not because they weren't invited or because they didn't know about it. They didn't show up because in their eyes it discredits the initiative.
It doesn't. All it achieves is that they remain uninformed and unheard.
Hi Native Son -
DeleteI am curious... do you only care about racial diversity?
I notice you mainly query one particular Immutable Trait (race) and not age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc.
You also don't highlight or query Mutable Traits (education, religion, nationality, language, occupation etc.).
That is of course totally your right and your decision. But I am curious, if you care mainly about racial composition….
- have you queried the racial composition of the leadership of the Friends of 7th Street Park?
- have you queried the racial composition of the "youth" served by the Hudson Youth Center?
Neither are representative of the communities they serve but I am sure they try...
~
Of course everyone was invited to last week's event, and of course the Charter Reform group reached out to everyone they could, and will do so even more.
Of course the room could have been more racially diverse, but critically, the room was diverse in so many other ways;
- young and old (average age in Hudson is 41)
- renters and owners
- Democrats and Republicans
- Gay and Straight and in between
- High-school diploma up to PhDs
- AMERICANS, some foreign born, of Native American, African, European, Jewish, South American ancestry.
The last time a room in Hudson was more diverse was on a Tuesday morning in Cascades. RIP, or a good day at one of the OG coffee shops in town.
Most importantly, there was a genuine and respectful exchange between neighbors, some who agree and some who disagree.
It was also standing room only on one of the coldest nights of the year.
💡 Native Son - Do you have any constructive ideas on how to get the word out to more communities and families?
Bob and team - I wonder if you guys could hold the next meeting in other Wards and other public buildings?
Why not ask the HHA to have a meeting in Bliss's Common/Community Room? Why not have one in City Hall? (Shorter walk for Kamal 😜).
Why not have a meeting in one of the Firehouses?
Native Son — we spoke with all the members of the Council who would accept our invitation to speak and invited them. We sent a press release to the RS and this blog. We posted on our website and I believe we have a social media presence on FB and Instagram that promoted it. The color of the attendees’ skin might have been paler than you’d like or think it would be but that’s who came out. And among those folks were a very diverse set of backgrounds and circumstances.
DeleteDiversity is in fact diverse.
Curious though — were you there or did you only learn about it after the fact?
@"FNI" - I'm interested in all of the cohorts represented (or not) in that room; some demographic data is just more readily observable in photos than others.
DeleteYes, Hudson's average age is 40 years old. What was the average age in that room? What was the average annual income? How many were renters (we are a majority renter city, after all)? Where is this data in relation to the people the charter review club interviewed over the past 5 years? Who you canvas, what questions you ask and how you ask them is some pretty basic survey info; where's that vaunted transparency?
Vague statements with zero data from people unattached to this proposal don't rise to the level of evidence, I'm afraid. "Of course the committee [...]" this-or-that doesn't mean anything. Adding "of course" to the beginning of a sentence doesn't automatically make the rest of it true.
My guess--which is worth exactly that, just a guess, but it *is* an educated one--is that the room this past Wednesday evening skewed wealthier, older, whiter and more towards homeowners than the city at large. And I'd wager by quite a bit in some of those regards. It's information worth having in hand for anyone attempting to speak and/or act on behalf of "the community".
And miss me with the whataboutism; when the Hudson Youth Center wants to fundamentally change the way the city government is organized, then we can talk about whether it truly represents its constituents.
And I'll decline the invitation to share constructive ideas about improving a process neither of us have any insight into. "How can we do X better?" when you don't know how X was attempted the first time is a question only narcissists ponder.
@Tassilo - I didn't "blame the outreach"; I questioned how it was done. You don't know the answer; neither do I. I think it's worth finding out; do you?
DeleteNative Son, what I described was roughly how the outreach was done. Emails were sent to the aforementioned elected officials but also to Tiffany from the Register Star and Roger from the Times Union.
DeleteThe recipients were picked based on how much of an amplifying effect they could have.
What the initiative does not have is a bunch of fancy consultants to do this work. It's an unfunded project run by private citizens on a voluntary basis.
As much as I would like to, I cannot just waltz into the Hudson Islamic Center and expect anyone to trust me. To get the word out there, we would have needed the help from someone like Abdus Miah or Dewan. In general, all communities informally tend to have leaders.
Bob Rasner reached out to most of them. It's only an offer to join a conversation, however. They are free to turn it down.
There is currently talk over having another one of these public meetings but in a different location, somewhere in the second ward.
Hi @ Native Son -
Delete1️⃣ You critique alleged vagueness with vagueness.
2️⃣ You make false assumptions about people (other commenters) you don't know.
3️⃣ And how we educate the youth (and Hudson's total failure for several decades) is perhaps the most important issue in any society. Not a "whataboutism".
After all; "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." ~ Mandela
I miss stimulating repartee.... can you up the game a bit.
Let's change topic; Is "Native Son", your chosen moniker, a reference to you being born and raised in Hudson, or to the Richard Wright's groundbreaking 1940s novel about justice and inequality in America... wherein a young man from Chicago's South Side who kills two women (one by accident, and the other, his girlfriend, intentionally, and after raping her) is sentenced to death after a lengthy trial?
I am more of a To Kill a Mockingbird fan myself, but I am all for more literary references in life and on Gossips.
@"FNI" - This isn't The Crimson. You can engage with the substance of my comments, or you can continue to deflect, evade and obfuscate; that's entirely your right. But I don't have to interact with those strategies, and I won't.
DeleteI *will* say that it's pretty interesting, in the context of my original comment here, to volunteer your preference for a white author's white savior novel. Thanks for the assist.
@Tassilo - Unless and until someone who is actually a part of the Review Club shows their work, all you (or I, or anyone else) can do is guess. I don't know why anyone unaffiliated with the effort thinks they can (or should) provide answers to those questions.
DeleteWhy in the world would people need to "trust you" in order to be told about a public event? You seem to not trust local government, yet you seem relatively well informed about its meeting schedule.
@ Native Son
DeleteOooh🌶. Though sadly yet another false assumption re: The Crimson.
I would love to engage with the substance of your comments… just need the substance first.
Your retort proves (again) that you see the world only through race-colored glasses. Exactly - albeit sadly - what I was expecting you would prove with the bait you so gleefully took.
Ok Native Son …. I know you guys don't like this… but what is your idea for making Hudson better for its residents?
Are you just gong to be a slightly wittier reply guy nitpicking photos from 1 of a dozen events…. or can you offer up original ideas, lead by example, or move the town forward in some other way?
Maybe you already have and we just don't know it?
I believe Charter Reform can make Hudson more apolitical and more efficient. I believe Hudson should focus on sustainable growth, not grants. And Hudson, like America, would be better off if we focus on people's character, choices, and culture, and not just their skin color.
What do you believe will make Hudson better?
Native Son, it wasn't conjecture when I described to you how the outreach worked. The charter initiative spun up before my time. While I had no involvement in crafting the revised charter I have been with the project ever since it went public.
DeleteYou may well criticize how we went about it - criticism is cheap after all. I've explained to you what little resources are at our disposal and given these constraints, I can assure you that we're on track for this type of initiative.
We did our due diligence by carrying the message to numerous community leaders covering pretty much the whole canvas. What happens then is out of our reach.
You may be losing track of what matters here: What we are after is the requisite number of signatures and votes. We may get there even if our public meetings don't meet your personal standard for diversity.
This isn't an exercise in DEI. We want to change Hudson's system of governance for the better. We extended an invite to everyone to have that dialogue but we are not butthurt if some folks decided not to have it.
@"FNI" - Hard to keep track of what you think are assumptions without you writing "that's an assumption".
DeleteRace isn't the only thing I mentioned in this comment thread. There was age, income level, homeowners v. renters, etc.
Once again, I refuse (most of) your tactic of replying to questions with questions. One of them is somewhat interesting, but: can you define who "you guys" are?
@John K. Friedman - I knew about it beforehand, had no interest in it so didn't attend, and have spoken to a number of people who did.
DeleteWhen can we see the list of people you spoke to and the questions you asked them over the last 3-5 years?
I don't care if this city is administered by a mayor, a city manager, or a squirrel. I do care that this process is being led by people who *do not represent* my background or where I am now, which is the same story for most of my friends and family.
Hudson is 33% POC, 54% renters, and has an average household income of $55k. Does that sound like anyone on the review committee? How many people who are close to this profile did you speak to?
The degree to which you and the proponents of this effort denigrate, deflect, snark at and (attempt to) patronize anyone who raises valid questions about this process would be mind-boggling if it wasn't such old hat. Been there, done that. See you at the ballot box, if you make it that far.
@Tassilo - this isn't about DEI, this is about representation. I understand exactly what the Reform Club is after. I also understand exactly who is pushing for it, and who isn't.
DeleteI hope Freddy is doing better.
ReplyDeleteFor a Hudson civic meeting I think it went very well. All types of opinions were made and people were generally polite, civil and listening. The cookies were good, although not as filling as the free pizza the city provides at the Comprehensive Plan visioning sessions. Even though my mind is mostly made up in support of this, the meeting did answer some of my questions and concerns:
ReplyDelete- Why not also make the treasurer a hired position? Because, as our current competent treasurer has demonstrated, professional experience is crucial. Well, it was explained that state law requires that the treasurer must be an elected official.
- The city manager would appoint board seats (planning, etc) and commissioners. This has given me and others some pause, but maybe it would be better that these volunteer roles be recruited and applied for in a less politically motivated manner. But, if the council sees that as a problem they can… (which is my last point)
- the Council could take this up (they always could with (3?) members sponsoring) write their own charter reform, or take the current proposal as is and send that to the voters in fall. Or, they can modify this one, which if I understand correctly the reform group could choose to support in public before the election, or get more signatures and send their original version to the ballot in November. There seems to be interest in this by the present (at the meeting) council members - so this is becoming a larger process and debate, despite the criticisms of those who benefit from the status quo.
One last thing to point out. During the meeting, many random general criticisms of the status quo were voiced, and it was asked more than once what could charter reform do to help deny the costly handouts/tax breaks to entities like Galvan. As correctly answered, the city cannot do much to change exemptions for 501 (c)(3) organizations. BUT, for these organizations’ for-profit arms, the city, through the mayors office, assessor, council, and their ex offico seats on the IDA hold much sway over Pilots (like the ones awarded to Galvan’s Depot “luxury” lofts), or the tax breaks similarly given by the council to Spark’s Hudson Dots, or the decision to sell city land cheap to developers (like what’s proposed for Mill St.). So there is MUCH that a fiscally responsible city manager and council can do in this area.
The IDA should be restructured with local business leaders taking the seats at the table. Most IDAs in the State are organized as such. The conversation on charter reform is long overdue. There are SO many areas for improvement. A city manager could be just the first step!
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DeleteGreat read out, thank you Jack
ReplyDeleteAgree 100%
DeleteThinking about you and hoping Freddie is comfortable and doing better. You are so good to him!
ReplyDelete