According to the article, Blowers intends to run as a Democrat, which means he would be challenging Johnson in a primary. Spear, on the other hand, plans to run on his own party line, which he is calling Future Hudson, after the "ongoing experiment in civic engagement and advocacy" Spear launched in 2019 with a series of discussions on community issues.
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Umm, ok. More candidates please. One candidate doesn’t understand the job. The other is naive with toxic positivity.
ReplyDeleteMy lead “candidate” is the current charter reform initiative. It’s the only thing so far that’s intelligent and serious. If anything, the farce of this election demonstrates the need for professional executive management. I’m sorry, these people, including the incumbent, seem like nice people, but let’s just hire someone qualified to get the day to day business done and actually be a boss to our unsupervised department heads. It’s a city of 5,000+ people; not president of earth. Taxes are out of control. If anyone needs a wake up call just watch the last finance committee meeting on YouTube. Seriously, watch it. I’m not exaggerating. The treasurer explains how 2025 will be a difficult year for Hudson financially. And it seems the budget just voted in was based on overly optimistic revenue projections that we have little chance of hitting. Hard times may be coming, and soon. On top of that, many of the current people in power are hellbent on resurrecting Urban Renewal and putting a low income housing project on every square foot of open space left in town. And we have billionaire grifters and wannabe social engineers like Galvan and Spark of Hudson pulling the strings. I may sound dramatic, but this silly time needs to end and adults need to step in.
Seriously people, this is not high school class president. People have homes, businesses and invest their lives here. What a joke.
Can we get a slate of candidates that support the charter reform and will pledge to assist a smooth transition in the following term? None of these options do. The incumbent just wants the paycheck and give away the city to Galvan. One candidate doesn’t understand the job. And the third lives in some urbanism utopian fever dream.
God help us.
I am honestly not sure why of all things that he could have said to Tiffany, Bill chose the words that he did. It's already being ridiculed on FB.
DeleteI must assume he said it tongue-in-cheek but this doesn't convey particularly well as a soundbite in a newspaper article.
That’s a good point. There also was some confusion in the story about Peter supporting a city manager. We’ll just have to wait and see.
DeleteRather than begging providence, let’s ask for an anonymous commentariat that has the intellectual capacity to understand why our property taxes are so high – hint, it isn’t the mayor’s salary, or the council’s insurance, or the kids at the youth center – or how charter change won't make one iota of difference in your bill. That is assuming, of course, that property taxes are your primary motivation for seeking succor at the Manager altar; to wit, I have my doubts.
DeleteDavid, I don't see where the anonymous commentariat you are referring to was claiming that the reason for the high property taxes were solely the mayor's salary, insurance for the council members or the youth center.
DeleteInstead, said poster made a reference to a very specific political agenda pursued by the current mayor that - if implemented - will jeopardize the financial health of the city. This is a legitimate concern that someone whose property ownership funds the city should be allowed to raise.
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Delete"Commentariat" doesn't refer to a single individual posting on a blog.
DeleteYou’ve done well to make my point, union jack. An erratic list of political grievances that charter change has zero to do with. A barrel of rotten fish you fantasize a tough talking manager can fire and wire into Michelin stars – and promises! of quantifiable data, always on the offing – providing the spectacle of critique, but never its substance. And like FNI (sans emojis), you seek the public pleasure of anonymous condescension, without its return.
DeleteThe current charter change proposal is a radical consolidation of power. A state of exception predicated on a McKinsey fairy tale. It won't redress your laments or enfranchise your neighbors – it will mostly result in the opposite. Review Newburgh's city manager experiment. Or countless others. An autocratic panacea is resentments savor, slipping in via a fiduciary crisis, such as ours.
David: How about you just get to the point instead of cladding your very own pathological condescension in linguistic flourishes? Mediocre ideas and concepts cannot be embiggened by using bigger words.
DeleteThe consolidation of power that you speak of is a feature. The proposed charter consolidates it in the Common Council, where it belongs.
It is not consolidated in the city manager, just to make that very clear. The city manager as prescribed has a plethora of responsibilities but otherwise holds no power. He/she answers to the Common Council and is subject to removal if the council wishes so.
If a city manager in principle performs better than a mayor is an entirely different question. It should however be noted that the current bar a city manager has to clear is virtually non-existent: Hudson's current mayor has silently quit the day he entered office.
He only recently returned from his five-year vacation as he proclaimed his all-hands-on-deck campaign. That, tellingly, happened only after he realized that his well-compensated job is in jeopardy.
I'll gladly take Newburgh's city manager over that.
Good news!
ReplyDeleteWhoever is voted in as our next mayor, PLEASE LET THEM BE OUR LAST ONE prior to a city manager relegating the mayoral position to a ceremonial ribbon cutter only!
ReplyDeleteIf you do watch the last Finance Committee Meeting, it is a good one because Heather breaks down the City budget increases over the last five years.
ReplyDeleteThe city budget is increasing almost $1M/year - and a significant portion of budget increases are due to health insurance and benefit costs increases of City workers.
If the Federal government had a Medicare for All plan, then we would not see as much of an increase in City property taxes. (You are also paying for similar benefit increases in your school district bill.) The health care issue in this country affects us in multiple ways, down the line...
The City of Hudson property tax increase of 1.5% is only about $150K, so every little bit of saving/spending makes an impact.
I think a City Manager may have an impact on your property taxes because then (hopefully) we would have knowledge in house as opposed to hiring consultants to do parking studies or sidewalk studies or writing/organizing grants.
Grant money is out there, but we have to go after it. Kudos to Rob Perry who just received a major sewer grant from the state. That's huge.
Within my first year of office, I've received over $100K in grant money. It's not difficult, you fill out the forms and follow the project through. The state wants to give municipalities money, it just wants to make sure the money is well-spent.
https://www.fourthwardhudson.com/2024/12/09/over-100k-secured-in-grants-for-2024/
There is little coordination between City departments in terms of grants - who is getting what grant, deadlines, matching funds, and overall, do all of these grants combined have a greater, long term goal/purpose?
Affordable housing - great - build affordable housing - but, how much additional city services will these housing units require, how much will that cost, are they paying the costs and if not, then proportionally, how much tax-paying properties do you need to build to offset the costs? And/or do you need an increase in tax revenue from local industry? And how can the government help make that happen, if at all?
What is the financial plan underneath the comprehensive plan? We can't have lofty ideals without the money to pay for it. As the saying goes, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions..."
Revenue projections for next year are ambitious.
A full-time city planner would help PLAN the City's long term community goals with our financial goals - hopefully. A city planner is not a panacea, and we will still need to set the city's goals and manage the manager.
A city manager is unlikely to be able to conduct parking/sidewalk/etc. studies on their own. And if they are, the city cannot afford them.
DeleteThanks, Rich. Any concerned citizen should watch that meeting and I am very glad we have Heather with us for so long. Nobody even talks about the treasurer role and I think the reason we take it for granted is because Heather is such a professional. If I could amend a charter reform proposal I would have also added the treasurer to be hired by the council, also with specific experience requirements. Although our current treasurer comes with experience and expertise, an election could change that. The last challenger was an opera singer.
DeleteAnd while there wouldn’t be any inherent tax savings with a city manager, one could better coordinate grant management, an issue and opportunity you point out. Like you said, most of our spending increases are due to non-discretionary obligations. Therefore the only alternative to raising taxes more is by grants and fee collections. And while taxes are a major concern, as it’s a major driver of (un)affordability, I think the most immediate gain we could get from a manager is a better managed city and delivery of services.
Rich, keep up the good work. I appreciate the council members that ask questions at meetings, are thoughtful, and communicate to their constituents with candor.
It would appear that Mr. Blowers campaign is over before it began. No one who cites "my legacy" should be taken seriously as a candidate.
ReplyDeleteTwo thoughts: Do we have the luxury of electing a mayor who needs to learn the job and figure it all out? Do we need a mayor who wants to let the people decide what kind of city Hudson should be (um, "too many cooks spoil the broth")? Do we want a mayor who, in two terms, has very little to show for it (for Hudson, I mean, not himself)? UJ is right in the first comment; more candidates please.
ReplyDeleteUnion Jack pretty much sums it for me. The middle class is disappearing from Hudson, Lord knows the impoverished have already been pushed out.
ReplyDeleteI live in fear where I can’t pay the property taxes / school taxes anymore. Water rate appears to be same 600$/ year for a five person household as it is for a one person household?!
And sidewalk fee….no sidewalk on my street but you can’t convince me I’m not paying for sidewalk repair instead of those who can buy the two million dollar brownstones on Warren where the sidewalks need repair.
A person can only work so many jobs at once……
As I recall when I sat on the council, the water and sewer rents are just that: rents (fees) for the delivery of water and the removal of waste (sewage). It's NOT for the actual water itself unless it's a commercial user (which, per the Code, is required to have a water meter installed and then pay for usage above a baseline amount). That is to say, the City of Hudson does not charge residential users for potable water -- drink all you want. Nor does it charge for the removal of sewage (pee, etc., all you want). It charges only for the infrastructure that brings one and carries away the other. The rationale is that potable water and sanitation are necessary for human life and amount to a public good. So a family of six can drink and shower all they need to remain healthy at the same cost as a family of 1. Another way to look at it is that there is no marginal cost to system for the actual water/sewage delivered/removed through its infrastructure and, therefore, no marginal cost is passed along to the residential consumer.
DeleteUnion Jack, I’d like to address a couple of things you mentioned. The project on Fairview Ave. is not Kristal Heinz’ project. She is one of the attorneys representing HQO Properties LLC.and has always been polite and professional. Another attorney representing the project is Charles Gottlieb who has represented Galvan on projects in the city. The project which is known as “The Boulevards” isn’t just on Fairview Ave. The project also has borders on Oakwood and Parkwood Blvds which are family neighborhoods . The reason that it has taken so long for project approval is that the Planning Board is doing their due diligence . This project is multi faceted and no stone is being left unturned. The Planning Board page on the city’s website will give you the information you need about the project.
ReplyDeleteRight, the PB is doing its due diligence. If that’s the case it’s a first for this iteration of the board. Business as usual is more properly characterized by the sloppy, politically motivated rush to approve the Mill Street project that will, without a doubt, be a flooding fiasco that will end up costing the city millions to remedy once it’s completed and begins causing damage to neighboring properties. But nice try at explaining the board’s antipathy to market rate housing in our city.
DeleteDo these guys realize that wearing a hat at all times is a requirement of the office, including when and if they win and are sworn in?
ReplyDelete