After Forman and Foster resigned in September 2024, the Planning Board was two members short for two months, until Kali Michael was appointed in November 2024. Last month, Mayor Kamal Johnson finally appointed a seventh member of the Planning Board to make the board complete. That appointee, Ashraf Chowdhury, didn't show up for his first meeting, which took place on March 11.
The Planning Board has an incredibly important role in the city. Their decisions impact the lives of Hudson residents today and shape the city's future development. When there are so many projects being proposed that will have a transformative effect both on neighborhoods and on the city as a whole, it is lamentable that the Planning Board seems to be so dysfunctional.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
The dysfunction at the Planning Board comes straight out of 520 Warren like unchecked cancer. It's systemic -- the whole place is rotten to the core, even the common council. Every aspect of governance is hobbled and dysfunctional in some way or other, some obscenely so.
ReplyDeleteWhen the chips are down, the cracks really start to show, and the cracks at the PB are just the beginning. Wait and watch as the city tries to improve parking and take in tons more revenue with kiosks. We have put a council member in charge of this huge project, a person who may not be on the council next year. It will fail miserably and embarrassingly. Wait and watch as nothing changes with the truck route after all that work and studies and blah blah blah.
Wait and watch as the city tries to fix the sidewalks -- another disaster in the making that will waste money and city employee's and the Public Works Board's time. Wait and watch as Galvan's hotel at 4th and Warren creates a nightmare for traffic, safety and parking. (Ditto for their apartment building(s) on North 7th). No one at City Hall will know how to solve the problems. No one will want to deal with the problems. Kamal Johnson will be no help, nor will he find anyone to help. No one will want to work for the city and no one worth anything will want to serve on the council or on any boards. It's only natural -- who wants to work amid dysfunction, unaccountability and no one talking to one another?
About a year ago, Theresa Joyner sent a letter to the common council pleading with them to do something about the city's lack of parking requirements for large development projects, a regulation that was foisted on the PB, making their work more difficult and allowing large and medium projects with no off-street parking to be approved (Galvan's examples above being two that never should have been approved based on the lack of parking alone). The council hasn't discussed that S.O.S letter from the PB once. Do you think any council member cares or would even know what to do about the parking requirement issue if they did care? Like they don't have enough to do already?
No one is working together at City Hall. It's every man, woman and department head for themselves.
THE POLICE CHIEF HAS ATTENDED THE ENTIRETY OF THE TWO MOST RECENT PARKING COMMITTEE MEETINGS! THE POLICE CHIEF, MISHANDA FRANKLIN! THE POLICE CLERK, DOREEN DANFORTH, HAS BEEN CHOSEN TO BE THE PARKING BUREAU SUPERVISOR WHILE STILL WORKING AS THE POLICE CLERK, AND SHE ATTENDED LAST NIGHT'S PARKING MEETING WITH THE CHIEF OF POLICE! DOREEEN WILL HAVE TWO TITLES AND WORK FOR TWO DEPARTMENTS. OUR POLICE DEPARTMENT IS GOING TO BE HANDLING EVERY ASPECT OF PARKING!!!! THIS IS NOT NORMAL OR GOOD FOR THE CITY! IT IS DYSFUNCTION 101, A DIRECT RESULT OF THE CANCER COMING FROM 520 WARREN!
Parking for towns our size is usually under the police department, with or without its own sub department. That is normal. As for the rest agree to disagree and agree in lower case font.
Deletewhat kind of quaulifications does a person need to be on the planning board?
ReplyDeleteIt seems none. You just need to express an interest and persuade the mayor to appoint you. Right now it seems that an important qualification is the likelihood that you will be willing to greenlight his projects--Mill Street Lofts and State Street Lofts--and placate Colarusso so they won't sue the City again.
DeleteIt's worth noting that this--the complete lack of any requirement or even preference for experienced and/or knowledgeable board members--is also present in the proposed charter revision. One more institutional deficiency for Our Lord and Savior, a City Manager, to solve with the power of their own awesomeness.
DeleteHudson ... the town that won't or can't ... where Bill is a PROPHET ...
ReplyDelete