Yesterday, Councilmember Jennifer Belton (Fourth Ward) presented her proposal for solving 11 Warren Street's parking problems in an email to Columbia County Board of Supervisors chair Matt Murell (Stockport) and deputy chairs Robert Lagonia (Austerlitz) and James Guzzi (Livingston) and copied it to thirty-four more people. That plan was explained in this post, "The City's Counterplan for Parking," so I won't explain it again, except to say it involves the County creating a parking lot at the waterfront, in the area shown below, just south of the Ferry Street Bridge, a space now being used as a staging area for the construction of the new bridge.
Minutes after Belton sent her proposal, Linda Mussmann, supervisor for the Fourth Ward, sent the following email, addressed only to Murell, to all the same recipients.
Hello Chairman Murell--I have not had anything to do with this recent parking proposal for 11 Warren Street. It is a bad idea. Hudson's waterfront should not be used for a parking lot.
Just to be clear this proposal came from the City of Hudson's Council--I was not privileged to be a part of this conversation.
Linda Mussmann
Space Utlization Committee Member
4th Ward Supervisor Columbia County
Although I agree with Mussmann that our waterfront should not be used for a parking lot, much of it already is being used as a parking lot. There's the huge paved parking lot at the boat launch.
Phase 1 of the climate-adaptive redesign of Henry Hudson Riverfront Park will eliminate all the parking at Rick's Point.
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Jennifer Benton sure misunderstands her job description. And when did the first ward become part of the fourth ward? Hudson sure is confusing.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I think she’s doing a great job. Parking is an unsexy challenge and thankless. And the county jerks roped her into this when they thought they could unilaterally manipulate Margaret, but she was wise to bring Jenny in.
DeleteI actually think Jennifer's proposal had merit and was smart: Sacrifice no local parking for residents while having the county pay for a new parking lot in an area where it's needed, near the train station.
DeleteI believe this was Jennifer acting as Hudson's de-facto parking czar and not as a representative of the Fourth Ward. She demonstrated out-of-the-box thinking when I didn't expect it.
What nonsense. She didn’t have to do anything — ITS NOT HUDSON’S PROBLEM AND NOT HER JOB. We have plenty of problems that need solving. That’s her job. It seems among our problems is that our elected officials don’t know their own job description.
DeleteSure, she didn’t have to. And I agree with TvP that it was a creative solution. I would have told them to drop dead.
DeleteAlso, our supervisors are useless. When it comes to the charter reform, I know everyone’s a critic, but you should have reduced them down to one 🤣
Over the past 20 years, individuals, with no help from government, house by house restored lower Warren Street from a neglected, decrepit, rat infested neighborhood to it's current state. Using their own labor and money, they set up businesses, renovated properties and turned what was an eyesore into one of the nicest neighborhoods of Hudson. Then along comes the helping hand of government. They turn a whole block into the probation department and county offices, pave over part of the waterfront for a parking lot and install parking kiosks. Thank you, let's pat them on the back for doing such a great, creative job, like kindergartners.
DeleteJohn is spot on, and he should know since he has been inside City Hall.
ReplyDeleteThis obscene situation and waste of taxpayer money and council member's time is created by a vacuum at City Hall. One of many vacuums. Not an electric vacuum that cleans, but a vacuum, or lack, of authority. You can see it in so many aspects of how City Hall functions or, more directly, dys-functions. We all know that strange things happen in vacuums, often bad things.
No one, including Tom Depietro, is telling Jen Belton that she shouldn't be trying to solve Matt Murrell's problem, so she decided to take it on, bringing the committee and parking consultant along for the ride. Why? You'll have to ask her.
Keep in mind that the 15 minutes or so during this month's parking committee meeting that Belton and the other members (including Pietro) were discussing how to solve the county's parking problem, the parking consultant who the city hired to help with the kiosk implementation was on Zoom having to listen to all of it without getting involved. He didn't have one word to contribute, and why would he? The county's parking whinefest has nothing to do with kiosks! And so, we pay a consultant to attend meetings where at least one topic is discussed AT LENGTH that he has no interest or need in getting involved with. We pay someone to do nothing, but it's no skin off Belton's or Depietro's back, is it?
And next year, as the last few, the budget and property taxes will increase. And people might ask, "What ever happened to those kiosks that were supposed to bring us so much more parking revenue?"
The response might be: "Oh, that was council member Jen Belton's thing. She got bogged down in a conflict with the county about parking AND she only lasted one term. Two other parking committee members are no longer on the council, and no one has known what to do with the kiosks since because no one seems to have taken their place on the committee. It's like a vacuum was created. Maybe someone will step in and take over to see the project through, though it's difficult to say. Go ask the mayor, maybe he's been paying attention and knows when the kiosks and all that promised parking revenue will appear."
On the positive side, at least Dewan Sarowar isn't heading up the Parking Committee! He just stays to the side and contributes nothing, thank goodness.
ReplyDeleteThis reads like a commercial for why there should be 1 Supervisor for all of Hudson, 5 Common Council members (1 per ward), and 1 City Manager.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you Linda for always being fast and honest, and thank you Jenny for trying to find solutions proactively to a problem that was not your making.
Despite my username, I’m not a newcomer to Hudson. Parking is a complicated issue. But, to Linda Mussmann’s point (and I’d be surprised if any professional planner/urban designer disagrees), more surface parking is a very bad idea for Hudson’s waterfront.
ReplyDeletePlease take note, "newcomer," that commenters on Gossips are asked to use their actual names--first and last. This post from April 1 explains why: https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2025/04/a-notice-to-commenters.html. In future, please sign your comments with your full name.
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