Let the Voters Decide
As expected, the Common Council failed to act on the petition for a charter amendment that would change the form of Hudson government from mayor/council form of government to city manager/council. As a consequence, the charter change initiative is moving forward to put the proposal on the ballot in November as a referendum question. The following press release was issued this morning: The Hudson Charter Change campaign rolls into its second phase this week.
Volunteers will be at the Farmers Market this Saturday seeking signatures on the
petition to place the initiative on the November ballot.
The first petition was signed by 240 Hudson voters and presented to the City Clerk on
Wednesday, March 5. The clerk verified the signatures and presented the documents
to Council President DePietro two days later, on March 7. That started a sixty-day
period for the Common Council to study and discuss the proposal.
Three days later, Council President declared, “I have no intention of putting it on the
agenda for a number of reasons I have discussed with Crystal.” (Crystal Peck, legal
counsel to the Common Council)
Subsequently, the sixty-day period for our elected representatives to consider the
changes to the city charter elapsed with no action. Apparently, Council President
DePietro and members of the Council trust and respect the voters, their constituents, to
make this decision for them. We do not intend to disappoint them!
We now seek 102 signatures, the threshold set by state statute, on a second petition.
With those signatures, the proposed charter changes will be on the November ballot.
Thus, on November 4, 2025, we shall let the voters decide.
To join fellow voters in this effort, visit our volunteers at the Farmers Market each
Saturday morning, or welcome our volunteers when they knock on your door.
The Charter Change Petition will have more resident signatures than $200k Comprehensive Survey has resident respondents!
ReplyDelete🤯
I.e. By the end of this month there will be more (or roughly the same) verified (by Election Commission) actual residents of Hudson who would have signed the City Charter Change petition....
than unverified "residents" (including possible duplicate submissions) who completed Kamal, Michelle and the Public Works Group consultant survey. Bear in mind non citizen immigrants can fill out the survey but not sign for the Charter Change petition.
The Comprehensive Survey had all the resources and staff of City Hall, HCSD, the Spark of Hudson, Youth Center etc. to advertise to get the word out and get responses.
And judging by Kamal and Michelle's events and FB activity, many of their supporters are Greenporters and Bard student types who do not live in Hudson, or went to HCSD but live outside of the City of Hudson.
Just let that sink in... a $200k + "comprehensive" survey, that is supposed to be the unifying factual foundation of Hudson's planning and spending for several decades... has the same or fewer participants (i.e. less weight, less support) than a rag tag grassroots weekend citizen effort at the Farmer's Market who probably spent less than $1k on a website and paper copies.
The City of Hudson (Kamal and Michelle) spent more than $500 per survey respondent. (366 respondents ~ 6% of the population.)
That is the same as the UBI (Universal Basic Income) payment per month from Spark that many residents receive?
With that $200k we could have had Peter's Citizen Assembly, and mailed every resident a neutral survey form and paid them with a $50 coffee gift certificate from any Hudson coffee shop for successful completion.
No wonder Peter Spears' alley videos are getting spicy:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJt2DjIRCSW/
🤣 I would not be surprised if all of Loyd's mayoral election signature petitions will, in the end, be more than the participants in this Community Survey (~350 unverified).