Responding to the announcement yesterday that the Galvan Foundation will be donating its properties in Hudson and Columbia County to Bard College, the Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition issued the following statement.
The Hudson/Catskill Housing Coalition was shocked by the recent announcement that Bard College will assume ownership of Galvan Foundation's extensive real estate portfolio across Hudson and Columbia County. While we remain hopeful that this transfer could support public programs and deepen community engagement, we are calling for an immediate pause on the transaction until transparent, public conversations take place.
Bard has played a visible role in Hudson for years, including through its Bard Early College initiative. But we must be clear: when large institutions acquire significant land in small communities, the risks of displacement, gentrification, and community erasure grow exponentially, especially for Black, Brown, and low-income residents who have long called this region home.
This real estate transfer is the largest of its kind in our area's recent history. It cannot move forward behind closed doors.
We call on Bard College and Galvan Foundation to:
- Host public, community-led sessions before any agreements are finalized
- Honor all existing leases and housing arrangements, with no disruptions or rent increases
- Negotiate a binding Community Benefits Agreement to protect affordable housing, support local businesses, and uphold community self-determination
- Ensure ongoing community oversight, with local stakeholders at the table in a meaningful way
As required by law, this transfer will also need to be reviewed and approved by the New York State Attorney General.
We also urge residents, civic leaders, and press outlets to join us in holding institutions accountable and demanding a process rooted in equity, not just prestige.
For decades, similar university-led real estate deals have reshaped neighborhoods under the banner of revitalization. These transactions often leave longtime residents behind:
- Columbia University (Harlem, NY): Columbia's Manhattanville campus expansion displaced longtime residents, accelerated gentrification, and sparked years of protest over broken promises to the surrounding community.
- Harvard University (Allston, MA): Harvard's expansion brought luxury development and rising costs, forcing the university to create modest affordable housing programs only after local outcry.
- University of Pennsylvania and Drexel (Philadelphia, PA): These institutions demolished the Black Bottom neighborhood, displacing thousands of Black families for research buildings and student housing.
We refuse to let Hudson become the next cautionary tale.
Galvan Foundation's narrative of benevolence does not match the lived experience of tenants who have struggled under a corporate landlord model that prioritized control over care. As both a community organization and a current tenant of Galvan, Hudson/Catskill Housing Coaltion understands firsthand what is at stake. Bard College now inherits not just properties, but a complex legacy. If this gift is truly meant to serve the public good, then the public must be actively involved from the start.
We are watching. We are organizing. And we will not be silent.
Babe, wake up. The new shakedown target just dropped.
ReplyDelete🧐 Alternative headline:
ReplyDelete"Unelected and self-appointed area 501c3 leader with curious finances and potential election violations, issues Covid-era style Press Release non-ironically in attempt to blackmail progressive town and neighboring university to get seat at the table, possibly more donations"
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Why don't you guys just get real jobs? Public or private sector. Vote. Pay taxes. Live and let live. Be happy.
If you are passionate about a cause or issue in society or town, make your own money and time and give it away or invest it in the causes you care about without coercing taxpayer funds and area institutions.
When last did a Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition leader win a contested election? And you claim to fight for the homeless and Bliss residents and yet Kamal lives on millionaire's row in the 1st Ward in Galvan housing, QC is in Albany, and Claire is in the 5th Ward after vacating Galvan housing (these are publicly disclosed facts from Times Union or RS, not doxxing).
👉 This "We also urge residents, civic leaders, and press outlets to join us in holding institutions accountable and demanding a process rooted in equity, not just prestige."
Your Press Release reads like an Onion article. It is 2025... Update your firmware. Hold yourself accountable first to the laws of America.
Bard is arguably the most progressive College on the east coast. They have a world famous and pioneering prison education program and human rights center. They give enormous amounts of financial aid, especially to immigrants**. Not exactly Wharton or Wall Street on the Hudson....
[Your message is like telling the French they should be more into wine, cheese, and fashion, and be compelled to consult the British on it, otherwise you will call Brussels to them.]
You use "equity", and the very real tragedy of a national and local housing crises, to build clout, raise money, and effectively hold a small town hostage. Americans call this a grift.
Should we call this unique localized variety the Hudson Housing Hustle™.
If residents or institutions and local leaders give you a seat on a stage, donations, or praise you... you honor them with a DEI stamp of approval.
But if those same residents or leaders ask legitimate questions of lawful transparency or argue for equal treatment of citizens and residents (you know, as per the US Constitution and federal laws), you accuse them of racism, and even threaten physical violence and retaliation, as you did to me when you contacted me and I merely reminded you that your 501c3 disclosures (you emailed me redacted financials, via Gossips) are not owed to me or any individual, but to the public and IRS/LEO. At dozens of City Hall/Planning Board meetings and other events over the years you flip between victim of the world to intimidator and threatener-in-chief, all within three minutes.
This Hudson Housing Hustle (H^3?) may, I fear, unintentionally, be partially responsible for rushed and now failed public reviews of various public housing plans all over town, including the Restore NY grant fiasco, and earlier critical attempts to reform and repair/replace HHA's housing stock in previous decades.
Instead of repeating that unproductive pattern, and now accusing me of racism or threatening me with physical violence and making more work for HPD, why don't we all run/race collegially in the upcoming Hudson Mile on Warren Street and raise money for Peter Frank's Friends of Hudson Youth 501c3. FOHY have excellent IRS filings and are on Charity Navigator so we know where all the funds go. (https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/824654406)
👏👏👏 This is an accurate and concise summary of HCHC’s conduct, intentions, and, as you aptly put it, their grift. Spot on.
DeleteAccording to their IRS filings, HCHC’s 501(c)(3) status was revoked as of May 2024 due to failure to file required tax documents. (https://imgur.com/a/q2RwTmY)
Despite this, they continue to present themselves as a valid 501(c)(3) and actively solicit donations under that claim.
They demand radical transparency from others while offering none themselves. They push rules for others to follow, yet exempt themselves entirely. It's not hard to see why. They stopped filing taxes because doing so would expose how much personal profit is being extracted from this endeavor.
We should all be united in the fight for housing justice, racial equity, and social equity. But it’s difficult to argue that their method represents a just or sustainable path forward.
Thank you for the upvote on the comment, HH, and the detail on property taxes and IRS filings TM and UJ.
DeleteAnd to be clear, I and many others first "called in" and made these points to HCHC leaders directly and in private (have receipts), then stayed quiet for years, and only now speak so plainly about it when HCHC attacks/interferes with, unprovoked, a new (neutral) institutional resident (Bard) for simply accepting a generous gift.
QC and CC - as founders/leaders of HCHC, it would be helpful if you could respond to these concerns (for the benefit of your donors, members, Hudson residents, and the (re)public who afford you 501c3 status, not me) here or elsewhere. Many of your non-local donors reached out to residents for clarification on these questions and concerns and many noticed Kamal is getting related questions on housing hypocrisy on FB:
1. Who is your "fiscal sponsor" and are you still a 501c3? Or is “HCHC Regional Collective” a workaround PAC?
2. Do you agree or disagree about the point of hypocrisy that many made here, and do you still believe it is appropriate for you to be "calling out" Bard for unknown future actions, and pretend to speak on behalf of the Hudson community, when none of your leaders have won any contested Hudson elections since the pandemic.
3. Do you have a view on the much delayed City-wide tax reassessment and "Welcome Stranger Tax", and Kamal's ~$1m annual budget deficit, all leading to the unequal (unjust?) treatment of both long-time and newer residents when it comes to housing?
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BTW - This thread is a great example of why "verified pseudonyms" can be helpful for some, in some rare cases, when there is social punishment or even threats of retaliation, for asking challenging questions or seeking the truth.
And just to get ahead of it:
- Speech is not "violence". See Supreme Court decisions.
- Defamation (libel / slander) = intentional false statements to harm reputation, not questions.
- Retaliation against anyone, their reputation, their assets, will not change the facts and the fair questions.
Let's move forward... You can now:
A) ignore these questions, but then don''t be surprised if we (and Bard) ignore you
B) respond with victimhood by trying to make this about class/race/sex/things that happened before we were alive, political affiliation, some unrelated national issue etc. framing Gossips as "racist" or "not THE community" but everyone will see through it and it is suboptimal.
C) simply answer the questions that you yourself put at issue (which should be easy for any 501c3) and engage in good faith with everyone in town to help make housing in Hudson and Catskill more affordable for everyone, not just for you, your family, and immediate friends.
I will email this comment to your work emails in case you stopped reading this thread so that we save time.
It is obviously your choice to respond or not.
Back to the core issue:
ReplyDeleteDon't you realize you might be harming the interests of those you claim to help and genuinely want to help? Hudson is perhaps the most progressive and pro-housing (pro subsidized housing) City on the east coast and you are burning through everyone's patience (and donations). You have turned on every single ally and landlord you have ever had, from Bill, to Linda, HPD, Pocketbook folks, Foreland, Galvan, and now you are proactively giving your 2026 landlords, Bard, the HCHC Hudson Housing Hustle welcoming hug of extortion before they even arrive.
You’re not a private citizen spending your own money. You chose to lead a 501(c)(3). That means you owe the public clarity and accountability. If you were just a resident or running your own private for-profit, I would not bother with the following suggestion:
1. You’re leasing a Galvan building for around $100,000 a year. That money could be used to house people in Hudson and Catskill. Isn’t housing supposed to be the mission?
2. You say HCHC has a “fiscal sponsor,” which is why you’re not filing taxes or showing where donations go. Fine, then share the sponsor’s 990s. If they’re above board, those filings will show every dollar. Why not publish them? Or are you guys now a Political Advocacy group and legally re-organized HCHC?
You have good intentions, don't we all, and Hudson Valley certainly has many big issues of inequality and housing affordability just like the rest of America... but you now risk driving even more racial, nativist, and class animus between neighbors, slowing down reform, be it at Bliss in the mid 2010s or with rent control laws and this Bard extortion in the City, today.
🎓 @ Bard - if you are reading this... HCHC means well and are mostly long-time politically active residents, but they do not represent the city of Hudson formally or for that matter the majority of residents by any measure. Every single candidate that they unlawfully (501c3's are not supposed to campaign for candidates in elections) endorsed and campaigned for in this last election lost by a landslide.
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Hudson is a microcosm of the American experiment: diverse, contentious, and weirdly and wonderfully enduring. It is as old as the Republic and as we can all see just as fractious. Consensus is rare. Disagreement is the rule. (Hopefully new democratically elected leadership can change that next year). Yet this unruly 2sqm patchwork remains one of the country’s most promising small towns. What makes Hudson special is not just its architectural pedigree, walkability, gnarly history, or its location on the Empire Corridor as the third busiest rail station in New York State... not the surrounding farmland, public art, culinary community, or the artistic and working-class and techy energies it attracts....
Hudson’s true strength lies in its people, old and new, neighbors who work, rebuild, and serve, and the wider county that depends on and contribute to our public institutions, public services, and our bizarrely wonderful array of parades and races on Warren Street.
If America still has a civic heart, Hudson may well be one of its chambers. We certainly have the flags to show for it...
References:
Bard financial aid:Approximately 69% of Bard College undergraduates received financial aid during the 2022–2023 academic year, with an average award of $54,049. Among first-year students, 84% received aid, averaging $56,380. Bard treats international students the same as citizens when it comes to aid. Notably, Bard offers the Global Citizen Scholarships, ranging from $10,000 to $60,000 annually, based on financial need and academic merit. Students from United World Colleges admitted as Davis UWC Scholars have their full demonstrated need met, covering tuition, housing, food, and mandatory fees. No other country does this.
** re: Pocketbook
https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2021/12/whats-being-asked.html?m=1
Hear..Hear…
DeleteIsn't there some irony in calling for a pause on the transaction until 'transparent, public conversations' take place—and urging Bard and Galvan to 'host community-led sessions'—when the mayoral candidate and current administration HCHC supports haven't prioritized that approach over the past six years in office? I'm so confused.
ReplyDeleteIt would be nearly impossible to "honor all existing leases and housing arrangements, with no disruptions or rent increases" because this massive transfer of real estate will trigger a reassessment of all properties, and Bard would have to apply for tax exemption that would only be granted if they were using the property for classrooms, offices, or studios for Bard students or faculty, not for profit (residential rentals do not qualify, at any income level). Vacant lots would not be automatically exempt.
ReplyDeleteBy my cursory look at a handful of Galvan properties, I'd guess as a group they are generally appraised 40-60% below what they are actually worth, either because they were purchased long ago (and Mayor Johnson won't do the necessary reassessments) or they have some PILOT exemption. I had a hard time finding a single Galvan property that is actually assessed anywhere near it's actual market value, so this transfer will trigger a massive tax event that would be potentially great for Hudson (since the Galvan Foundation has been grossly underpaying their fair share of taxes for some time), not so great for Bard, and even worse for the people living in the properties.
If Bard uses any of these properties for themselves, they may end up with tax exemptions that simply add to the tax burden on the remaining tax payers in Hudson.
Case in point: 211 Robinson St, a Galvan building of 2250 sq ft, a 3 br/2ba home, is assessed at $133,803 (full value), and Galvan pays $1,228.03 in school tax, or about $2456 per year in taxes.
213 Robinson, next door, is currently pending sale with an asking price of $655K for a nicely renovated 1600 sq ft house with 2b/1.5ba. Prior to sale, this house was last assessed at $528,169 with a school tax bill of $4847.48, or about $9695 in taxes annually.
The 'welcome stranger' tax is going to hit Bard hard, and if it doesn't, it will hit every other property owner in Hudson even harder. This gift is going to be very expensive for Bard, and I don’t see how they can avoid raising rents, possibly displacing people, or possibly even selling properties, just to catch up with the massive tax bills headed their way.
Existing leases will have to be honored per their terms. Unless the leases are oddly drafted, the leases don’t grant a new landlord extraordinary powers. A change in ownership doesn’t empower the new owner to unilaterally raise rents or terminate tenancies — esp. since Hudson has adopted Good Cause Eviction. I’ve negotiated a few leases with Galvan. They’re poorly drafted as a rule but they don’t empower a new landlord to upset the existing Apple cart in this way.
DeleteAs for taxes, you’re correct that the use of the property must advance the tax exempt purpose per Bard’s charter. But housing faculty, staff and students is surely within that purpose. Thus, if Bard replaces all existing residential tenants with its community members (when existing leases expire), the properties so affected would be properly property tax exempt. And Good cause Eviction may not protect those existing tenants: new owners can convert leased property for its own use on notice. And commercial tenants don’t have the GCE protections.
All transfers of valuable assets create extraordinary expenses. But for an endowed institution like Bard, a few million in one-time transaction costs are surely outweighed by an appreciating $50m gift. There is no perceivable and material downside for Bard in this gift.
Hudson’s de facto policy of “Welcome Stranger” assessments are illegal in NYS. The reason why they happen is because the current regime believes that newcomers are either too rich to care or too ignorant to do anything about it in the very limited time to grieve/sue. This way they have been able to increase spending annually while keeping the mil rate relatively the same, thus shielding long time residents and voters from the perception that taxes are increasing. Then you can say “we haven’t raised taxes,” when in reality you’re just dramatically raising taxes unfairly on a particular group of perceived interlopers. If these people dare protest their assessment then you have your wife put on the Board of Assessment Review to deny their claims. Now you know why there are so many Article 21 lawsuits against the city.
DeleteThis practice can work for only so long because eventually the state becomes more punitive in declaring equalization rates and funding levels. Kamal and Tom probably hoped to kick the can down the road long enough to be gone before the next city wide revaluation takes place. Ironically, they’ll get their wish. Because they saw the backlash that happened from the last one, the very backlash that gave the mayor the opportunity to win his first primary and assume control. In such a reassessment people overpaying will find relief while people underpaying will be shocked (and some displaced) when they are caught up to speed with the city’s reckless budgeting. Property taxes are too complicated for the average voter to understand and unfortunately people will blame the future administration when they’re just fixing the problems left by the previous one. The way to prevent this toxic cycle is to gently raise property values annually across the board. This is what NYS actually advises and NYC does this easily with trending software. And if everyone’s assessed value goes up the same, they will not see any increase in taxes—unless the city actually increases taxes by raising the rates, but now it becomes more transparent and less easily to hide spending increases.
My long winded point is that the practice of Welcome Stranger is not fair or legal, and definitely not automatic. The assessor can simply not choose to do it to the properties transferred to Bard. Also, the transactions would not be a normal arm’s length sale, so the assessor would actually have to do some work to find the current market value, rather than her usual method, likely chasing sales on Zillow.
I am well aware it is not fair or legal, and I personally saw my tax bill on a 3000 sq ft mixed use building increase from just over $11K in 2023 to $25K per year in 2024, an increase of over 127% in a single year, at the same time Mayor Johnson claimed he didn't reassess Hudson. I should be joining the class action lawsuit building against the city for this illegal practice, but I haven't, yet. If the assessor 'simply chooses not to do it to the properties transferred to Bard', we're going to have a big problem. I currently live across the street from a Galvan building 30% larger than my own, assessed at half the price, paying 50% less in taxes. This is not ok, and a reassessment on this gift must happen by law. I don't know how anything else could possibly be acceptable. Hudson will never get affordable housing if so much of its real estate is under paying the tax burden required for the city to function. You don't get affordable housing by squeezing the few who pay the most even harder.
DeleteI'm curious why the "Welcome Stranger" issue never really came up in Greenport. As a reminder, Greenport's equalization rate was very similar to Hudson's (both somewhere above 70%).
DeleteJust as in Hudson, houses changed hands here as well yet I haven't heard of any egregious selective reassessments.
Greenport then did its full reassessment and sent the new assessments and expected new property tax to each home owner earlier this year. A few people aired their anger on FB but that was mostly based on the reassessed value of their home and not the new actual dollar sum they'll have to pay from now on.
At the end of the day, everyone was equally unhappy that their taxes went up by maybe 15 or 20% but largely understood that they had been stagnant since the last reassessment pre-Covid.
The fact that Hudson's leadership fears reassessment like the Beelzebub tells me that something truly outrageous must have been going on for several years.
Hello Tanya! There is a class action lawsuit? We sued over our 140% assessment increase, but honestly after two years the lawyer fees are more than we saved on the 20k reduction they made. I gave up and have come to realize that buying in Hudson was the worst mistake of my adult life.
DeleteTanya and Lucky Dog, I feel you both about the unfair tax treatment. And yes, article 21 lawsuits stretch out too long. The city is in no rush to settle since they get paid in the meantime and the local judges don’t want to spend any time on them and keep delaying proceedings to pressure settlement. It becomes a battle of attrition. Next time, I’d recommend going from grievance to a SCAR hearing (small claims assessment review). Just bring your research and a friendly appraisal to have an arbitration, usually by a retired judge. Nobody in the justice system seems to care about the welcome stranger stuff because they see it as a “1st world problem.” But the small claims arbitration will usually just take your claim against the city’s and just cut it down the middle. Much cheaper and faster than hiring a lawyer to file an Article 21 and get a disappointing settlement in 2 years. It’s not fair but it is what it is. The only way this gets fixed is better leaders at the local level and publicity and reform at the state level to ensure local governments stop this unlawful practice.
DeleteIf I were the Bard administration or board of trustees, I would take one look at the internecine comments here and elsewhere in the press and recognize that it was not in Bard's interest to wade into local non-profit politics. I would then commence liquidation of these real estate holdings in market-rate transactions as quickly as possible. This would be consistent with Bard's charitable purpose, which is education, not "housing justice."
ReplyDeleteI assume they will and in the meantime placate for PR and the stipulations of any gift restrictions, which college fundraisers don’t like, but have to deal with to close the deal.
DeleteThe elephant in the room is that most Hudson rental stock could be "affordable" if the taxes imposed on rental properties were not so high. One has to wonder why it never crossed the mind of anyone in city government to 1) control spending and lower taxes, and 2) establish a PILOT like program for landlords with very small holdings who would agree to capped rent. It seems the mayor's lover and Housing Justice Director would be advocating for such things- but whoops I guess she has been too busy managing expensive $200K+ consultants who deliver templated copy and paste versions of
ReplyDeleteBingo John.
DeleteThe root of most of Hudson's problems is high and unequal taxes, which leads to higher rent, and drives out the middle class.
Wealthier homeowners are more price inelastic.
It would seem that Democrats (there are a few in Hudson) got themselves in a situation where calling for lower taxes and efficient spending feels very DOGE/GOP, and so they avoid it, even though it serves the common good, and especially those most at risk.
Hudson's budget should be $15m max, not $20m, we should be getting a bigger slice of the County Sales Tax revenue to offset our investments in being the County seat, and more of the city's tax parcels should be brought back online post delinquent tax proceedings and this Galvan situation.
These are all such easy wins. Future mayors please take note.
This is a dubious proposition: the vast majority of City spending is the “.01” accounts in the budget — payroll and its associated carrying costs (perqs and payroll taxes). The actual amount of discretionary cash is minuscule — likely less than $1m. Yes, there are savings to be had (see the city manager petition which will reign in our bloated legislative branch and executive branch salaries). But they’re marginal, not truly material (esp. after we pay for our city manager).
DeleteMoreover, PILOTS merely redistribute expenses to those already bearing them, imposing a level of inequity that will, per force, expand over time. Not a winning strategy.
It is incumbent on the council to find revenue streams. It’s not easy. It’s bloody fucking difficult, in fact. But that’s the job — so if your plump ass is in one of those seats or you seek to plant your ass in one after January 1, either do the work or quit. We’ve no time or room for pikers and those nursing on the public tit. I’m looking at you, incumbents (with 1 or maybe 1.5 exceptions). Note there’s not been any attempt to develop new revenues for the city since Don Moore led the council. Not one. And none of our mayoral candidates is even talking about this. Joe Ferris thinks crosswalks are a major concern for the mayor’s office. Weak.
John Friedman is right, we have a revenue problem. A more efficient government and better leaders can help stop the bleeding and future burden by streamlining some things through active management over departments etc, and stop pilots for housing developments, which bring in no revenue, just expenses (as opposed to pilots for actual industries, hence the “I” in IDA. Some revenue is low hanging fruit - foreclose on back tax properties, prevent it from building up, increase parking rates (they’re doing that now), stop vilifying the small businesses and tourism so we can get lodging and sales taxes back up. After that, we’ll need to be more creative. Also, would help to have better management of grants so we can get better ones and make sure they’re paid off faster and avoid debt service covering the costs before reimbursement.
DeleteMr. Friedman! Language sir, you forget yourself ;-)
DeleteIn the first ward we refer to a "plump ass" the culturally appropriate term is derrière.
Just kidding.
Would love to dig into this more.
re: Revenue streams.
Is there a legal way to get a bigger slice of the sales tax in the County for the City of Hudson? It seems that Hudson generates proportionally more, and it could offset all the tax parcels the County uses?
What else:
- Parking?
- Renting out the Youth Center on weekends for events and weddings?
(Spark seems to be renting out their building on weekends and they have more money than the City of Hudson).
What else?
Other revenue ideas? Had 11 Warren been available to develop into market rate townhomes (potentially with ADUs in the alley), I made a rough calculation that 14 developed lots, turned into $2M triplexes with ADUs (4 units per lot), assessed at full value is about $33K combined school and city tax per property. That's 56 new units that could have been $462K in additional revenue per year. And if you offered any buyer a 20% discount for a decade, and let them pay $26K, that's still $364K in additional annual revenue. This is part of why the sale of 11 Warren to the County (who will have outgrown the building within just a couple years) was so short sighted.
DeleteAre there other large parcels that can be developed and built that add substantially to the tax base? Will the Depot Lofts do this?