For the past two years, the portable saunas of Big Towel Spa have spent the winter months, October through March, on the beach at Oakdale. In 2024, the saunas also spent April and May in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, a stint that was not repeated in 2025.
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| Photo: Lance Wheeler |
At the meeting on July 15, Councilmember Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) questioned whether the electrical system at Oakdale could safely support the anticipated usage. Council president Tom DePietro indicated there was no rush in passing the resolution, given that it was July and the license agreement did not begin until September, so the decision was made to table the resolution until the information that would mollify Merante's concerns could be obtained.
On July 21, Kelly Crimmins, proprietor of Big Towel Spa, sent a letter to the Common Council "rescinding" her proposal to site the saunas at Oakdale for the 2025-2026 winter season. Her letter to the Council reads in part:
After two incredible seasons at Oakdale where over 1000 people have visited, the difficulty of working with the council has become too much for my small business. The number of hoops and lack of support has been tiring and exhausting, especially when it is for a space that is unused or inactive during the winter months.
If the council is unwilling to support citizen initiatives that help enhance the experience of Hudson (especially in our off-season) and also provides tourist activation, I do not see it as a place that helps to inspire other young entrepreneurs to see the opportunities that could be possible. In fact, the council is stifling local entrepreneurship and not pushing it forward.
The licensing structure we worked together to create could actually be seen as a model that could be used for so many other citizens or young businesses that want to start an initiative in Hudson. Instead I have been subjected to interrogation every season about fees, hours, safety, and electricity.
It seems the saunas will be wintering this year in Palatine Park in Germantown.
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re: "In fact, the council is stifling local entrepreneurship and not pushing it forward."
ReplyDeleteBeg to differ, didn't the Council just request code and safety review of electricity outlets used outdoors, around water, year round?
Consider:
- Special Use Permits in NYS Parks can run into the hundreds a day in this area, and thousands at larger State parks. Big Towel Spa was charged ~ $12 a day by the City of Hudson. ($350 a month, or 1.5 lattes on Warren Street). It can cost more to drive into a state park to hike.
- Concession Agreements (DEC or County) can be more than 10% of gross revenue from the business on public land. Did the City of Hudson take a percentage of Big Towel Spa revenue?
- Furthermore, didn’t the City of Hudson recently approve an unbudgeted $110,000 matching grant, first authorized in 2022, to convert Oakdale into either a satellite campus or an upgraded City park managed by the Youth Center?
Throwback Gossips story from 2017, that talks about the ~$1m renovation of the original Hudson Boys and Girls Club building, long before the City of Hudson Youth Department's half a dozen employees unionized.
https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2017/02/about-youth-center.html
Sounds like some major whining!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, good riddance! It's a PUBLIC PARK, take your BUSINESS elsewhere.
Now, let's see how long the sign for the business in front of Oakdale remains. That's the one that's been displayed for about two years straight.
Appears some of us could really benefit from some sauna time.
DeleteMaking the argument that the city has supported other endeavors rings hallow, Citing a Gossips story 8 years ago proves that.
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DeleteThis is a great loss for those of us who relied on the saunas for weekly relaxation and physical and emotional therapy. Imagining that a business owner doesn't need to know where they'll be opening a business a few months ahead of opening seems deeply unfair and unrealistic. Kelly would very much have had to have an agreement in place in July in order to open in September. I think the council has repeatedly underestimated how many Hudsonians have loved and used the saunas, and will count this as a missed opportunity and a shame.
ReplyDeleteWhile I understand Alderman Merante's question/concern regarding electrical capacity, I have to side with Big Towel Spa on this. They've had so much pushback over the past few years from all directions, all of which seems completely unnecessary (not to mention often full of snark). Sadly, those who did use the saunas in the winter will now either miss out or have to drive to Germantown to have a steam.
ReplyDeleteI can sympathize with a business's need for certainty viz its location. That's why most businesses acquire their real estate at some level -- either as a tenant or an owner. Either way, however, they have to be cognizant of their obligations regarding the health and safety codes that apply to their particular undertaking.
ReplyDeleteBut BTS has been able to avoid significant investment in real estate by leveraging the slack in the City's infrastructure. This is commendable and to be supported. But not at the risk of increasing the City's potential liability for its own compliance with health and safety regulations. It's not the City's obligation to be an incubator of third-party businesses. If BTS wants to indemnify the City against such potential liability -- with a fully-funded insurance policy with an agreed-upon coverage cap, for instance -- that would be one thing. But they don't seem to have offered that.
Mr. Merante has behaved properly. One wonders where the City's/council's attorneys are on this matter.
I have enjoyed the Big Towel experience, and think I think this is exactly the kind of business and entrepreneur the City should be bending over backwards to work with. We are in the middle of a loneliness epidemic and mental health crisis and Big Towel provides a powerful antidote to both - and is a noble use of our public spaces. I appreciate the fiscal responsibility of it all - but to leave a small business that provides such a beneficial service in the lurch for months is both irresponsible and disrespectful. I hope we are able to invite her back in the future.
ReplyDeleteFirst, let me say I was a happy customer and supporter of Big Towel. They would be missed. But unless I’m missing something here it seems like an overreaction from Crimmins to write such a bridge burning letter to state her intentions to withdraw. For the past couple years, she was only paying $50 a month to use public space for a privately owned business that, by my calculations based on rates/time lots, could possibly make around $10,000 a month in gross revenue if even booked at 50% capacity. That’s a very good deal and I’m fine with that, especially knowing that the beach in not really utilized over the winter, and that the city could be a business incubator. But the fact that the council has some questions around the costs and safety of a new utility, requested by the applicant, is hardly an “interrogation.” If Big Towel were to try their business on private property within Hudson what do you think the rent would be? Probably more than $150. Also, they would have to contend with not just code enforcement and the dept of health, but also zoning and the planning board, which has a backlog of applications, many waiting a year or two. And along with the planning board process would come a public hearing, and while most of us here support the spa (except Bill, of course), many loud voices in the Facebook Townie Groups were very negative about it. Also, if moving her application through the Council in a timely manner was so important to Crimmins, then she should have shown up to the meeting so she could answer those questions and Tom wouldn’t have tabled it another month.
ReplyDeleteWhat I’m trying to say here is Big Towel is not a victim and has gotten a relatively better experience through the city’s bureaucratic process than most small businesses get. And yes, the process should be made better for all businesses, private and “nonprofit” who rely on tax subsidies alike. The next mayor needs to appoint competent people to the regulatory boards and the next council needs to reform the zoning code. The council should also create a consistent application and process for licensing business use on city property. Every time this happens, be it Oakdale or the Waterfront Dock license agreement, it seems like there is such confusion and reinventing of the wheel.
But if you want a small business friendly Hudson then you need to vote for small business friendly candidates. Has the nearly decade long DePietro-Johnson regime been good for small business? What do you think a poll would say? Also, Crimmins publicly supported DePietro-Johnson on her Instagram during this past primary. This situation reminds me of when Lil Deb’s Oasis (another DePietro supporter, even has a picture of him in their cookbook) was convinced by “somebody” to withdraw their application for the $1M Restore NY grant, so that they would not compete with the foolhardy application that HHA intended to do for the Bliss Towers demolition. You know the one, the drama filled public hearing because it was pointed out that a demolition does not qualify for a grant based on preservation. The result: HHA didn’t even bother to submit the application and Lil Deb’s missed out on applying—and their application for their purposed future location is languishing in planning board purgatory. I make these examples not to be snarky but to make business owners consider who represents their interests, and not by their virtuous words, but by their actions.
I'd bet a permanent bouncy pad on the beach would go over well and bring people together, too. Maybe one at the riverfront park as well.
ReplyDeleteThis business gets to set up in city parks for $150 a month plus electricity costs!
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