And So It Begins . . .

Yesterday, the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (BEA) began the work of crafting the city budget for 2026. In this phase of the process, department heads are presenting their budget requests to the BEA. Among the first department heads to present their proposed 2026 budgets was Craig Haigh, code enforcement officer, whose department consists of himself and three part-time employees--a code officer, a safety inspector, and a clerk.

Haigh requested a total of $234,335 for the Code Enforcement Office--a 40 percent increase in the current budget for the department. The increases are primarily in personnel costs. Haigh is proposing increasing the clerk's hourly wage from $16.40 to $19.50, adding a second full-time code enforcement officer with a salary of $60,000, and increasing his own annual salary by $10,000 to $84,359. 

Haigh defended the need for another full-time code enforcement officer by saying the Code Enforcement Office is getting progressively busier, and there is enough work for a second officer. He said the projects now happening in Hudson--citing in particular Depot Lofts and the Pocketbook Factory--"take big-time inspection." He admitted he never thought this would happen in Hudson, and then mentioned four big projects that have been proposed and are now somewhere in the planning stage, among them the "housing development" being proposed by Walter Chatham for the area off Hudson Avenue.

Justifying his request for a $10,000 salary increase, Haigh told the BEA, "If I were employed by the state, that would be my salary." He also indicated that he has applied for state jobs, and were he to be offered one, he would take it.

City treasurer Heather Campbell asked, "If you have another full-time officer, can you get rid of one of the part-timers?" Haigh acknowledged that one of the part-time positions could be eliminated if there were another full-time code enforcement officer. The salaries of the part-timers are $23,078 and $22,048.

The BEA meetings continue on Wednesday with presentations of the proposed budgets for the City's team of lawyers, the mayor's office, and the assessor's office.

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One-Way . . . or the Other

An idea that's been around for decades is making Union and Allen streets below Third, or perhaps even below Fourth, one-way--Union going west, and Allen going east, or vice versa. The idea has never been implemented (except temporarily each year on Flag Day), but it keeps coming up as the panacea for all traffic problems in what was historically Hudson's First Ward.

The problem with these blocks is, when there are cars parked on both sides of the street, there is not enough space in the travel lane for two cars to meet and pass each other. Navigating these blocks requires looking ahead to see what's coming from the opposite direction and periodically pulling aside, when space permits, to allow an oncoming car--or two or three--to pass before proceeding. Making these two streets one-way, in opposite directions, may seem to be the panacea for the problem, but is it really a desirable solution?  

At some point during the existence of the ad hoc Parking Study Committee, Vicky Daskaloudi, who represents the Fifth Ward, and Jennifer Belton, who represents the Fourth Ward, spoke of making the streets one-way as an easily achievable solution to any number of problems, including issues of parking at the westernmost ends of these streets, where the Half Moon (Allen Street) and Wm. Farmer & Sons (Union Street) are located. This prompted Margaret Morris, who represents the First Ward, to poll the people who actually live on the affected blocks in her ward to find out what they thought of the idea. The results were inconclusive. Morris reports that half the people she spoke with were in favor of making these blocks of Union and Allen streets one-way, and half were opposed. 

The argument for making the streets one-way is convenience for drivers. Were the streets to be one-way, drivers could sail from Third Street to Front Street, or vice versa, with only one impediment: the stop sign at Second Street. The argument for keeping things as they are is less autocentric: traffic calming. (Of interest, one of techniques in the "Traffic Calming Toolbox" is "changing one-way streets to two-way.")

An internet search for "traffic calming" yields this article: "8 traffic calming measures for neighborhood streets." (It's important to remember that Allen and Union streets between Third and Front streets pass through residential neighborhoods.) The following is quoted from that article:

Roadway planning in the United States and Canada has long held motor vehicle speed and ease as a top priority, leading to a network of high-speed roads and impatient drivers. . . .

Traffic calming is a system that utilizes design strategy and physical adjustments to reduce traffic speeds for the sake of safety and accessibility. Environmental adjustments . . . force motorists to pay attention to their surroundings and alter their driving behaviors, resulting in lower speeds and safer driving.

Two of the eight traffic calming measures set forth in the article are chicanes and chokers. Chicanes are described as "sidewalk extensions that create a zigzag pattern with alternating curves to disturb the straight path of the roadway."

Photo: NACTO

A choker is described as "a horizontal extension of the sidewalk meant to narrow the roadway for a section of the street."

Photo: City of Ann Arbor, Michigan

Perhaps we need to think of the parked cars on Allen and Union below Third as chicanes and chokers, there to force motorists to pay attention to their surroundings, slow down, alter their driving behaviors, and be more patient and civil.

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

As September ends, and October begins, here is what's happening.

• On Monday, September 29, the Finance Committee of the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 5:00 p.m, The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

Update: This meeting of the HCDPA Finance Committee was canceled.

• At 6:00 p.m, on Monday, September 29, the Common Council holds a public hearing on discontinuing the use of approximately 84.32 feet at the eastern terminus of Long Alley and selling the discontinued portion to Galvan Initiatives Foundation at fair market value. The portion of Long Alley in question runs in front of 724-726 Columbia Street, a portion of the original Gifford-Wood building which is being redeveloped as a performance space called The Foundry. The hearing is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• Also on Monday, September 29, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 6:30 p.m, The purpose of the meeting is to vote on the amendment to the zoning code to allow the former John L. Edwards school building to be redeveloped as apartments for seniors. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• On Wednesday, October 1, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) meets at 9:30 a.m. An agenda for the meeting is not yet available. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at 1 City Centre, Suite 301, and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

Update: The IDA meeting has been canceled.

• At 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 1, the Common Council Legal Committee is scheduled to meet. The agenda for the meeting, along with meeting documents, can be found here. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
• On Thursday, October 2, the Public Works Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The board is tasked with implementing the Sidewalk Improvement District legislation, but the sorry state of the sidewalks newly installed as part of the City's largest DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) project may be a topic of discussion at the meeting. (The picture below shows the new sidewalk at First and Warren streets.) The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• At 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 2, the Jacob Leisler Institute for the Study of Early New York History, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, presents a talk by Justin Wexler, a local researcher on indigenous peoples, and David William Voorhees, director of the Leisler Institute, on the infrastructure of waterways and land paths used for trade by the indigenous people and the Dutch and English colonists prior to the founding of Hudson. The lecture takes place in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. For more information, click here.  
• On Friday, October 3, the weekend-long Hudson Jazz Festival, presented by Hudson Hall, kicks off at 1:00 p.m. with Sounds Around Town, free pop-up performances featuring Bard College Jazz musicians and composers and local jazz artists, taking place in various locations around the city. To view the schedule for Sounds Around Town, click here. For the schedule of concerts taking place on the mainstage at Hudson Hall and at other venues, click here.  

Photo: David McIntyre

• On Saturday, October 4, Hudson Oktober Fest, a streetwide party featuring local breweries, food vendors, games, and live music, hosted by Upper Depot Brewing, takes place from 1:00 to 6:00 p.m. in the 700 block of State Street. Click here for more information.

• On Sunday, October 5, the African American Archive of Columbia County, in collaboration with the Hudson Area Library, presents the first of four talks in its "Speaking About History" series. The lecture on Sunday features Michael Douma, author of The Slow Death of Slavery in Dutch New York: A Cultural, Economic and Demographic History, 1700-1827. The event takes place at 2:00 p.m. in person in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, and on Zoom. Click here for more information and to register to receive the Zoom link.

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Crafting the 2026 Budget

The process that results in the 2026 city budget begins this week, with departments presenting their proposed budgets to the Board of Estimate and Apportionment (BEA), made up of the mayor, the Common Council president, and the city treasurer. The following is the schedule of BEA meetings this week. According to the city calendar, the meetings will be hybrid. Click on the department name for the link to join the meeting remotely.

• Monday, September 29 
• 2:30 p.m.--City Clerk and Common Council
• 3:30 p.m.--Code Enforcement
• Wednesday, October 1
• 2:30 p.m.--Legal
• 3:00 p.m.--Mayor's Office
• 3:30 p.m.--Assessor
• Friday, October 3
• 2:30 p.m.--Youth Department
• 3:30 p.m.--Fire Department

Concern for the Dunn Warehouse

Last week, Gossips reported an RFP (request for proposals) for the Dunn warehouse had been reissued. The lease agreement between the City of Hudson and Dunn & Done LLC for the restoration and adaptive reuse of the building fell apart, and once again the City is looking to lease or sell the iconic Dunn building, one of the last surviving industrial buildings on the Hudson waterfront. 

Photo: Dunn & Done LLC

The timeline for the new RFP seems to be unusually truncated. The RFP was issued on September 15, and the proposals are due just five weeks later, on October 20.  

At the Historic Preservation Commission meeting on September 12, Ronald Kopnicki urged the HPC to designate the building as a local landmark. Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, suggested that Kopnicki should initiate that process. And so it happened that Kopnicki, his partner, Matt McGhee, and I collaborated to put together an application for individual historic site designation for the Dunn warehouse, which we presented to the HPC on Friday. 

Preparing the application did not take much effort. The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) has twice determined that the building is eligible for individual listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. It was first determined to be eligible in 1985, when the National Register Hudson Historic District was created, but it was not included because the owner at the time, the Stockport Lumber Company, objected. It was determined to be eligible again in November 2024, when Dunn & Done LLC applied to SHPO to get the building listed in the National Register. National Register listing qualifies the building for historic preservation tax credits. Local designation will ensure that the HPC will have oversight over any changes to the building that might be proposed in the future.

In presenting the application, Kopnicki made this statement:

At the last meeting of the Historic Preservation Commission, I mentioned that, as part of the argument for the recent Partition Street project, the new building's metal cladding was described as an allusion to Hudson's historic industrial waterfront. In the Dunn warehouse, we have not an allusion, a reference, or a "signifier," but an actual building that represents that history. Forty years ago, it was found worthy of inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. That status should be pursued, because of its opportunities for funding; but local designation gives the building stronger protection.

A building is worth a thousand allusions, a thousand signs or pictures telling the public what used to be there. The Dunn warehouse stands as an emblem of Hudson's historic waterfront. It has historic, cultural, and aesthetic significance. Adapted to new uses, it will contribute to Hudson's future. I urge you to designate it as an individual landmark of Hudson.

Photo of building from 1985 Building Structure Inventory

McGhee made this statement in support of local designation for the building:

The beauty of this building is its basilica form, along with the silhouette on the Water Street side, outlining the Basilica and stepped gable end of the extension. Then, there are the two unadorned Roman arches. It is difference within harmony.

This unusual building is brought to the fore by its setting in parkland on the Hudson River waterfront, an asset of the people of Hudson, worthy of preservation.

Another photo from the 1985 Building Structure Inventory

The HPC voted to accept the application, which included as supporting documents the 1985 Building Structure Inventory, documentation of the 2024 eligibility determination, and 19th- and early 20th-century Sanborn maps of the site, as complete. The next step is to hold a public hearing on the designation, which is scheduled to take place at the HPC's next meeting on Friday, October 10. After the public hearing, the next step will be to make a recommendation to the Common Council, which according to Hudson's preservation law, is the body that must make the actual designation.

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What Brought About the Happy Ending

Yesterday, Gossips published a post about a resolution passed by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors on September 10 regarding the EV chargers to be installed in the courthouse parking lot. Today, we reveal how the happy solution of drawing power from the courthouse rather than running new powerlines on the 300 block of Allen Street or on Partition Street and West Court Street, taking a devastating toll on the trees, came about.

Vintage photograph of Courthouse Square courtesy Historic Hudson

Back in July, Linda Mussmann, county supervisor for the Fourth Ward, set up a meeting with Ray Jurkowski, Commissioner of Public Works for Columbia County. Present at the meeting were Margaret Morris, councilmember for the First Ward, and neighborhood residents Steven Wilson, Jim Denney and Amy Ilias, and Josef and Olan Quattro. At the time the meeting took place, the County had announced its Plan B: running the new powerlines for the EV chargers from Third Street to West Court Street along Partition Street and then along east side of West Court Street to the parking lot. This plan involved the extensive pruning of one of the trees in Courthouse Square and the removal of another.

At the meeting, alternative methods for getting power to the EV chargers were discussed. The possibility of simply bringing power from the courthouse to the EV chargers was suggested by Wilson. Jurkowski said it was an option they were looking it. Why it wasn't the first option to be considered is not known, but fortunately, for everyone who cares about the aesthetics of our city and the preservation of this historic neighborhood, it turned out to be the one settled on. Two months after the meeting, the happy outcome is the solution set forth and agreed to in Resolution No. 286-2025: "the electrical supply to serve the proposed chargers can be obtained from the existing power panel within the Courthouse building and run underground to the charging units."

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A Happy Ending

Gossips has reported a few times about the plan to install EV chargers in the courthouse parking lot and the devastating impact it would have on trees, first on Allen Street and then on West Court. 

Photo: Peter Meyer

This morning, Peter Meyer, a leading advocate for the trees, sent me a copy of a resolution passed by the Columbia County Board of Supervisors at its meeting on September 10. Meyer had received the resolution from First Ward Supervisor Randall Martin. The resolution in question--No. 286-2025--can be found here. The most important paragraphs in the resolution are these (the underscore has been added):

WHEREAS, the County had previously entered into an agreement with Livingston Energy (now Lynkwell) to furnish and install two (2) level 2 charging stations containing 4 charging ports, including a new overhead electrical service from National Grid at the County Courthouse; and

WHEREAS, after numerous meetings with Livingston Energy, National Grid, and neighboring property owners concern of the potential impact to existing trees in the area associated with the new National Grid electrical service; and

WHEREAS, after reviewing multiple options, the County Engineering Department has determined, and National Grid had agreed that the electrical supply to serve the proposed chargers can be obtained from the existing power panel within the Courthouse building and run underground to the charging units . . . .

No new superhigh utility poles, no trees brutally pruned or removed, just underground wires from the courthouse to the EV chargers in the parking lot. Once in a while good things do happen.

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Tune in This Afternoon

The Hudson Farmers' Market has shared the news that Grayling from Sparrowbush Bakery, a popular regular at the market, will be on WAMC's "Food Friday" today from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m.

The topic is bread baking, and the guests on the show will also include Wilson Kennan from Bakery Suzanne in Saratoga and Amy Halloran of Flour Ambassador. They will likely be taking questions from callers--so if something about bread baking has you stumped, consider asking the masters for guidance.

To listen, you can tune in to 90.3 FM or 97.1 FM or listen online at wamc.org. 

A Future for the Furgary

It was announced today that Hudson has received a Hudson River Estuary Grant for the redevelopment of the area in North Bay once known as the Furgary Boat Club. The following is the press release issued by City Hall.

The City of Hudson has been awarded a $123,000 Hudson River Estuary Grant from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to advance planning and engineering for the redevelopment of the historic Furgary Fishing Village site along the city’s waterfront.

The grant will fund final design and regulatory review work needed to transform the Furgary site into a resilient, accessible public space. Once complete, the project will expand public access to the Hudson River, highlight the unique cultural history of the Furgary shacks, and create new opportunities for recreation, education, and community gathering. . . .

The project builds on years of planning, including Hudson’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and the Furgary Vision Plan, which envisioned adaptive reuse of the riverfront shacks and improved shoreline access. . . .

Funding comes from the New York State Environmental Protection Fund (EPF), which has provided more than $30 million through the Estuary Grants Program since 1999 to improve public access, habitat restoration, and climate resiliency throughout the Hudson River Valley. . . .

With engineering and permitting work underway, Hudson will be positioned to seek additional funding for construction, landscaping, interpretive signage, and amenities that will make Furgary a centerpiece of the city’s revitalized waterfront.

News of the Armory Roof

As Gossips has previously reported, at the end of August, the Galvan Foundation applied to the Historic Preservation Commission for a certificate of appropriateness to remove the slate roof on the Galvan Armory, which undoubtedly was installed when the armory was rebuilt after the devastating fire that happened on New Year's Eve 1928, and replace it with asphalt shingles meant to look like slate. 

The HPC was not thrilled with the faux slate product Galvan was proposing, which looks very little like slate, and recommended an alternative product. At the HPC meeting on September 12, Walter Chatham, representing Galvan, argued that there was a significant price difference between the product they were proposing and the one the HPC was recommending, noting, "It's an enormous roof." 

At the September 12 meeting, Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, asked a simple question: "Did anyone check to see if the roof could be repaired?" The question prompted HPC chair Phil Forman to say, "If there is a repair option, it should be pursued." Chatham argued it was impossible to figure out where the leak is and where the water, which is leaking into the library, is coming from. 

Since then it seems things have changed.

Early this afternoon, Forman informed Gossips that the public hearing on the proposal to replace the roof scheduled for Friday was being canceled because Galvan had withdrawn its application. Soon after that, a different source told Gossips that Galvan had "taken another look at the armory roof and concluded that the existing slate is repairable and can stay." It's a win for the armory, the HPC, and for historic preservation in Hudson.

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Protect Your Canine Companions

Roger Hannigan Gilson has an article today in the Times Union about a dangerous bloom in the Hudson River: "Toxin-producing bacteria persist in Hudson River." The article reports that the problem was first detected on September 10 near Kingston by the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies during routine sampling. It currently affects the Hudson River off Ulster, Dutchess, and Columbia counties. 

This is the critical information in the article. (The underscore was added by Gossips.)

The type of cyanobacteria making up the bloom, microcystis, produces toxins that can sicken humans and kill dogs. Chris Solomon, a senior scientist and aquatic ecologist at the Cary Institute, advised people to avoid contact with Hudson River water in the affected areas “as much as possible” and to keep dogs completely out of the river.

In his report to the Common Council, which was distributed but not presented at the informal meeting on September 15, Rob Perry, Superintendent of Public Works, told the Council: "On September 4, we received a notification from DEC regarding the presence of Harmful Algal Bloom (HAB) near the docks in the river. DEC asked us to post Warning signage."

The most important takeaway: Keep your pups out of the river. 

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Of Interest in the Times Union

Roger Hannigan Gilson has an article today in the Times Union that features Hudson: "As youth population declines, schools are repurposed in the Hudson Valley."  

Photo: Roger Hannigan Gilson | Times Union

Needless to say, John L. Edwards school and the plans for its reuse as an apartment building for seniors play a central role in the article. Here is the lede:

Vines and other vegetation have crawled over the former John L. Edwards Elementary School since it was closed in 2018 due to declining enrollment. It sits near the center of Hudson, taking up space in a community with limited open real estate while adding nothing to the property tax coffers.

According to the article, at least fifty schools have closed in the Hudson Valley since 1999. The article also shares this information about the populations of Hudson and Columbia County: "The nation's aging population is being felt acutely in the Hudson Valley, where Columbia County is the second oldest county in New York, and the Hudson area is the 30th oldest place in the country." 

In other news related to the topic of John L. Edwards and the Pennrose plan for its adaptive reuse, last night the Common Common held a public hearing on the zoning district amendment to allow the school building to be converted into the multifamily dwelling. Only Lloyd Koedding was present in the audience at City Hall, and there were no comments--either in support or opposition--from him or from either of the two people attending the meeting virtually.

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We Are Not Immune

The Hudson City School District issued a statement today about a report of a student telling a fellow student of plans to bring a gun to school and subsequent actions taken by the district: "Important Notice from Hudson City School District."

Special Planning Board Meeting This Week

Tomorrow, Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 p.m., the Planning Board meets to continue its review of Colarusso's application for a conditional use permit for its dock operations. An article on the topic by Donna Streitz was the featured article yesterday on imby.com: "Colarusso review continues on Tuesday. Will the public continue to be shut out?"

On Friday, September 19, Colarusso attorney T. J. Ruane submitted a letter to the Planning Board, which can be found here. The letter reiterates the assertion Colarusso has made all along: that the review should be restricted to the repairs made to the dock in 2018, but, in fact, those unauthorized repairs ended the grandfathered nonconforming use status and triggered a review of the entire dock operation. The following is quoted from the letter: 

Colarusso maintains its position that the Planning Board’s scope of review under the City Code for the Application is limited to imposing additional conditions relating to the bulkhead repair at the Dock that are “necessary to protect the health, safety and welfare of residents living in close proximity to commercial docks and the public while recreating and using public facilities adjacent to commercial docks.” City Code § 325-17.1(D)(1). Furthermore, Colarusso has constitutional vested rights stemming from its status as a pre-existing non-conforming use and its Haul Road Permit . . . which protect its operations. In addition, Colarusso’s operations are also protected under the Mined Land Reclamation Law (“MLRL”).

The letter then goes on to list the conditions that would be acceptable to Colarusso: 

1. To mitigate any potential dust concerns, Colarusso is amenable to:

i. Constructing a vegetative buffer and earthen berm (with material used from the stormwater retention pond to avoid any net increase in fill material at the Property) along the eastern and northern boundaries of the Property. . . .

ii. Installing fence “slats” in the chain-link fence running along the eastern and northern boundaries of the Property.

iii. Implementing the best management practices outlined in the Best Management Practices Plan [prepared and submitted by JR Heffner, Vice President of Operations].

iv. Re-paving, and periodically re-surfacing, the currently paved area of the Property.

2. To ensure continued compliance with the City noise ordinance, Colarusso is amenable to:

i. Implementing the best management practices outlined in the Best Management Practices Plan . . . ; and

ii. converting the primary power source for the material conveyor from a diesel generator to phase 3 power electricity provided from the grid.

3. To mitigate any potential truck emission concerns at Rick’s Point Park and Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, Colarusso is amenable to implementing . . . a policy that Colarusso truck drivers stopped at the Broad Street railroad crossing for a passing train, notify other trucks drivers. The other truck drivers will then either wait at the end of the Haul Road (for trucks traveling to the Dock) or at the exit of the Property (for trucks leaving the Dock) until the train has passed.

4. Loading and unloading operations shall not occur on major holidays (New Year’s, Memorial Day, Fourth of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas).

5. To further improve security at the Property, Colarusso is amenable to installing motion sensor lights . . . and implementing a policy . . . to keep the gate to the Property locked during hours when the Property is not in use

6. To improve views of the Hudson River from Rick’s Point Park and Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, Colarusso is amenable to removing the non-operational cement tower.

7. Colarusso would also be amenable to painting the exterior, and repairing the roof, of the guard shack at the entrance to the Property and removing of the truck scale and shack.

8. If, in repaving the Dock or removing the non-operational cement tower, Colarusso discovers that minor repairs are necessary to any of the Bulkhead tie-backs located under the paved area, Colarusso shall make such repairs

The landscape plan that accompanies the letter consists of three sets of three photographs, each set showing the dock area from a different perspective. Each set contains pictures that show (1) what currently is; (2) what is projected for one year from now, after plantings have been done; and (3) what is projected for five years from now. Click on the images to enlarge, or view the originals here. Needless to say, spotting the differences can be a bit of a challenge.

The letter also responds to two of the conditions suggested by the Hudson Riverfront Coalition (HRC). To the request that the culverts under the haul road be replaced to restore full tidal flow in South Bay, the letter denies the need for replacement and declares them not relevant to the application at hand:

The culvert pipes along the Haul Road do not need to be replaced. The culvert pipes were reviewed during the Haul Road Permit review process and were determined to be in good and working condition.

In addition, these culvert pipes are not part of the Dock, or the Property, and are outside the scope of this Application.

HRC also suggested that Colarusso provide public access to the 4.4 acres along the river that evidence shows still are owned by the City of Hudson. HRC also suggested that the haul road should be used by the public during nonoperational hours. The letter responds to those suggestions in this way:

The Dock operations comprise the entire Property and there is no feasible way to provide safe public access; nor is such access needed (the property immediately adjacent to the Dock is a public park with abundant public access to the Hudson River).

The 4.4-acre parcel and the Haul Road are not part of the Dock or Property and are outside the scope of this Application

To review the situation regarding those 4.4 acres: In June 2013, research by The Valley Alliance discovered that the City of Hudson still owned 4.4 acres of land on the waterfront south of the dock, because ownership of the parcel had been illegally transferred to St. Lawrence Cement (now Holcim) in 1985. (Colarusso purchased the property from Holcim in 2014.) The findings of The Valley Alliance were confirmed by a title search commissioned by the City in October 2013 and reiterated in a memo by former city attorney Ken Dow in August 2019. In 2020, Ryan Weitz, then the engineer from Barton & Loguidice who was the consultant to the Planning Board, proposed a driveway that would give access to the 4.4 acres. At a Planning Board meeting in May 2020, John Privatera, then the attorney for Colarusso, maintained that the proposed driveway was on land owned by CSX. Weitz, however, demonstrated that the proposed access was actually on City-owned land. Privatera dismissed the notion of access, maintaining that the 4.4 acres belonged to Colarusso. Privatera declared, "Colarusso has a deed for it, and they paid for it."

At the August 27 meeting of the Planning Board, attorney Victoria Polidoro mentioned Weitz's site plan that showed how the 4.4 acres could be accessed and requested that Colarusso provide an updated site plan that showed access to the 4.4 acres. It doesn't appear that such a site plan has been provided.

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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, marking the beginning of autumn. As the days grow shorter and cooler, here is what's happening.

• On Monday, September 22, the Common Council holds two public hearings. Both hearings are hybrid, taking place in City Hall and on Microsoft Teams.
• At 5:30 p.m.. there is a public hearing on the amendment to zoning districts necessary to allow the former John L. Edwards school building to be redeveloped as apartments. The proposed law amending the code can be found here. Click here for the link to join the hearing remotely. 
• At 6:00 p.m., there is a public hearing on Hudson's new comprehensive plan, "Hudson 2035." To review the 277-page dpcument, click here. To join the hearing remotely, click here.

• On Tuesday, September 23, at 6:30 p.m., the Planning Board continues its review of Colarusso's application for a conditional use permit for its dock operations. The meeting takes place at City Hall and will be livestreamed on YouTube. Click here to find the link to view the livestream.

• On Wednesday, September 24, at 5:30 p.m., the History Room at the Hudson Area Library presents The Wonderful World of Oysters--the incredible story of oysters, from their ancient origins to their vital role in ecosystems, history, and New York culture told by Ben "Moody" Harney, the founder of MotherShuckers, which started as the only oyster cart in New York City and currently operates as a seven-day location at Pier 57. For more information about the event, click here. Sadly, registration for the event is already filled.
  

• On Thursday, September 25, the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 5:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.  
• On Friday, September 26, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting includes a public hearing on the proposal to replace the slate roof on the Galvan Armory, the location of the Hudson Area Library, with faux slate. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely. 

Update: The public hearing on the replacement of the slate roof of the Galvan Armory has been canceled. The application to replace the roof has been withdrawn.

That's it for the first week in autumn.

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Nativism, Hudson Style

This year and last year, there has been an event in Hudson called Hudson Family Reunion. For those unfamiliar with the event, the 2024 application for City event funding (it received $1,000 in 2024 and $1,000 again this year) described it in this way: 

The Hudson Family Reunion's goal to honor the rich legacies of families past, present and future of Hudson. This annual event will celebrate the love and support for the City of Hudson. The history of Hudson is important and should be preserved for future generations. After all it takes families to create and raise a community. . . . [The event] will bring them together and embrace past, present and those who have been reunited to Hudson along with networking.

This year, the Hudson Family Reunion Committee gave out awards. At this year's event, which took place two weekends ago, an award was given to Mayor Kamal Johnson.  

Yesterday, at the gathering at Savona's, the Hudson Family Reunion Committee presented another award--this one to the Galvan Foundation. The award was accepted by former longtime mayor and special adviser to the Galvan Foundation, Rick Scalera.