There are a few things of interest in this conversation. Johnson tells his would-be supporters that he will appear on the ballot in November as the Working Families Party candidate and encourages them to "circle the box that says my name." He'd better hope his supporters don't follow his instructions to the letter if he wants their votes to count.
In his conversation with Cross, on the topic of his living arrangement in a four-bedroom house owned by the Galvan Foundation (which Johnson persists in calling an "apartment"), Johnson tried to throw shade on former mayoral candidate Peter Spear by saying that the assessment on the house Spear owns and lives in is lower than that of other houses on his block. Today, he tried to besmirch several of his critics by questioning their motives in regard to a particularly controversial topic for his administration: the $3 million in delinquent property taxes.
When Weaver brought up the subject of delinquent property taxes, Johnson said, as he has before, that he didn't want to "go after" people who owed back taxes, saying he would rather find a way to help them pay their taxes than just "foreclose on their homes and take them away." He went on to make a most extraordinary allegation, seemingly intimating that those who didn't think the City should tolerate nonpayment of property taxes had an ulterior and self-serving motive. This is what he said:
A lot of the candidates on the Council, a lot of the candidates that are running for Council and mayor and all these other positions, if you do any bit of research, you'll see how they obtained their houses, and a lot of times it's from foreclosures, and they have friends that wanna take these properties from people who have invested in them and lived here for a long time,
This bizarre allegation seems to be directed against Margaret Morris, currently a councilmember representing the First Ward and the Common Council president presumptive. (Morris defeated Tom DePietro in the Democratic primary and is running unopposed in the general election.) Morris bought her home in 2010, four months after the house had been foreclosed on by Deutsche Bank. Prior to the housing market crash in 2008, Deutsche Bank ended up owning a lot of subprime mortgages. The person who owned the house when it was foreclosed on had purchased it in 2006, so this was hardly someone who, in the words of Johnson, had invested in it and lived there for a long time. But that's hardly the point.
Johnson's allegation may also have been directed at Henry Haddad, who is running for First Ward councilmember as a Democratic candidate. In 2012, Haddad purchased a house on North Third Street in a City tax foreclosure auction. At the time of the foreclosure, the house was owned by one of Hudson's lesser "slum lords." It was uninhabited and uninhabitable. Eileen Halloran, who was then city treasurer, described the house as being in "terrible, terrible condition," saying there were places in the walls where light came through. Haddad bought the house for $22,000 and restored it to a habitable and desirable dwelling--something for which all Hudsonians who take pride in their city should be grateful.
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| The house when Haddad purchased it |
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| The house after he restored it |
In talking about the planned restoration of Seventh Street Park, a.k.a. the Public Square, Johnson told Weaver the plan was to bring the park back to "how we remembered it as kids." This video from 1993 may not show how Johnson and Weaver "remembered it as kids," but it does show how the park actually was when Johnson was 7 and Weaver 16. It is recommended viewing.
An “interview” where the “reporter” is your employee. The mayor is the weakest person in Hudson.
ReplyDeleteHis antipathy towards Henry is perhaps based in the fact that Haddad, single-handedly and without any support from government at any level, has built more housing in Hudson than the mayor’s administration in the same period of time.
Weak. Weak. Weak. It’s almost sad how sad he is. Is that pathos or just pathetic?
The clown show continues. The more the mayor talks, the more he demonstrates how unfit and unqualified he is to be anywhere inside City Hall.
ReplyDeleteUntil very recently, as I understand it, Hudson's mayors held paying jobs outside of City Hall and approached their part time civil service for what it was: ceremonial in nature. They weren't able (or expected) to do much or to be in the Mayor's office all that often. But our current mayor changed all that to make the position one of the highest paying jobs in Hudson that any schmo off the street with no credentials or interest in actually managing an organization has an opportunity to obtain. And so what we are seeing of late and will increasingly see in the next few months from Kamal is an embarrassing display from a man-child desperately trying to cling to his $75,000 job for another two years. He's not campaigning (that's all these interviews are) on his accomplishments or telling anyone what he plans to do if he is reelected for the 3rd time. Even with the help of his aide, our so-called mayor has resorted to attacking his opponents and anyone else who might be doing something (or trying to do something) worthwhile, especially those who he knows have little to no respect for him. Sure sounds like the MAGA game plan to me.
ReplyDeleteYou think it's ugly and uncivil now? Wait until October. You think you've had enough of Kamal's lawn signs all over Hudson and Greenport 3 and 4 months before the election? You ain't seen nothin' yet! Those signs should say HIRE ME AGAIN, PLEASE! rather than VOTE FOR ME!
This is what is crippling Hudson: A mayor able to be only interested in his or her paychecks, not actually accomplishing anything of substance, mainly because mayors still can't actually do much of anything to improve the city regardless of whether they view the job as full or part time and regardless of what residents expect of our mayors. Only a full time professional city manager/supervisor can solve this ugly and debilitating systemic flaw, an idea this mayor can't support, if only because it would mean he would be out of a well paying job that he'll never be able to find elsewhere in Hudson. It's all about the money, not the "service" or the civility. When will Kamal show the world his true colors by regularly wearing a red baseball cap? MHGA, anyone?
It wasn't "very recently." It was more than 20 years ago. Rick Scalera was mayor, and Mike Vertetis was Common Council president. There had been a referendum to make the office of mayor a full-time job, but the referendum failed. Despite that, the Common Council decided to use its power of the purse to increase the mayor's salary from something like $11,000 to $60,000, reasoning that if someone was getting $60,000 a year, they would treat it as a full-time job. The mayor's salary remained $60,000 until Kamal Johnson's administration, when the salary was raised first to $75,000, and now I believe it's $80,000. There was a period during one of Scalera's many terms in office when he was only being paid $45,000 a year, because that was the cap allowed by his state pension. The extra $15,000 went into a kind of discretionary fund. I recall Scalera using some of that money to bail out some programs at the Youth Center or for senior citizens.
DeleteIn addition to the above, it's worth nothing that the Mayor appointed an inept and useless Planning Board which is on track toward approving a gravel dump and industrial truck route immediately adjacent to our beautiful waterfront park. There are three major sources of diesel fumes at that location, and they will also impact the large and densely-populated Terrace Apartments; Colarusso trucks, idling tugboats, and 28 trains passing through daily. We had a waterfront with great potential, but we're likely to end up with a mess that provides zero upside for the citizens and taxpayers of Hudson. ~ PJ
ReplyDeleteHi all. I just wanted to state for the record it was MY suggestion to revive "Weather With Weaver" which has been in existence since 2015, long before wearing this current hat as Mayoral Aide. I didn't dream it would garner the attention of such prestigious company as Gossips of Rivertown. I've seen the comments and truly, I know each of you in different ways and like and respect each of you and your opinions. I've had laughs and drinks with John Friedman and his lovely wife, have coached Peter Meyer's son on the HHS Boys' Varsity tennis team, and have had long, meaningful conversations with Bill Huston. I even bestowed Carole with honoring her in my TOP 10 list of the most important/influential people in Hudson back when I had my radio show. All of you are good people with solid opinions and just know, I respect all of your Insight now, even if it doesn't align perfectly with my current position. As a Hudson native and truly invested person wanting the best for all of us, I invite conversation and communication with all of you. 😀
ReplyDeleteJustin,
DeleteI appreciate you taking the high road here.
I think it’s important that we treat each other with respect, and remember we are neighbors first.
This is why I met with the Mayor in person to tell him I was running for Mayor. You were there, and would, I imagine, agree it was a warm meeting.
It is also why, after the primary, I proposed to your boss and Joe Ferris that we supplement competitive and divisive debates with a series of community conversations about Hudson’s future.
I figured we did not need more competitive formats -given how much happens on Facebook, and we could model a new kind of campaigning that was almost collaborative - or, at least, not solely competitive.
Joe was open to it.
The Mayor never responded.
He did not answer the email.
All that said, I would love to take you up on your invitation.
When is good?
Peter