There was a lot happening in Hudson tonight, with the Common Council and the Planning Board meeting at the virtually the same time. At the Council meeting, the
resolution to give local historic designation to the Dunn warehouse passed, despite Council president Tom DePietro expressing the opinion that local designation was redundant and would create "another layer of bureaucracy" and another delay. DePietro's disparaging remarks notwithstanding, every councilmember voted in support of the designation, including DePietro himself, except for Mohammed Rony (Second Ward), who, after saying he didn't see the real need for the designation, abstained.
At the Planning Board meeting, Walter Chatham, who was there representing the Galvan Foundation, said he had gotten a phone call from Craig Haigh at 5:00 p.m. telling him that 14 and 16 North Fourth Street, which Galvan is proposing to demolish, were in a historic district. Although Chatham said the Planning Board review went first, Victoria Polidoro, who is legal counsel to the Planning Board and the Historic Preservation Commission, advised him to involve the HPC early on.
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| Photo: Mark Allen |
Now for the loss. The Planning Board voted six to one to grant a conditional use permit for Colarusso's dock operation, allowing activity at the dock to occur from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, 7:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, 7:00 a.m. to noon on Sunday, with the potential for 142 trucks to arrive and depart from the dock every day. The only member of the Planning Board to vote against it was Gaby Hoffmann.
Gossips will have more to say about each of these stories tomorrow.
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Let’s GOOO Colarusso. TRY THAT IN A SMALL TOWN.
ReplyDeleteYay corruption! Yay venality! Yay victory of greed over common sense!
DeleteTo be clear, this comment is making reference to a racist, pro-lynching country song.
DeleteFeel free to recite any line of that song that’s racist or pro-lynching.
DeleteI'm going to assume this comment is in good faith. For you and the Gossips readers who aren't as familiar with Jason Aldean, here are a few elements that suggest "Try That in a Small Town" is racist and pro-lynching:
Delete-Aldean is a 48-yo white man from Georgia singing lyrics like: "I've got a gun that my granddad gave me" and "Around here we take care of our own". It's not hard to think about what would have been happening in that social-cultural-political context when his grandfather would have had that gun.
-The music video for the song was filmed at a Tennessee courthouse that was the site of a lynching in the 1920s
-The music video also features news footage of BLM protests, implying that those are some of the inciting incidents for the violence that Aldean wants to commit in the lyrics
what keeps the city from complaining about the Boat Club which has a monopoly on the waterfront? Could it be that the members are the people controlling Hudson?
ReplyDeleteThe HPBA and the city have a long partnership with the same goals in mind. They use a small area that they purchased over 75 years ago when the waterfront was nothing but oil tanks and animal rendering. Sorry to say the members don’t control hudson by any means. But they do have 6 former Alderman as members, all democrats. I hear they are extremely approachable and open to discussion if you are weary on any way.
DeleteWhen is Galvan leaving town? Or was that all just a joke on their part? One day they say they're planning on giving their properties away and heading to Georgia, the next day they want to demolish two perfectly good historic houses to create a larger hotel than the one that the Planning Board approved.
ReplyDeleteOver here on the west side of north 7th Street, the three perfectly good houses Galvan removed a few years ago (one of them historic, I believe) to make way for an enormous apartment building, made way for, well, nothing, apparently. Maybe an apartment building someday, though probably not. Maybe a parking lot for the huge apartment building across the street that was built, maybe not. Let's hope at some point soon it's a grassy field where those houses once stood. 3 houses that were lived in by Hudson residents and families. What housing crisis?
Everyone line up! Now you can get a good paying job! Colarusso is offering tons of dock work. So amazing for Hudson. And the hospital will be closing so you don't have to worry about your family's pesky cardiac and pulmonary problems.
ReplyDeleteIf you think it’s funny that the hospital may close, well there will go a lot of better paying nursing, administrative and technician positions that actually provide a living rather than the 15$ an hour bartender/ waitress jobs the “ economic” riverfront revitalization will provide. Pretty sure the next 3 appointees to the PB will not have been born in that much needed hospital CMH.
ReplyDeleteWe have learned to live with a smelly train running through.
Some of us our ok that a boat club and a business that are deeply part of Hudson remain there. There is still plenty of riverfront to enjoy.
No, I don’t think it’s funny that the hospital is closing down a significant amount of its operations. This is absolutely terrible for the city of Hudson and Columbia County residents and employees of CMH. I was speaking with bitter irony. And I will do so again, by saying that maybe the nurses will be able to find work at the dock working for Colarusso, the great provider of jobs for Hudson residents. I’m sure we will soon see a significant number of new positions advertised by Colarusso. Their expansions will surely greatly economically benefit the City of Hudson.
ReplyDeleteRe our Planning Board: In the past, when opposition to the cement plant was made by local citizens, pulmonologists from CMH were called in before the planning board to testify about how FPM (fine particulate matter) significantly harms human and animal health. The New York State site on mining industries also details the harms of FPM from industries like Colarusso. The fact that our so called Planning Board members felt their personal knowledge was adequate enough to allow Colarusso to increase the number of trucks per day from 40 when they first made their application, to 280, and grant them this drastic increase in operations, without calling in a single health expert, is an affront to the City of Hudson’s residents. Time will tell how we will be impacted by Mayor Kamal Johnson‘s hand picked Planning Board. Remember: infants, children, elderly and those with health problems suffer significantly and even die from excessive FPMs which enter the bloodstream of humans and animals, and coat plant life. NY State and USA Government Health Departments have proven without a doubt that mining operations harm the health of humans, animals and plants of adjacent communities. Kamal’s Planning Board chose to rely solely upon their own personal knowledge to make decisions about Colarusso’s operations in our city. Mayor Kamal Johnson’s legacy will be one of gifting the City of Hudson with a drastic increase in cancer causing, FPM which increase cardiac and pulmonary disease. Infants and children will suffer most. This kind of impact harms children’s ability to learn, play, participate in sports and thrive. We already live in the shadow of a mine nearly the size of our city. Thus, this increase in industrial pollution within the city, in conjunction with a decrease in local healthcare, will have an effect on everyone. It is sad. I personally find it heartbreaking.
I recently heard on the radio that scientist have drawn a conclusion between FPM and brain trouble such as dementia. The toxic stuff gets to and remains in our brains via our nostrils -- no surprise there. With all the truck route trucks and so many other vehicles passing through town, we are all breathing in way too much PM2.5 for such a small city, both to our lungs and brains and who knows where else. Living near a highway increases your risk of getting brain and lung diseases, as well as increasing tension and anxiety. It can start with foggy brain syndrome. Just sayin'.
DeleteNursing shortage / glut of nursing jobs exist. Take your pick.
ReplyDeleteTrain pollutes.
Many cars entering Hudson pollute.
Businesses in Hudson that put out tables for smokers to sit and blow out nicotine fumes pollute.
Will you also get rid of those?