- $180,000 to the City of Hudson to update its zoning
The City of Hudson will develop a comprehensive update to their zoning regulations based on the community vision articulated in the recently adopted smart growth comprehensive plan. This zoning update will aim to boost economic development, housing equity, inclusion, energy efficiency, and environmental protection through innovative concepts and smart growth practices that will lead this historic city into a brighter future.
- $3 million to the Hudson Housing Authority for its redevelopment project
Hudson Housing Authority will complete infrastructure upgrades and sitework to enable a two-phase redevelopment plan to replace obsolete buildings with high-quality, energy-efficient affordable housing. HHA currently manages aging units at Bliss Towers and Columbia Apartments that were built in 1973 and [are] now outdated with infrastructure issues. Phase 1 of the planned redevelopment includes new construction of 166 affordable and workforce units across two buildings on underutilized parcels.
- $675,000 to the Columbia Land Conservancy for Charles Williams Park
The Columbia Land Conservancy proposes a full renovation of Charles Williams Park. Plans include a destination playground with a nature play area, new basketball and pickleball courts, adult fitness equipment, pedestrian paths, seating, and native plantings and trees. The project will establish the park as a vibrant community hub for outdoor recreation, connecting residents and visitors to nature in the park and beyond.
- $360,000 to The Olana Partnership to rehabilitate the North Road entrance
The Olana Partnership will rehabilitate Olana's North Road entrance to serve as the pedestrian access point for the Hudson River Skywalk and to enable public tours to access this important historic landscape feature.
The surprise here is that the Columbia Land Conservancy is going to be renovating Charles Williams Park, a city park. It's been two years since any information about the park has been shared. When and how the renovation of the park became a project of the Columbia Land Conservancy is not known.
The full list of REDC awardees can be found here.
COPYRIGHT 2025 CAROLE OSTERINK
The CLC is engaged in some excellent work to improve Charles Williams Park as part of their larger initiative to create a continuous link between the City of Hudson and the Greenport Conservation Area. I wanted to share some publicly available information Gossips might have missed.
ReplyDeleteIn July, the city entered into a license agreement with CLC for the improvement of Charles Williams Park:
https://cms3.revize.com/revize/hudsonnynew/Common Council/Agendas Meeting Documents/2025/July/Columbia Land Conservancy Agreement.pdf?t=202507081348540&t=202507081348540
As the agreement states "in furtherance of Licensee’s charitable mission, Licensee has offered, and the City desires to accept such offer, for Licensee to design, fund, construct and donate to the City certain park
improvements".
Of course, the CLC’s interest in improving connectivity and access to nature in this area is nothing new. As Gossips reported in May 2023:
https://gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com/2023/05/clc-seeking-to-acquire-land-in-north-bay.html
This project moved forward in 2024 with the well publicized land sale of a parcel connecting Charles Williams to the Greenport Conservation area:
https://www.dailygazette.com/hv360/news/ida-oks-north-bay-land-sale-to-clc/article_016754e6-e214-5b41-8409-94584395a074.html
Hudson is indeed fortunate that the CLC is committing their expertise and resources to green infrastructure in Hudson and it's wonderful that this grant was awarded to advance the project.
Does this mean the ~$2m pickle-ball court and outdoor bathroom on Mill Street is no longer happening in that park or is it still planned,and this is a separate development?
ReplyDeleteThese grants sound nice, but might they lead to increased AND NOT BUDGETED maintenance cost and liability for tax payers in the future.
Is this Oakdale Park 2.0?
In other words, is this another "growth ponzi scheme"?
From Strong Towns:
"American cities have a ticking time bomb of unfunded liability for infrastructure maintenance.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020-5-14-americas-growth-ponzi-scheme-md2020
Or, I would argue, Bliss 2.0? In a city of 200 year old homes, the government wants to tear down something they built just over 50 years ago? If you can’t afford to maintain the property, you shouldn’t be building it in the first place. And you can’t expect an ever shrinking collection of million dollar plus home owners to fund everything on the Hudson city wish list. The only real way to increase affordable housing is to increase the tax base that is paying for it first.
Delete"The City of Hudson will develop a comprehensive update to their zoning regulations based on the community vision articulated in the recently adopted smart growth comprehensive plan. This zoning update will aim to boost economic development, housing equity, inclusion, energy efficiency, and environmental protection through innovative concepts and smart growth practices that will lead this historic city into a brighter future."
ReplyDeleteWho in the world writes this kind of bullshit? The City of Hudson just approved a gravel dump and an industrial truck route through a wetland and adjacent to a public park. That doesn't sound to me like an "innovative concept that will lead us to a brighter future." ~ PJ
I believe Michelle Tullo wrote the grant application
DeleteBet my last dollar that the above give aways will not translate in affordable housing .
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to care that Olana needs a refurbished driveway.
I understand why housing feels like the more urgent issue, but Olana State Historic Site isn’t just about aesthetics or “nice views.” It’s 250 acres of protected land — woodlands, meadows, wetlands, and shoreline — that remain intact instead of being paved over. Olana is a National Historic Landmark and supports real habitat for birds, mammals, amphibians, and plant life that simply cannot survive in developed areas.
DeleteAffordable housing matters, but wildlife literally needs habitat to survive. Humans are the only species that kills and displaces more animals — and even our own species — than any natural predator through habitat destruction, pollution, industrial agriculture, and war. Wildlife doesn’t overconsume, exploit land, or destroy ecosystems for profit — we do.
That’s why I support funding parks like Olana: they provide actual homes for animals who have nowhere else to go. And if we’re serious about reducing harm, eating lower on the food chain — including veganism — dramatically reduces land use and animal suffering, leaving more space for both people and wildlife.
At the end of the day, I will always support protecting parks over expanding housing, because animals are the only true innocents in this equation. They didn’t create housing shortages, destroy ecosystems, or exploit others for profit — humans did. Wildlife asks for nothing except space to exist, and once their habitat is gone, it’s gone forever. That’s why protecting parks matters to me: it’s about defending life that is blameless, voiceless, and far more deserving of protection than a system that keeps prioritizing human convenience over the planet itself.
Again, these programs and funds aren't "either / or". There are programs and funds for open space preservation and programs and funds for affordable housing. They're really only in competition when the legislature and governor are allocating the state budget.
DeleteAlso: you can absolutely expand affordable housing without eradicating (or even getting anywhere near) wildlife habitats. Lumping all humans into the category of "exploit[ing] others for profit" is a fairly ahistoric viewpoint.
TH - there is certainly plenty of space for market-rate and affordable housing (and ideally, more "Missing Middle" housing).
DeleteWhy do you think outgoing Mayor Kamal, Michelle, or Hudson City Hall hasn't moved over the last six months to use the Albany grant for Mill Street on a better site in Hudson or Greenport?
They originally identified half a dozen viable sites but chose one in the floodplain on land without a clean deed.
Now that grant will likely go away, and Kearney's option on two developments will expire in a few months.
It's a pretty niche question, but it seems like you follow Albany grants.
Ultimately, this mismanagement proves the HCS point: the grant system is inefficient and unresponsive, and without direct ownership, no one is truly accountable for the result.
"Why do you think outgoing Mayor Kamal, Michelle, or Hudson City Hall hasn't moved over the last six months to use the Albany grant for Mill Street on a better site in Hudson or Greenport?"
DeleteBecause grants are tied to specific projects and cannot simply be reassigned to others. That is how grants work.
We don’t need more fancy parks.
ReplyDeleteWe need housing.
Why are people fixated on parks?
Respectfully, that's not how grants work. Funds are allocated for a variety of public goods/services and then the state requests applications from eligible entities. Applicants don't get to say, "y'know, we actually need X more than we need Y". At least not by the time grant funds are made available.
DeleteHow much funding is allocated to different areas is a function of the legislative process and/or state agency planning. An organization that focuses on open spaces (CLC) turning its nose up at grant funds because the city its project is in needs housing more than it needs outdoor recreation is a misunderstanding of this process and a dereliction of duty.
tl;dr - public grant funds aren't elastic, they are very literally earmarked for specific uses. If you'd like to see more funds earmarked for a particular issue area, contact your elected officials.
concerned citizen -- because a thriving, functioning, city with happy citizens is made up of multiple things, including (but not exclusive to) access to natural spaces and parks, as well as affordable housing. we can and should advocate for all of it. thank you and good night.
DeleteFrom a classical liberal perspective, these massive grants are not "free money" they are the byproduct of the high sales taxes, income taxes, and regulations that burden us all.
ReplyDeleteWhen your coffee on Warren Street today has high sales tax, and the coffee shop owner has lots of red tape to deal with, and you pay 5-10% state income tax... you are paying for this "free grant".
Locals know the truth: Bliss has been badly managed for half a century, serving its residents poorly despite the funds poured into it. The City should pay for its own zoning overhaul and Olana can raise funds for its own roads. All will be easier when taxes are lower.
Rather than being taxed to subsidize these "Buffalo Billion" scandals in miniature, residents would be far better off keeping that money in their own pockets to improve their own lives and local economy as they see fit.
There is no way a politician in Albany (not to mention time lag effects) can make the optimal choice:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_knowledge_problem
White Elephant Breeders (and Hudson has many) eat municipal budgets via unbudgeted maintenance and offer little but "vibes" and short un-critical donor videos in return.
We need real farmers and builders, not grant farmers, grantrepreneurs, and rent-seekers.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buffalo_Billion
https://www.strongtowns.org
What a truly bizarre analysis.
DeleteYour "coffee on Warren Street" has had the same sales tax rate for over 50 years. If that coffee costs more than it used to (and it does, significantly moreso from a percentage standpoint), that's due to an increase in supply costs and--especially in Hudson, and especially in recent years--commercial rents. It doesn't have a thing to do with sales tax.
Similarly, the Personal Income Tax rate has remained relatively unchanged since Bush I was in office.
I think by "pay for its own zoning overhaul", what you really mean is "use its own money", as any zoning overhaul will be to the city's own zoning. As you well know, the city doesn't *have* "its own money"; it has taxpayers' money. It can either raise additional funds (taxes, fees) or cut services. Or...it could avail itself of state grant funds.
Those funds come from the NYS Environmental Protection Fund (as did, incidentally, the funds Olana won), which in turn is primarily funded by Real Estate Transfer fees. Not your coffee.
What is the argument here? That the state should reduce income and sales tax? That it should abolish grant programs? That we should expect public goods to be paid for with altruistic discretionary funds? Is there one example anywhere on the planet of a city, state, commonwealth or country that relies on private funding for public goods and services?
I think it will be an interesting year for "HCS". Advocating for the ouster of a sitting mayor is one thing; advocating for the abolition or refusal of grant funds is quite another. Now that the former is in the rearview, I'm curious how "their" allies in that cause will feel about "their" other pet projects. How does HDC feel about abolishing grants?
Hugo has no argument. He is offering a vibe, starved of reason and history; no sense, nor commons.
DeleteDM - Evidence for your statement other than not vibing with our logic, data, and arguments?
DeleteHCS stands for Liberty, Merit, and Western Civilization.
Locally in Hudson, we believe the City and taxpayers would be better served if City Hall were 1) non-partisan, 2) efficient, and 3) treated residents equally.
You can read more here: www.HudsonCommonSense.com/aboutus
1. DM, what do you stand for?
2. What is your remedy for Hudson's wildly underperforming value-to-tax ratio? (Failing schools, the ever-rising taxes, the lack of affordability for the middle class, high politicization of basic service delivery)
Sincere question.
You you have been here longer and seen more. If you could make one proposal to make Hudson's government better and improve the quality of life and/or affordability of life in Hudson, what would it be?
Re: TH
DeleteYou are mostly wrong on the facts, and America's history and the majority of American states, indeed, New Yorkers voting with their feet, agree with our central argument on the value gap of taxes in NYS.
- Not to get technical, but since the fund you mentioned, like most things in NYS, is in deficit, it is now partially backstopped by the General Fund. The General Fund derives a massive chunk of its income from Sales Tax.
So yes, your coffee at Supernatural, Wylde, Moto, or Stewart's helped pay for Olana's grant. And so many of the other grants.
- The HCS "ideal" is certainly not "zero government." We are classical liberals, not anarcho-libertarians.
That type of straw man argument is beneath you. Please do better so we can entertain the readers and learn more about how to improve Hudson.
- Regarding your claim that (income) taxes are static (since the Bush years), the facts say otherwise. First, the City of Hudson's proposed 2026 budget includes a 3.9% tax levy increase*, and Columbia County’s 2026 budget raises the tax levy by 1.87%**. To your main point, NYS income tax and capital gains taxes (which are taxed as regular income here, joy) have absolutely risen since the Bush years, jumping from a top rate of roughly 6.85% then to nearly 11% today. So yes, the absolute tax burden is in fact rising.
You said 'relatively unchanged.' If your rent went up 60%, you wouldn't call that 'static', or "relatively unchanged".
- And since you asked, we want America.
- The "OG America" which relied on much smaller government, personal liberty, and local autonomy. Today, NYS collects approximately 40-60% more taxes per capita than the national average / other states***.
And, you do realise that NY is the only state in the nation that forces its counties to pay a massive share of Medicaid? This mandate artificially inflates our local property and county taxes****
It is an effective shadow/hidden tax on all of us.
>> Our point was never strictly about the rate changing, but that the absolute tax burden relative to value is broken. And so we argue for lower taxes and more value, via efficiency, decreasing politics, and equal protection/treatment of residents<<
This is ultimately a thesis against a large, out-of-touch centralized taxing authority and in support of more local autonomy.
(BTW: If NYS worked for the Dems, why is Hochul's deputy Delgado running against her so soon? And every half employed inexperienced local politico trying to primary Didi. Cousins & Hodge, and others waiting in the wings).
We want taxes in Hudson to be comparable to or lower than surrounding towns. This should not be "bizarre".
We want the City of Hudson (not Albany or lobbyists like Peter Frank) to decide what public projects to fund and then SAVE for those projects locally. We do not want to pray to the almighty gods of Albany to bless us with a fraction of our own money back, that we then have to match with our own money (the pPonzi part). Oddly this only seems to happen just before elections. It is a zero sum game that pits counties, towns, and neighborhoods against one another.
This is how Kamal and other local politicians end up spending more time in Albany, while a very small but very vocal minority of residents gum up City Hall with empty non-binding and divisive resolutions... to influence Albany.
The irony of the REIT tax you mentioned is that NYS profits from wealthy people flipping homes only to use that money to grant more "gentrification" projects. [No offense Olana, we love you, and understand you have to play the game]
Ultimately reality proves you wrong TH.
If the New York model "worked" and there wasn't such a massive "value gap" crushing the middle class, why has the state lost nearly 900,000 residents to domestic outmigration since 2020? . People vote with their feet.
(2/2)
DeleteRe: "I think it will be an interesting year for 'HCS'." Fear not, sir.
HCS (and all tax payers) have many more issues of public spending and public integrity to point out. Not quite Wisconsin but certainly not New Zealand. Also explaining basic economics.
Besides, Kamal is just a pawn in this local fraud and big government / NGO Ponzi scheme. See our piece on Murell in the County government and watch the DA docket.
A specific suggestion (feel free to share your specific remedy):
- While most of America runs efficiently on lower taxes, Hudson does not. We would halve the typical $10k property tax bill, allowing you to direct that free'd up $5k toward community orgs or projects you value, like youth groups or Olana. Let’s replace coerced taxed and funding of political inefficiencies with the fairness of personal choice.
And to get ahead of the cliche rejoinders ... remember that NYS already has perhaps the most progressive tax regime at the state level, and Hudson's taxes is 2x to 3x that of neighboring towns with greater surface area and greater population.
P.S. Thanks for respecting our pronouns. Very New York of you.
If you want to go toe-to-toe, just be intellectually honest and attack our main argument, avoid the straw man fallacy.
We invite you to write a Guest Op-Ed critiquing our editorials, share a new idea to make Hudson better.... or make the case for more taxes?
(See how we followed your example there of point inflation and straw man fallacy... since you never argued for more taxes, only critiqued our preference for lower taxes and less grant-graft).
References:
- https://cbcny.org/research/new-york-still-top-charts
- https://cbcny.org/research/still-poor-way-pay-medicaid-
- https://www.empirecenter.org/migration
https://taxfoundation.org/location/new-york/
HCS - where to even begin. Let's go in order.
Delete1. The Environmental Protection Fund is not running a deficit.
2. There are no straw men here; please try to interact with the actual words that are written and not the inferences you draw from them. There *are* some intentionally leading questions (most of which have gone unanswered).
3. I don't know why you included City of Hudson property tax rates when the issue at hand is NYS Personal Income Tax Rates. Try to stay on target, please. In 1988, the top rate was 8.375, and in 2025 it is 10.9. You can certainly express this as a "30% increase", so let's meet in the middle on that.
4. When did your "OG America" exist? Much like the MAGA folks, the...let's say "MAFA" (you can choose whether you want the F to be Fair or Free) folks never really have a target era in mind. Mostly because, it seems to me, what you're pining for is *the pure idea* of America, not the messy reality. Please choose one or more date ranges when America lived up to your ideals.
5. The Real Estate Transfer is typically expressed as RETT, not REIT; REITs are Real Estate Investment Trusts. Also: how is Olana an agent of gentrification? It's been open since 1967. Do you believe that Hudson has been gentrifying for 60 years?
6. HCS and pronouns - 'they' is appropriate when addressing more than one person. That's what HCS is, correct? At least, that's what we've been told. There's yet to be a shred of evidence supporting that statement, of course.
7. Your invitation - a hearty no thank you. I find your website and Instagram account to be childish, churlish, unfunny, unserious and snobbish. You have moved to a city (and it is a city*) that is majority renter and whose employee population dwarfs its business owning community, and chosen to plant a flag (one of many) on the hill of "we support only (property) taxpayers and job creators". Your constant invitation for people to provide you with free content speaks to the vulture capitalist mindset.
*as a City, Hudson's taxes pay for several services that the neighboring towns to which you constantly compare it do not have to fund. Such as public water and sewer and a police department. While we're here: it is customary when appending an asterisk (or other notation) to a statement that the corresponding footnote be marked with the same punctuation, so as to avoid confusion. Adding increasing numbers of asterisks to your writing, only for all of the footnotes to be marked with hyphens, is bad writing. Free advice for "your editors".
Also: can you help me understand your policy prescription re: lower taxes and funding public goods and services? You seem to be suggesting that lowering property taxes by N will result in increased charitable giving of N*.5? Can you provide a real-world example (not a white-room theory) of this happening?
Delete“The "OG America" which relied on much smaller government, personal liberty, and local autonomy.“
DeleteMore fabulist vibes from Hugo.
The Virginia Colony and the Patroon System are about the only examples in “OG America” that meet your retrograde framing. And the devastating consequences of these regimes of extraction can be traced on the commons to this day.
TL;DR: Your comment offers no new ideas, fails on key facts, and serves as another example of why we had to write Hudson Common Sense, to break the groupthink and shine a light on it all.
DeleteSee below, with a PDF receipt for you to check your work, and numbered.
#1. The Environmental Protection Fund. You are playing word games with "deficit" while ignoring the NYS Comptroller’s own report. The report confirms that over $950 million has been "swept" (raided) from the EPF to plug holes in the General Fund.
You claim the fund is healthy, yet the Comptroller notes that 2016-17 spending "would not have been possible without General Fund support." Why? Because the State raided the piggy bank first. That isn't a sign of solvency; that is a fiscal shell game where the State raids environmental funds to cover its inability to balance its own checkbook. And then moves money back from the General Fund, funded partially by Sales Tax.
-> See page 1, Executive Summary: https://www.osc.ny.gov/files/reports/special-topics/pdf/environmental-protection-fund-2018.pdf
#2: Admitting to using "intentionally leading questions" is a tacit confession that you are engaging in performative comments rather than intellectually honest debate. Also, you pivot to random MAGA/"MAFA" points again. This is very Kamal-ian... if you can't engage the argument, conflate with GOP/Trump.
What's next, a Sydney Sweeney / American Eagle reference?
#3 Thanks for admitting your error, partially.
We focus on total tax burden because residents pay both bills from the same account; compartmentalizing is a bureaucrat’s trick to obscure the crushing cost of living.
Taxes rarely go down in NYS. How does that end? With places like Hudson where everyone is tax-maxed.
#4 We don't need a time machine, just a map: the "ideal" functions in dozens of states providing quality services without NY's punitive taxes or outmigration.
-> Does it not bother you that an average family of 4 in Hudson (12534) is worse off than similar families in 3/4s of the country in post-tax earnings and life outcomes?
Look at the Harvard/Chetty "Opportunity Atlas" (he won a Genius/MacArthur award for this work): https://www.opportunityatlas.org
Data shows a child growing up poor in Hudson has significantly lower future earnings than in comparable low-tax towns. Hudson's "model" is actively hurting the children it claims to protect.
The answer and status quo (that you seem to endorse?) seems to be more taxes/NGOs, but that hasn't worked.
Why not try what works for more than half of America? And for NY back when they chose Excelsior as the maxim.
#5 Pedantry regarding acronyms is a shield for the irony that the state taxes property transfers to fund "beautification" projects that accelerate the gentrification you claim to oppose.
We love Olana, but this blog context is too short to debate the politicization of words like gentrification.
#6 Resorting to slurs/name-calling like "vulture capitalist" reveals you cannot defend the results of your policies.
(And besides, why attack Spark of Hudson/Kite's Nest backers? ;-) )
#7 You seem to have researched people who don't know you exist. Good luck with that.
You also sound like Tom DP or Kamal who claim to never read Gossips ("That Horrible, Despicable Blog") but constantly refute it.
If arguing for fiscal sanity in a hollowed-out middle class city is "unserious," we are happy to remain outside your "serious" managed decline.
On a serious note... turning our iMessage group-chat into a blog connected us with a quiet majority of (successful and curious) residents who mostly agree with us, or can disagree constructively, and don't have time to follow Hudson's fraud and Stockholm syndrome, and prefer to avoid the insults you just threw.
TH - we repeatedly offer our platform so we can learn. Who else asks their policy opponents to engage and convince?
We offer simple remedies that not only works elsewhere, but once created New York's meteoric rise.
On your last point.
DeleteYour “real-world example” is the history of American civil society.
Libraries, hospitals, and universities were built by private philanthropy long before the state decided it could spend citizens’ money more wisely than they could themselves.
US citizens voluntarily donate nearly 2 percent of GDP to charity, versus roughly 0.11 percent in high-tax France. That ~10x gap, consistent across other OECD countries, is not cultural trivia. It is empirical evidence that when the state refrains from over-taxing wealth, communities are funded more generously and more flexibly.
In a city where many residents already live close to the poverty line, tax hikes are regressive. They pass through into higher rents and prices, burdening the very people you claim to defend.
~
This was fun. Next time, consider sharing an idea or a specific policy proposal at HudsonCommonSense.com/aboutus.
We would be happy to do this long-form, in good faith, and even buy you coffee, paying the sales tax so Albany can return a fraction of it next year via a matching grant and call it munificence.
Suggested title of your Op-Ed:
More taxes for Hudson is the Solution to Affordability, this time it will be different.
We are entertaining our fellow passengers on this flight with a dramatic reading of this thread... of critics attempting dunks while scoring on their own hoop. If we had Gen Z editors this would make for a funny Youtube channel.
DeleteIt is a fascinating display of ideological inertia (railing against the system and proven solutions while offering no original thesis for Hudson’s betterment)
1. You are citing the bugs we (America) squashed, not the features. The Virginia and Patroon systems were indeed feudal transplants. But the fact that they collapsed while the American experiment survived is the entire point.
The engine of American prosperity only ignited when those "extractive" models went bust and were forced to adopt private property to survive. This isn't just opinion; it is the central point in Chapter 1 of Acemoglu & Robinson’s Why Nations Fail.
Were you reading it recently but taking away the wrong lesson? Or just into Patroons?
2. Plymouth Colony is the controlled experiment that proves the rule. If you want to go "OG". The pilgrims spent their first years attempting "communal farming" and nearly starved to death... a textbook tragedy of the commons.
The next winter Governor Bradford didn’t save them with more bureaucracy; he saved them with incentives / ownership. He gave every family their own plot and the right to keep what they grew (or barter).
Productivity exploded, the famine ended, and the free-rider problem vanished. And here we are at America's 250 anniversary.
3. The "Golden Age" is a dataset, not a myth. Between 1870 and 1913, total US government spending was a flat line at roughly 7% of GDP. In that exact window, before the modern administrative state (or income tax for that matter), America became the world's largest economy, surpassed the British Empire, and saw real wages skyrocket.
We didn't tax our way to dominance; we grew our way there.
If you have time, research Hudson during that period: double the population, 1/4 of the tax burden per person. Hudson exported and built stuff, today it is all consumption & grants.
Let's see if Max reads these long and old threads .... the Greenport cement company (then called Atlas Portland) produced most of the cement for the Panama Canal and Empire State.
During that boom, a citizen kept ~91 cents of every dollar they earned. Today, the average New Yorker keeps just ~64 cents. The top earners barely half.
So you are currently paying twice as much just to Albany and your town hall as your ancestors paid to the entire government (Federal + State + Local) during the greatest economic expansion in human history.
DM - banter is fun, reminds us of London before Brexit. But what is your idea or policy proposals to make Hudson more affordable? / Improve quality of life?
Sent via Starlink
Good lord, this is sloppy. Did you pick the 2018 report out of a hat, or was it the only one that fulfilled a carefully curated LLM question? That report comes out every year. The General Fund has made up about 20% of EPF revenues since 2014. What's the sales tax on a coffee at Supernatural, 25 cents? Would you like to borrow a nickel?
DeleteIf you look at the Opportunity Atlas with clear eyes, you might notice that Hudson bears a striking resemblance to just about the entirety of the southeast; are these places over-taxed bastions of welfare statism? You seem to have confused causation and correlation on your way to a conclusion that not even the Atlas's architects have put forward.
The rest of your points are just so much more drudgery. This wasn't fun, HCS, this was saddening. Have a better new year.
Tom, your answer is what managed decline looks like.
DeleteYou seem comfortable with Hudson remaining in the bottom quartile, but the rest of us aren't. It is the soft bigotry of low expectations to compare our city to struggling regions rather than aiming for the standard set by thriving ones.
You have spent your time litigating old data and repeating comfortable fictions, while the world has moved on.
The data from Opportunity Insights is clear: Hudson's current path is failing the very people Hudson government and the dozen NGOs claim to help.
This isn't just 'intellectual lethargy'; it's a dereliction of duty.
For open-minded readers unafraid of ambition, please read this paragraph, and then if intereted the very accessible study: https://www.povertyactionlab.org/page/creating-moves-opportunity#:~:text=Long%2Dterm%20analysis%20of%20the,to%20attend%20college%2C%20attended%20higher%2D
We are building a new agenda (or at least carrying the torch of rationalism) because the old guard has run out of ideas, money, and objectivity.
So we’ll ask you plainly: If you were in charge (mayor or CC President with supportive council, for a month), what is one new thing you would actually do?
Not a slogan, but a policy, appointment, or decision. We are waiting.
Chris my friend
ReplyDeleteAs long as people have stomachs that rumble and fear that they may lose the roof over their head then things like parks ( of which we are saturated in Columbia county and Hudson )are unnecessary. Thanks will sleep well.
By this logic, when does and can a city focus on other things once housing is "solved" becomes a "non-issue"? And in your opinion what constitutes this?
DeleteWell, this has been entertaining. Essentially three smart people writing past each other.
ReplyDeleteHCS, Tom Hammond, Dave Marston: punditry is fun but really only for the chattering class. Between the three of you not one actual policy prescription. Just locating from antithetical political economic points of view.
Tom, HCS is correct in what I believe was his original thesis: the grants the City receives require matching funds that aren’t budgeted (though perhaps with a pair of grown-ups in city hall that might change), and this causes problems.
Sales taxes haven’t gone up in decades, HCS. Escalating commercial rents driven by acquisitive, inexperienced amateurs who’ve failed to factor property taxes into their TCO calculations are a much bigger threat to our local economy. Turns out property ownership isn’t a panacea.
Finally, my old friend and colleague, Dave Marston. Certainly one of the smartest and best-read people I know. But no one likes a critic, Dave. Unless they’re handing out 5 stars or ultra-snark about a popular topic. Economics is never that topic. Please, please, please: provide an actionable idea. I know you must have some.
All 3 of youse: thanks for caring enough to argue on your own time. I’d love to get you in the private room at Saint Florian for a boozy salon-dinner. We all might come out with some good, hybrid ideas, elevated cholesterol and a fine buzz. Happy New Year!
Friedman - I appreciate the thought, but I'll pass on the invite. In the course of this thread, HCS has claimed to speak for a "silent majority" (of whom, exactly?) and literally all of Hudson except for, specifically, me ("the rest of us"). I don't make a habit of breaking bread with the delusional.
DeleteAs for policy: I make policy recommendations to the people who can enact them; namely, our city, county and state elected officials. They really aren't that difficult to get in touch with, and you can achieve things without making a spectacle of yourself.
Gossips arguably influences *some* opinions, and the HCS blog...well, it exists, I suppose (perhaps more people will participate in the Mr. Beast-esque 'taxable parcel' contest than the dozen or so who made election guesses)...but neither are my preferred methods of getting things done.
Tom,
Delete1. The recent election confirmed that the Hudson narrative has decoupled from Hudson reality. If you doubt that, ask the winners why.
2. Why not open-source your best private advice to a public official.
Public work belongs in the public square, not in back channels.
3. We don’t chase popularity, we say things "you are not supposed to say"... yet our calendar is booked solid with residents trying to learn more and figure out Hudson.
Residents are tired of being gaslit, and they are organizing, connecting, and more and more are voting...
p.s. Thank you for the feature request to publish our love mail (we will also publish some hate mail).
While theoretically the elected are indeed policy makers, the recent history of Hudson shows that the elected sit on their hands while citizens move policy forward from the sidelines. Fair & Equal is a prime example of this. In the past 6 years, the Council has done effectively nothing except raise taxes while the city budget bloated. And don’t look to our soon-to-be unemployed mayor who diligently avoided anything like work his entire tenure.
DeleteElites are often useless. In Hudson it tends to be the rule during the 20 years I’ve lived here. The exception was the 6 years Don Moore ran the council — when things got done.
The “inexperienced amateurs” framing misses the point. Commercial rents rise when owners face large, sudden, uneven tax increases and pass them on. I bought a $1.3M building and my property taxes went from roughly $11,000 a year to over $24,000 a year after the sale because the previous owner was under assessed. That is a $13,000 annual increase that has to come from somewhere.
DeleteIf we want Hudson to remain viable for independent businesses and artists, we need predictability and fairness. Concrete steps: publish transparent assessment methodology and clear guidance for buyers, phase in major assessment increases, and complete a citywide reassessment so comparable properties carry comparable burdens.
Without that, the city will keep selecting for the deepest pockets, and everyone else will keep being told it’s a personal failing.
You should challenge the “welcome neighbor” reassessment as it’s is likely illegal. With an extractive administration such as Kamal allowed, milking property owners is par for the course.
DeleteAfter just three months of homeownership, we were hit with a 140% property tax increase. We pursued the formal grievance process, which—unsurprisingly—went nowhere. It later became clear that the original assessment had been pulled directly from Zillow, rather than from any independent or professional valuation methodology.
DeleteOnly after the grievance did the assessor reduce the valuation to the actual purchase price of the home, which should have been the starting point to begin with.
We then made the questionable decision to hire a local attorney. In hindsight, this was likely our first mistake. Hudson attorneys appear deeply intertwined with local politics and the familiar “good-ol’-boy” network, which makes forceful advocacy an uncomfortable proposition. Our attorney seemed more focused on maintaining relationships than representing clients. After paying $2,000 and waiting nearly a year with minimal communication, the result was a savings of $250 per year and a modest refund limited to school taxes. Hardly a triumph.
While we could have continued the fight, the cumulative exhaustion of dealing with this town made the decision easy: we listed our home for sale. Hudson, for numerous reasons, simply is not worth the effort.
For anyone considering legal representation, I strongly recommend looking outside of Hudson.
Finally, perhaps Mayor Ferris should consider:
Putting an immediate end to the city’s informal “Welcome, Stranger” assessment practices.
Providing victims of former Mayor Johnson’s unethical and punitive reassessment tactics with fair, comparable reassessments—and refunds for the years they were overcharged.
Just a thought.
Ha, thank you John!
ReplyDeleteAnd Friedman, our point is not that Sales Tax has gone up... it is that in a small City with one of the nation's highest total tax burdens outside of Manhattan... it is verboten to suggest that we cut taxes.
Calling for a tax cut, or questioning the utility or efficacy of certain public expenditures, is worse than killing a cow in India.
That is the Hudson groupthink... and that is what this thread and TH proves.
TH or DM or others never once asked "well, what tax might be best to cut", or "how can we do more with tax dollars for residents". Or did any of the new stealth taxes (Airbnb, sidewalk, whatever the IDA is doing with PILOTs) achieve the stated goal/metric that the law was sold on?
And as you know well Friedman (and reminded the City many times) we can do more on the revenue side.
💰🔬🏆 Does anyone else in Hudson (not in the City Finance office, or currently working in City Hall, or dating someone in City Hall) actually know the exact number of taxable land parcels in the city?
Total Parcels: X
Taxable ("Fully Loaded") Parcels: Y
Exempt ("Non-Taxable") Parcels: Z
We will pay a cash reward to the first person who posts the exact correct numbers (as of Dec 31, 2025) here on this thread.
We will pay you $0.10 for every taxable property and $0.00 for every exempt property found in that count. Get it...
(For example, an answer could be: There are 15 properties and 1 of them is exempt / not taxable) Bonus points for outlining the change over the last 20 years, for every year.
Those two numbers (taxable and exempt parcels), as well as the value of total taxable land and property in in the City, and value of exempt land and property, should be reported live on dashboard every month.
If Hudson gets the taxable parcels (or their inherent value) number up, we get more tax revenue without necessarily raising taxes on existing residents. If we lose taxable properties when more turn into exempt properties... that is revenue lost for a long time.
Then you can ask questions like how will the Galvan/Bard moment change the ratio... or how has Columbia County government gone up or down, what about public housing, what about "churches", what about NGOs?
Now let's see what the status quo defenders actually did in Hudson;
- When Kamal refused to auction off delinquent properties he failed this basic test and opportunity.
- When Joyner's No Joy Planning Board spent almost all of its time on now forever blocked large unfit projects and waterfront law-making, instead of rapid approvals for (Missing Middle) new housing, renovations, market rate new housing, she failed this basic test and opportunity.
- When Zachos / Kamal / Caitie / Tom and the Youth Center Corps unleashed the 2nd FB Mob and balked at the notion of cost sharing with Greenport and other towns, when Hudson already has several revenue/cost sharing agreements with Greenport, they failed this basic test and opportunity.
- When the Planning Board and Housing Injustice Czar spent years on public housing projects that directly goes against national best practices and earlier City of Hudson plans (concentrated (bad) vs. distributed (good)) they were expanding City costs and taking potential revenue properties off the roles, they failed this basic test and opportunity.
>> If Kamal and his cadre actually wanted to make Hudson affordable, lower taxes, and increase the number of homes in Hudson, they would have done the inverse of what they did in each of the above cases.
Using the 2025 Final Assessment Roll (SWIS 100600; taxable status date March 1, 2025), and counting parcels as follows:
Delete• One parcel = one unique tax map / SBL number
• “Wholly exempt” = CITY TAXABLE VALUE = 0 (i.e., exempt from City taxation, not just partially exempt)
2025 City of Hudson parcel counts
• Total tax parcels: 1,994
• Wholly tax-exempt parcels (City taxable value = $0): 186
Very close but we got a different number... confirming now...
DeleteTo your other fair point and challenge John, we (HCS) have made plenty of policy recommendations at www.HudsonCommonSense.com and in these narrow green pages.
ReplyDeleteSee our latest and ongoing series of 15 practical, low-cost, operations focussed ideas:
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/15hudsoncityhallideas
New ones dropping next week.
Later we will tackle more complex multi-lateral ideas that could save or make millions for City Hall.
Here is a short list of editorials (policy or action ideas, or parody with a point, that we shared recently:
1 - Voting down the "deficit budget":
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/2025budgetdeficit
2 - Guest Op-Ed on housing and jobs:
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/housingorhollowing
3 - Our Shallot Series (parody like The Onion) on the Bard / Galvan situation, ending with specific recommendations on how to approach this paradigm shift.
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/shallot-bardbeef
4 - The problem with matching grants and unelected lobbyist driven city planning (Oakdale)
https://www.hudsoncommonsense.com/oakdalegrantmatch
So... we do in fact share what we stand for, we offer practical ideas, and for anyone paying attention, we are giving away money (more than enough for a very nice family dinner or two, or three (how many tax parcels?) depending on your family size) for public knowledge... so that more residents can track key metrics and understand them.