Spenser Walsh reports on Tuesday's contentious meeting of the Hudson Development Corporation, during which Mayor Joe Ferris, who serves on the HDC Board ex officio, accused HDC officers Chris Jones and Nick Haddad of "blindsiding" him at the Common Council's informal meeting on May 18: "Ferris urges HDC to stay on 'sidelines' in Dunn deal."
At Tuesday's HDC meeting, Ferris suggested the incident at the Council meeting had been a "setup" because Council president Margaret Morris had violated Council rules by allowing Jones and Haddad to speak before the public comment period on the agenda. Jones denied that this was the case. Haddad reminded Ferris that they had expressed their concerns about the sale to him two months ago. Ferris is quoted in the article as saying, "If this falls through, HDC better be willing to buy the building, because it will have been the efforts of HDC leadership that have helped end this process."
This isn't the first time an elected official serving ex officio on its board has locked horns with HDC. In 2018, then Council president Tom DePietro expressed that opinion that HDC was "a quasi-agency that is outdated and should probably no longer exist" and asked the city attorney to "look into how does one get rid of an LDC [local development corporation]."
But help is on the way to bring this Dunn dilemma to a satisfactory end. Lloyd Koedding, now identifying himself as the "Savior of the Tree of Peace," has announced, at several public meetings in the past week, that he is actively working on an amazing plan for the Dunn warehouse, which he proposes should be called by its original name, "Boston Hudson Railroad Shop," a plan he predicts will "put Hudson on the map big time."
Lloyd is a Hudson treasure. While the City government sat on its hands and made mouth noises, he undertook to, and did, rescue the tree, only to have the City take back what it had clearly abandoned.
ReplyDeleteThe mayor, meanwhile, objects to another branch of government's claimed violation of its own rules -- who made him referee of that particular game of tiddlywinks? Answer: no one. Meanwhile, the council president seems to be moving forward on a number of fronts while the mayor governs by questionnaire.
At least we have a more functional council after our last elections. The rest of the City government? Well, perhaps they should hire Lloyd to get things done.
How many more deals for publicly owned buildings will the HDC scuttle before folks start asking some tougher questions (like, where are any of your audits from the last four years)?
DeleteI think that's a bit of an odd take considering that it was said council president who decided to table a vote on the Dunn sale after a couple of HDC impersonators appeared in front of the council.
DeleteWhat I am seeing is a pretty stringent mayor who wants to get the right thing done and move on while the council is putting on the brakes.
Michael B -- the audits are where they belong -- with the state of NY as required. You have a lot to learn about shit-stirring. First rule, do some homework.
DeleteWhile it’s true that the type of LDC that HDC incorporated as doesn’t necessarily need to follow ABO guidance, a lot of them post their audits as a best practice anyway. Like HDC used to. Why the change?
DeleteI do not know. I'm no longer a member of the HDC board. But they are available from the state.
ReplyDelete