Hudson Common Sense Editors today published an open letter to Mayor Joseph Ferris about his decision to extend the contract for the sale of the parcel on Mill Street without the knowledge of the Common Council or the community. To read that letter, click here.
Good on HCS for continuing to keep this issue in the public eye. With a quarter of his term behind him, the mayor has managed to accomplish one thing: reneging on his statements regarding the Mill Street project. Oh, and he got his picture taken. A lot. Dynamic.
ReplyDeleteThank you, JF.
DeleteThis was never just about Mill Street.
When this mayor, or future mayors, can quietly rewrite a deal the Council signed off on... no street, no neighborhood, is safe from the same treatment tomorrow.
That's why we wrote the letter, and that's why we're not letting it drop. We all live on Mill Street now.
And we stand with the Mill Street residents who did not ask for this fight but rose to the occasion with dignity and class.
That is totally not fair John.
ReplyDeleteIn February he also said no, to a no match, freebee grant, of $1,000,000. No strings attached. It was supposed to go to the public works board. They were going to spend it on new sidewalks and street crossings, possibly even a safety study for some of our dangerous intersections. The grant writers did a fantastic job of getting hudson the funds but our ceo thought we didn’t need it. I doubt the grant writers will think of us again when they are looking to dole out free cash.
Stop studying or hoping to study intersections, Safety Committee chairman. Try to do something about them, please.
DeleteMayor Joe also reneged on his promise do something about our kids terrible education at HCSD.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, HCSD is not within the mayor’s authority…. But on Mill Street there was a very questionable and privately arranged property deal between HCSD and the City of Hudson (under mayor Johnson) to sell this park and try to get around the restrictions.
DeleteThis could have been such an easy win for a new mayor.
If he asked an independent lawyer or authority to look at this whole messy Mill Street ordeal and write a public report… we could make sure this doesn’t happen again, and we would know why they were so committed to using the worst possible site and ultimately delaying housing in NY.
Sooner or later HCR and others will notice that money granted to Hudson is likely delayed due to municipal capture and malfunction.
On June 16th at the primary debate, Joe stated in part, “One of the first things I would do as Mayor in City Hall is to convene a charter revision commission…”.
ReplyDeleteWell kids just what are we to do for housing so that Bliss Apt Bldg can be emptied and demolished?
ReplyDeleteThe low income and people of color must live out of sight and kept in the Northwest corner as always.
Additionally... who chose these Kearney people?
ReplyDeletehttps://highlandscurrent.org/2011/04/15/village-wins-court-case-against-marathon-site-developer-kearney/
They also had a separate settlement with Westchester for Fair Housing law violations.
Did Tullo select them or was this former Mayor Johnson?
Hat tip to one of our readers who prefers to stay anonymous for pointing this out.
It's no big secret who chose Kearney. Gossips has reported it more than once.
Delete"In early 2022, another plan emerged, this one initiated by the City of Hudson in the form of a committee made up of the mayor (Johnson), the mayor's aide (Michael Hofmann), Council president (Tom DePietro), a councilmember (Art Frick), and Housing Justice Director Michelle Tullo."
Of course the meetings of this committee were never open to the public so it is unclear exactly how they came to the decision to partner with Kearney.
ALL leaders of Hudson, whether mandated or not, should be primarily concerned about the education of the students in the HUDSON CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT! The State only has control because of money. But the Mayor sees what the kids are up to every day and can check in anytime he or she wants. If we just give the Mayor a pass then who actually has the ability to help the kids and the system....even if just by power of office, persuasion and representing City taxpayers who want the kids of Hudson to succeed. Good Hudson students, good Hudson District students equals a better Hudson for all. Otherwise I vote for taking HUDSON CITY out of the name of the school and District. You can't call it the HUDSON CITY school district if Hudson city is not involved except to pay to achieve such messy results that will bite Hudson and the District in the years to come. The Mayor should immediately appoint Peter Meyer as his Education Czar. We are a a tipping point. Spending and poor results are weirdly out of synch. The Mayor needs to stand up. Didn't he sit on the Library Board? Isn't it weird that when State Education leaders visit the school they don't see the Mayor and other political leaders? Peter can walk that strategy through with the Mayor. Sorry Peter. Ken
ReplyDeleteIn fact, I will campaign this year to rename the Hudson City School District to "The Board of Education School District". This is not only accurate but is so precise and forgiving that the HCSD BOE will never have to bend to political and taxation reality again. That's it, the BOESD. Then, as true today, NO ONE is in charge. Let's change the signs and website today. Is someone at BOESD available for me to talk to? I have a web designer that can erase the entire personality of the Hudson City school District and then no District, give it zero personality and ensure that the State can't find it when it eventually falls into mandatory receivership. OR, more seriously, make the Mayor MENOR 1 or 2 kids. Report back to us and then we can all mentor. And speaking of reports, I think we should all pitch in and ask Peter Meyer to write a "STATE OF OUR SCHOOLS" report, print it and distribute it (Gossips!) and then see if anyone salutes. Short of something dramatic, all we will keep doing is voting (or mostly not voting) on a Pentagon budget for our declining number of students. SOMEONE, ANYONE, STEP IN AND GET A CONVERSATION GOING. Mayor Ferris, I'm pointing at you.
ReplyDeleteMenor was to be mentor. My bad. But our properly educated followers understood.
ReplyDelete