The autumnal equinox does happen for another two weeks, but, with Labor Day behind us, summer is unofficially over. Time to put away those white shoes. In this unofficial first week of autumn, here is what's happening.
- On Tuesday, September 8, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. The agenda for the meeting includes the continuation of the public hearing on the Hudson Housing Authority's redevelopment plan and a proposal to replace a trailer used as office space at CraftTech Industries on Dock Street with a larger trailer. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Wednesday, September 9, the Housing Trust Fund Board meets at 5:30 p.m. Gossips has learned that at the last meeting of the HTF Board on August 27, a meeting that was publicized as hybrid but for which a link was never provided, Michelle Tullo said her position, that of Housing Justice Director, would be phased out at the end of the year. Perhaps more about that will be revealed at this meeting. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- At 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 9, the Zoning Board of Appeals holds a special meeting for the purpose of having a public hearing on the area variances needed by the Hudson Housing Authority to construct a block of four three-story townhouses at the corner of Columbia and Second streets, on the site of what remains of the Community Garden. At this meeting, the ZBA is also expected to discuss and act on the application for area variances. The meeting takes place in person only at City Hall.
- On Thursday, September 10, the Common Council Legal Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda for the meeting has yet been published. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here to join the meeting remotely.
- On Friday, September 11, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. At this meeting, Galvan is expected to present, in the words of Walter Chatham, "an acceptable program that will allow [the commission] to remove the stop-work order even as we negotiate with them and finalize the details." The project in question, of course, is the Hudson Public Hotel, where the terms of the certificate of appropriateness were flouted, most significantly in the removal of original marble in the colonnade. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Sunday, September 13, a special launch of the walking tour booklet Hudson: A History of Whaling & Maritime Commerce begins at 11:00 a.m. at Promenade Hill. Members of the Hudson Area Library's History Room Committee will be on hand for this free community tour. To register for the tour, email brenda.shufelt@hudsonarealibrary.org.
re: "Housing Trust Fund Board" Meeting:
ReplyDeleteDidn't the HCDPA drain its CD to keep salaries funded?
From last week's Weekly Digest:
">> What happened.
With its certificate of deposit maturing in mid-September, Hudson's Community Development and Planning Agency board voted to withdraw $75,000 plus accrued interest from the $90,000 CD and move it into the Housing Trust Fund's operating account, bringing that account from $10,000 to roughly $85,000.
>> Why it matters.
The move is meant to cover an estimated $69,105 in third- and fourth-quarter salary reimbursements for the director's position, on an agency board members elsewhere in the meeting described as running a shoestring budget."
Uncommon Question:
Why is the Housing Justice Director paid more than the Mayor, and most other Department Heads, who have more experience and qualifications in their field?
This while:
1. the Mill Street housing issue was mismanaged and led to six figure a year of costs for the City of Hudson in legal fees,
2. bizarrely Tullo managed the (non housing related) Dunn Warehouse sale process, now also stuck and lost revenue of $500k to $1m for the City of Hudson.
3. Tullo lead the Comprehensive Plan effort (note that the Clerk, Treasurer, CC, HPD, DPW were not as involved but the housing lead was) and that Plan cost Hudson ~$220k... had fewer responses than residents who signed the Citizen Charter Reform, and now HHA is not honoring any of the specific housing plans, in the Comprehensive Plan with Bliss 2.0.
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Imagine if Hudson spent that money on a City Manager, or on an earlier City wide tax re-assessment.
Both would improve efficiency of local municipal services and advance equality under the law (and the tax code).
Yet now the Mayor's Office might cut benefits for certain City employees, or claim poverty for other necessary and basic public services...
Re: comp plan - who else in the previous administration (or just in the city of Hudson) has a Masters degree in planning and an American Institute of Certified Planners certification? Why would a City Clerk have anything to do with a comp plan?
ReplyDeleteThere are some valid criticisms above but this persistent objection has never made much sense. This city hasn’t had a planner on staff for as long as I can remember but did briefly have someone with an advanced planning degree and the highest professional certification in the field. Why would you think the police would be more involved in comp planning than that person?
You are talking about the Michelle bit Hugo was referencing.
DeleteThe problem with Michelle Tullo is that she's been misappropriated by putting her into this (politically charged) role of Housing Justice Coordinator.
To my knowledge, she is by trade a city planner and that's what Hudson could really do with. Unfortunately, it's not the job she was assigned to do.
At the end of the day, what did she accomplish? Anything? I can’t think of a thing. Not one. Everything else said about her — her education, her experience, her flagrant and blatant conflicts of interest — are secondary to the fact that she accomplished nothing in 4 years. Nothing.
DeleteShe coordinated the comprehensive plan that is the subject of the very conversation we are currently having. I believe she also managed one or more grant programs for things like home repair. As I said, some of the criticism is valid, but the comp plan knocks seem silly.
DeleteMB -
ReplyDelete1 - Hudson is allowed to look beyond our own 5000 residents for talent.
2 - Why hire a City _Planner_ when we first need a City _Manager_. Clearly the current and previous mayor have no particular interest in hyperlocal management.
3 - Educational pedigree is not destiny.
Some of the greatest Americans were self-taught... but since Ms. Tullo's Masters degree was put in question by you, herself, and her domestic partner, the former mayor, to effect a raise, having a degree from a bottom quartile Urban and Regional Planning school is not reason to overpay. (41 out 48 ranking)
Education can be misleading... hence our original post on outcomes...
- Where is the housing?
- Where is the help line for private housing developers?
- Why is Mill Street a mess?
- Why does almost no one know about Bliss?
4 - re "Why would you think the police would be more involved in comp planning than that person?"
The point is that when any single "Department" takes lead on a cross-city issue... we should not be surprised if the outcome is tainted towards that Department's mission and needs.
Show me the incentives and I will show you the outcome.
So the Housing "Justice" Director leads a Comprehensive Plan that... shockingly... advocates for her priors.
5 - The core issue here, MB, is that Hudson created a new Department (Housing) that has failed at its core mission, interfered with and screwed up non housing matters, and we may now cut benefits on loyal and trained civil servants, or raise taxes on the Working Middle Class.... while essentially trying to look for projects for Ms. Tullo to do.
Fund the Fire Department, fund benefits for our workers in HPD and DPW or City Hall who maintain public works and public safety. Cut taxes on Hudson's families...
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MB - forget for a second about Tullo, her lack of conflict disclosures re: former Mayor Johnson, the unaccounted for Hudson Roots funding, the still secret rental agreement with Galvan/Bard that she benefits from, Hudson's largest landowner...
What do you think about the HHA / Bliss plan in front of the Planning Board completely disregarding the Comprehensive Plan?
re: scattered vs. concentrated housing?
1. Indeed. Tullo isn’t from Hudson and neither were the consultants hired for the comp plan.
Delete2. It’s an opinion that Hudson needs a City Manager, not a fact. Also, I don’t believe anyone aside from a campaigning Ferris has advocated for hiring a City Planner.
3. A Masters education from a university grants a person more knowledge than they’d have had otherwise, regardless of school ranking. The field’s certifying body also conferred its professional certification.
4. Affordable housing has been one of the main goals of every comp plan update in this county for the past six years. It’s a good thing that a housing oriented planner coordinated the work.
5. Despite what City Hall’s website states, there is no ‘Housing Department’. Look in the charter or the budget, you won’t find it. It’s one position that’s being phased out in four months.
Re: HHA / Bliss & the comp plan - is the comp plan a $250,000 SurveyMonkey exercise that we shouldn’t pay attention to, or an inflexible document that must be adhered to by every development in the City? It probably can’t be both.
It doesn’t matter for the sake of this comment thread, as the comp plan doesn’t actually include anything about scattered-site housing. The phrase appears zero times in a 277 page document The closest it gets even conceptually is in the section about a ‘Community Visioning Session’ during which ‘several participants agreed that affordable housing should not be concentrated in any one area’.
A far cry from ‘completely disregarding the comprehensive plan’, but at least now we have some ‘Shared Facts’.
We agree on most points.
Deletere: Comp Plan and Scattered Housing:
P89: “the inclusion of affordable units in new developments _throughout_ the city.” It does not say put all affordable housing for the entire County and City “on one big block.”
P90: The plan says a form-based code would “enable more flexible housing development throughout Hudson,” and later says this could happen while “preserving the character and scale that makes Hudson unique.”
The Hudson “Strategic Housing Action Plan” is far more explicit:
P17: “foster more housing choice and increase the production of affordable units while still achieving geographic dispersal of affordable housing across the city.”
The plan quotes the DRI: “While one 50-unit mixed-income rental building could be leased up over the course of a year, two 25-unit mixed-income buildings would be a more appropriate fit for Hudson’s scale.”
And MB, one can nitpick shoddy stats, bad methodology, wasted $200k etc. and still recognize when a plan, even an imperfect one, is duly adopted.
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So can you make the case for Bliss 2.0 or are you just going to keep errata-ing?
How is this not repeating the mistake of 1970s urban renewal, and repeating whatever went wrong in 2019 when that same site/plan was abandoned.
And how will this impact HCSD, which is already failing by most measures.
Also noted that you are silent on the trade-off between sinecure staffing (Tullo) and paying good benefits for good civil servants (Clerks, Treasury, HPD, DPW).