tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post4118157966881213060..comments2024-03-27T22:52:12.619-04:00Comments on The Gossips of Rivertown: First Meeting of Hudson FORWARDCarole Osterinkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16010623982526286408noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-22703883791303467872014-07-27T16:36:37.307-04:002014-07-27T16:36:37.307-04:00Why no mention of the speed bump that halted the M...Why no mention of the speed bump that halted the Moreland commission unheimlich?<br />The Governor pulled back the law dogs when they began "mining" about the real estate lobbyists.<br />The "dirty" money in Hudson is laundered through quasi governmental agencies that swap deeds like baseball cards in exchange for campaign contributions and the promise of grant money...<br />1Riparianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17248602693560230557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-49152739944779339762014-07-27T10:25:47.987-04:002014-07-27T10:25:47.987-04:00Wasn't "FORWARD" the slogan of the s...Wasn't "FORWARD" the slogan of the same people that gave us 6 years of (jobless) economic stimulus? Millions of stimulus spent on waterfront "development" and what have we to show? More use of the upland. Uses that further restrict access to the river. These so called "city servants" deny residents the prescribed "unfettered" access and customary "permanent easement".<br /><br />The Democrats (large D) that run Hudson, need to explain how stimulus grant money has replaced 25 full time (year round) citizen Navigators with 2 sail boats and a transport for hire, both occupying precious space and rarely leaving their federally funded berths.<br /><br />1 Riparian1Riparianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17248602693560230557noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-12858846353311245692014-07-25T11:03:47.134-04:002014-07-25T11:03:47.134-04:00It's great to see this renewed interest in sel...It's great to see this renewed interest in self-government, which is perennial in our culture. <br /><br />In the down times, public apathy mixed with unexamined and unwarranted trust for any level of government are the ideal breeding grounds for corruption (if not always in the legal sense of corruption, then in the general direction of laziness, cutting corners, and erosion of the meaning and sense of PUBLIC SERVICE).<br /><br />Over the years, Victor Mendolia has improved his ideas about those generally corrosive tendencies that would challenge any of us were we to assume positions of power. <br /><br />But the best people to explain the relations and hierarchies between our various governmental and quasi-governmental agencies are those who have never been involved in any of them. That's just common sense.<br /><br />In a place like Hudson which is fraught with transparency problems and the serial cheating of often-required public participation, I'd suggest learning the taxonomy of local government from the perspective of self-government, or in the antique parlance, "republicanism" (please note the small "r"). <br /><br />That would begin by learning which agencies are available to public scrutiny via the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL), and which are not.<br /><br />Of those agencies that are not accountable to the public in terms of FOIL, what are their histories and records of success? What are their current activities? What bodies or individuals guide their planning, and what are the criteria of "progress"? In the arguably closed precincts of decision-making (how can the public know or believe the extent of this?), how does an unaccountable and quasi-governmental agency achieve its ends by working directly with local officials who've temporarily forgotten their commitments to PUBLIC SERVICE, and vice versa?<br /><br />It was in 2012 during a confusing spate of grant applications (most since failed) that Supervisor Thurston asked for a public reckoning of how many grants were being considered at any one time, and how many applications submitted and by whom.<br /><br />I believe the idea of a web page was floated, which is local government's new default for putting off public scrutiny indefinitely, or at least buying time.<br /><br />It goes like this: We are completely transparent which you will realize as soon as we bring you that new website.<br /><br />After which any immediate subject/fire is successfully doused.<br /><br />I say kudos to Victor, but we need an advocate and explainer who's never been there before and has no history of loyalties and no anticipation of future loyalties.<br /><br />Self-government, what an exceptional idea! Aaron Burr must be rolling in his grave.unheimlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00204285837938988668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-29720072281833575632014-07-25T09:47:32.745-04:002014-07-25T09:47:32.745-04:00Reading about Kites Nest and Hudson Forward on the...Reading about Kites Nest and Hudson Forward on the same morning lifts the heart and gives me hope for the future of Hudson for all ages in all wards. Maltiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11152605825183111762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-70545639985224995122014-07-25T09:45:43.001-04:002014-07-25T09:45:43.001-04:00In the big picture, Hudson is ruled by a mining op...In the big picture, Hudson is ruled by a mining operation. Leaving aside Galvan's activities, every sneaky deal that occurs in Hudson is somehow traceable to this fact.<br /><br />Judging from the abundance of raw materials beneath Becraft Mountain, Hudson will always be ruled by mining.<br /><br />In the last few weeks, the forest road from Becraft at Route 9 down to the South Bay causeway has undergone a transformation, but who's noticed? This is the same route which will one day see an aggregate conveyor system installed to the waterfront (a sneaky zoning deal accomplished by a previous Common Council).<br /><br />If Hudson residents focus only on Galvan's activities (which I agree are ominous), then the machinations of the longtime interests which continue to shape the fate of the city - and particularly the waterfront - will continue to slip beneath the radar. <br /><br />For this reason, if for no other, the miners must love Galvan.unheimlichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00204285837938988668noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-91225210658910235892014-07-25T08:49:12.742-04:002014-07-25T08:49:12.742-04:00Sounds like a great start.Sounds like a great start.Jonathan Lernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06007020966491439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-11693947259309664202014-07-25T08:47:05.283-04:002014-07-25T08:47:05.283-04:00But you're right in your perception, Jonathan ...But you're right in your perception, Jonathan Lerner, that the meeting was, appropriately, more about identifying issues and building consensus than about outlining strategies for solving problems. Carole Osterinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16010623982526286408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-48175437926109679482014-07-25T08:42:30.597-04:002014-07-25T08:42:30.597-04:00Nothing in Hudson is easy, and nothing can be solv...Nothing in Hudson is easy, and nothing can be solved as a consequence of a single meeting, The next steps are, logically, to use the discussion to identify issues that are of concern to the group as a whole and, after doing that, to get the group organized into committees, or task forces, dedicated to taking on each one.<br /><br />There was also an interest among the new people in the group in learning about how local government works. What's the difference between an alderman and a supervisor? What's role of the alphabet soup of quangos (HPC, HCDPA, etc.) in relation to elected government? Victor Mendolia volunteered to do a "teach in" on the subject. <br /><br />Another meeting is planned for mid-August, date and place yet to be determined. Carole Osterinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16010623982526286408noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-14342277351054035212014-07-25T07:59:54.067-04:002014-07-25T07:59:54.067-04:00Thanks very much for that account of the meeting, ...Thanks very much for that account of the meeting, which seems very thorough. But you don't convey a sense of what's next from Hudson Forward. Did the discussion limit itself to an airing of concerns for now, or was there motion toward setting priorities and taking action, or what?Jonathan Lernerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06007020966491439770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5723709701684173708.post-84674641916499986912014-07-25T07:53:12.298-04:002014-07-25T07:53:12.298-04:00The biggest threat to Hudson is the collusion of G...The biggest threat to Hudson is the collusion of Galvan and a few elected officials. The other issues outlined by Hudson Forward, while important, are for naught unless the Galvan/elected official scheme is addressed and resolved in a satisfactory manner. Observerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07476845411516796463noreply@blogger.com