Admitting One's Mistakes

This just in, from someone who should know: Gossips got the wrong HAVE building. It's not the building at the west end of Power Avenue that's been identified as a possible site for transitional housing but the building at the east end of Power Avenue--a building that's for sale but still in use by HAVE Inc.

The Search Continues

Transitional housing, homeless shelter, emergency housing--the terminology varies, but the search for a location--usually in Hudson--continues. The word is that Rick Scalera, former mayor of Hudson and now special advisor to the Galvan Initiatives Foundation and supervisor from the Fifth Ward, is advocating for this location: the former HAVE building at the west end of Power Avenue.

Existing Zoning

LWRP Zoning

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Power Avenue, which goes from Route 9G to the entrance to the Hudson Correctional Facility and connects with the south end of East Court Street, is currently zoned industrial, and, in the zoning proposed in the LWRP, it continues to be designated industrial. It is not clear if the idea is to retrofit the existing building as housing units or to demolish the existing building and construct a new facility on the site.

Important Deadlines

Today, Friday, March 16, is the last day to request an informal review of your property assessment with GAR. To schedule an appointment, visit hudsonreassessment.com. The informal reviews will take place at the Central Firehouse, 77 North Seventh Street. 

Tomorrow, Saturday, March 17, is the last day to register to participate in a library focus group. To sign up and ensure your opinion is considered, visit the library's website. The focus groups will take place between Thursday, March 22, and Monday, March 26, at 400 State Street.

Redistricting--All Over But the Legal Challenges

Tom Casey reports in today's Register-Star on the state of redistricting New York: "Redistricting redux: Where we stand." These maps show the fate of the City of Hudson if there are no further changes to the lines.

Which Will It Be?

At Wednesday night's regular meeting of the Hudson Area Library Board of Trustees, Theresa Parsons confirmed two things: that she was stepping down as president but would remain on the board; and that the Register-Star building was being considered as a possible location for the library, although she said, rather enigmatically, "As far we're concerned, today, we're moving to the Armory." 

The Register-Star building, acquired last month by the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, has been offered by Galvan to the library, and members of the library board took a guided tour of the building recently with Register-Star publisher and former library trustee Roger Coleman. Mark Young, one of the trustees who took the tour, reported that "we can't tell by looking at the building if it would be an appropriate space for the library," so the board has requested a schematic to show how the space in the Register-Star building might be used for a library. A similar schematic has already been created for the Armory. Young revealed that the schematics were being done by an architect named John O'Connell. A little sleuthing discovered that John O'Connell of OConnell Architecture in Arlington, MA, designed the interior space at Young's restaurant, Mexican Radio.   

Meanwhile, the library board has hired Kim Cullin, a library design consultant, to conduct focus groups in the community. The information gathered from these focus groups will used to develop a program that the architect will use to design the space. Parsons described the process as "the conversion of our vision into something an architect can use." The library has scheduled ten focus groups, and so far only twenty people have agreed to participate. For this exercise to have meaning, more people need to be involved. Registration for focus groups continues through Saturday, March 17, and can be done in person at the library, by phone (828-1792), or online. See the library's website for more information.  

As the library board sees the decision-making process, they will consider the information from the focus groups, the schematics for both buildings, and other factors such as maintenance costs and will choose the building they want to be in. This doesn't quite jibe with what Galvan executive director Tom Swope said on @Issue last week. Swope suggested the possibility that the Armory might be put to some commercial use and, when expressing the foundation's commitment to providing a "new 21st-century home for the Hudson Area Library," indicated that the location chosen would have to be one that the library board agreed to.           

Open Government Comes to Columbia County

Nathan Mayberg reports the highlights of last night's Board of Supervisors meeting in today's Register-Star: "Smaller raise approved for county clerk." What he doesn't mention are some issues decided and discussed that would make the deliberation and decision making of the county's elected officials more accessible and comprehensible to the public. As a first step toward more open government, Dan and Mary Udell were videotaping last night's meeting for broadcast on Mid-Hudson Cable. The Udells will be videotaping all meetings of the full board, and it's possible that they may also be permitted to  videotape BOS committee meetings, where the real business of county government takes places.  

The Board of Supervisors is also considering allowing the public to speak at their regular monthly meetings and turning on the microphones in the chamber so that the public can hear what the supervisors are saying.    

The Brousseau Building

During last week's @Issue broadcast about the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, Tom Swope, the foundation's executive director, explained that up until now it had been "hard to justify economically" developing all the properties Eric Galloway had acquired, but now, "under the the guise of the foundation, we can make it make sense." (Guise was Swope's choice of words; a better word might have been auspices.) The property that seems to be one of the first in line for development is 202-204 Warren Street--the Brousseau Building. In recent months, the interior of this building, warehoused since 2005, has been completely gutted.    

The Brousseau Building was designed by Hudson architect Michael O'Connor, whose work includes the Allen Street School, the original Firemen's Home, Midwood, and several residences in the neighborhood of the courthouse. It was built as an apartment house, with six apartments, two on each floor. The building has two entrances, each with two doors: one opens into the first floor apartment; the other accesses the staircase leading to the apartments on the upper two floors.    


Sarah Sterling 2005

One of the first things Galloway did after acquiring the building--even before he evicted the tenants--was remove the porticos. At the time, Kevin Walker, Galloway's former majordomo, justified the action by saying that the porticos threatened public safety and the columns were in storage, presumably to be returned to the building at some future time.

Galloway's first plan for the building was to convert it into two enormous townhouses, with commercial or professional space on the ground floor and living space on the two floors above. When the plan was initially presented to the Historic Preservation Commission, it involved altering the facade to introduce larger storefront windows on the ground floor, adding a balustrade at the roof line that was never part of the original design, and changing the entrances so that each would have only one door. The HPC rejected the windows and the balustrade but accepted the changes proposed for the entrances, which included newly designed porticos and new columns. When asked if Galloway could be required to replicate the original porticos using the original columns, Swope, then chair of the HPC, rejected the idea, saying that the altered doorways required different porticos that would better complement them. 

Last week Swope revealed that the current plan for the Brousseau Building is to keep it as six apartments, with two live/work units on the ground floor. He intimated that the Galvan Initiatives Foundation would again seek a certificate of appropriateness to alter the facade by introducing larger storefront windows on the ground floor but made assurances that the porticos would be reinstated. It is not clear if the intention is to design new porticos or to re-create the original porticos using the original columns, but since there is now no need to alter the entrances from two doorways to one, there is no justification for redesigning the porticos.

Back in 1995, Lynn Davis photographed this building as part of her monumentally significant Warren Street Project. Davis has graciously given Gossips permission to reproduce the photograph here to remind everyone what the missing porticos looked like and perhaps to help Swope locate and identify the missing columns in Galloway's storage building.


© Lynn Davis 1995



Dog Fight

Audra Jornov reports in today's Register-Star that an unleashed pitbull attacked a bulldog being walked on a leash: "Dog fights another dog, gets tasered by police." The incident took place on Columbia Street near Seventh Street. Lieutenant Richard Paolino, commenting on the incident, said that had the pitbull turned on the officer or the people trying to separate the two dogs, “The duty weapon could have been deployed.”

Courthouse Renovations

The Columbia County Board of Supervisors meets tonight at 7:30 at 401 State Street. On the agenda is the vote to approve a bond to finance renovations to the County's Beaux Arts courthouse, designed by Warren and Wetmore and built in 1907. Nathan Mayberg reports the details in today's Register-Star: $10M courthouse plans nearly complete."

We Did It!

Set a goal one day; reach it the next. At 1:28 p.m. today, Tuesday, March 13, the number of pageviews in the past week reached a record high of 10,000. Thank you, readers!   

Learn About the Library

Since the Hudson Area Library Board sold its historic building to Eric Galloway and then announced that the Galvan Foundation was going to create a dream space for them in the Armory, there hasn't been much word from the trustees about what's happening. Gossips did manage to learn that the deal Galvan was offering  wasn't quite the dream come true that Library Board President Theresa Parsons and Vice President Mark Orton imagined, but beyond that, not much real information has emerged about the library's future. It remains, at the pleasure of the Galvan Foundation, in the building it once owned, presumably paying a dollar a month in rent, and it is reported that the library board is continuing its talks with Eric Galloway and Henry van Ameringen about a future home in the Armory. Meanwhile, rumors swirl. 

It is said that Theresa Parsons has resigned or is resigning as president of the board, and Mark Orton, now vice president, will assume that position. It is rumored that the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, with former mayor Rick Scalera as its "special advisor," may be thinking of offering the Armory to the Hudson Police Department and the City Court and having the library share the space with those institutions of law and order, or perhaps Galvan will set the library up in the recently acquired Register-Star building. On @Issue last Wednesday, Tom Swope, executive director for the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, said the foundation was committed to providing a "new 21st-century home for the Hudson Area Library," but he didn't specify where that home would be. (By new, I don't think Swope meant "new construction," but you never know.)

The answers to many questions may be revealed tomorrow night--Wednesday, March 14--when the library board holds its regular monthly meeting at 5:15 p.m. and its annual meeting at 6:15 p.m. Both meetings take place at 400 State Street and are open to the public.   

Thank You, Readers!

Last week, for the first time, The Gossips of Rivertown exceeded one thousand pageviews every day--even on the weekend! Here are the stats:

• March 5--1,196
• March 6--1,379
• March 7--1,678
• March 8--1,468
• March 9--1,323
• March 10--1,250
• March 11--1,183

The next goal: ten thousand pageviews in a week. With 1,606 pageviews on March 12, Gossips may reach that goal very soon. 

Who Will Represent the First Ward?

At tonight's informal Common Council meeting, Council President Don Moore set the time for the special meeting to decide who will replace Larissa Parks as an alderman representing the First Ward: Thursday, March 22, at 7 p.m. Two people have expressed interest in position: Nick Haddad and Geeta Cheddie. The question is: Will the Common Council elect the person that First Ward voters want to represent them, or will the aldermen, especially those who wield powerful weighted votes in the Common Council, elect the person they want on the Council? 

The voters of the First Ward made their preference clear four months ago. In November 2011, 194 First Ward voters went to the polls. Only 48 of them voted for Cheddie (then the incumbent) for alderman, as compared with 138 who voted for Parks (then using the surname Thomas) and 146 who voted for David Marston. In the same election, 143 voters in the First Ward voted for Nick Haddad for mayor. 

The will of the First Ward is pretty obvious, but will the members of the Common Council respect it?

Gossips Confession: Where are my math skills? In my original post, I added together Cheddie's votes on the Republican and Conservative lines and neglected to add the 15 votes she received on the Independence line. The total votes cast for Cheddie in November 2011 was 48 not 33 as originally reported. Mea culpa. 

First Ward Matters

Larissa Parks, alderman for the First Ward, has resigned, for health reasons, after only two months in office. The Common Council now has twenty days to choose her replacement. Gossips has learned that Nick Haddad, First Ward resident and mayoral candidate in 2011, has thrown his hat into the ring, expressing his interest in serving as alderman to Common Council President Don Moore.   

Call the Taste Police!

The new alcohol emporium on Green Street offends in different ways. Some find it offensive that the developers thought the 3,960 people of legal drinking age in Hudson were such boozers that they needed yet another source of beer, wine, and liquor. Others find it offensive that the Planning Commission had no problem with locating this establishment in such close proximity to the First Reformed Church. But, now that it's up and running, many find it visually offensive.   

Long before Hudson had a Historic Preservation Commission, which some deride as the "taste police," it had a zoning code, adopted in 1973, that regulated signs, both permanent and temporary. The chapter on signs, Chapter 244, is made up of forty-three separate paragraphs addressing all manner of signage. Probably only the code enforcement officer has digested all the provisions set forth in Chapter 244, but here are a few that might be considered.

[244-19] No sign, temporary or otherwise, on the inside of a window shall occupy more than 33 1/3 % of the aggregate area of said window. Such signs, if temporary, shall not remain more than 30 days.

[244-35.A] Definition. "Portable sign" shall be any sign easily moved from place to place on a stand or A-type frame having no permanent attachment to the ground, building or structure.

[244-35.B] Area. Said sign shall not exceed three feet by four feet (12 square feet) in area.

[244-35.D] Limitation of signs. One portable sign will be permitted for each 100 feet of street frontage of the premises on which said sign or signs are located; provided, however, that a maximum of only two such signs shall be permitted.  

The code [244-3] indicates that all signs require a permit from the building inspector, and it may well be the case that each of the signs has passed muster with the Code Enforcement Office, but the collective impact of all the signs on and around this establishment violates one of the goals of regulating signage stated in the city code: "to preserve the basically residential character of this community" [244-25]. If, in fact, all this signage is lawful and permitted, perhaps it's time to revisit and amend Chapter 244. 

Hudson's Newest Houses

Although they don't exactly resemble the elevation drawings that were unveiled last summer and, with minor variations, are identical to the two houses built farther up on Columbia Street, the latest pair of Habitat for Humanity houses are now complete, and Columbia County Habitat for Humanity plans to celebrate the achievement with an event called "BIG IDEAS / small spaces Showhouse."  

For the occasion, Dennis Wedlick and Elaine Santos, of Dennis Wedlick Architect LLC, have designed the interior spaces of one of the houses: 240 Columbia Street. Also participating in the showhouse are: Joyce Goldstein, Joyce Goldstein Gallery, Chatham; Pamela Kline, Traditions by Pamela Kline, Claverack: Lynne Opper, architect and building science expert, Spencertown; Karen Cedar, Karen Cedar Custom Interiors, Lenox, MA; Erin Robertson, Erin Robertson Design, Ancramdale; Mitchell Motsinger, Sew and Sew by Mitchell, Hudson; Melinda Slover, LiliandLoo, Hudson; and Melissa Cranna, kitchen designer for Herrington’s, Hudson.

The event happens during the last two weekends in March. There's an opening party on Saturday, March 24, at 5:00 p.m. (admission $30), and a "Meet the Designers Night" on Friday, March 30, from 4:00 to 5:30 p.m. (admission $20). The house can be viewed from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on March 24, 25, 30, 31, and April 1 (admission $10).   

Remnants of the Past

Back in September 2010, Gossips did a post about a mysterious baseball diamond-shaped expanse of concrete at the edge of the cemetery near Prospect Avenue and Columbia Turnpike. 

This, DPW Superintendent Rob Perry informed us, was a wading pool, a remnant of the old Academy Hill playground, one of several neighborhood playgrounds maintained by the City of Hudson in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Perry mentioned also a shed that provided storage space for playground equipment and toilets for girls and boys. The shed, Perry said, had originally been an early firehouse. The building today offers clues of its previous uses.

Sadly, this little building, which, if it was a firehouse, must date back to a time when fire engines were pulled through the streets by men or horses and were basically hand pumps that sprayed water at the flames, is falling into disrepair. The south wall is particularly compromised, with stones breaking away at the back corner.  

The building belongs to the City of Hudson and is situated on land that is still considered a city park. There's a rusting sign on an adjacent fence that announces the park closes at 9 p.m. Wouldn't it be nice if the deterioration could be halted, and this simple little building, which reflects past eras of life in Hudson, could be prevented from succumbing to demolition by neglect?

PILOT for Premier Brands

On Friday afternoon, the Columbia County Industrial Development Agency (IDA) held a public hearing on offering financial incentives to Premier Brands, the company that is purchasing the former Emsig Button Factory at the far north end of Second Street. The building was most recently owned and occupied by Hudson Fabrics.

Premier Brands deals in personal health care products, packaging their own brand and house brands for various chain stores. The facility will start out employing 25 people, and it is expected that, in a few years, there will be more than 100 employees, most of whom, it is anticipated, will live within walking distance of the facility. 

The IDA is considering offering Premier Brands exemptions from mortgage tax and county sales tax on purchases made to rehab the building and a "standard" PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes). By the terms of the PILOT, property tax is reduced by 50 percent in the first year, and the percentage of reduction decreases by 5 percent every year for 10 years--45 percent in the second year, 40 percent in the third year, and so on--until the business is paying its full property tax. The PILOT affects property taxes paid to the City of Hudson and the Hudson City School District, as well as the county. The incentives will be voted on at the IDA's next regular meeting on the first Tuesday in April.

The point was made yesterday that this is the first time since 1967 that the Columbia County IDA has done a project in the City of Hudson. The reason given was that there was a question of whether or not the Hudson IDA was qualified to take on the project, but the comment was made that "it was encouraging to see greater cooperation between the City and the County." 

HPC Agrees to Meet More Often

As one member of the Historic Preservation Commission observed this morning, the HPC is the busiest regulatory panel in the city. It is called upon to review many more projects than either the Planning Commission or the Zoning Board of Appeals, and it is tasked with protecting a vital aspect of Hudson's economic revitalization: the city's unique and authentic historic architecture. In the past, the HPC has steadfastly refused to meet more than once a month, even during the construction season when many projects come before the commission seeking certificates of appropriateness. At Friday's HPC meeting, the quorum present--David Voorhees, chair; Tony Thompson, Rick Rector, Nick Haddad, and Scott Baldinger--voted to meet twice a month and to hold a preapplication workshop for applicants who have questions about the process.

Henceforward, the Historic Preservation Commission will meet on the second and fourth Friday of each month, at 10 a.m. in City Hall. That means the HPC will meet a second time in March, on Friday, March 23. The preapplication workshop will be held on the first Monday of the month. The time and place of the workshop are still to be determined.     

Of Interest

In today's Register-Star, both Common Council President Don Moore and Mayor William Hallenbeck respond to Wednesday's editorial criticizing the postponements and delays in the senior center project. Moore's letter to the editor has the title "Defending Roberts"; Hallenbeck's letter, which makes an effort to explain what went wrong, is called "Senior commitment."