Adding on to Our Historic WPA School Building

Many in Hudson--even those who never attended classes there--consider the Colonial Revival school building on Harry Howard Avenue one of the city's architectural treasures. Situated far back from the street, with a vast green lawn in front, the building stands as testimony to the respect and esteem in which public education was held generations ago.

The school was built when the country was still struggling to recover from the Great Depression. It was a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), the largest and most ambitious of Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal agencies, which employed millions of people who were otherwise jobless in such public works projects as the construction of public buildings and roads. When the school was completed in November 1937, it was known as Chancellor Livingston High School. Before it was built, elementary schoolchildren in Hudson could only attend school for half the day, because the high school had outgrown its building at 401 State Street and had taken over the elementary school across the street.

High school students changing classes in the 1930s

Whether or not they know or remember the building's history, people worry when there are plans afoot to add to the building or alter it in any way, and that's the case now. An addition to the south side of the building is being planned, along with an expansion of the parking lot in front of the building. Up until now, the rendering below--more of a massing drawing then anything else--was the only clue about what the addition might look like.

In the past few days, it has been announced that there are detailed preliminary designs for the capital project, which we assume include the addition to the historic 1937 building and not just the new athletic field at the high school. Public forums to share those designs have been scheduled for this Wednesday, June 22, at 6:30 p.m., and next Wednesday, June 29, at 6:30 p.m. Both meetings take place in the cafeteria of the former Chancellor Livingston High School, now the Montgomery C. Smith Intermediate School, 102 Harry Howard Avenue. 

The Hudson City School District has also published the following list of "Ways to Get Involved" in the capital project. 

Because the above list is a screen capture, the links are not live, but here is the link to the district website, the link to the form for submitting questions or comments about the project, and the link for getting in touch if you have expertise or interest in any aspect of the project.
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A Once-in-a-Lifetime Occurrence

Today is the summer solstice, the longest day in the year and the beginning of summer. This year, the summer solstice coincides with the full moon, the "Strawberry Moon," so called because it marks the beginning of strawberry season not because the moon looks red. The summer solstice and the Strawberry Moon coincide only once every seventy years. 
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Thanks to Bruce Mitchinson for bringing this to Gossips' attention

Almost There for the Lodging Tax

It appears that Bill S7790, authorizing the City of Hudson to impose a lodging tax, passed in the State Senate in the final hours of the legislative session. The next step is for the legislation to be delivered to Governor Andrew Cuomo for him to sign it or veto it. You can monitor the bill's progress here.
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S/He Who Hesitates Is Not Always Lost

It's another lovely day in June, and the afternoon promises to be perfect for listening to chamber music in the cool and inspiring octagonal parlors of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House. 

Photo: lizcnyc|Flickr

If you haven't already purchased your tickets, your hesitation has not cost you the chance to hear musicians from The Orchestra Now of Bard College performing quartets and trios by Haydn, Handel, and Mozart in this extraordinary space. Seats are still available, and you can purchase tickets at the site. The concert begins at 2 p.m. Admission is $25 for members of Historic Hudson and $35 for nonmembers. Enter the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility from Worth Avenue. Signs will direct you along the carriage road to the historic house.
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We Love a Parade! (Maybe "We" Should Be "I")

This year, because the parade was to be a bit different, organized by OutHudson instead of the Hudson Pride Foundation, or maybe because (can it be?) I am now a septuagenarian, I decided the Gossips presence in the parade would be a bit different. Instead of riding perched on the back of a vintage black convertible, I would drive the Gossipsmobile, tricked out with rainbow flags and rainbow balloons and the familiar Gossips banners Lisa Durfee created back in 2012, with my trusty canine companion, Joey, by my side. So, that's what we did.

Here's Joey and me, in the Gossipsmobile, waiting for the parade to begin. (We were so honored. The mayor herself took this picture! Note the ear trumpet lying on the dashboard.)

And here's the Gossipsmobile at the end of the parade.

Photo: Richelle Martin

When it was all over, and we were back home where it was cool and quiet, Joey informed me that if I wanted a dog to ride beside me in a parade again, he intended to hire a body double. Maybe one of the guys on the Spotty Dog float.

Facebook|Spotty Dog

Thank you to all the Gossips readers who were at the parade today, cheering and calling out greetings. You are the greatest!

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The Parade Starts at 2:00!

On the Topic of Economic Development

John Mason reports in the Register-Star today about last night's Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting: "City seeks $10M state grant for waterfront development." Gossips arrived late at the meeting and missed the discussion of the Downtown Revitalization Initiative (the $10 million grant), the competition for funding Gossips reported on several weeks ago. According to Mason's article, the DRI application submitted by Sheena Salvino, executive director of the Hudson Development Corporation, "breaks the neighborhood to be improved by the grant funding into four zones."

Bing Maps

The neighborhood in question is the South Bay Waterfront district, and the article describes the zones in this way: 

• The Waterfront Development Zone, including four acres on Water Street--the former Dunn warehouse building, the parking lots just north of it, which would conceivably be developed, and the Ferry Street Bridge.
• The Recreation-Reactivation Zone includes the interface between the industrial Colarusso property and the piers at the southern end of Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, with their fishing, kayak launches and picnic tables, as well as the sliver of land for which the Hudson Sloop Club got funding to create an environmental education center.
• The Transportation-Oriented Development Zone includes the area around the Kaz warehouse property, the Wick and the Amtrak station.
• The Innovation Zone includes Basilica Hudson and 99 S. Front St., formerly the LB building and now a business incubator.

Some insight into the nature of the investment being considered was provided in an email Salvino sent to the Hudson Business Coalition on May 24 to solicit letters of support for the City's DRI application. In the email, she described five elements of the investment proposal:

1. Build out of an open access network for improved internet access, providing fiber to each home and office in Hudson.
2. Citywide Complete Streets programming designed and operated to enable safe access for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and transit riders of all ages and abilities.
3. Quality of life improvements such as rehab/upgrades to center city pocket parks, Promenade Hill Park, and Seventh Street Square; public restrooms on Warren Street; upgraded recycling/rubbish receptables, signage and wayfinding, community gardens & arts
4. Waterfront enhancements that will improve vehicular/pedestrian circulation and connections among the waterfront amenities, businesses, cultural anchors, and maritime focused activity.
5. Improve Hudson's resilience to sea level rise and address climate adaptation needs along the waterfront and 9G.

If not all proposed investments seem to fit within the proposed zones, it's likely that the application, which had to be done in a matter of weeks, may have evolved a bit in the last few days before it was due. What is important to remember is that if Hudson should get the $10 million, the first year and the first $300,000 will be spent planning how the rest of the money will be invested.

At last night's committee meeting, other grants being pursued in this year's Consolidated Funding Application (CFA) process were discussed. As happens every year, the City will be seeking the maximum--$400,000--from the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program. The lion's share of that amount would be used for stabilization and reconditioning of the Youth Center, but there would also be money for zoning revisions and for updating the City's fourteen-year-old Comprehensive Plan.

Salvino told the committee that the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP) is dedicating $20 million in matching grants through the Environmental Protection Fund grant program--the most money this program has ever had to distribute in one year--and the City would be making an application to fund a site plan for the restoration/rehabilitation of Seventh Street Park, a.k.a. the Public Square.

The City will also be seeking a $50,000 grant from the Department of State for help in revising and updating the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program, which was adopted in 2011 but has yet to be submitted to or approved by the Department of State.

Toward the end of the meeting, Alderman Rick Rector (First Ward), who chairs the Economic Development Committee, brought up an issue of concern to him: the Dunn warehouse. Rector said he was "more and more concerned about the building and its condition" and wondered if any of the recommendations for stabilizing the building made in the feasibility study completed last summer had been carried out.

Calling the building "the gateway to the county" for people arriving by train or by water, Rector went on to suggest that it could be a civic center, an indoor/outdoor farmers' market. "The Dunn warehouse," he asserted, "could be a very proud moment for Hudson." 

Salvino said she wanted a comprehensive plan for the entire four acres along Water Street. Rector said he wanted to stabilize the building and suggested the committee revisit the feasibility study done last year. Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), who sits on the Economic Development Committee, said he thought the master plan presented in the feasibility study was a good plan and urged moving forward to issue a request for proposal (RFP).

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Keeping Tabs on the Lodging Tax

This morning, WAMC reported that, although the NYS Legislature had intended to adjourn yesterday, it would stay in session for one more day. The bill authorizing Hudson's lodging tax was approved in the Assembly on June 14, but, with only hours left in this legislative session, there was no news of the status of the bill in the Senate. 

The NYS Assembly website and the NYS Senate website both indicate that the Senate bill (S07790) was still in committee. So, Gossips called Senator Kathy Marchione's office to see if they could tell me more and was told that the bill had not yet been committed to the floor for a vote. The person I spoke with assured me that they were "trying very hard" to get the bill voted on before the end of the session--or other words, by the end of the day today. If it doesn't make it to the Senate floor today, it will be taken up in the next session, and if that happens, it will have to be approved again in the Assembly.
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Pursuing Fair and Equal in Hudson

Last evening, the organizers of the Fair & Equal initiative held a press conference to kick off their campaign. Interestingly, although the initiative impacts the Common Council and the voting power of the individual members, only four aldermen were present: Rick Rector (First Ward), Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward), John Friedman (Third Ward), and Lauren Scalera (Fourth Ward).

During the press conference, it was explained that there are three ways to achieve the goal of altering ward boundaries, to replace Hudson's current wards, which have dramatically different population figures, with legislative districts of equal population. Those three methods are:

• Charter revision commission
• Direct legislative action
• Initiative and referendum

The campaign now underway pursues the third path. Between now and July 1, volunteers will be collecting petition signatures to get a proposition on the ballot in November. You can review the proposed language of the proposition here. This weekend and next week, there will be several opportunities to sign the petition: 

• Saturday, June 18, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., Hudson Farmers' Market
• Sunday, June 19, 12 noon to 4 p.m., 346 Union Street
• Thursday, June 23, 6 p.m. Town Hall meeting, Hudson Area Library
• Saturday, June 25, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., 346 Union Street

You can also send an email to contact@weightedvote.com to request that someone come to your home or workplace to get your signature.

Once the signatures have been collected, the petitions will be presented to the Common Council, which has 60 days to act. If the Council fails to act or if a resolution to hold a referendum does not pass, more signatures will enable the referendum to go forward without the Council's approval. 
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Following the Progress of Our Lodging Tax

The legislative session in Albany is coming to a close. In fact, according to the legislative calendar available online, it ends later today, June 16. So it occurred to Gossips to check on the progress of Hudson's lodging tax, which requires the approval of the state legislature.

In the State Assembly, our lodging tax is bill A10302. That bill came to the Assembly floor for a vote on Tuesday, June 14, and the vote was 99 yea and 43 nay. If you are curious to know which members of the Assembly voted against our lodging tax, you can find that out here. Among the 43 members of the Assembly who voted against authorizing the City of Hudson to collect a lodging tax were Pete Lopez, who represents the 102nd Assembly District just across the river, and Jim Tedisco, who represents the 112th Assembly District, which includes Schenectady and Saratoga Springs.

In the Senate, our lodging tax is bill S07790. As of now, it appears the bill has not made it out of committee.
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Fair & Equal

Gossips has been talking for years about the inequity of the weighted vote in Hudson--an inequity that became even greater with the 2010 census. Last October, a Council resolution authorizing a referendum that would have been the first step in a multiyear process, devised by the Common Council Legal Committee to correct the situation, was vetoed by Mayor William Hallenbeck. This year, a grassroots campaign is being launched, starting today, to bring fair and equal voting to the legislative body in Hudson.

Today, June 15, is the anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling in 1964 that established the principle of "one person, one vote." Fittingly, there will be a press conference today at 5 p.m. at the Hudson Area Library to explain the problem (for those who don't already understand it) and set forth the process by which the voters of Hudson can achieve the constitutional standard of "one person, one vote." The grassroots initiative involves a petition to put a referendum on the ballot for November, and petition signatures must be gathered between now and July 1.

If you can't make it to the press conference this afternoon, you can learn about the problem and the proposed solution in a video that can be viewed here. You can also visit the website to find out where you can sign the petition and how you can support the effort to establish "one person, one vote" in Hudson.
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Experience Music as the Bronsons Might Have

Much of what many of us think of as the classics of chamber music was composed in the 18th century, but the 19th century may have been chamber music's finest moment. In the 18th century, the music we know as chamber music was typically performed in a palace chamber, but in the 19th century, the works of Haydn, Handel, and Mozart would likely have been performed, in Europe and America, by amateur or professional musicians in the homes of wealthy folk who were not kings and queens.

It's not hard to imagine that Dr. Oliver Bronson and his wife, Joanna, might have invited friends and family--the crème de la crème of Hudson Valley society in the mid-19th century--to their home on the edge of Hudson (now a National Historic Landmark) to hear chamber music in the glorious suite of octagonal rooms which was part of the addition to their home designed by Alexander Jackson Davis in 1849. This Sunday, June 19, Historic Hudson re-creates the intimate musical experience that Oliver and Joanna might have offered their guests more than a century and a half ago.

At 2 p.m. this Sunday, musicians from The Orchestra Now of Bard College will perform quartets and trios by Haydn, Handel, and Mozart, in the very space where our Oliver and Joanna fantasy happened--the suite of octagonal rooms in the 1849 addition of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House. The Orchestra Now, which was founded in 2015, is an innovative training orchestra and master's degree program at Bard College, led by conductor, educator, and music historian Leon Botstein.

Seating for this "time and again" experience is limited, but the cost is very reasonable: $25 for members of Historic Hudson; $35 for nonmembers. The concert will be followed by a reception with the musicians. Secure your tickets now at www.historichudson.org, or send a request for a reservation to historichudson@verizon.net.
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Hudson Stands with Orlando

Two hundred people came together in Washington Square Park this evening to mourn and honor the victims of the heinous attack in Orlando. Several people shared their thoughts about the tragedy, including Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton and a visitor from San Francisco who came to the vigil with his husband. The bell at Christ Church tolled fifty times for the fifty lives that were lost. Then participants carrying the giant rainbow flag, which has made its appearance in every one of Hudson's pride parades, led a solemn procession from the park to City Hall.

Photo: Victor Mendolia

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Haul Road Watch

The big topic at the Hudson Planning Board meeting last Thursday was garden dining at BackBar, but at the end of the meeting, Planning Board chair Tom DePietro brought up a project that will come before the board at its next meeting: a Colarusso haul road from the quarry to the river.

It will be remembered that this proposal for a road that passes through the City of Hudson and the Town of Greenport appeared on the Greenport Planning Board's agenda more than a week before it was submitted to the City of Hudson. 

DePietro told the board that J. R. Heffner, vice president of operations for Colarusso, had invited them to make a field trip to the haul road, which they agreed to do. Mitch Khosrova, legal counsel to the Planning Board, advised DePietro to ask to do a coordinated SEQR review of the project. DePietro said he had started discussions with Ed Stiffler, the chair of the Greenport Planning Board, and suggested that the Greenport Planning Board should be lead agency because "Greenport has a paid engineer on their board." Khosrova told DePietro that the Hudson Planning Board could hire an engineer as a consultant on the project, at the applicant's expense, and the Hudson Planning Board "shouldn't give lead agency status to Greenport on that basis." The proposal involves not only the newly paved haul road going east from Route 9G to Route 9 but also a plan to move and widen the causeway from Route 9G west to the river.

The first 930 feet or so of the haul road going east from Route 9G is in Hudson, in a part of the city zoned R-C, "Recreational Conservation." Timothy O'Connor pointed out at Thursday's meeting that the haul road through that area was a conditional use and a nonconforming use and as such required site plan review and approval from the Hudson Planning Board. Earlier this year, the road was widened and surfaced, and the project never came before the Planning Board. 

   
O'Connor wanted to know if a Planning Board review could be done on a road that's already been built. His question went unanswered.
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Addendum:  O'Connor attests that he heard DePietro say, "I don't see why not," in response to his question.

More Pizza on Warren Street

On Friday, the Historic Preservation Commission granted a certificate of appropriateness for a sign to be hung from the newly restored facade of 523 Warren Street.

The sign, made from an actual slice of wood, bark and all, cut from the trunk of a tree, will read: OAK Pizzeria Napoletana. Yes, three doors up from Baba Louie's, which has been serving wood-fired pizza, salads, pasta, and soup for ten years, there soon will be a southern Italian eatery serving pizza and other things. The new restaurant is expected to open in the second or third week in July.
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Change of Time for Council Meeting

Tonight's informal Common Council meeting will begin at 7:30 p.m. instead of 7 o'clock to allow aldermen and members of the public to attend the vigil in Washington Park for the victims of the Orlando attack.
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Mourning with Orlando

Photo: @CurtisBebro

The Hudson Pride Foundation and OutHudson have announced plans for a vigil tomorrow night--Monday, June 13--at 7 p.m., in Washington Park, in front of the Columbia County Courthouse, to join with global supporters of LGBTQ rights to commemorate the loss and suffering caused by the despicable attack in Orlando.

OutHudson has also announced that on Saturday, June 18, the parade celebrating LGBTQ pride, which begins at 2 p.m., will be halted at 2:30 for a moment of silence to honor the victims of the Orlando attack.
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This Afternoon at Kite's Nest

Today from 2 to 4 p.m., Kite's Nest holds its Spring Expo. Always an awesome and joyous event, the expo this spring offers sound chambers, art installations, music performances, maybe even some karaoke, and strawberry shortcake. What could be better on a Sunday afternoon in June? 

The expo takes place at Kite's Nest, 108 South Front Street.
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A Once-a-Year Opportunity Approaches

Next weekend, June 18 and 19, is Path Through History Weekend, the two-day event that showcases New York's rich history with events at historic and cultural destinations throughout the state. As has become a tradition, the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, Hudson’s own National Historic Landmark, is one of those destinations.

Historic Hudson will opening the house for public visitation from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, June 18, and from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 19. To mark Path Through History Week, an exhibition entitled Past, Present & Future of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House be installed in the southeast parlor. 

Don't miss the chance to visit this legendary architectural gem, significant for its association with Alexander Jackson Davis, one of the most successful and influential architects of the 19th century, and learn about its more than two century history and Historic Hudson's plans and aspirations for its future. 

The Dr. Oliver Bronson House is located on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility. Access is from Worth Avenue. Signs will direct you along the carriage road to the house.

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Fish & Game for the Rest of Us

There is no doubt that Fish & Game, operated by Zak Pelaccio who last month won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Northeast, is a culinary destination, but its prices make it not the sort of restaurant most Hudsonians can patronize often. Soon, however, there will be another Zak Pelaccio restaurant in Hudson, with menu items between $8 and $16, which will be open every day, from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m., serving lunch and dinner. The restaurant is BackBar at 347 Warren Street.

This is the latest stage in the evolution of 347 Warren Street, which began back in the spring of 2012 when the Planning Board (then still the Planning Commission) granted approval for the creation of an outdoor food court, made up of food trucks, and a beer and wine garden on the site. 

The original plan was never realized as proposed. Along the way, amendments to the original site plan were sought and granted, but last summer, when Michael Davis, the owner and original conceptualizer of site, appeared before the Planning Board for a third time, this time accompanied by Zak Pelaccio, with an amendment to the plan which would eliminate all the food trucks and create an outdoor seating area that could accommodate a hundred people and would remain open until 2 a.m., the Planning Board balked, and the neighbors rose up in protest. The proposal was withdrawn before a public hearing could be held.

This year, a new amendment was presented to the Planning Board which fared much better. The garden seating capacity was reduced to forty. No standees will be permitted. Garden dining will end at 10 p.m., and there will be no music outside. Pelaccio and Kevin Pomplun, his partner in the new enterprise as well as Fish & Game, discussed their plans with the neighbors and modified them to address the neighbors' concerns. As a result, at the public hearing last night, three people--Third Ward alderman John Friedman, HDC executive director Sheena Salvino, and realtor Mary Mullane--made comments in support of the proposal, and only one person, Danette Koke, who had spearheaded the opposition in 2015, spoke against it, saying that there had already been a number of complaints to the Hudson Police Department about noise emanating from BackBar and wondering why "the whole thing is already built" when the Planning Board had not yet granted site plan approval. (In the meeting that followed the public hearing, Pelaccio acknowledged that the HPD had visited the bar several times, "in response to complaints always from one or two people," but they had "never received a noise citation or any other kind of citation.")

After the public meeting, which lasted all of ten minutes, and deliberation by the members of Planning Board present--Tom DePietro, Gene Shetsky, Rob Bujan, Cleveland Samuels, and Laura Margolis--DePietro, who chairs the Planning Board, led the group through the SEQR short form, and the board unanimously made a negative declaration. They then unanimously granted site plan approval.

Coincidentally, hours before the Planning Board held a public hearing and made its decision, the New York Times published an article about the new restaurant and its new Southeast Asian menu that's being called Bakar at BackBar: "Zak Pelaccio Revisits Malaysian Cooking in His New Restaurant."
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