A Thanksgiving Suggestion

If your plans for Thanksgiving don't involve hours of cooking and you expect to have some time to yourself, here's a recommendation: spend the holiday reading Charlie Suisman's book Arnold Falls. 

The novel is set in a small town in upstate New York, in the season of the year leading up to Thanksgiving. It spoils nothing to reveal that the story ends on Thanksgiving Day, making it the perfect read for the holiday. You can read it in the morning and early afternoon, before dinner, and in the evening, after dinner, as an alternative to a tryptophan-induced nap. One thing that the book guarantees, which isn't always the case with Thanksgiving gatherings, is that you will spend several pleasant, tension free hours in the company of an ensemble of quirky and amusing characters.

Charlie Suisman used to live in Hudson, and that makes this book particularly appealing for us Hudsonians. It is not exactly a roman à clef, but it's pure delight to match up characters and events in the story with the people and situations in Hudson that inspired them. Figuring in the story, for example, are a proposal to site a tire factory on the town's waterfront and the struggle to preserve the town's oldest house, "the Dutch House," built in 1795.   

Reviewers have noted variously that Arnold Falls has "shades of Richard Russo and T. C. Boyle" and "tips its hat to Armistead Maupin and P. G. Wodehouse." In my opinion, it is one of the most entertaining books inspired by Hudson I have read since I first read Alice B. Neal's 1848 novel, The Gossips of Rivertown.

You can get a copy of Arnold Falls from Spotty Dog Books & Ale or from Amazon. 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

Colarusso Lawsuit Update

In August, Judge Henry F. Zwack handed down a decision in Colarusso's latest lawsuit against the Planning Board. In response, the Common Council and the Hudson Planning Board authorized the attorneys representing the City in this lawsuit to move forward with a Notice of Appeal related to the decision. Yesterday, Gossips learned that an appeal of the decision has been filed.

Last night, at the public hearing on the proposed 2023 budget, Donna Streitz expressed concern that the amount budgeted for attorneys' fees might not be adequate to defend against the Colarusso lawsuit. Mayor Kamal Johnson explained that there was money in a contingency fund for legal expenses. Council president Tom DePietro added that money had been allocated in the 2022 budget for expenses related to the Colarusso lawsuit which had not yet been used and would be carried over into 2023.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

News About Parking

All good things must end. Yesterday, Police Commissioner Shane Bower announced that the suspension of alternate side of the street parking on the weekends will end in December. Beginning on the first weekend in December, the weekend of Winter Walk, cars parked on the street overnight must be parked on the odd side of the street if the date of the next day is odd, or on the even side if the date of the next day is even. This means that overnight from Friday, December 2, to Saturday, December 3, cars must be parked on the side of the street where the house numbers are odd, and from Saturday, December 3, to Sunday, December 4, cars must be parked on the side of the street where the house numbers are even.   

Bower also announced that, as is Hudson tradition, parking meter fees will be waived throughout the month of December, both for meters on the street and for meters in municipal parking lots. The only exception is the lot at the train station, where parking fees must still be paid. 

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

A Holiday Tradition Returns

Once again, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse has been festooned with lights for the winter season, as has been a tradition for more than a quarter of a century.

A crew of fifteen volunteers, led by Mike Coon and Bill Palmer, worked for more than seventy hours to string approximately 1,600 feet of lights with 5,000 bulbs--all powered by solar. The lights are on every day from 3:45 p.m. to midnight.

The best views of the illumined lighthouse are from Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, the lower end of Mt. Merino Road as you round the curve toward the bottom of the hill, and Athens Village Riverfront Park. 

As in the past, the lights are sponsored by the Bank of Greene County.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health released its numbers earlier today. Since yesterday, there have been 7 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 8 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 15 county residents have recovered from the virus. There is 1 fewer county resident hospitalized with COVID-19 today than yesterday, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since yesterday.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 42 new cases of COVID-19 from Saturday to Monday. The total number of cases was 5,658, and the number of active cases was 118. There were 187 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 3 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Columbia County at this time last year was 105.

More Trains Between Hudson and NYC

In case you missed the news, the Kingston Freeman reported on Saturday that, beginning December 5, there will be two more trains coming from and returning to New York City: "Amtrak adds two additional roundtrip trains between Mid-Hudson Valley and New York City."

Photo: New York by Rail

Ear to the Ground

Gossips has learned that our local newspaper, the Register-Star, was taken to court this morning by its former landlord, Eight Iron Buildings, Inc., which owns One City Centre, for nonpayment of rent. 

It will be remembered that in 2012, Hudson Valley Newspapers, now known as Columbia-Greene Media, sold its historic building on Warren Street to Galvan Partners LLC for $750,000 and moved to offices in One City Centre, entering into a ten-year lease with the owner of the building. The agreed-upon rent for the space was $6,000 a month. The lease commenced on June 1, 2012, and was to terminate on May 31, 2022. Columbia-Greene Media, however, moved out of One City Centre and back to its old digs, now as the tenant of Galvan Civic I, in January 2021.

According to the complaint filed with the court, Columbia-Greene Media breached the terms of its lease early in 2020 by failing to make timely rent payments. In August 2020, the newspaper started making partial monthly rent payments of $3,000 a month. In September 2020, Columbia-Greene Media told its landlord it intended to vacate the offices at One City Center by January 1, 2021, one year and four months before the conclusion of the lease. The landlord, Eight Iron Buildings, Inc., is now seeking approximately $117,720 in past due rent, late fees, and future rent payments under the original lease agreement.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

Auction Tomorrow at Stair Galleries

Tomorrow at 11:00 a.m., Stair Galleries is auctioning property from the collection of Joan Didion, an auction called An American Icon. 

Photo: Chronogram

You can preview the collection today at Stair Galleries, 549 Warren Street, or you can read this article about it by Jamie Larsen, which appeared in Chronogram: "Lots from a Literacy Icon: The Joan Didion Collection on Auction at Stair Galleries."

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Thursday, November 10, there has been another death from COVID-19 and 20 new cases. The number of active cases being reported today is 9 fewer than on Thursday, from which it can be inferred that, since Thursday, 28 county residents have recovered from the virus. There are 2 more county residents hospitalized today than on Thursday, and 1 more is in the ICU. 

A year ago today, November 14 was a Sunday, and the CCDOH did not report COVID numbers. On the previous Saturday, November 13, the CCDOH reported 22 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 5,616, and the number of active cases was 100. There were 246 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 2 were hospitalized, and 0 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Columbia County at this time last year was 105.

Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

The unseasonably warm November days are behind us, and those ahead promise to feel more like late autumn. As we move closer to winter, here's what's happening on the meeting front.

• On Tuesday, November 15, Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at 9:30 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely. 
• At 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15, there is a public hearing on the proposed budget for 2023. The budget can be found here. The hearing will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.
• Also on Tuesday, November 15, the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. Among the resolutions on the agenda is one to accept the Climate Adaptive Design Phase II Preliminary Design Report for Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.

• On Wednesday, November 16, the Zoning Board of Appeals meets at 6:oo p.m. The meeting is in person only at City Hall.
• On Thursday, November 17, at 6:15 p.m., the Common Council holds a special meeting to vote on the proposed budget for 2023. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.
• On Friday, November 18, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

Benefit Concert on Saturday

The Hudson Festival Orchestra, which presented Hudson in Concert at the waterfront last July, is having a benefit concert on Saturday, November 19, at 2:00 p.m., at the First Presbyterian Church.

The concert will feature video highlights of last summer's Hudson in Concert event and music from pianist and composer Timothy Dunne, who will be performing etudes and ballades of Frederic Chopin.

Those attending the concert are asked to support the Hudson Festival Orchestra and become a Friend of HFO by making a tax-deductible donation of any amount. Click here for more information.

Talking About Hudson's Historic Parks

In the latest History Room on Zoom, Gary Sheffer speaks with Gail Wittwer-Laird of Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects and Planners about the recently redesigned plaza at Promenade Hill, the ongoing plans for the Public Square, and the proposal for Bronson Park, the landscape that surrounds the National Historic Landmark Dr. Oliver Bronson House on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility. The conversation can be viewed here.

Waiting on the Ferry Street Bridge

Periodically, this post pops up on the Hudson Area Community Board Facebook page. 

I am fairly sure the person who posted this is not a Gossips reader, but since some of the folks reacting to it may be, I offer this update.

The Ferry Street Bridge is a bridge over the railroad tracks, so there are a lot of agencies involved in its replacement, most notably Amtrak and the NYS Department of Transportation. The process of replacing the bridge has been going on since 2016, when Mayor Tiffany Martin announced that funds had been secured to rebuild the bridge.

Here's where things stand now, according to Rob Perry, superintendent of the Department of Public Works. The issue holding things up at this point is an impasse between National Grid and Amtrak. In order to build the new bridge, a new utility pole has to be installed on Amtrak property, and a new gas main needs to be installed. Both require utility easements. The NYS Department of Transportation will not allow the City of Hudson to put the project out for bid until all utility agreements are signed. As Perry described the situation in his report to the Common Council last Monday, "That's the predicament we are in right now. Stuck between utilities and the railroads."

As an aside, this is the Facebook profile picture of the person whose post on Facebook inspired this update.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

Not So Long Ago in Hudson

A couple of weeks ago, Gossips shared these pictures, taken in 1985, showing the oil tanks that used to be on our waterfront, occupying the space that is now Henry Hudson Riverfront Park as well as the now vacant parcels north of the Dunn warehouse.

The photographs were provided by John Cody, who also provided these newspaper clippings about a group of Russian mobsters who were the last to utilize the tanks. According to the first clipping, which appeared in the New York Post on July 24, 1986, bootlegged gasoline was being stored in these tanks on Hudson's waterfront. 

The sixth paragraph of the clipping above reads:

The Post reported last week that the Hudson tank farm leased from Jolana has secretly stored 700,000 gallons of gasoline near a busy Amtrak station.

The following article provides some background information on the seven who were involved in the bootleg gas scandal. You can click on the image to enlarge it, or read the transcription of the article that follows.

"Soviet bloc" mobsters have taken root in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach section and have resorted to murder at least eight times in recent years, state and city authorities confirmed yesterday.

Working with traditional organized crime families in the metropolitan area, they are believed to have helped fleece the federal and state government of up to $90 million in gasoline excise and sales taxes in the past six years.

Edward McDonald, chief of the federal Organized Crime Task Force, said several members of "the "Brighton Beach mob" were key figures in the largest sweep of gasoline bootleggers in U.S. history.

Three of the seven gasoline dealers nabbed yesterday have been identified by Post sources as members of the Brighton Beach gang.

The mob's threat is so real that the city's Police Dept. Intelligence Division has formed a special unit assigned to the Soviet criminal network.

Sgt. Bill O'Connor, a member of the unit, said the Russian mobsters are deeply involved with "diamond schemes, gas scandals, extortion, arson, narcotics, credit card schemes and anything that will make money."  

He said most are criminals who were allowed to leave the Soviet Union after pretending to be persecuted Jewish citizens.

O'Connor compared them to Cuban prisoners who "immigrated" here under false pretenses after being released by Fidel Castro.

"They're criminals who used that [persecution] as an excuse" to enter America.

He said Russian gangsters prefer to remain loosely affiliated rather than grouping around strong "godfather" leaders common to traditional crime families.

"I don't think they will organize like the Mafia," O'Connor said. "There's no real strongman who can emerge in that group."

Soviet-bloc mobsters who have settled in Brighton Beach, which is affectionately known as "Little Odessa," have joined forces with traditional crime families, O'Connor said, because "it would be difficult for any group to operate without" their permission.

"They have to get closer to the Mafia to do business, to get along, to make money," and to learn mass marketing techniques.

One of the gas scam defendants charged yesterday, Joseph Galizia, is a suspected member of the Genovese crime family.

Nathan Riley, a spokesman for Attorney General Robert Abrams, said Russian gangsters have teamed up with refugees from Poland, Hungary, and other East Bloc countries.

They have quickly mastered the American system, Riley said, because of expertise acquired in dealings with the "very substantial underground economy in the Soviet Union."

He said the temptation is even greater in the U.S.--where constitutional rights are protected--than in the Soviet Union "where penalties are much more severe."

Those were the good old days. 

It should be remembered that in 1984 there was a plan to site an oil refinery on Hudson's waterfront--a plan that the mayor at the time and the chair of the Hudson Community Development Office considered "a matter of economic survival for Hudson." Thanks to Sam Pratt, who made this article from Hudson Valley Magazine available on his blog, you can read all about it here.

Native American Heritage Month in Hudson

November is Native American Heritage Month. In observance of the month, Mayor Kamal Johnson has announced Indigenous Dialogues, a series of six conversation events with Native cultural leaders, scholars, and artists, taking place throughout the month of November.

Friday, November 11, at 1:00 p.m.

Jeffrey Gibson and Heather Bruegl in Conversation

Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street

Monday, November 14, at 6 p.m.

Lenapehoking--Return of the Lenape to Their Indigenous Homeland

with Curtis Zunigha, Co-director of Cultural Affairs at the Lenape Center

Basilica Hudson Gallery, 110 South Front Street

Friday, November 18, at 6 p.m.

Thanksgivingtaking: You Cannot Give Thanks for What Is Stolen

with Joseph Pierce, Associate Professor of Hispanic Languages and Literature at Stony Brook University

Time & Space Limited, 434 Columbia Street

Sunday, November 20, at 2 p.m.

She's Gone Missing: The Epidemic of MMIW 

with Heather Bruegl and the Red Sand Project

Window on Hudson, 43 South Third Street

Tuesday, November 22, at 6:00 p.m.

Collaborating with Native American Communities

with Dr. Meranda Roberts

Virtual

Monday, November 28, at 6:00 p.m.

What's Going on in NDN Country?

with Dr. Joe Stahlman, Seneca Indian Museum

Virtual

This series, along with the celebration of Indigenous Peoples' Day that took place on October 10, were funded by $7,000 transferred from the City's fund balance.

Hudson Observes Veterans Day

For those who missed the Veterans Day Parade this morning, you can watch it on YouTube courtesy of Chris Bellingham.

News of the 2023 Budget

In a special meeting that lasted all of six minutes, Mayor Kamal Johnson presented the proposed budget for 2023 to the Common Council earlier tonight.

The good news for property owners is that there will be no tax increase. This is attributed to "the strong performance of sales tax, lodging tax, and other revenue sources." 

Mayor Johnson quoted Council president Tom DePietro as saying this was "the smoothest budget season in history" and explained it was "due in part to department heads understanding the needs of their departments and their commitment to our city."

Johnson told the Council that ARPA (American Rescue Plan Act) funds were being used to pay for a new finance, budgeting, and billing system. He explained that mayor's aide was now a full-time position because there were thirteen capital projects requiring oversight, hence the increase in salary for the position. He also noted that the salary for the housing justice manager was "fully funded by the Housing Trust Fund." DePietro later clarified that the money was coming from the ADLN (Anti-Displacement Learning Network) grant. 

Johnson spoke of "a greater commitment to our parks, with the inclusion of funding for trees, soil, and landscape architect consultants."

The entire presentation can be viewed here.

COPYRIGHT 2022 CAROLE OSTERINK

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 11 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is 1 fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that, since yesterday, 12 county residents have recovered from the virus. There is 1 fewer county resident hospitalized today than yesterday, and 1 of those hospitalized is in the ICU. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County for a week, not since Thursday, November 3. 

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 11 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 5,562, and the number of active cases was 85. There were 223 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 4 were hospitalized, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 in Columbia County at this time last year was 105.

News from the HPD

Gossips received the following press release from the Hudson Police Department.

On Wednesday, November 9, 2022, at approximately 4:50 p.m., the Hudson Police Department arrested 32-year-old Malcolm D. McNeil of New York City. McNeil was charged with Robbery 3rd Degree - a class E felony and Resisting Arrest - a class A misdemeanor.

On Monday, October 9, 2022, at around 4:15 p.m., a 57-year-old Hudson resident called the Hudson Police Department to report that a man had stolen his money while he was at a convenience store located at 2nd and Warren Street. The suspect grabbed a $160.00 in cash from the victim’s hand and refused to give it back. The suspect then left the store with the money. HPD patrols and detectives reviewed the store video and recognized the suspect from previous contacts. A short time later Det. Sgt. Jason Finn spotted and confronted McNeil at the Hudson Amtrak station. He resisted arrest and ran up Allen Street. Det. Sgt. Finn was able to apprehend the suspect after a brief struggle. No one, including the victim, was injured during the incident. It is believed that the suspect was planning to leave the area. 

McNeil was arraigned by Judge Connor at the Hudson City Court. He was remanded to the Columbia County Jail with no bail based on the fact McNeil had two previous violent felony convictions for Robbery 1st (2013) and Criminal Possession of a Weapon 2nd degree, a loaded firearm (2008). McNeil will return to court on November 10, 2022, at 9:00am. McNeil is currently on New York State Parole.  

“I commend Det. Sgt. Finn, a 22-year veteran of HPD, for his alertness and dedication to duty. He was able to locate and safely apprehend a dangerous suspect. Quick action kept other Hudson citizens from being victimized.” Chief

At the Library Tonight

At 6 p.m. today, the Hudson Area Library, in collaboration with the FASNY Museum of Firefighting and the Greenport Historical Society, presents a lecture on the museum's current exhibition celebrating the 200th birthday of Harry Howard, chief of New York City's volunteer fire department from 1857 to 1860.

The exhibition, which features artwork and documents from the age of Harry Howard, recounts his life, accomplishments, and philanthropy, and tells of his legacy as it relates to Hudson, the city that named a street for him.

The lecture takes place in person only in the Community Room at the library, 51 North Fifth Street.