UPDATE: 226-228 Warren Street

It appears to be all over but the siding, and this building continues to fall short of what the Historic Preservation Commission thought they were approving. See for yourselves.

The biggest problem is that the drawing approved by the Historic Preservation Commission mispresents the size of the box windows in the "storefronts." The dimensions are given in notations on the drawing, but in order for the HPC to know if the drawing accurately reflected those dimensions, they would have had to have gone to the site and measured the building. Note too that the chimney, which was demolished without a certificate of appropriateness and which the owners were ordered to rebuild, is still missing.

So what are the consequences for building owners who flout the City's preservation laws and destroy the historic integrity of Warren Street with such an incompatible eyesore as this?

Congregate Housing in Hudson

Last night, at the end of  a lackluster Common Council meeting during which aldermen unanimously approved every resolution before them with little or no discussion, Mayor Richard Scalera reported on the county's progress in creating congregate housing as an alternative to housing homeless people in motels. 

Scalera reported that the Department of Social Services has entered into an agreement to lease 518 Columbia Street, a building owned by Phil Gellert, for congregate housing. According to Scalera, DSS made the decision to lease the building and had already started moving the furniture in before seeking permission from city government to locate such a facility in Hudson.

The building, which is being renovated after a fire, will have two apartments, one on each floor. Each apartment has three bedrooms with a common area and a kitchen. The intention is to house four people in each apartment. The original plan was to house eight single men in the building, but Scalera indicated that on Monday night the Board of Supervisors ordered DSS Commissioner Paul Mossman to make the two units available to single women not men. 

The move to congregate housing was one of the recommendations of a recently completed efficiency study done on the Department of Social Services. The goal is to reduce the cost of providing transitional housing for homeless people, but, as Scalera noted, there is "no indication that this [cost-saving measure] is better for the people." It's also not clear how cost efficient it is. The county is reportedly paying $2,300 a month for the two apartments and, according to the lease agreement, started paying rent on October 1, even though the apartments won't be ready for occupancy into until sometime in December. 

At the end of the discussion, Scalera made the point that, because the building is being renovated after a fire, a certificate of occupancy from City of Hudson Code Enforcement Office will be required before people can be moved into the apartments.

Peter Markou Resigns

The Register-Star reported today what some have known for a while now. After being elected treasurer of Greene County, Peter Markou has resigned his position as executive director of the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) and the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA): "City bids farewell to Peter Markou." Markou's departure raises questions about the future of projects that he has been shepherding: in particular, the renovation of the Washington House firehouse and the development there of a small business incuberator; the sale of the surviving building of the Hudson River Knitting Mill compound; and the acquisition of the old Kaz warehouses on Cross Street.     

UPDATE: 226-228 Warren Street

One of my all-time favorite movies is Bedazzled--the 1967 version with Peter Cook and Dudley Moore not the 2000 remake. In the film, the Dudley Moore character sells his soul to the Devil (Peter Cook) for seven wishes, but no matter how carefully Moore states his wishes, the Devil manages to give him something less than what he was hoping for. I'm reminded of this movie whenever I see what's happening to 226-228 Warren Street.

A few weeks ago, Gossips reported that Code Enforcement Officer Peter Wurster had spoken with the owners of the building and the contractor, and together they had agreed on a way to make the building conform to the plans that the Historic Preservation Commission had approved. Today, however, it seems that once again the HPC is getting something less than what they'd wished for. 

At Friday's meeting, Cheryl Roberts, counsel to the Historic Preservation Commission, advised the HPC that they should no longer be discussing this building. They had made their ruling, and it was now a matter for enforcement. What this building is going to look like is up to Peter Wurster, acting at the behest of Mayor Rick Scalera. 

What Mrs. Bradbury Didn't Say

Yesterday, Gossips featured Anna Bradbury's account of improvements to the Public Square, now Seventh Street Park, and Promenade Hill which were made in 1878. What Mrs. Bradbury didn't mention, which Gossips discovered quite by accident, is that the improvements to Promenade Hill--in particular the construction of the stone retaining walls that separate the grassy areas from the paths--were the subject of an investigation by a Common Council committee. It seems that for the period from April 4 to April 20, 1878, the City was overcharged--billed for more masons and laborers working more hours than was actually the case, or so it was alleged. 

An article that appeared in the Evening Register on Wednesday, July 24, 1878, provides what is almost a transcript of the proceedings of a committee meeting held the night before. It picks up the story in the middle of things, but it makes interesting reading--providing insights both into Hudson government in the 1870s and into the life of tradesmen at that time. Click to read the actual newspaper or a transcript of the article. 

Gossips will share the articles that tell the beginning and the end of this story as soon as they are discovered.          

Hudson's Historic Parks

There is persistent talk about restoring Hudson's two historic parks--Promenade Hill and Seventh Street Park, once known as the Public Square. Back in 1878, there was an effort to improve both public spaces. Here's what Anna Bradbury had to say, thirty years later, about those improvements, in The History of the City of Hudson.

"The improvement of the Public Square," is alluded to. This as we have seen was intended for a public park by the donor, but for some inscrutable reason it was denuded of its fine old forest trees, and paved with cobblestones. To complete the devastation, the Hudson and Berkshire Railroad was allowed to cross it, and thus it remained until 1878, when the matter was taken up by a resident on the upper side of the Square. Subscriptions were solicited and a sufficient sum was raised, together with the gifts of the coping and trees from individuals, to transform the treeless desert into a refreshing little oasis. The Boston and Albany Railroad Company atoned in a measure for its presence, by generously furnishing sufficient gravel to fill in the whole surface of the Park.

In the same year, 1878, the authorities took measures to improve the Promenade Hill, by the erection of an ornamental iron fence along the full length of its dangerous frontage, and by increased attention to its walks and lawn.

More on Washington Hose

A comment on yesterday's post questioned if this turreted building really is the same building we know as Washington Hose. A response from another reader pointed out that there is an aerial photograph in Byrne Fone's book Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait that shows the building in its turreted form. Here's a detail from that photograph. Washington Hose is at the center. Move right and slightly down from the flagpole on Promenade Hill to locate it.

According to the commenter, the "unturreted" design may be a result of the preservation efforts made to a select number of buildings on Front Street and lower Warren Street during Urban Renewal.  

UPDATE: Washington Hose

On Friday morning, the proposal to restore Washington Hose came before the Historic Preservation Commission. At the outset, Cheryl Roberts, counsel to the HPC, advised that the proposal was coming before them for recommendation only since Washington Hose was owned by the City of Hudson and therefore the HPC that not have the power to grant or deny approval. 

According to Dan Proper from the engineering firm of Crawford & Associates, who appears to be overseeing the project, two significant changes are planned for the building. The first involves the truck bay, which, in the building's new life as the offices of Hudson Development Corporation and the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, will become a conference room. The roof on the truck bay, which is now a flat roof with a parapet, will be changed to a gable roof with asphalt shingles. The second significant change involves the frieze, which will be made "more Greek Revival" in style. 

According to Proper, the building has undergone "so many morphs" that it doesn't make sense to retain any of the windows except the arched windows at the front, which fill openings that were originally the engine bays, and the metal windows in the truck bay. The new windows will be wood, with true divided lights, four over one to match the configuration of the few existing windows believed to be original.  

The Historic Preservation Commission made only one recommendation: to retain the little round windows in the gables on either side of the main part of the building. In the architect's rendering of the building, the window was missing, and in the drawings presented to the HPC, the round window reportedly had been replaced with a square window. 

Among the materials submitted to the HPC were historic photographs of the building, including this amazing image. The building has been so altered over time that it's barely recognizable as the same building. 

This photograph is remarkable not only because it reveals that the building once had this extraordinary turret but also because at includes three fire-wardens dressed exactly as dictated in a resolution passed by the Common Council on July, 22, 1794:

"That so many firemen shall, from time to time, be appointed as the Common Council shall deem proper, and shall be called fire-wardens, whose duty it shall be, immediately on notice of fire, to repair to the place where it shall be, and to direct the inhabitants in forming themselves into ranks for handing the buckets to supply the fire-engines with water,-- . . . and the citizens are hereby enjoined to comply with the directions of the fire-wardens upon such occasions. . . . And in order that the . . . fire-wardens may be readily distinguished at fires . . . each of the fire Wardens shall, upon all those occasions, carry in his hand a Speaking-Trumpet painted white, to be used as occasion may requires; . . . shall wear, a Leather Cap with the crown whited white."

Gifford's Grave Restoration

Peter Jung reports good progress on the restoration of Sanford Gifford's grave. Jung speculates that "if the weather doesn't get too fierce, there's a good chance that all the stones will be set before winter sets in." The "final cosmetics," he says, will be finished up in the spring.

Mention of the cemetery and the efforts to restore parts of it prompt the reminder that in 1983 Hudson's cemetery was deemed eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. The City of Hudson, with the Historic Preservation Commission taking the initiative, should pursue this status for our historic cemetery, which, in the words of William Krattinger, Historic Preservation Specialist with the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, contains "a noteworthy collection of funerary art, ranging from typically late 18th century stones executed by a master carver--and embellished with winged effigies and other typical design vocabulary--to tombs, such as the Egyptian Revival-style tomb which is an outstanding reflection of American romanticism in the antebellum period and the interest in that period of utilizing Egyptian design motives in cemetery design."     

Ear to the Ground

There’s a new development in the battle over assessments being waged by the Hudson Property Owners’ Coalition (HPOC). Gossips has received word that earlier this week HPOC attorney Robert L. Beebe filed a sur-reply—a response to the respondents’ response—which asks the Court to strike the reply submitted by the City of Hudson to HPOC’s original petition. The reasons given boil down to this: In the City of Hudson’s response, Paul S. Goldman, the attorney representing the City of Hudson in this matter, “avers that the 2010 assessment roll satisfies the State’s standard for a coefficient of dispersion (COD), the recognized test for assessment uniformity,” and the response is "structured in language that implies that the State has issued the purported COD," which HPOC maintains is simply not true.

Filed with HPOC’s sur-reply was an Affidavit of Support from Donald Vitaliano, professor emeritus at RPI, who taught public finance, urban economics, and managerial economics—subject areas that relate to the structure and economic theory of property tax and to the quantitative analysis of data. Vitaliano’s affidavit states that: “In the ‘Reply Affidavit’ submitted by Respondent-assessor Garth Slocum, . . . Mr. Slocum claims that a ‘Sales Analysis Report’ shows that his ‘desk audit’ assessment project meets State standards for assessment equity. In particular, he claims to have met the coefficient of dispersion (COD) equity test. A careful examination of his report suggests nothing of the kind.”

Vitaliano points out that “Mr. Slocum’s ‘Sales Analysis Report’ is not a report generated by the New York State Office of Real Property Tax Services (ORPTS). . . . There is no indication from any public record of the New York State Office of Real Property Services that the City of Hudson has conducted a recognized reassessment in 2010, a project that would have resulted in a ‘Local Reassessment Project Review and Analysis’ being performed and published by ORPTS.”

The affidavit claims that “Mr. Slocum has merely entered a self-selected set of recent sales into his desktop computer, using commercial RPS Version 4 software, to create his own test and purport ‘proof’ of uniformity. Mr. Slocum’s use of recent City of Hudson parcel sales compared to their assessments in the 2009 and 2010 roll tells us nothing about the COD or other equity measures of either roll. The reports simply show changes affecting individual properties. What the reports do suggest is that his 2010 ‘desk audit’ was most likely chasing sales, that is, reassessing properties as they sold.”

Vitaliano explains his own analysis of the "Sales Analysis Report” and concludes: “Reviewing the inadequacies of Mr. Slocum’s self-generated reports purporting to calculate a COD for the 2010 City of Hudson assessment roll, I find that his contention, that such reports ‘prove’ his 2010 ‘desk audit’ assessment project meets State standards for assessment equity, is without foundation.”

Of Brackets and Braces

The 200 block of Warren Street has no shortage of interesting brackets--some ornate, some very simple indeed.

So with all these historic models, why did the owners of 226-228 Warren Street opt for this design?

Standoff on Columbia Street

On my way home from the Veterans Day ceremony this morning, I came upon this traffic jam on Columbia Street just above Fifth. 

  
A gravel truck was heading east, an ADM truck was heading west, and, with the north side of the street parked solid with cars, the two trucks could not get past each other. The gravel truck had to back up until its rear end was well beyond the intersection with Fifth Street to allow the other truck to go by.

As the gravel truck continued on its way back to the quarry for another load of aggregate, I noticed this sentiment inscribed on the tailgate: "I Love A Good Dump." 

2011 City of Hudson Budget

The proposed budget for 2011 is now available on the City of Hudson website. The mil rate (the tax per $1,000 in assessed value) is 12.198420, down from 14.770500 in 2010--a 17 percent decrease. The total taxable value of properties in Hudson increased from 303,174,231 to 373,232,346, so the taxes on a hypothetical property assessed at $150,000 in 2009 and $250,000 in 2001 will increase from $2,215.58 to $3,049.61--an increase of 38 percent.

In his presentation, Mayor Richard Scalera highlighted these details of the proposed budget. (The following six points are quoted directly from the text of the mayor's presentation.)

1. There will not be salary increases for elected officials, Department Heads, PT 40-hr employees as well as PT hourly employees. The Police Union has previously negotiated a 3% increase for 2011 and CSEA is currently in contract discussions with the city.

2. The long time vacant Washington Hose building noted in last year's message as "quickly approaching when it would be beyond repair," has $350,000 appropriated for immediate restoration work but we also include $300,000 in expected revenues from the sale of City-owned properties to help offset the overall expense.

3. In the Assessor's office the part-time clerk position was cut and added was $68,000 toward the overall cost of a professional revaluation.

4. The city bus operations will be changed over in early January as we now will work within a Cooperative Agreement with the county. The Bus will continue to provide transportation from the City to the surrounding retailers in Greenport and back with expanded hours from the current schedule. This will represent a huge savings to the city and it's the beginning of what we hope to be many cooperative arrangements between the county, city and surrounding communities as we all search for ways to deliver services with cost savings in mind. This will also help our residents in seeking and securing job opporunities as well. 

5. Our water and sewer rates will not increase for fiscal year 2011, but with our new water-treatment plant online and our new waste-treatment plant scheduled to be completed next summer, the cost of new technology will undoubtedly be more and holding the line one rate increases of both funds in the future with all factors taken into consideration will be challenging.

6. Our Youth Department also has personnel cuts proposed for 2011 but more changes may be forthcoming. The fact is that we will review this Department to make sure that taxpayer monies spent for Youth Programs will be delivered in the most efficient and effective way possible. We look forward to positive public discussion on the matter and our goal is to use that input resulting in more changes in place by Jan. 1 2012.

A public hearing on the budget will be held at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, November 17.

UPDATE: 226-228 Warren Street

Last week, progress on the exterior of 226-228 Warren Street seemed to have stopped. The little roofs over the box windows, which had not been approved by the Historic Preservation Commission, were still there. When asked about the building, Code Enforcement Officer Peter Wurster confirmed that the owners of the building had "every intention of going ahead to comply with the approved drawing submitted to HP" but urged anyone who noticed the siding going up to contact him immediately. 

This week, it appears that work on the exterior has resumed. The roofs have been removed, and brackets have been installed below the projecting windows, but it's still hard to imagine that this building will ever be compatible with the rest of the block.   

Signs of Change

Today's Register-Star has an article about the findings of the volunteer signage committee: "Survey shows need for signage upgrades." One finding, attributed to committee member Chad Weckler, who represents the Hudson Business Alliance, is that "at the intersection of South Third Street and Warren Street, there is an arrow pointing left toward the river for the business district—while there really should be . . . a sign with arrows pointing both directions on Warren."

Look again. The arrow on that sign actually does point both ways, but it appears that at some time a prankster tried to peel off the arrowhead that points east. 

On the (O&G) Road Again . . .

On October 26, Gossips reported that the Greenport Planning Board had informed O&G that no further action would be taken on their application to create a haul road from the quarry to Route 9G until O&G had submitted an application to the Hudson Planning Commission for the continuation of the road through South Bay to the river. What wasn't reported in that post was that the action was prompted by a letter from Hudson city attorney Cheryl Roberts, in which she suggests that "the Greenport Planning Board postpone its decision on site plan approval as currently proposed until conclusion of the GEIS [Generic Environmental Impact Statement] in order to comply with SEQRA's regulations and to avoid claims of segmentation in violation of SEQRA."

The letter goes on to say: "Under current zoning, 'transportation services' are a permitted use within the Industrial District, therefore, arguably O&G would have no obligation to submit an application for site plan approval to Hudson's Planning Commission, and the Commission would have no jurisdiction under SEQRA to initiate an environmental review. . . . Upon passage of the LWRP and its enabling legislation, expansion of the use or modernization of the port or causeway for shipping purposes would subject O&G's operations to review as a conditional use." In other words, only if the Common Council adopts the LWRP, which currently supports the use of the abandoned railroad bed as an industrial road, would the City have any control over the use of the "causeway." If the LWRP is not adopted, O&G can, in the opinion of Roberts, go ahead and use the railbed as a road "as of right."

Among the recipients of Roberts' letter was Jeffrey Anzevino at Scenic Hudson, and a few weeks later, Mark Wildonger, planner at Scenic Hudson, sent in a letter to Cheryl Roberts, stating that Scenic Hudson disagreed with the opinion that "constructing a new road along the abandoned railroad bed (causeway) across South Bay would constitute a permitted use in the Industrial District." Wildonger argued that the term "transportation services" relates to "some form of public transportation associated with a railroad station" and should not be construed so broadly as to include a heavy industrial road for hauling aggregate. Although Hudson's Code does not define "transportation services," Wildonger pointed out that other New York municipalities have defined "transportation services" to be related to passenger transport. Further, he noted out that the Code expressly prohibits uses in an Industrial District that "are noxious or offensive by reason of emission of odor, dust, smoke, gas, fumes or radiation, or which present a hazard to public health or safety. . . [325-17.D (1)]," concluding that "O&G Industries' proposal to use the abandoned railroad grade as a new road for use of heavy trucks hauling aggregate (80 roundtrips per day according to the City of Hudson LWRP DGRIS pg 3-5.2) would likely result in increased emissions, fugitive dust and other adverse impacts with the potential to present a hazard to public health or safety."          

Gossips is not aware of any response from the City of Hudson to the letter from Scenic Hudson.   

Last Night at City Hall

A few topics of interest were taken up at last night's informal Common Council meeting--chief among them the budget and the LWRP.

2011 Budget  Mayor Scalera will present the budget to the Common Council at a special meeting tomorrow night, Wednesday, November 10, at 6 p.m. Once that presentation has been made, the budget will be online for public review at the City of Hudson website. A public hearing on the budget will take place on Wednesday, November 17, at 6 p.m.

LWRP  Council President Don Moore had hoped that Cheryl Roberts and Frank Fish from BFJ would present their compendium of the comments made on the LWRP and their suggested responses to the Common Council at last night's meeting. That did not happen. According to Moore, the comments and responses are still being reviewed by the Department of State. It seems strange that the Department of State should review these responses before the legislative body whose responses they presumably are gets a chance to see them, but apparently this sequence of review is not unprecedented. 

Washington Hose  At last month's Economic Development Committee meeting, it was unanimously agreed to move forward a resolution to appropriate $325,000 from the general fund to make up the difference between the amount committed to the renovation of Washington Hose and the actual cost of the project set by the lowest responsible bidder. No such resolution was introduced at last night's meeting. When asked, Council President Don Moore explained that it had been decided that the cost could be written into the 2011 budget and there was no need for a separate resolution.

Dogs  The 2010-2011 New York State budget relieved the Department of Agriculture and Markets of the responsbility of issuing dog licenses, transferring it to municipalities. A resolution assuming for the City of Hudson dog licensing responsibilities and setting impoundment fees was introduced at last night's meeting. The annual licensing fees will remain the same: $12.50 for spayed or neutered dogs; $20.50 for dogs not spayed or neutered. The resolution doubles the impoundment fees. If the resolution is passed, it will cost $50 to redeem a dog the first time it is impounded, $150 the second time, and $300 for the third impoundment. There is nothing in the resolution that defines the penalty for keeping an unlicensed dog.               

Anticipating Thanksgiving

Although the tradition of Thanksgiving goes back to the Pilgrims and the first national Thanksgiving Day was proclaimed by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 during the Civil War, it wasn't until 1941 that an act of Congress fixed the date of the holiday as the fourth Thursday in November. Prior to that, presidents every year in early November proclaimed a national Day of Thanksgiving to occur later in the month. One of those proclamations, made by Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933, in his first year in office, in the midst of the Great Depression, seems appropriate to recall as we approach Thanksgiving 2010.

I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do set aside and appoint Thursday, the thirtieth day of November 1933, to be a Day of Thanksgiving for all our people.

May we on that day in our churches and in our homes give humble thanks for the blessings bestowed upon us during the year past by Almighty God.

May we recall the courage of those who settled a wilderness, the vision of those who founded the Nation, the steadfastness of those who in every succeeding generation have fought to keep pure the ideal of equality of opportunity and hold clear the goal of mutual help in time of prosperity as in time of adversity.

May we ask guidance in more surely learning the ancient truth that greed and selfishness and striving for undue riches can never bring lasting happiness or good to the individual or to his neighbors.

May we be grateful for the passing of dark days; for the new spirit of dependence one on another; for the closer unity of all parts of our wide land; for the greater friendship between employers and those who toil; for a clearer knowledge by all nations that we seek no conquests and ask only honorable engagements by all peoples to respect the lands and rights of their neighbors; for the brighter day to which we can win through by seeking the help of God in a more unselfish striving for the common bettering of mankind.

Keeping History

The few months ago a friend turned me on to an amazing website called Old Fulton NY Post Cards. The site, as I learned recently from a blog called Digitization 101, is the work of a former IT executive named Tom Tryniski, who lives in Fulton. It's a labor of love that started out as a way to share his collection of vintage post cards. Along the way, Tryniski got the idea of digitizing old newspapers, and to date he has digitized more than 13.5 million historic newspapers from all over the State of New York. 

The site is an incredibly rich resource for those interested in the past, although it's not always easy to use. So far, I haven't discovered a way to search only the Hudson Daily Register, so any but the most carefully targeted search yields a slew of articles from the Brookyn Daily Eagle and other newspapers around the state which must be scrolled through before getting to the relevant stuff. Regular readers of Gossips will realize that I use this site often as a source for some of the historic items I publish. There may be a certain bias in some of the articles, readily recognized from a historical perspective, but one never questions the basic facts. Old newspapers are commonly accepted as reliable primary sources of information about the past, but will this still be true in the future?

In the case of the City of Hudson, the Register-Star seems a somewhat unreliable chronicler of our history. It can't be counted on to get names right or to quote people accurately, and a recent bit of revisionism, when the Register-Star reported that the Halloween Parade this year was the first ever to take place in Hudson, riled a number of people. One Gossips reader, who spent her childhood in Claverack in the 1940s, recalled that "there was a parade in Hudson every Halloween for children and adults from surrounding communities." The parade started at the Armory, where all parades originated in those days, and marched to Seventh Street Park, where prizes were awarded for costumes--funniest, prettiest, most original, etc. Another reader, whose son, now off at college, participated in Halloween parades in the late 1990s and early 2000s, which followed the same route as this year's parade, was similarly distressed that the newspaper could so facilely wipe out not only a well established Hudson tradition but also "the history of now-grown or nearly grown Hudson children." "If such a small detail can be erased and restated and printed and distributed," she asked, "what can happen to larger details?"

A little more than a year ago, The Wall Street Journal published an article celebrating the survival of the Register-Star and the Daily Mail while small-town papers across the country were folding: "Write Local: How Small Newspapers Are Surviving." The article stated what readers of the Register-Star already knew or had surmised: "There is no copy desk, and editing is scant." Executive Editor Theresa Hyland was quoted in the article as saying, "You hope you catch everything, but you don't." Readers can attest to that. 

The Register-Star's bare-bones, cost-cutting practices may be the formula for survival in tough economic times, but it doesn't seem to be a very good one for the preservation of local history. A century from now, what reliable primary sources will survive to tell future generations what happened in Hudson in this generation?     

Standard Time Returns

David Seth Michaels has a wonderful "paean" to the return of standard time and the onset of winter at his blog The Dream Antilles. It'll make you happy to be facing winter in the more urban setting of Hudson rather than the rustic environs of Spencertown.

Catching Up with Historic Hudson

They maintain an second-floor office on Warren Street. Their shingle hangs above a doorway next to Le Gamin. They can be counted on to weigh in whenever a historic building or the historic character of Hudson is threatened. If it weren't for them, there would be a building missing in the 100 block of Warren Street, the glass negatives of Frank Forshew's remarkable nineteenth-century photographs of Hudson would still be stashed away in an attic, the Dr. Oliver Bronson House--a National Historic Landmark since 2003--would still be moldering away abused and unnoticed on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility, and the City of Hudson would be without laws to protect historic properties.    

Although their achievements since their founding in 1996 have been significant, it's not generally known from day to day what the preservation group Historic Hudson is up to, especially now that, as the stewards of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, they're having to focus major energy and effort on implementing the Conservation and Stabilization Plan for a building that can be viewed by the general public only once or twice a year. A couple weeks ago, after their well-attended and well-received Old House Tour "At Home with History," the board of Historic Hudson gathered to assess the organization's achievements over the past year. With the permission of the board, I share that chronology with Gossips readers. Click HERE to access it.      

Full disclosure: The "voice" of Gossips was one of the founders of Historic Hudson and has been a member of the Board of Directors since 1996, serving as secretary from 1996 through 2000, president from 2002 to 2006, and vice president since June 2010. 

Not to Be Missed

According to an article in today's Register-Star, the former LB Industries building is morphing into a grassroots business incubator--without benefit, it would seem, of PILOTs, tax incentives, or any kind of IDA intervention: "New life at old furniture warehouse." 

Coincidentally, as I headed out to take this picture, I heard these statistics on the car radio: 89 percent of businesses in the United States are microbusinesses, employing no more than five people, and people who own their own businesses are likely to earn 27 percent more than they would as employees.    

After School in Hudson

During the course of writing yesterday's post about youth programs in Hudson, I learned about the afterschool program that the Hudson City School District provides for its latchkey kids: Hudson Bluehawk Nation Afterschool Program. Although I knew that an afterschool program existed, I was unaware of its scope or its awarding-winning reputation. Since many Gossips readers may be similarly underinformed, I've decided to share what I learned about the program yesterday from its director, Kathleen Clark.

The program provides homework help and recreational activities from 2:45 to 5:45 every day, Monday through Friday, for students in kindergarten through 12th grade, at each school in the district.

• At John L. Edwards, the primary school, 130 students are registered in the afterschool program, and 110 attend on a daily basis.
• At Montgomery C. Smith, the intermediate school, 240 students are registered, and 200 attend on a daily basis.
• At Hudson Junior High School, 50 students are registered, and 35 attend on a daily basis.
• At Hudson High School, the afterschool program offers credit courses to help students graduate. Approximately 40 students participate in this program.

The afterschool program employs a part-time staff of 84, which includes teachers, club instructors, adults, college students, high school students, and "Counselors in Training" (former participants in the program). Principal funding for the program comes from a 21st Century Community Learning Center Program grant from the U.S. Department of Education and an Advantage After School Program grant from the New York State Office of Children & Family Services, administered by the Mental Health Association of Columbia-Greene Counties. More information about the afterschool program is available on the HCSD website. 

The photo is from the Afterschool Program Photo Gallery on the HCSD website.     

Hudson's Senior Center

There's a plan to build a senior center in Hudson, as an addition to the Youth Center at the corner of Third and Union streets, but the question is: Will it offer any programs that will appeal to a growing segment of Hudson seniors?

Currently under attack is the very popular yoga program for seniors, taught by Terry Schaff. An article in today's Register-Star reports that the Hudson River Bank & Trust Foundation is no longer willing to fund the program because, they've been told, the people participating can afford to pay for it and the instructor charges too much ($50 an hour) for her services: "Senior yoga, exercise programs in danger."

The suggestion that participants pay a small fee to offset the cost of the program does not seem entirely inappropriate. There are successful senior centers, run as not-for-profits, that charge a nominal annual membership fee, in addition to small fees for individual programs. The notion, however, that no one providing programs at the Youth/Senior Center should be compensated more than $25 an hour seems to guarantee a level of mediocrity that will result in programs of limited benefit or appeal to many Hudson seniors.

One thing that may be learned from the current situation is that a successful senior center is going to take more than simply building an addition on the Youth Center. It will require capable and dedicated planning for senior programs and for funding those programs--something that cannot be done successfully as a left-handed effort by a staff whose major focus is youth programs.          

You CAN Get There from Here

The bridge on Route 9G over the Roeliff Jansen Kill, on the way to Germantown, reopens tomorrow--Friday, November 5--at 1 p.m.

NOTE: This picture was taken in May 2009, before the bridge closed for repair.

Youth Programs

This morning the Didi Barrett campaign sent out an email message that included this rather amazing statement: "No turnout figures or percentage of the vote begin to tell the stories of the people, young and old, that I connected with over these last nine months. Inner city moms shared hopes for their young children, asking why there are no youth programs in Poughkeepsie or Hudson. . . ." 

No youth programs in Hudson? In 2010, the City of Hudson spent $456,076 on youth programs and maintaining the Youth Center. The Hudson Opera House has a full roster of youth programs, the vast majority of them free. Then there's Operation Unite New York, the not-for-profit that provides educational, cultural, and recreational programs for youth, and TSL. And this is all above and beyond the award-winning afterschool programs and the extracurricular activites offered by the Hudson City School District, where more than $20,000 is spent each year to educate each child. 

So where does the perception that "there are no youth programs in Hudson" come from? Is this spin from the Barrett campaign trying to portray her as being in touch with people who "have felt ignored for way too long" by Senator Saland? Or are there really "inner city moms" in Hudson who believe that there are no youth programs? If the latter is the case, the next logical question is why do they think this? Is this a problem of communication? Do these parents really not know what is available to their children? Or is there some disconnect between the progams being offered--by the City of Hudson, by the public schools, by the not-for-profits--and what these parents think would improve their children's lives?     

The picture, from the Hudson Opera House website, shows Fran Martino with youth in the Environmental Education Program offered by the Hudson Opera House.    

Relive the Best Halloween Party in Hudson!

Roy Volkmann's fabulous photographs from Saturday's Witches Ball are now online. Click HERE to view them all.

A Hundred Years Ago in New York Politics

In 1910, Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected State Senator to represent what was then the 26th Senatorial District in New York. That was the last time a Democrat was elected to represent this district--now the 41st--in the New York State Senate, and yesterday's election didn't change that. The results in the November election a hundred years ago were somewhat different from yesterday's results. How different is made clear by these items, which appeared in the Cold Spring Recorder on November 11, 1910. 

The Election

Tuesday was a Democratic day and no mistake. John A. Dix was elected Governor and the entire State ticket was victorious.

The State is Democrat by 65,000 with a Democratic majority in both branches of the legislature insuring the election of a Democratic United States Senator in place of Chauncey M. Depew.

The election of Richard E. Connell to Congress gives the 21st District its first Democratic representative in the National Congress since 1875.

Franklin D. Roosevelt defeated John Schlosser by a margin of nearly 1200 votes, and proved the resentment of the plain people against the tactics of the "Old Guard." . . .

The Democrats will control the National House of Representatives. The Senate remains Republican by a narrow margin.

New York, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Oregon, West Virginia and Wyoming have moved into the Democratic column and changed the political map. This is "new nationalism" in the right direction.

This great popular overturning which has given the Democratic party a large measure of power in state and national affairs places upon its leaders a great responsibility.

By strict adherence to the great principles of liberty, justice and common honesty that marked the times of Jefferson, Madison, Jackson and Cleveland, the old Democratic party may perpetuate its new lease of power and command the confidence and support of all honest, right thinking men.

Let us begin right here in New York State, by sending the best man we can get to the United States Senate.

The New Senator

Franklin D. Roosevelt has been elected a member of the State Senate from this 26th Senatorial district. Mr. Roosevelt, nominated at the Democratic Senatorial convention, will succeed John F. Schlosser. He is a spendid man to go to the State Senate from this district. The Enterprise took much satisfaction in the past three weeks in advancing the candidacy of Mr. Roosevelt, and in commending his candidacy to the intelligence of its great family of readers. These readers have confidence in the Enterprise because they know they can rely on its statements.

And the Enterprise now stands on every statement it made in relation to the fitness of Mr. Roosevelt for the office, prior to the election. He is young, clean, aggressive, able and independent, and will prove an ideal senator and a worthy man to work in one branch of the legislature, in conjunction with Lewis Stuyvesant Chanler in the other. And both will ever be found working and exerting themselves for what they think is right for the people at large. --Po'keepsie Enterprise

About Those Poles

Back when the Common Council was making the decisions involved in purchasing the new lampposts for Warren Street, the principal argument for fiberglass composite poles was that they were "maintenance free." They were not painted, the color was impregnated into the fiberglass, and they would never need to be repainted. For these benefits, the majority of the Council voted to purchase fiberglass composite poles, in spite of the fact that the committee tasked with studying the pole issue and making recommendations had recommended cast aluminum poles.  

Now, with the Register-Star reporting yesterday that the project is complete and the poles are all in place, Carmine Pierro, who as mayor's aide had oversight of the project, is warning residents not to hang signs on the new poles with tape "since this can be damaging to the paint" and celebrating the fact that "if and when the poles' paint jobs may need some touching up, the color is common enough that one can easily purchase a can of spray paint from the local hardware store to match the color." (The comment about the spray paint doesn't seem to take into consideration the fact that the poles aren't exactly true black right now and will undoubtedly fade over time, making matching the color something of a challenge.)

So, which is it? Are the poles "maintenance free" as the Council was led to believe, or are they going to require the periodic touch-up with a spray can? 

Vote Tomorrow!

The polls are open from 6 a.m. until 9 p.m. The Hudson polling places are:

First, Second, and Third Wards--St. Mary's Academy, 301 Allen Street
Fourth Ward--County Office Building, 401 State Street
Fifth Ward--American Legion Hall, 7 Fairview Avenue

If you are not certain which ward you are in, click here to access a map. Click the VOTE button at the right to access the sample ballot for tomorrow's election. 

Public Education in Hudson

Since property owners recently paid their fair share of the Hudson City School District's $44 million annual budget, it seems an appropriate time to consider how it all began some 170 years ago. The public schools in Hudson were preceded by the Lancaster School, established by the Lancaster Society in 1817. The school was supported by contributions from religious societies and the Common Council and was free only to some of the students--the number depending on the financial condition of the Lancaster Society that year. The Lancaster School was located on the southwest corner of Fourth and State streets, in a building constructed on a lot provided by the Common Council. This account of the beginning of public schools in Hudson is from Anna Bradbury's History of the City of Hudson (1908). 

The Lancaster School was sustained until 1841, when the Trustees conveyed their property to the Common Council and the public schools were organized.

The city was divided into three districts, sites were selected for school-houses in the upper and lower districts, and the Lancaster building was occupied as number two, or the middle district school.

The act of the Legislature incorporating the free schools provided for three superintendents, and the first persons appointed by the Council were Oliver Bronson, Josiah W. Fairfield and Cyrus Curtiss, who were "authorized to purchase the sites, and have suitable buildings erected."

The High School was organized in 1879 and was followed by the organization of the Board of Education in 1881.

Application having been made in 1884 the Hudson High School was recognized as the Academical department, and received under the visitation of the Regents of the State of New York. In the same year a single School Superintendent was substituted for the three previously appointed, and William P. Snyder was the first, who occupied the position.


Provision was made for the High School in 1887 by the erection of the building on the corner of Sixth and State streets, now used for the Grammar School. This proving insufficient, in 1889, the Trustees of the Hudson Academy offered the city the free use of the Academy, which had been closed for three years, and also made all necessary repairs. 

The Common Council gladly accepted this means of temporary relief, and the High School was placed in possession on October 14, 1890, with ceremonies befitting the occasion. In the winter of 1892-3 "A special act of the Legislature empowered the Board of Education to build a High School building, commensurate with the increasing necessities of the educational system of Hudson." 

The centrally located site of the old Lancaster structure was used for this purpose, and ample, and convenient accommodations were provided, at a cost of 34,000 dollars, to which may be added the sum of 9,456.22 expended for a new heater, during the year 1908.

A simple and attractive building was erected in 1902 for the use of the Third or lower district, called the Allen street school, which brings the amount invested in school buildings up to 90,000 dollars. The number enrolled in all grades is 1,350. Thirty-seven teachers are employed, and total disbursement for year ending on August 1, 1908, was $37,849.86. . . .

The effort to beautify the grounds surrounding the Public School buildings, which was begun in 1898-9, was highly commendable, and has resulted in making them not only an ornament to the city, but must also exert a refining influence upon the children. The power of environment cannot well be overestimated, and the addition of pictures within the rooms, to the beautiful flowers growing without, cannot fail to produce a most beneficial effect on the esthetic development of youth.

It will readily be seen that the average child in this city possesses all the needful opportunities for obtaining a thorough education. With a competent superintendent, a corps of faithful, well trained teachers, and the watchful services of the ubiquitous truant officer, it is difficult to see how an average child can escape. But it has been aptly said "you can lead a young man to the University, but you cannot make him think!" 

In simple justice to the noble men and women, who have devoted the best years of their lives to the Public Schools of Hudson, it should be said that both schools and teachers, have always ranked with the best in the state, in places of this size. Many of our teachers have risen to high positions as educators, notably Edward P. Waterbury, who was at the time of his death, and for many years previously, the President of the State Normal School at Albany. . . .

Happy is it for Hudson that she felt and responded to the grand wave of educational progress, which during the past twenty-five years has swept over our land. It argues hopefully for her future development in every respect, and on the highest lines.

NOTE: The public schools of the City of Hudson were consolidated with eleven schools in the surrounding area to form the Hudson City School District in 1966.