LWRP Again

It was exactly four months ago--in May--when the LWRP made a brief reappearance and then disappeared again so that Cheryl Roberts and the BFJ planners could edit out the errors and inconsistencies pointed out by Sam Pratt at a well-attended Valley Alliance meeting at Basilica Hudson. Twice in the past month, Common Council President Don Moore has predicted that there would soon be a special meeting of the Common Council to discuss the revised document, but so far that meeting hasn't been scheduled. In the meantime, persistent questions remain and new questions arise. 

The proposed appointment of Guy Falkenheimer as "Dock Master" suggests some recognition of the need to manage on-water uses of the waterfront, but the question remains: Why is there no Harbor Management Plan in the LWRP? The need for such a plan seems critical since the LWRP embraces the notion of a "mixed use" waterfront, with kayaks and small recreational boats sharing space with giant barges hauling aggregate.

Roberts and Moore have both explained that a Harbor Management Plan is "embedded" throughout the LWRP, but somehow that doesn't seem adequate. The NYS DOS Division of Coastal Resources defines the benefits of a Harbor Management Plan as these:

• determining the status of harbor areas and developing a strategy to achieve goals for harbor areas
• technical assistance in addressing harbor management issues
• financial assistance for small-scale construction and land acquisition projects
• research, design, and other preconstruction activities that implement the harbor managment plan
• addressing harbor and nearshore issues that transcend local boundaries

Will Hudson realize any of these benefits if our Harbor Management Plan is one that is embedded in our LWRP?

A reader brought some other issues to Gossips attention, which have to do with the boundaries shown on LWRP maps. For example, the map at left shows shows the western boundary of the LWRP area. The yellow and red line indicates the boundary proposed in the LWRP. The magenta line, farther west and intersecting Middle Ground Flats, shows the boundary recommended by the Department of State for a Harbor Management Area. This raises the question of why the LWRP limits the area it wishes to regulate. The same is true for the southern boundary of the LWRP area. Instead of extending all the way to the Hudson-Greenport border, the LWRP area stops short of it.
     

And then there is question of the mystery property--Tax ID #109.15-1-3--the ownership of which, it seems, is unknown.

Of National Heritage and Viewsheds

We all know the story. Francis Scott Key, a young lawyer from Georgetown, witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry, which lasted for twenty-five hours, from September 13 to September 14, 1814, during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. At first light, after the cannon fire had finally ceased, the sight of the flag known as the "Star-Spangled Banner" still flying over the fort inspired Key to write a poem called "Defence of Fort McHenry," which became the lyrics for our national anthem. 

A stirring and significant moment in American history. The successful defense of Baltimore marked the turning point in the war. Fort McHenry should be a national historic shrine, and indeed it is, but here's the view from Fort McHenry today.

  
Photograph contributed by a Gossips reader.

Supersize That?

The houses at the corner of First and Union appear to have achieved their full height. If they were skyscrapers in Manhattan, someone would fly a flag from the top to signal the achievement, but no such tradition exists here in Hudson. The question remains: Are they taller than what the Historic Preservation Commission actually approved or not?

When the question of the buildings' height was first raised a week ago, a member of the Historic Preservation Commission volunteered to check the elevations submitted to the HPC to see if the houses being built were in compliance with those drawings. Subsequently, Gossips learned that it was believed the height of the second-story ceilings had been increased from 8'6" to 10' after the HPC had granted the project a certificate of appropriateness. When Gossips shared this information with the same HPC member, hoping to get confirmation or denial of this claim, as well as learn the outcome of the check of the elevations, Gossips was told that Cheryl Roberts, attorney to the HPC, had advised that any concerns about the houses should be directed to Code Enforcement Officer Peter Wurster. 

So the question remains: Did the Historic Preservation Commission approve the plans for these buildings knowing that they would be significantly taller than the adjacent building, or was the HPC--like the public--misled by the rendering which shows the buildings to be of the same height as that building? And here's another question: Why are members of the HPC being advised against providing an answer to the first question?    

Does Everyone Know What Chutzpah Is?

Gossips has learned, from a number of sources, that on Thursday, September 15, Theresa Parsons, president of the Hudson Area Library Board of Trustees, accompanied by HAL trustees Mark Young and Dan Jablanski, who had attended his very first library board meeting the night before, appeared at the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meeting to request that the library be allowed to keep some or all of the $300,000 owed to HCDPA after the sale of 400 State Street to Galvan Partners.  

When the library purchased 400 State Street from the Hudson City School District in 2005, it did so using $300,000 in returned HUD grant monies from projects that had been awarded HUD grants but decided, after the fact, that they did not want to comply with HUD requirements. In exchange for the $300,000, the library entered into a mortgage agreement with HCDPA. So long as the library occupied the building and used 51 percent of the space, no mortgage payments would be required, but if the library were to sell the building or to cease using it as a library, they would owe HCDPA $300,000. The library board recently sold 400 State Street to Eric Galloway for $470,000, which means that, after paying off their mortgage, giving HCDPA $300,000 to invest in other worthy causes, the library still has a profit of $170,000. But the library board wants more.

The City of Hudson contributes $120,000 a year to the Hudson Area Library--60 percent of the library's annual operating budget. The library is chartered to serve Hudson and Greenport, but Greenport contributes only $5,500 to the library's annual budget.

Those present at the meeting whom Gossips interviewed used the words brazen, outrageous, audacious, astounding, greedy, and incomparable nerve to describe Parsons'  request. The HCDPA board--which is made up of Mayor Richard Scalera, Common Council Majority Leader Ellen Thurston and Minority Leader Richard Goetz, Hudson Housing Authority Board Chair George DeJesus, and Hudson Planning Commission Chair Donald Tillson--has yet to make a decision about whether or not to comply with Parsons' request.   

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt has published his compelling article "Missing Ink: How our docile local press undermines democracy," which originally appeared in the Media Issue of OurTown, in four parts on his blog. (Full disclosure: Part IV says some very nice things about The Gossips of Rivertown.)
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

Grazin' Diner Opening Soon

Grazin' Diner, an exclusively farm-to-table eatery to be operated in Hudson's classic 1950s diner on upper Warren Street, is set to open on Saturday, October 1. Audra Jornov has the story in today's Register-Star.   
Photograph by Scott Baldinger.

Candidates Without Borders

This evening, driving out to ShopRite for cat food, I was surprised to see lawn signs for First Ward candidates John Musall and Geeta Cheddie along Harry Howard Avenue, across from Hudson High School, deep in the Fifth Ward. This struck me as odd since, on my many walks with William around the First Ward, I haven't noticed any lawn signs, or window signs either, for the husband-wife, supervisor-alderman team on their home turf.

When I made the right turn onto Joslen Boulevard, which put me in Greenport, I was equally surprised to see two signs for Republican mayoral candidate William Hallenbeck along the side of the road.

Displaying a lawn sign usually indicates support for a candidate, but curiously these people can't vote for the candidates whose signs adorn their lawns. 

Of the Library and the Armory

According to an article by W. T. Eckert in today's Register-Star, the closing on 400 State Street will take place at 2:30 on Friday, after which the 1818 asylum, one of Hudson's most historic and architecturally significant buildings, will be owned by Galvan Partners. For the time being, the Galvan Foundation will take possession only of the Children's Foundation Room in the west wing to use as an office, while the Hudson Area Library continues to occupy the remainder of the building.

At its meeting on Wednesday night, the Hudson Area Library Board of Trustees passed a resolution to pursue discussions with Eric Galloway and Henry van Ameringen already begun by Theresa Parsons and Mark Orton, HAL board president and vice president respectively, to move the library up the street to the Armory, a building now also owned by Galvan Partners. These are the broad strokes of the agreement Parsons and Orton have discussed with Galvan Partners thus far:

• The library will determine its functional and operational requirements, which Parsons referred to as a "wish list," to determine the scope of what needs to be designed. 
• Galvan Partners will carry out the "technical implementation," which presumably involves both the design and construction, at its own expense.
• The library will then occupy the space created for it as a tenant with a thirty-year lease, paying the utilities for its portion of the building and a dollar a month in rent. 

So far, it has not been determined what part of the Armory or what percentage of the space will be occupied by the library. Parsons reports that Galloway plans to use the remainder of the building for "education and the arts." The previous owners of the Armory have six months to vacate the building, and during that six-month period, the library hopes to have all the planning and design work completed so that, to quote Orton, "at the beginning of the seventh month, the hammers can fly."

Absentee Patron?

Rumor has it that Eric Galloway has decided to sell his grand antebellum mansion on Allen Street. So, after enabling the library to abandon its building and buying it for himself, announcing the creation of the Galvan Foundation dedicated exclusively to Hudson, and withdrawing his offer to buy the Dunn's warehouse and make a commitment to the development of the waterfront, Galloway now doesn't want to have a residence in the city he allegedly loves and on which he seeks to have an impact. What can it all mean? 

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt has the ward by ward results from yesterday's primary on his blog: "Haddad by a mile."

Of Interest

There is a letter to the editor about the "haul road" through South Bay and the LWRP from Timothy O'Connor in today's Register-Star: "Truck route out of LWRP."  

Endorsed Democrats Withstand Challenges

All the candidates that the Hudson City Democratic Committee wanted on the Democratic line will appear on the Democratic line in November after Tuesday's Democratic primary. 

Nick Haddad withstood the challenge from Linda Mussmann in the "opportunity to ballot" write-in primary, receiving two votes for every one cast for Mussmann. The numbers--still unofficial--being reported by the Board of Elections tonight are Haddad 319, Mussmann 157, with an estimated 80 absentee ballots yet to be counted. It seems the only ward Mussmann carried was the Second Ward, and even that was by a slim margin. 

The victories were even more dramatic in the ward races. In the First Ward, Sarah Sterling defeated John Musall 74 to 19 to be the Democratic candidate for supervisor, and David Marston and Larissa Thomas received 77 and 76 votes respectively to beat out Geeta Cheddie, who received 24 votes, to be the Democratic candidates for alderman. 

In the Third Ward, Ellen Thurston won by a landslide, defeating her challenger for the Democratic line as supervisor, Glenn Martin, 94 to 16.

Musall, Cheddie, and Martin have all been endorsed by the Republicans, so it will be deja vu all over again for Sterling, Marston, Thomas, and Thurston in November, when all the voters--not just the Democrats--turn out at the polls. Only Haddad will have a different opponent in November: Republican candidate William Hallenbeck.   

Primary Today

Polls are open from noon to 9 p.m. Don't forget to vote!

Highlights from City Hall

Waterfront Warehouse Last night's informal Common Council meeting began with President Don Moore reading from a letter received from Mark Greenberg, attorney for Eric Galloway, informing the Council that Galvan Partners was not interested in entering into an agreement to buy the former Dunn warehouse building at the waterfront. 

The topic was revisited toward the end of the meeting when Moore said that the City needed to consider which was more advantageous: the sale of the Dunn building alone or the development of the entire area bounded by Broad Street, Water Street, Ferry Street, and the railroad tracks--all of which is currently owned by the City of Hudson. He made reference to Scenic Hudson's publication Revitalizing Hudson Waterfronts and recommended it to members of the Council. The publication can be downloaded here.

True to form, Fifth Ward Alderman Robert "Doc" Donahue wanted to know if Galvan Partners had backed away because there were too many "hoops" to jump through. Moore informed him that without an adopted LWRP, there were no hoops at all on the waterfront.

River-facing Dock The lease between the City of Hudson and Hudson Cruises, Inc., operator of The Spirit of Hudson, was presented for the Council's consideration. According to the terms of the lease, Hudson Cruises will pay the City $500 for the use of half of the river-facing dock in 2011, and the amount will increase by $100 a year for each year during the five years of the lease. 

The lease also assigns some duties to the tenant: "Tenant agrees to be available 7 days a week from Mother's Day to October 31st and the rest of the year Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to open gates to the dock and organize and coordinate the docking of other large vessels. Tenant shall place a sign on the park property providing information as to how it can be contacted to perform these duties, include [sic] the phone number of President Guy Falkenheimer. Tenant will collect docking fees from boats using the dock at the rate of $1.00 per foot for a 24 hour period, with renewal for up to three days. Tenant will weekly turn in collected funds to the Treasurer's Office."

First Ward Alderman Sarah Sterling asked about the title "Dock Master," which presumably will be Falkenheimer's, pointing out that it did not appear in the lease. Moore said that the lease would be amended to include the title "Dock Master" before the Council votes next Tuesday to authorize the mayor to enter into the lease agreement with Hudson Cruises.

Sidewalks When the meeting was opened to comments from the public, a woman seated in the back row complained bitterly about the state of the sidewalk on the west side of Third Street between Warren Street and Prison Alley--along the side of 260 Warren Street, a building owned and being warehoused by Eric Galloway. She complained that the sidewalk was uneven and chronically covered with broken glass and pointed out that this is where kids stand and wait for the schoolbus.   

This complaint, which followed complaints about taxi companies operating out of residential neighborhoods, a mechanic's garage being illegally operated at Sixth and Prospect streets, allegedly with the knowledge of Code Enforcement Officer Peter Wurster, and thirteen abandoned cars parked in a lot off Prison Alley, led to a discussion of code enforcement. Second Ward Alderman Wanda Pertilla asked why the code enforcement officer is not required to report regularly to the Common Council the way the chief of police, the fire chief, and the superintendent of public works do. Moore acknowledged that it was a good idea and said he would invite Wurster to the next meeting of the Council.  

LWRP Moore mentioned that "sometime this week" he expects to set "tentative dates" for the Council to review and discuss the edited LWRP. 

The World According to Goetz

At tonight's informal Common Council meeting, First Ward Alderman Sarah Sterling reported that a petition, signed by more than five hundred people, had been submitted to members of the Common Council, requesting that the City of Hudson create a dog park. To which Fifth Ward Alderman Dick Goetz responded, "Don't people have backyards?"

Rendering and Reality

The walls are rising on the two houses at Union and First streets, and the reality seems disturbingly different from the rendering presented to the Historic Preservation Commission and the public.  

Mass and scale are essential to compatibility, as is continuity. In the rendering, the height of the two buildings aligns with the height of 106 Union Street, just to the right. The first and second story windows align with the windows on 106 Union and appear to be fairly similar in size. But the reality is quite different.

With the cellar and the first floor in place, the houses threaten to dwarf their surroundings. The top of the first story windows aligns with the bottom of the second story windows on 106 Union.  These two houses may end up as tall if not taller than the three-story building on the other side of First Street.

Elevations were submitted to the Historic Preservation Commission in addition to the renderings, and it may turn out that the elevations represent the buildings exactly as they are being realized. It is likely, however, that the majority of the HPC members--and certainly all the members of the public, who didn't have the opportunity to examine the elevations--relied on the renderings to judge compatibility, and the renderings are clearly misleading.    

Energy Conservation in Historic Buildings

The Preservation League of New York State is conducting a series of workshops on energy conservation in historic buildings, and on September 30, a day-long workshop will be held at the FDR Library & Home in Hyde Park. The workshop fee is $35, which includes lunch. Click here for the agenda and information about how to register.

Hudson in the Movies

Phil Haber has a new post on his blog about the making of The Man at the Counter, the independent film shot on Warren Street and specifically at The Cascades in September and October of 2010. Haber was the production stills photographer during the initial days of shooting. This photograph is from his blog.  

We Want a Dog Park!

Alan Dahl--human companion to Bo, the yellow lab who walks softly and carries a big stick--has collected more than five hundred signatures on a petition in support of establishing a dog park in Hudson. The petition has been delivered to members of the Common Council and to candidates for office.  Gossips supports the idea wholeheartedly and will keep you informed of any developments.        

Not to Be Missed

Hungry in Hudson reviews yesterday's Taste of Hudson food extravaganza and gives a gold star to Vasilow's chocolate-covered bacon. Gossips wants to add to the list of commendable comestibles the elegant little raspberry tarts from Loaf. 

The Power of the Press (or whatever Gossips is)

Soon after "Gotcha!" was published on Monday morning, I received an email from First Ward Alderman Sarah Sterling saying that she believed Labor Day was one of the holidays on which alternate side of the street parking was suspended, and she would look into it. The outcome of Sterling's initiative was reported to me today by Common Council President Don Moore:

In large measure due to your alert about the parking tickets issued on Labor Day for alternate side of the street violations, and with the assistance of Alderman Sarah Sterling, the matter has been resolved. Hudson Police Department Commissioner Ronald Grant Friday evening informed me that the tickets issued for that infraction were in error and all will be voided. If a ticket has been paid, a refund will be issued. I have expressed my appreciation to the Commissioner and to HPD Chief Richardson for handling the matter professionally and quickly. Last year an agreement was reached with the Common Council to suspend alternate side of the street parking regulations on five holidays. The HPD officers on duty Labor Day were not informed of the suspension of alternate side regulations, the sort of lapse to which we are all subject. The Commissioner has offered his apologies, expressed his appreciation for having the matter called to his attention, and remedied it. For the record, the holidays as conveyed to me by the Commissioner when alternate side parking [regulations] are suspended include: New Year's Eve, Memorial Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve.

Not to Be Missed

John Mason has an article in today's Register-Star remembering Ansar Mahmood, the Pakistani pizza deliverer who was arrested on suspicion of terrorism for taking pictures of the view from Hudson's water treatment plant a month after September 11, 2001, and deported in July 2004 for "harboring illegal aliens": "Ansar Mahmood still holds county in his heart."    

The article notes that a chapter is devoted to Mahmood's story in a recent book by UCLA Fulbright scholar Irum Shiekh, Detained Without Cause: Muslims' Stories of Detention and Deportation in America After 9/11. Mason quotes from the book: "Helping a childhood friend–a moral responsibility in Pakistani culture–was manufactured into a crime after the U.S. Congress adopted the 1996 immigration act, and law enforcement officers decided to enforce it strictly after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Ansar’s narrative shows that the United States’ current immigration laws can transform an honest young man with aspirations into a terrorist or a criminal.”

The story of Ansar Mahmood is also the historic centerpiece, as the demolition of the General Worth Hotel was for The Spirit of the Place, of a new book by Samuel Shem, set in fictionalized Hudson in 2003. The publication of that book is eagerly awaited.  

Not to Be Missed

Scott Baldinger has some advice on his blog for the new owner of the Armory and 400 State Street: "Barbed Remarks."

Big Weekend in "Hud City"

This is the last weekend before Tuesday's primary, and it's likely to be a busy one for the candidates involved. Like the Bangladeshi Cultural Festival last Sunday, "Hud City Day" will undoubtedly be the epicenter of campaigning on Saturday afternoon--for all the candidates, but especially for the two mayoral candidates vying for the Democratic line, Nick Haddad and Linda Mussmann. That being the case, it's interesting to note the sponsors listed on this poster promoting the event. Among them are the Lantern Organization, Eric Galloway's not-for-profit, and Time & Space Limited, Linda Mussmann's not-for-profit. 

Whodathunkit

Apparently the rumor Gossips reported on Wednesday about Eric Galloway buying the Armory is true, because today we hear that he's offering it--or a portion of it--to the Hudson Area Library. The Register-Star has the story: "Library officers now mulling move to Armory."

The Galvan Foundation is offering the library board a thirty-year lease on a portion of the Armory for a dollar a month in rent. It is anticipated that it will take a year to ready the Armory for the library to move in, so in the meantime, they will remain at 400 State Street, which Galloway will soon own, paying a dollar a month for that privilege. The deal, which has been worked out in principle between Eric Galloway and Henry van Ameringen and library president and vice president Theresa Parsons and Mark Orton, will be presented to the library board of trustees for approval at their next meeting on Wednesday, September 14.

Word on Hudson Assessments

Gossips has received word that GAR, the company doing the revaluation of Hudson properties, will be mailing out property descriptions next week, on September 12. Expect to receive them on September 13 or 14. Property owners are advised to examine the property descriptions carefully to make certain that all the information is correct--square footage, number of bedrooms, number of bathrooms, etc. GAR should be notified promptly if there are any errors. Starting this dialogue now, we are told, can eliminate problems later. 

CREDC Forum

Audra Jornov reports in today's Register-Star on the Capital Region Economic Development Council forum held earlier this week. Major themes of the forum, it appears from the article, were the importance of the arts and agriculture to Columbia County and complaints about the overregulation of business. On the latter topic, Sue Bassin, representing the agricultural advisory council of Ancram, made the point that easing regulations should be considered only after a strategy is developed. She is quoted in the article as saying, “Let’s do something specific, get something everyone can sign up for; you start to work on the regulations that are in the way of making the strategies happen.” 

If you want to find out what else was said, the entire forum was recorded by WGXC and can be heard online.

More About the Armory Houses

After Gossips published the post about Galloway's rumored purchase of the Armory and the "Armory houses," a reader sent these pictures taken in recent days. The first shows the houses as they are now. The second shows a tree behind the houses being pruned to enable roof work to be done on one of the houses. The third shows the tree--there between the two houses--after its extreme pruning.

The same reader who supplied the photographs reminded me of this remarkable picture of one of the houses in better days, which Lisa Durfee discovered and published on her blog The Tainted Lady Lounge.

Not to Be Missed

Scott Baldinger has praise on his blog for favorite sources of gustatory bliss in a "quick grab and chew": "Little Heavens."

Another Galloway Acquisition

Rumor has it--so far unconfirmed--that Eric Galloway is purchasing the Armory and the two abused houses just north of it. These pictures show the buildings as they appeared in 1939.

  
The "Armory houses," as they are sometimes called, have a long history of neglect and deliberate abuse. Their owners, who also own the Armory, wanted them gone, because they believed that the Armory, which they had carefully and beautifully restored, had no resale value without a parking lot, and if the houses were not there, they would have a parking lot. Apparently not wanting to incur the expense of demolition, the owners allegedly once proposed to the Hudson Fire Department that the houses be the subject of a "controlled burn." The fire department would set fire to the houses and use the conflagration for training. The fire fighters would have a great "classroom," and the owners would be rid of the houses. The HFD didn't agree to it.

In 2005, the City of Hudson, declaring them "blight," decided to seize the two houses by eminent domain. The eminent domain action, initiated during a Scalera administration, was successful, and the Tracy administration inherited the need to pay the owners something like $95,000 for the buildings with no money in the budget to do so.

In 2006, members of the Common Council, collaborating with Eric Galloway and working with The Grant Writers, came up with a proposal for Round I of the Restore New York Communities Initiative grant program. The grant proposal was for $500,000--enough to make the court-ordered restitution to the owners, restore the two existing houses to something close to what they looked like in 1939, and build a small version of one of Galloway's signature "Greek Revival" town houses in the backyard of one of the existing houses, facing Prospect Street. It was a strong proposal and, in everyone's opinion, should have been awarded a grant, but that year, as one of the Grant Writers delicately put it, the awards were "political," and Hudson didn't get a piece of the $50 million pie. 

The following year, the city attorney for the Tracy administration failed to submit a document in a timely manner, the houses reverted back to the original owners, the City had to pay something like $13,000 for the owners' legal fees, and the houses continued to deteriorate. The only good outcome was that during the year or so when the City had title to the property, DPW boarded up the windows properly to check the demolition by neglect. 

Assuming the rumor of the purchase is true, one wonders what the Galvan Foundation plans to do with the armory. Is this one of the historic buildings they will "keep in perpetuity for the benefit of Hudson," will this building be used in some way to support local organizations that provide services to the residents of Hudson, or will they maintain it was an antiques center? In the case of the houses, it would be nice if they dusted off the plans created for that 2006 Restore New York grant proposal, perhaps rethinking the design for the proposed new house, since Greek Revival architecture in this neighborhood would be an anachronism.

Too Good Not to Share

Over the weekend, I made some inquiries about the state of things across the river for my niece and her husband who were planning a vacation in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills next week. Because they were especially interested in the vistas that inspired the artists of the Hudson River School, I contacted the Thomas Cole National Historic Site, and this morning got a response from executive assistant Sheri DeJan, which included a link to a blog called Phil Haber's Photography Notes. Haber and his wife spent this past weekend in the Catskills, seeking out the sites that inspired Thomas Cole and others, and he tells about the experience on his blog. His posts include a paragraph about Hudson and this picture of Warren Street in the early morning.  

Trash Talk

At last Wednesday's Legal Committee meeting, Common Council President Don Moore explained that the effort to make dumpster code changes had been abandoned because "the problem is too narrowly based," involving only "a couple of dumpsters in a couple of places."

This is one of those dumpsters, located in Cherry Alley at Second Street, behind the building once known as the "Shrimp Box" now owned by Housing Resources of Columbia County. The picture above shows the dumpster as it was on Saturday, September 4--overflowing with trash.  The picture below shows the dumpster as it appeared this morning.

The dumpster has been emptied, but the bags of trash piled around it were left behind.

Surely the City of Hudson should be able to do something about this, whether it requires a change in the code or simply stricter enforcement of the current code. One course of action might be to force the trash hauler to pick up all the trash not just the trash that's actually in the dumpster. Another course of action might be to require the hauler to provide and the property owner to pay the fees for a larger dumpster when the dumpster they have is chronically filled to overflowing.  

Economic Development Forum Tonight

According to the Register-Star, the Capital Region Economic Development Council, one of ten regional economic development councils created in July by Governor Andrew Cuomo, is holding a public forum to seek input from citizens for a five-year strategic plan for the Capital Region. Since Columbia County has not in the past been generally considered part of the Capital Region, it might be important for people to show up at the forum to let CREDC know what we value about our county and its character and what we want to see preserved. The forum begins at 6:30 p.m. in the Arts Center Theatre at Columbia-Greene Community College.   

Labor Day, 1887

According to the U.S. Department of Labor website, the first proposal for Labor Day outlined the form the observance and celebration of the holiday should take: "a street parade to exhibit to the public the strength and esprit de corps of the trade and labor organizations of the community, followed by a festival for the recreation and amusement of the workers and their families."

New York was one of the first five states to recognize Labor Day by legislative enactment in 1887, and the Hudson Evening Register for Monday, September 5, 1887, reported on the Labor Day observances in New York City, Albany, Buffalo, Syracuse, Utica, and Oswego. Here's the account of the parade in New York City. 

LABORERS HAVE AN OUTING.

THE NEW HOLIDAY.

General Observance of Labor Day in the

City of New York--Large and Imposing

Parade--The Union Flag Carried by all

Associations--Absence of Transparencies.

NEW YORK, SEPT. 5--This is Labor Day. The down-town districts wear a Sunday appearance, while from Houston street to the Harlem river is one mass of human beings moving in every direction. Men wearing different kinds of badges were hurrying here and there to join their comrades and swell the great parade. The bands of music popped out of this and that street playing inspiring airs and followed by large crowds of men, women and children. Though everything was bustle, everybody seemed happy.

The printing trades were the first to put in an organized appearance. They formed on the corner of Fourth street and the Bowery and numbered 7,000 men.

The line of march was taken up at Broadway and Thirteenth street, Grand Marshal Morrison being in command. A squad of police led the way down Broadway to Fourth street, and past the Washington monument to the plaza at Seventeenth street. The sight was a magnificent one. The sun shone out, and the different badges, insignia and banners carried by the men glistened in the bright sunlight. The marching was all that could be asked for, and as the men passed along their faces were pictures of happiness.

The windows and house-stoops and doors along the line of march were packed with onlookers who, at every turn, gave the sturdy sons of toil a three times three hearty greeting, to which the stars and stripes were dipped at the head of each body or organization.

It was a picturesque scene all along the line. The printing trades section attracted the most attention and was probably the neatest body in line as well as being the strongest. Benjamin Franklin's old printing press came in for the usual shore [sic] of attention. The brewers were mostly in wagons; the bakers wore white hats and shirts. In almost every section the tradesmen gave exhibitions of their skill.

One of the noticeable features was the absence of transparencies. Here and there, however, were some bearing such mottoes as "We rely on principles, not on men," or "Labor created capital, capital should not oppress labor."

The Socialists presented a transparency advising workingmen to buy the Leader and the Volks Zeitung, but banners of any kind aside from the American colors and the union banners were few and far between. The appearance of the paraders was excellent and no disorder of any kind attended the demonstration.

Between 30,000 and 40,000 men were in the line. All the down-town exchanges, banks and bankers and brokers offices were closed. Many business houses also closed up for the day. The courts and public departments were closed. Flags floated from many buildings through the city in honor of the day. After the procession disbanded the different trades went to Brommer's Park to spend the afternoon and evening.

Running beside the article about the first official Labor Day, on the front page of the Hudson Evening Register, was this advertisement for the coming week's attractions at the Hudson Opera House.

Gotcha!

It's a holiday weekend, and alterate side of the street parking has been suspended on weekends through October, yet on this Labor Day morning, people woke up to discover that all the cars parked on the even side of the street--the north side of the long east-west streets, the east side of the north-south streets--had been studded with tickets in the night. 

I recall long and tedious discussions in Common Council Police Committee meetings about on which holidays alternate side of the street parking should be suspended and on which it should be enforced. Apparently, Labor Day didn't make the cut, but the list of holidays that did and those that didn't seems never to have been made public. Since the point of alternate side of the street parking, at least when there is no snow on the ground, is to allow the street sweeper to clean the streets, and the person who drives the street sweeper presumably does not work on holidays, it would be logical to suspend alternate side of the street parking on all national holidays. It would also make it easier for people to figure out the rules and abide by them, but logic doesn't seem to have much influence on Hudson's overnight parking regulations.   

A Town of Breakage

In his 2008 novel, The Spirit of the Place, native son Stephen Bergman, writing as Samuel Shem, characterizes the slightly fictionalized Hudson that is the setting for the novel as a "town of breakage." I was reminded of that, and of a story Bergman told at the Hudson Area Library's fiftieth anniversary dinner in 2009, recounting his surprise to discover that a broken fountain he'd noticed when he first arrived at Harvard as a freshman was repaired in less than a week, when I saw the broken base on one of our relatively new fiberglass lampposts in the 300 block of Warren Street. Will the broken base be replaced? (It appears that it cannot be repaired.) If it is replaced, how long will it be before that happens?         

Ear to the Ground

Rumor has it that Quintin Cross, who did time for embezzling more than $16,000 from the City of Hudson while serving as an alderman representing the Second Ward, is going around telling people that Linda Mussmann is paying him $5,000 to do "field work" to muster support for her in the September 13 Democratic write-in primary for mayor.      

Still "Not Ready"?

Sam Pratt tells the story of how Rick Scalera--mayor then as now--took him to task for writing an article for New York Magazine in 1998 that brought tourists to Hudson, at least one of whom didn't "get" Hudson and was dissatisfied with what he found. According to Scalera, Hudson was "not ready" for tourists, and Pratt shouldn't have written an article that drew people here. Thirteen years later, it may be that Hudson is still "not ready" for some tourists whose expectation is different from the reality. 

Yesterday, William and I were out walking in the late morning. We had just passed Eric Galloway's antebellum manse, near the east end of the 300 block of Allen Street, when we were approached by a woman who wanted to know where Allen Street was. I had noticed her and a man who was probably her husband walking along West Court Street displaying all the body language of people who were seeking something they weren't finding. When I told her that the street we were on was Allen Street, she said, "There are supposed to be some beautiful homes on Allen Street."

"Yes, there are," I said. "This is it." 

As William and I poked our way toward the courthouse, I glanced back to see the two visitors standing with their backs to 342 Allen Street--one of the best houses in Hudson--staring across the street as if still searching for the "beautiful homes." 

I guess there will always be people who don't totally get Hudson.       

A Hundred Years Ago in Hudson

On the Saturday of Labor Day weekend in 1911, this self-promoting statement of civic pride appeared in the Hudson Evening Register.  

ABOUT HUDSON

• Hudson is a good place to live in.
• Hudson is the county seat of Columbia county.
• Hudson is a clean city.
• Hudson's population is growing.
• Hudson is on the Hudson, with the Atlantic at one end and the river and barge canal at the other.
• Hudson's knit goods go to China, England and all over the United States.
• Hudson has one of the biggest cement plants in the world now building on its outskirts.
• Hudson's advantages for manufacturing and excellent shipping facilities are not excelled anywhere.
• Hudson's banks are sound, its manufactories are staple, its citizens are progressive and generous.
• Hudson is on the line of railroads to the north, west, south, and east.
• Hudson is the centre of a rich and fertile farming section.

HUDSON HAS.

• Banks for saving.
• Three National banks.
• Efficient police force.
• Several public squares and parks.
• Hudson, Elks and Masonic clubs.
• Up-to-date fire companies.
• Street railway.
• Good public schools.
• Two daily and two weekly newspapers.
• Railroad connecting with State capital and metropolis; another line connecting with the east; electric road thirty-eight miles in length.
• Telegraph and express companies.
• State Training School for Girls.
• Home for Veteran Volunteer Firemen of the State.
• A well-equipped public hospital.
• An excellent orphan asylum.
• Many miles of macadamized pavement.
• Many fraternal organizations.
• A gravity system of spring water.
• Progressive manufacturing concerns.
• Enterprising stores.
• Two telephone companies.
• Churches representing almost every denomination.
• A handsome county building.
• A free library.
• A Chamber of Commerce.

The "free library" listed--far down on the inventory of Hudson's assets--must have been the library maintained by the DAR at their Chapter House on Warren Street, because the current institution, the Hudson Area Association Library, was not established until 1959. 

Not to Be Missed

Today's Register-Star has a letter to the editor from Lee Gould in response to W. T. Eckert's paean to the Galvan Foundation.

A Freedom that Norman Rockwell Left Out

For all your intoxication needs, the alcoholic beverage emporium, located in what was once Schroeder Chevrolet, is moving closer to opening.

Photograph by Peter Meyer

Housing in Hudson

A reader brought these interesting statistics from the 2010 census to Gossips' attention: 83.4 percent of the housing units in Hudson are occupied; 16.6 percent are vacant. The percentage of vacant housing for the entire country is 11.4 percent.

Since the city's population decreased by 10.8 percent between 2000 and 2010--from 7,524 to 6,713--it's easy to think that the high rate of vacant housing units is a consequence of the diminishing population, but perhaps the cause-and-effect relationship is the other way around. There are many buildings in Hudson that are being warehoused, and large percentage of them--both single-family homes and multiple-family dwellings--belong to Eric Galloway and Galvan Partners. Among Galloway's holdings are the only two buildings in Hudson that were actually built to be apartment houses--the Brousseau Building at Warren and Second streets and "Apartments of Distinction" at Union and Fifth streets--both of which have been vacant for several years.

Not a Done Deal

The Register-Star printed a correction today to yesterday's article about Eric Galloway. It seems that Galloway is "committed" to buying the Little League field on Hudson Street, but he hasn't done so yet. At the present time, the field still belongs to the Hudson Elks Club.

Speaking of commitments to buy things, remember Galloway's much celebrated intention to buy the former Dunn building across from Henry Hudson Riverfront Park? Back in December 2010, Kevin Walker presented Galloway's plans to turn the building into a "bistro styled" restaurant and bar, with 200 tables on two floors and in a glass enclosed atrium. Common Council President Don Moore called it "a particularly exciting project" and, with Mayor Richard Scalera, hailed it as "the ideal catalyst for future development." But eight months have passed, and nothing has happened. There's no contract, and it seems the City is waiting on Galloway to make the next move. 

Meanwhile, $300,000 from the sale of the building, which has been appraised at $325,000, was written into the 2011 budget as anticipated revenue, and 2011 is two-thirds over. Know anyone who wants a really cool building on the waterfront?    

Early Morning in Hudson

This morning, William and I were out walking shortly after 5. When we left the house, the street sweeper was making its way down the north side of the street toward the river. As dog and I leisurely jaywalked across the intersection of Allen and Second streets, I noted from the lights on the vehicle (for it was too dark and foggy to see much else) that the street sweeper had reached Front Street and was making a U-turn. I had just succeeded in hustling William to the safety of the sidewalk on the far side of Second when the street sweeper came roaring back east on Allen Street, doing, I estimated, at least 40 miles an hour.

This isn't the first time I've witnessed the street sweeper being operated in a reckless manner on the streets of Hudson in the early morning. A few weeks ago, at about the same hour, the street sweeper came barreling west on Union Street, slowing down at Second (there's a stop sign there) only enough to execute a very wide right-hand turn before heading north at the same hurried pace.

But driving around recklessly in the early hours of the morning, on streets that cannot be assumed to be deserted, appears not to be the only offense of the street sweeper. A Gossips reader recently reported witnessing, at about 6:30 a.m., the street sweeper dumping its accumulated load of waste swept from the streets into South Bay, at the edge of the paved area on the R&S property. This photograph, provided by the witness, shows a petroleum or chemical sheen on the surface of the effluent that had been dumped there.  
  

"Rendition" and Columbia County

Sam Pratt has the story on his blog: "Local case blows lid off CIA torture flights."