Scheduling Conflict

Many people fear the change of use proposed for 364 Warren Street will have a negative impact on the business community. In a way, it already is having such an effect.

A special meeting of the Planning Commission to review the site plan for the alternative learning school is happening tonight, Thursday, August 8--on the same night as the Sunset Soiree, a seven store open house to introduce and celebrate three new businesses clustered together in the 400 block of Warren Street--Harvey's Counter, ec•o•sys•tem, and Laloon--and the new location of Kosa. The other shops participating in the festive event, which includes refreshments and music, are OTTO, TK Home & Garden, and Hudson & Laight Gallery.

Two of the shops--Harvey's Counter and Kosa--are located in the newly restored storefronts at 443 Warren Street, and that another cause for celebration. Only months ago, the building looked like this.

Now the "remuddled" storefronts have been restored to their original configuration.

Gossips finds this restoration particularly gratifying since it was guided by a photograph of the building discovered in a 1905 city directory and published on The Gossips of Rivertown.

On the topic of scheduling conflicts, all is not lost. The special meeting of the Planning Commission, which Planning Commission chair Don Tillson makes clear in today's Register-Star is not a public hearing and will not entertain public comment, begins at 6:30 p.m. The Sunset Soiree is from 7 to 9 p.m. So, with any luck, you can go the City Hall to observe the proceedings and still have time to be part of the celebration.

What's Happening With the Senior Center?

That was the question asked toward the end of the Common Council Youth & Aging Committee meeting on Wednesday night. In answer, Council president Don Moore said that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, which the City entered into in April, ran out at the end of May, and Galvan didn't want to extend it. Since then, he said, the City has not heard anything more about it from Galvan. Nor has the City heard from the Division of Homes & Community Renewal if the CDBG for $400,000, awarded in 2010, can be repurposed for the rehabilitation of the Officers' Hall at the Armory.

Of Interest

This morning, on WGXC's @Issue, Tom DePietro discussed the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, a.k.a. "The Bridge," proposed for 364 Warren Street, with Bruce Potter, superintendent of the Berkshire Union Free School District, and with Don Moore, president of the Hudson Common Council, and John Friedman, Third Ward alderman. The program has now been archived and can be heard online by clicking here.

So Long, Local Ocean

Rumors that it was closing have been making the rounds for months. Now it seems the inevitable has happened. The Register-Star has the story: "Local Ocean closes its doors."

Hudson Before the Turn of the 20th Century

Another discovery from the stash of old newspaper clippings given to me by Susan Troy are these reminiscences, by George R. Ham, about the Hudson of his childhood. Ham was born in 1885, and he was 86 years old when these recollections were published in the Register-Star in January 1974. What is striking to us, from our 21st-century perspective, is the emphasis on ethnicity, but Ham was remembering a time toward the end of the "Age of Mass Migration" (1836 to 1914), when more than 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States, and country of origin no doubt seemed more significant then.

In Hudson before the turn of the century from 3rd Street to the river there were grand Irish families with here and there a German or French family. The homes and buildings were well cared for. North and South Front Streets had many nice stores owned and operated by the Irish. Only one Jewish family that I can recall, the Paunish family men's shop.

South Front had many nice hotels. I do not know of any Polish families, and remember but one Italian family, the Cardeales.

How well we got along in those days. As kids we never heard of any difference in religion. There was a Sunday School called The North Bay Mission between 1st and 2nd Streets which was well-attended. . . .

Many of the people in the lower part of the city owned row-boats and boat houses in the bays. They would get their firewood, some lumber, fish, hunt and pleasure from the grand old river.

In summer Irish, Dutch, French and others would fill long lines of rowboats with men, women and kids, drinks, sandwiches, cakes, for picnics at Cole's grove, Primen Hook [sic--Priming Hook] or Rogers Island.

The river was clean, nice sandy bottom, and was the source of our water supply. . . . 

Many people kept a horse in those days, and many owned two wheel dump carts. They would cart dirt, ashes and other things for pay. A coal yard between 2nd and 3rd on Diamond St., would have coal delivered at north dock, and would hire all the dump cart men to deliver it to the yard.

The only paved streets were Main St., as Warren was known then, which was paved with round cobble stones. [Note: The name of Main Street was officially changed to Warren Street in 1799.]

Living on Union or Allen Sts. was considered high hat. North of Main St. was like the other side of the track. The ultimate goal was to live anywhere on Main St. . . .

In summer we walked blocks to fetch fountain head drinking water from the widely spread street pumps.

And Promenade Hill! What a place, everything spic and span. Summer nights it was filled with young and old from all over the city and county.

Main St., side walks full of people coming and going, with the din of many steel shod horses on the cobble stones. . . .

And the fourth of July, how they did celebrate, dreaded by horse owners. The horses were scared to death, and would cause many runaways.

I cannot recall any fights or serious mischief. We had a healthy respect for our police, who carried clubs that looked a yard long to us kids, and they did not hesitate to give you a good whack on the backside if you got in the way or was too noisy. Today they would be ostracized for it but no one thought anything of it then. And if your parents heard of it you got some more whacks, but I believe did us some good.

How we enjoyed showing our city to visitors. First on the list was Promenade Hill. What a beautiful sight. The flats were visible only at very low tide. There was a dug-way for rowboats to cross straight to Athens, to see the lighthouse, a ferry boat to Athens, a passenger and freight to Catskill, a boat to Coxsackie. The capacity loads of people on the day boats between Albany and New York City, waving to us on the hill.

Every kid knew the time to look for the big boats, to watch the continuous passage of trains on the N. Y. Central. The long trains of cattle cars, loaded with beef, calves, sheep and pigs being shipped alive to New York City. Even in winter to watch the swarms of men working on the ice. The ice boats and skaters, and the mountains.

To watch the shad and herring fishers in the spring. Our pride in showing the Worth House, where everything happened first, where we saw our first electric light. To watch the stage coaches loading and unloading passengers and luggage. Then to show our beautiful Court House. I still think it a nicer building outside than the one we have today. Then to South 3rd St., to show the Bay Road and Mt. Merino.

Another sight was the bird's eye view of the city from Mt. Ray. Our pride in showing our new 4th St. school, the House of Refugees [sic] it was called then.

Then Underhill Pond, Green Street and the bell drinking fountain for horses.

And what industry with four always busy knitting mills, employing many men and a few young women, the Fiber Works, the Gifford Foundry. If you had a job at the car wheel shop you were above average.

The two busy brick yards . . . two breweries; C. H. Evans, world-known. The beautiful horses. Teamsters employed by these firms were considered the lucky men of the times.

The horse auctions held weekly drew large crowds. It was big news when a resident bought an outstanding horse at an outstanding price, or that a grocer, butcher or sportsman bought a new one.

Winter horse racing on Green St. was tops in sports. Any female brave enough to enter the sport was the darling of the city and county. Bobsled riding at night was another sport. With great long sleds loaded with young men and women, they would start at Academy Hill, down Columbia to Diamond to Front St. The young men spent hours preparing the slide, carrying water to freeze the slideway. North Front and Mill Sts. were reserved for us kids. The police would keep the horse traffic away at night. . . . 

Many of the most prominent citizens lived in the lower part of the city at that time. Wardells Drug Store was there bright and shiny. Things have changed.

Historic photographs courtesy Historic Hudson and Byrne Fone

Industry on the Waterfront

On Monday, Gossips recalled the controversy over the oil refinery proposed for Hudson's waterfront in 1984. At the time, a local historian on the other side of the river came upon an article in an 1841 issue of Rural Repository about Hudson's "first oil refinery": the Sperm Oil & Candle Factory. The article was reprinted in the Catskill Daily Mail on February 1984, with the suggestion "'Twas ever thus." John Cody recently discovered the item from the Daily Mail in his files and shared it with Gossips. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Report from the County IDA Meeting

Gossips was at the Columbia County IDA meeting this morning. The IDA is often a good place to learn news of projects proposed or in the works that will affect Hudson, and two items discussed at this morning's meeting made showing up at 8:30 worthwhile. Both were in the report to the IDA by Ken Flood, commissioner for Planning and Economic Development.

The first was on the topic of the transloading facility, likely to bring more trains through our fair city. Flood said he had little to report. In December 2011, it was announced that this project was awarded a $2.2 million grant. Now, according to Flood, the owners of LS Industrial and the Department of Transportation are trying to resolve "financing issues." Flood reported that things are "at a standstill, waiting for the owners to make a final decision, because it would be a substantial investment on their part"--over and above the $2.2 million in public money.

Flood also talked about the experience he was having going around talking with businesses in all the towns in Columbia County. He reported that "people continue to have issues finding productive employees." He said it was a common theme throughout the county. Meanwhile, a common theme among some politicians in Hudson is the need for jobs. The Hudson Democrats made "Economic Development and Jobs" the second item in their 2013 platform. There are people who need workers, there are people who need jobs. Where is the disconnnect?

Some clues may be in the language of the Democrats' platform:

The Democratic Party believes in the obligation of governments at all levels to help provide citizens with opportunities to earn a decent living in a fulfilling job. That includes advocating for increased access to public transportation, and efforts to build and enhance a qualified workforce through training opportunities that emphasize career and technical education.

Are the jobs available not jobs that pay a decent wage? Are they perceived to be unfulfilling? Do the people who want jobs lack the transportation necessary to get to the jobs? Do they lack the appropriate education and training? What are the real issues that separate the employers and would-be employed?

Not to Be Missed

There is a letter to the editor from Peter Tenerowicz  in today's Register-Star that questions the wisdom and necessity of expanding the Columbia County airport: "Outrageous idea." Skepticism about the airport expansion plan was first voiced back in February by Sam Pratt: "County airport numbers: Pie in the sky?"

A Headline So Nice They Used It Twice

Today's Register-Star has two stories with the headline "In the city, where there's smoke, there may be fire."

One of them is about Hank von Ritter and his latest legal strife with the City of Hudson.

The other is about controversy surrounding the smoke issuing from the new restaurant Fish & Game--a situation that Gossips covered weeks ago.

Back to the Future

Once upon a time, back in 1984, the people in power in Hudson--the mayor, Michael Yusko; the chair of the Hudson Development Office, Art Koweek; the City Industrial Development director, William Loewenstein--thought it was a dandy idea to have a company called Octane Petroleum build a refinery on the Hudson waterfront. Fortunately, a community group with the acronym SHOW (Save Hudson's Only Waterfront) arose to stop the oil refinery. With John Cody as its president and with the help and support of Scenic Hudson, Clearwater, and the Department of State, SHOW succeeded in keeping an oil refinery from being built on our shore.

A while back, Sam Pratt discovered and put online an article about the controversy that appeared in the December 1984 issue of Hudson Valley Magazine: "An Oil Refinery in Our Backyard." This morning, in a collection of old newspaper clippings given to me by Susan Troy, I discovered the following article, which appeared in the Register-Star on March 28, 1984. In it, Loewenstein attacks SHOW and defends the economic efficacy of siting an oil refinery in Hudson. Thirty years later, some of his arguments still sound disturbingly familiar.

Loewenstein: SHOW anti-development

HUDSON--City Industrial Development Director William Loewenstein says SHOW is "anti-development" and that its advocacy of tourism-related uses of the riverfront instead of the proposed oil plant is ill-conceived.

He said SHOW's most recent news release, which recommended exploring alternative uses for the site, was a "propaganda effort" and revealed the anti-oil plant group's "real intent."

"The debate between SHOW and the City of Hudson is really one on the future development course of the city," he said. "SHOW is anti-development. It would like to see the City of Hudson become a service center to provide relatively cheap labor for a tourism and second-home economy. Jobs in areas devoted to tourism are seasonal, relatively low paying and are areas marked with high unemployment. The facts bear this out.

"1. The proposed Octane site is not a virgin piece of land along the river. It contains a large oil tank farm, a lumber yard, a Conrail service facility, a transformer shipping zone and is adjacent to a cement factory shipping area. An area which is unsightly and meets minimum safety requirements.

Photo by M. B. Pfeiffer in Hudson Valley Magazine, December 1984

"2. To develop this area for tourism would mean purchasing not only the existing uses, but the entire cement operation. No one wants to develop a restaurant or hotel sandwiched between a cement plant and an oil tank farm and these existing uses will not go away unless they are purchased by someone else.

"3. The cement company could rightfully argue that by purchasing their loading zone, we are leaving them with an uneconomic remnant and therefore would have to purchase their entire operation.

"4. Therefore, we are faced with the choice of upgrading an existing industrial area and provide adequate fire protection while bringing in new jobs and millions of dollars of revenue to the city, leaving the site alone in its unsatisfactory condition, or purchasing the entire site and using it for an alternative use.

"5. SHOW knows that it is impracticable and impossible to purchase the existing properties. Based on past condemnation awards in the Candy Lane and Simpsonville cases, it could be reasonably argued that acquisition of the site could cost in excess of $30 million." This is more money than the federal government's entire urban parks budget and "an overhead burden that no private developer will pick up, except possibly in certain sections of Manhattan," he said. Making city taxpayers bear the burden would push property taxes "out of sight," he said.

"6. Further, SHOW is misleading people by indicating that taxpayers are footing the bill for the Octane project and (that) these funds could be diverted for another project. The facts are that of the approximately $15 million going towards this facility, only $3.5 million represent taxpayers' dollars which must be paid back to the city, even though they are federal funds. The rest of the funding, including JDA (Jobs Development Authority) funding, is private, a fact that SHOW conveniently forgets to mention.

"7. The City of Hudson has come up with the only practical and feasible plan for this section of the city, and SHOW knows it. If they didn't know it, they could have come up with a practical solution several years ago."

Mr. Loewenstein said SHOW's press release "again raises phony environmental bugaboos in its despicable attempt to panic people, by listing 72 potential dangerous chemicals."

He said many of the chemicals on the list "are emitted when you turn on your oil burner, when a farmer turns on his tractor, or you operate your automobile."

He said an Albany newspaper pointed out that the Capital District "faces a potentially major oil crisis because of all the majors that have moved out and the hundreds of service stations that have left.

"We already pay higher fuel prices than most major metropolitan areas, and now SHOW not only wants to prevent us from lowering those prices, but to prevent a major energy crisis. . . ." 

He said Hudson has followed "a rational plan of development," developing areas of tourism, creating hundreds of jobs by developing industrial parks, and building and rehabilitating hundreds of residential units.

"Now the city wants to upgrade its riverfront in the most practical manner. It wants to create millions of dollars in additional city revenue, create new jobs while making the riverfront more attractive and safer than it is now. SHOW refuses to listen. They love confrontation and couldn't care one bit for the City of Hudson or the future of its residents.["]

Gossips Note: In 1999, Loewenstein, as a paid consultant to the City, tried to bring Americlean, a PERC (perchloroethylene) recycler proposing to use an unproven process to recycle toxic dry cleaning fluid, to the Hudson waterfront. That threat was the beginning of Friends of Hudson, the grassroots organization that succeeded in making Americlean go away and, six years later, won the battle against the SLC Greenport Project. Sam Pratt recalled the Americlean story last year on his blog.

News from the City of Hudson Calendar

On Thursday, August 8, at 6:30 p.m.--27 days before the 2013-2014 school year begins and 17 days after anyone in city government knew anything about it--the Planning Commission will hold a special meeting to consider the plan to locate the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, an alternative learning program, in the former Register-Star building at Warren and Fourth streets. Here is the text of the announcement as it appears on the City of Hudson website:

The City of Hudson Planning Commission will hold a Special Meeting on August 8, 2013 at 6:30 PM in City Hall at 520 Warren Street, City of Hudson to consider and make a recommendation on passage of a proposed local law to amend the site development plan provisions of the City's zoning code and to consider a site plan application for development of an Alternative Learning Program facility by the Hudson City School District to be located at 364 Warren Street. 

Everyone concerned about this change of use should make every effort to attend.

I Love the Sound of Chainsaws in the Morning

This morning, the chainsaws and weed whackers were at work at 364 Warren Street, cutting away every bit of foliage--magnolias, holly bushes, and other shrubs--from the courtyard in front of the former Register-Star building, soon to be the home of the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy. So far, however, the pair of pin oak trees that grace the corner of Warren and Fourth have been spared.

Whodathunk that foliage might be an impediment to learning?

Five Easy Pieces

In the Middle Ages, it was common for cathedrals to be built over the course of generations. Here in Hudson, we have a condominium community that has already been in the works for a generation--from one millennium to the next--and it is still not complete.

Back in the 1980s, when affluence was everywhere and the revival in Hudson was in its most embryonic stage, someone had the idea to build a condominium complex on the hill above the reservoir, at the highest point in Hudson, with commanding views to the east of the city, the river, and the Catskills, and to the west of the cemetery, the quarries, and the Berkshires. Only the first block of three units had been completed when along came Black Monday and the stock market crash of 1987. Since no one was clamoring to buy the first three units, plans for the rest of the buildings were put on hold.

For years, the three units huddled together, alone at the top of the hill. Then, around 1994 or 1995, someone had the stunningly bad idea of selling the property to a developer who wanted to build low-income "rent-to-own" housing there. News of this plan spread like wild fire through the community. This was the era of the Vision Plan and monthly meetings that brought together people who wanted to ratchet up the city's self esteem. These were people who had lived in other places and were astounded by Hudson's apparent willingness to sacrifice its choicest locations to subsidized housing. There was protest. There were petitions. People were particularly outraged that the local realtor who co-chaired the Vision Plan effort had brokered the deal. A hectoring lecture meant to rebuke the group for their lack of liberal sensibilities, from a woman who stood to gain financially from the deal, fell on deaf ears. There was a vocal new element in Hudson--property or business owners all--who did not want low-income housing on the hill overlooking the city, and this new force prevailed. The deal was abandoned, and the realtor at the center of it resigned in disgrace from his role in the Vision Plan.

Moving on to the next decade, in the aftermath of 9/11, the notion that New Yorkers might seek second homes or primary homes in places that were accessible but far beyond ground zero persuaded developers that there was a market for the condominiums first proposed in the 1980s. In 2002, although then city attorney Jack Connor expressed disbelief and some annoyance that a project that had gotten site plan approval almost twenty years earlier could move ahead without a new review, only one thing brought the condo project before the Planning Commission. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation had, in the intervening years, changed its rules about impervious surfaces and storm water management, so the project had to be reviewed again for those considerations only.

In 2003, the construction of the remaining units went forward. Detractors, those who had been drawn to Hudson by its historic architecture and who valued authenticity, dubbed the new complex "Vinyl Village." Defenders of the Olana viewshed were stunned to discover that the condos constituted a greater intrusion into the view from Cosy Cottage than the abandoned Atlas Cement storage silos. People inhabiting the old city below bemoaned the fact that the condos broke the ridge line and spoiled the perfect collar of green that surrounded the city--something that previously was done only by the Oliver Wiswall House on Mount Merino.

Plans for Phase II

With the two facing rows of condos complete, the complex was given a name: Mount Ray Estates. This, however, was just Phase I. In 2005, Phase II came before the Planning Commission for site plan review. Residents of Rossman Avenue, concerned about increased traffic on their steep little street and increased problems with storm water runoff, organized the Rossman Avenue Association and hired a lawyer to try to stop Phase II. They were joined in their efforts by historic preservationists concerned about how the condos would encroach on the oldest section of Hudson's historic cemetery.

In a bizarre turn of events, the Rossman Avenue Association's lawyer, Jeff Baker, who had achieved hero status as the attorney for Friends of Hudson during the protracted battle against St. Lawrence Cement, was appointed by the Tracy administration, at the beginning of 2006, to be legal counsel to the Planning Commission, and as a consequence, he could no longer represent the Rossman Avenue residents. At what may have been their first meeting in 2006, the members of the Planning Commission, the majority of whom were Rick Scalera appointees, voted four to three to adopt a negative declaration, thus eliminating a higher level of review, which would have looked at, among other things, the impact of the expanded condo project on the National Register-listed Rossman-Prospect Avenue Historic District and the National Register-eligible Hudson City Cemetery and involved the State Historic Preservation Office. The vote broke similarly on giving site plan approval to Phase II.

As before, not all of the buildings in Phase II were constructed at that time. Only the nine units on the west side of what is called Academy Hill Drive were completed.

Early last week, Gossips received reports from readers who live on Rossman Avenue of "incredible, loud, and constant truck traffic carrying away debris from the top of the hill." Gossips investigated and discovered what appeared to be activity in preparation for construction.

The photograph below was taken on Tuesday, July 30, from the cemetery, just beyond the monumental tomb (shown at right) of Fred W. Jones, the man who gave us the railroad through South Bay that evolved into the "causeway."

Either they've decided to contour and landscape the slope between Academy Hill Drive and the cemetery or the construction of Phase II has resumed. If it's the latter, we should probably celebrate the fact that the developers of Mount Ray Estates think the Great Recession of 2009 is over. If they have resumed construction on Phase II, it is not clear at this point if they intend to complete the entire complex or just to build the nine units planned for the east side of Academy Hill Drive--the fourth of what would be a total of five pieces.

COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Democrats Release 2013 Platform

Today the Hudson Democratics released their 2013 platform, adopted on Wednesday, July 31, by the Hudson City Democratic Committee. The first plank in the platform is taxes. The democrats call the current tax burden "too high and unsustainable in the long run" and declare their support for initiatives that "increase housing density to help drive down taxes."

Historic preservation is also included in the platform, although among the dozen planks, it is at the bottom. The platform articulates the position that the rehabilitation and maintenance of historic buildings "enhances neighborhood pride and stability" and that rehabbing buildings "represents labor-intensive activities that bolster our local economy and increases our tax base."

The other planks in the platform address economic development and jobs, government transparency, diversity in employment at all levels of city and county government, waterfront development that follows the principles of smart growth, reducing and mitigating the impacts of truck traffic, preserving the city's natural resources, promoting community policing and recruiting officers who reflect the city's diversity, balancing the weighted voted, greater protections for tenants, and enhanced public services.

Next Sunday, August 11, the Democrats officially open their 2013 campaign headquarters at 6 South Second Street with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. The candidates will be present, and refreshments are promised.

Fountain Favoritism

Yesterday, Gossips printed the report from the twenty-ninth convention of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Columbia County and explored the widespread phenomenon of the WCTU fountain. One of the resolves of the local WCTU, when they met in October 1913, was to erect a drinking fountain in Hudson, so that men would not have to go into a saloon to quench their thirst. The WCTU ladies let no grass grow under their feet in achieving their goal. This headline appeared in the Hudson Evening Register for May 12, 1915:

The text that follows clarifies that this in not the DAR fountain but a different fountain to be erected by the WCTU.

The monthly meeting of the white ribboners was held at the home of Mrs. Herbert Avery, on Prospect street. After the usual opening exercises communications were read. One of the letters was from the Young Men's Christian association, giving the W. C. T. U. permission to use the piece of land between the association building and the store now occupied by A. R. Vosburgh for the purpose of erecting a drinking fountain. The association also was granted the privilege of connecting with the Y. M. C. A. water supply and sewerage pipes until such a time as the association shall desire to use the same for enlarging their building.

The fountain has been ordered, and will be forwarded as soon as the plumbing work is done and a foundation is prepared for the fountain which the women hope will soon be done.

In 1915, A. R. Vosburgh sold hats and caps at 437 Warren Street, just east of the YMCA building at 435 Warren Street. The fountain would have been located just left of the building, where the fence is in this 1905 photograph.

In her 1909 History of the City of Hudson, Anna Bradbury reminds us of why the YMCA and the WCTU would be allies and why Hudson was a perfect target for their mission:

A city which, from the proportion of saloons to the population has won the unenviable distinction of standing second on the list in the state, should sustain "The Christian Association" is self defience [sic]. Let the stranger who invariably comments on the number of saloons on our principal thoroughfare, be enabled to observe at least one public effort to provide a proper, and congenial place for our young men to congregate.

In 1915, there would also be a fountain where young men could quench their thirst without entering a saloon and being tempted to stay for stronger drink. 

But what happened to the fountain that the Daughters of the American Revolution had commissioned and given to the City of Hudson? This brief report, presumably from a Common Council meeting, discovered in the Hudson Evening Register for March 26, 1916, reveals that seven years after it had been unveiled in Washington Park and almost a year after the WCTU fountain was installed on Warren Street, the Hudson-Fulton fountain was still languishing in "limbo."

D.A.R. Drinking Fountain Soon to be Placed on Public Square.

A communication was received regarding the DAR fountain, and it was voted with satisfaction that this fountain will soon be removed from limbo and receive appropriate setting on Public Square.

But alas, more than a year later, it still hadn't happened. In June 1917, this item appeared in the Hudson Evening Register:

FOR DRINKING FOUNTAIN.

In the matter of placing the D. A. R. fountain in Public Square, as was agreed upon last year, but which work had been stopped on account of the illness of the superintendent, the Public Works commissioner feels that the money needed to do this work be raised in some way, he will be glad to have the work done and supervise the work.

Thanks to Paul Barrett for discovering these news items about the drinking fountains of Hudson and sharing them with Gossips.

More Clues About the Fountain

This morning, Paul Barrett discovered a reference to the Hudson-Fulton fountain, which, while it doesn't explain what happened to the fountain, gives some background for understanding the comment about fountains and bars reported in the newspaper item quoted on Monday: "I told the Chairman to meet me at the fountain," said one of the members. "'Well, if you did,' said a man who is often seen about the Court House, 'you will find him in the bar.'"

In 1913, the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of Columbia County held its twenty-ninth annual convention at the First Methodist Church in Hudson. During the two-day gathering, one of the topics of discussion was the need for public drinking fountains--especially in Hudson--so that the thirsty wouldn't have to go into bars and saloons to quench their thirst.

It turns out this was a national initiative. The WCTU website explains: "At the 1874 organizing convention of the National Woman's Christian Temperance Union, the members were urged to erect drinking fountains in their towns so that men could get a drink of water without entering saloons and staying for stronger drinks. Often the drinking fountains that were erected offered a place for horses for drink, another place for dogs, and of course, a place for humans to drink."

Fountains from this era survive all over the country, and the WCTU website maintains an inventory of these fountains that grows as more are discovered. These are a few examples.

Petaluma, CA--erected 1891

Coudersport, PA--erected 1903

Spring Lake, MI--erected 1910

Atlanta, GA--erected 1923

At the 1913 convention in Hudson, the Hudson-Fulton fountain came up in the discussion of the need for public drinking fountains. The following report from the convention appeared in the Hudson Evening Register for October 16, 1913:

The president also mentioned the ridicule that was bestowed on the fountain that was once situated near the Court House, and which was afterward presented to the city by the Daughters of the American Revolution. "These women suffered humiliation in erecting that fountain, not to mention the expense, etc., and they felt very bad when it was ridiculed to such an extent." Mrs. Snyder said "she trusted that if anything like that should again grace our city, it wouldn't be laughed at."

It's still not clear why the Hudson-Fulton fountain, created by H. K. Bush-Brown, a sculptor of no small reputation, was the object of such derision.

Hudson in a Short Story

"Zombie Hookers of Hudson"--that's the title of Maggie Estep's contribution to Marijuana Chronicles, a collection of new short stories all of which have something to do with pot. Estep, who lives in Hudson, has written a story that is set in Hudson and draws from the seamier side of Hudson's rich history. Other contributors to the collection are Joyce Carol Oates, the most famous among them, and Edward M. Gomez, who lived in Hudson at the turn of the millennium and created the Hudson River Herald, a broadside that focused on local environmental issues.

You can hear Estep read from "Zombie Hookers of Hudson" this Sunday, August 4, at 4 p.m., at The Spotty Dog. Also reading their stories from the book will be Linda Yablonsky and and Jonathan Santlofer, the editor of the collection as well as a contributor.  The ensemble August Wells will provide musical entertainment, and the authors will be signing books after the reading.

The Corporation Strikes Back

Last week, Sam Pratt brought media attention to the memorandum from the Environmental Management Council to the Columbia County Board of Supervisors about the fire that occurred a year ago at the TCI facility in Ghent. Stating that "there have been few, if any, man-made environmental incidents in Columbia County equaling the TCI fire in Ghent measured by the potential for creating immediate hazards to responders, residents, agriculture, and the larger environment," the memo recommends strategies to "avert the recurrence of such an event."

The Register-Star today reports on TCI attorney Bill Better's response to the memorandum: "TCI attacks EMC memo." Better accuses the Environmental Management Council of, among other things, "recklessness and discourtesy." According to Better, the EMC should have invited TCI to its meetings and shared the memo with TCI before releasing it to the press, which, he says, would have helped them avoid "numerous factual and analytical errors."

The full text of Better's letter can be accessed at sampratt.com.

A Month Before the School Year Begins

Today's Register-Star has an article about the alternative learning program that is scheduled to open in the former Register-Star building in a month and two days: "Hudson-Catskill alternative education program to be housed on Warren Street."

Business owners on Warren Street are concerned about this change of use for the building, and at last week's Common Council Legal Committee meeting, Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) expressed his dissatisfaction that the school district had not come to the City to discuss the plan before moving ahead, so that the City could do what's best for the city. The proposed new use," Friedman said, affects the tenor of the whole business district," and he predicted that it would have a ripple effect up and down the street. 

HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier, however, declares herself convinced that the location is "perfect" for the new program. She supports that opinion by saying that there used to be an alternative education program across the street "at some point." In an email to a constituent, in which he professes not to have known about the plan for the school until July 22, when he was advised that "a story had appeared on a blog that I do not read," Mayor William Hallenbeck too makes reference to the earlier program: "I will also add that the ALP school for years used to be across the street from the pro-printers building in the blue building next to the church which now does something with dogs." (Of course, the mayor meant Johnny's Ideal Printing; Pro-Printers is on Fairview Avenue.)

The fact that "at one time" an ALP program was located on this part of Warren Street is not an adequate reason to think it's a good fit now. "At one time," many of the storefronts on Warren Street were used for low-income housing, and that's certainly not something anyone who cares about the economic viability of Hudson wants to see happen again. 
                                  

The most unfortunate thing about this plan is that the basic concept--to provide students who do not succeed in a conventional high school setting other ways of learning and realizing their potential--is one that the community should and does support, but it is being implemented in a way that shows little regard for other interests in the community or for the economic well-being of the city as a whole. As a consequence, as happens so often in Hudson, those objecting to siting an ALP school at the heart of a revitalized main street risk being characterized as elitist NIMBY snobs who want to deny kids struggling academically a chance to succeed. This might have been an opportunity to bring the community together to solve a problem, as the Hudson Reads program at HCSD, created by Lisa Dolan, so admirably does, but instead, foisted on the community with no consultation or consideration, it is yet another impetus for resentment and divisiveness.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest

Tom DePietro's interview with HPD chief Ed Moore on WGXC's @Issue has now been archived. Click here to listen.

Remembering the Rialto

In the post card image Gossips published last week of the buildings destroyed in the 1965 Good Friday fire, the building at 332 Warren Street was occupied by the Rialto Theatre. The building started out as a private residence. In 1867, it was the home of Henry Miller, and prior to that it was know as the "Little property." Curious to know when 332 Warren Street became the Rialto Theatre and how long it remained so, Gossips consulted John Craig, foremost authority on theaters on Hudson.    

Craig supplied the information that the ground floor of the building was converted into a theater in 1909. Called at that time the Warren Theatre, it was the second venue for movies and vaudeville in Hudson—the first being the auditorium in City Hall, now the Hudson Opera House.  

The Warren Theatre closed in 1917, and in February 1919, the Hudson Improvement Company bought the building. Seven years earlier, in 1912, the Hudson Improvement Company had built the 1,500-seat Playhouse Theatre at 347 Warren Street. After extensive improvements, designed by architect Michael J. O'Connor, the theater at 332 Warren Street reopened as the Rialto in July 1919.

In 1926, the Hudson Improvement Company leased the Rialto and the Playhouse to theater operators from New York City: Henry Frieder and his brothers-in-law, Henry and William Grossman, who called themselves the Henwilhen Company. The Rialto closed in 1934, and in 1938, the Playhouse was destroyed by fire.

At the time of the Good Friday fire in 1965, 332 Warren Street, the building that had been the Rialto, was owned by the local post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, who used us as their clubhouse. They purchased the building in 1941 after the Hudson Improvement Company had dissolved and liquidated its holdings.

 

This photograph of 332 Warren Street engulfed in flames together with the text of this article from the Register-Star about the suspected cause of the fire were provided by Craig.

COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Eureka! . . . But No

I almost shrieked Eureka! in City Hall on Wednesday afternoon when, after poring through two years of Common Council minutes, I finally came upon mention of Hudson-Fulton fountain. It's a good thing I didn't though. My elation over discovering this item in the minutes for September 29, 1910, lasted only as long as it took me to read it.

Alderman Barlow said that about a year ago there had been presented to the city a drinking fountain but it had since disappeared. He would like to know if anybody could tell him where the fountain is located.

Alderman Finigan moved that Alderman Barlow and Alderman Flanagan be appointed a committee to investigate the matter.

The Recorder ruled the motion out of order, as the Council cannot designate a committee.

I don't know what rule of order the Recorder relied on to dismiss the resolution. During the two years of Council proceedings I'd been reviewing, several ad hoc committees had been created--the committee to advertise the city during the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, the committee to find out what happened to the flagstones, the committee to get the trunk highway to run through Hudson--so why the Council couldn't designate a committee to solve the mystery of the missing fountain, for Alderman Barlow and for posterity, is not at all clear. In the minutes for the remainder of 1910 and for 1911 there is no further mention of the fountain.

The item made Gossips curious to find out more about Alderman Barlow. Emerson Barlow represented the Third Ward, where the fountain had been situated when it stood at the Union Street entrance to Washington Park. By profession, he was a dentist, and with his associate, Charles A. Walker, he practiced dentistry at the Hudson Dental Parlors at 524 Warren Street. Barlow resided at 438 East Allen Street.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK