Learning of an Amazing Discovery

In July, Gossips reported that Peter Jung had been commissioned to sell this a little-known painting by Henry Ary, dated 1854, showing Promenade Hill and the views beyond.

By a happy coincidence, Gossips learned today some intriguing information about the provenance of this painting. It was discovered, in the 1950s, right here in Hudson, in the attic of this house, 259 Union Street, which once stood on the southwest corner of Union and Third streets.

The painting had been left in the attic by previous owners of the house, but the identity of the owners who relegated the Ary to the attic and left it there when they moved on is not known. The family who discovered the Ary in the attic knew their house as the "Punderson house." (At that time in Hudson, all houses seem to have had names.) According to the Hudson city directory for 1912, Mrs. James M. Punderson lived at 259 Union Street, and Russell M. and Louise Punderson were boarders at that address. Hudson River School paintings were considered outdated by the end of the 19th century, so the Pundersons may well have been the ones who consigned the Ary to the attic in favor of something more fashionable and then forgot about it. One wonders what else was in that attic.
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Armory on My Mind

Recently, a reader shared these remarkable post card images of the Hudson Armory with Gossips, which I had never seen before. The first is undated, but it includes one of the "fountain head pumps" that were once located throughout the city, so it would seem this is the earliest of the three, probably showing the armory soon after it was completed in 1898. The other two post cards are dated 1911 and 1917 respectively.

The State of Historic Preservation in Hudson

There was a time, a year or so ago, when Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward) launched regular assaults, during Common Council meetings, on the historic preservation law and the Historic Preservation Commission for their alleged interference with projects perceived by Pierro to represent progress and development. The complaints about the obstructionist nature of historic preservation were usually related to Galvan Partners/Foundation projects, and it was easy to suspect Pierro's long-time political crony Rick Scalera, special adviser to the Galvan Foundation, was behind them.

Lately, Pierro seems to have eased up on historic preservation, taking up instead the need to sell at auction the former Dunn warehouse and the vacant lot at Fourth and State, but life for the Historic Preservation Commission hasn't become any easier. On August 9, the plans for another Galvan project, the conversion of the Hudson Armory into the Galvan Community Learning Center, came before the Historic Preservation Commission. HPC chair Rick Rector called it "the most major thing we have dealt with," and although the project was granted a certificate of appropriateness, not everyone on the HPC was happy with the decision.

When the HPC considered the proposal for the Armory on August 9, the vote to proceed with granting a certificate of appropriateness was four to one, with only Tony Thompson opposed to the action, saying that "adding two historic styles to the building turns it into a mongrel." (On August 9, Jack Alvarez recused himself, and Scott Baldinger was absent.) This past Friday, when the HPC took its official vote approving the certificate of appropriateness, only three members voted yes (Rector, David Voorhees, and Phil Forman) and two voted no (Thompson was joined by Baldinger, who had been absent at the previous meeting).

After the vote was taken, Thompson, who tends to stress the importance of differentiation beyond what some feel is recommended in the Secretary of the Interior's Guidelines, enumerated all the problems he saw with the design for the new addition proposed--"same materials, same roof height, same roof material"--and said that he had problems with the interpretation of the law. He wanted to know, in particular, the difference in meaning among the terms similarity, appropriateness, and compatibility.

Baldinger took Thompson's comments as an opportunity to share his own objections to the design, which focused on the Greek Revival portico planned for what will be the entrance to the Hudson Area Library on State Street. Baldinger said there was a handsome keystone at that entrance now, which would be covered up by the proposed portico. He suggested all that was needed were new doors and "some kind of canopy" and expressed the opinion that the proposed portico was "not in the spirit of the building."

Forman, who had voted both times in favor of granting a certificate of appropriateness, mused about "very large projects with a lot of momentum" and the "enormous pressure to move forward." He alluded to the number of library board members who had turned out for the meeting. When Rector reminded Forman that the HPC had decided not to do a workshop on the project and to waive a public hearing, Forman conceded, "If I didn't perceive some kind of pressure, I would have wanted to have a workshop."

Some months ago, Scalera asked at an HPC meeting why workshop sessions could not take place before an application for a certificate of appropriateness was presented, implying that when a workshop happened after an application was submitted, it held things up and interfered with the construction schedule for a project. He had the Armory project in mind when he asked the question, and he was told the there was no reason why an applicant couldn't seek input from the HPA before submitting a formal application. Despite this, the Armory design was never presented to the HPC until August, when a certificate of appropriateness was needed if the project were to proceed on schedule, although a version of it had been presented to the public as early as December 2012.

The opinion that historic preservation discourages development permeates City Hall and beyond--originating with Scalera, voiced by Pierro and parroted by the other Fifth Ward alderman Bob "Doc" Donahue, shared by the current mayor, and even echoed by Tom Swope, former chair of the HPC, when, as an applicant before the commission on Friday, he asked the rhetorical question, "Does this law stand in the way of progress?" The pressure to prove this is not the case often seems to compel Rector to gallop the commission through the review process. Although the law (Chapter 169-7.C) gives the HPC sixty days to render a decision on an accepted application, in practice they seem hellbent on doing it in under sixty minutes.

In May 2012, following the guidance of city attorney and HPC counsel Cheryl Roberts, the commission initiated the practice of meeting twice a month. Two meetings a month would seem to give applicants more opportunities to present projects to the HPC and give the HPC more time to deliberate, to do research, to seek expert advice, to arrive at informed and well thought out decisions. In fact, that is not the case. As the meetings are now structured and rigorously adhered to at the apparent insistence of Roberts, the practice only adds to the waiting time for the applicant.

At the first meeting of the month, the HPC considers applications for certificates of appropriateness. They decide at that meeting if they want Roberts to draft a decision approving or denying a COA. Roberts takes two weeks to write a paragraph explaining what has been approved or why it was denied, and at their second meeting of the month, with these documents before them, the HPC votes officially to approve or deny. It would seem that, instead of making an applicant wait two weeks for the documentary evidence that a project has been approved, it would be better, particularly in the case of "major projects" like the Armory, if the HPC took those two weeks to consider the proposal before them.

There is more bad news for the beleaguered HPC. After last Friday's meeting, Baldinger resigned. Although he had not been present at the meeting on August 9 when the Armory project was presented and discussed, Baldinger was permitted to vote on the COA on August 23. But when he expressed his criticism of the portico proposed for the library entrance, he was told by Rector that it was inappropriate for him to rehash the discussion, of which he hadn't been a part, after the decision had already been made. After the meeting, Baldinger and Rector had words, but Baldinger told Gossips that his difference of opinion with Rector was not the reason for his resignation. Rather the demands of his work (Baldinger is the editor of Rural Intelligence) made it increasingly difficult to carve out the time required for the HPC, and he had been thinking about resigning for some time.

Baldinger was appointed to the HPC by Mayor William Hallenbeck in February 2012. In May 2012, Hallenbeck appointed Peggy Polenberg.
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Arcade Rising

It's been months since any work has been done on the "Hudson Arcade" project, located on Warren Street near Fifth, but early this morning materials and equipment were delivered to the site, and by noon, the framework for the two-story extension had been erected.

In July, the Planning Commission modified the site plan that had been approved when Filli's Market was to be the tenant, to allow deliveries from Cherry Alley during the hours of 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. The tenants being courted at the time planned to establish a food market in the building, but instead of using the second floor for residential space, as was originally proposed, they wanted to use it for office space and additional retail space.

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The Woes of 405 Warren Street

The problems surrounding 405 Warren Street continue. The City's title to the property it foreclosed on for nonpayment of taxes is still being contested in court. Galvan Partners, the high bidder in the tax foreclosure auction, walked away from the deal citing title issues as the reason. It has been discovered that the building's boiler is in a hazardous state, and it has been disconnected. Today, well in advance of the heating season, the last tenants remaining in the building are being evicted. John Mason has the whole story in today's Register-Star: "City to oust 405 Warren Street tenants today."

Suspension Bridge

The school year begins next week, and the problems of "The Bridge" have yet to be solved. Arthur Cusano reports on Monday night's school board meeting in today's Register-Star: "Hudson alt. ed. program in state's hands." 

What They Said

When it was discovered last Wednesday that the two-hundred-year-old house at 900 Columbia Street was being "disassembled" to be "reassembled" at 215 Union Street, Gossips was curious to know exactly what Galvan Partners said they were going to do in order to persuade the Historic Preservation Commission to grant a certificate of appropriateness. A FOIL request for the original application, the certificate of appropriateness, and all supporting documents was fulfilled this afternoon.

The original application, submitted on May 3, 2012, by Tom Swope, for Galvan Partners LLC, described what was being proposed in this way: "To move a historic house at 900 Columbia, that is in [sic] planned to be demolished to an empty lot we own at 215 Union St." The application continues: 

PROPOSED WORK

Scope of Work:  Put the old house on a new foundation.

Reason for Work:  To save a historic structure that otherwise would be torn down

Architect/Engineer (If Applicable):  John O'Connell

Contractor (If Applicable):  Wolfe House Movers

Construction Schedule:  Dependent upon the current owners building their new facility.

In the photo gallery on the Wolfe House Movers website includes this picture of a substantial brick house, with a gambrel roof, being moved, portico, balcony, and all, in nearby Schenectady.

Documentation that accompanied the original application provides further evidence that what was presented to the HPC and what was granted a certificate of appropriateness on May 11, 2012, was a proposal to move the house: "900 Columbia Street is a historic house on the outskirts of modern Hudson, that we would like to move into the heart of historic Hudson. The house was built most, we believe, in the 1830's [research by Walter Ritchie has since determined that the house was built between 1810 and 1815], and had a side extension, and a rear extension added at a later date. We intend to take off those extensions, and move only the central original core of the house which was a classic center hall, four over four room configuration."

An email sent by Swope to David Voorhees, then chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, and meant for distribution to all the members of the HPC reiterates the intention:

We have gotten a quote from Wolfe House movers, to move 900 Columbia Street to an empty lot we own at 215 Union Street, see the digital rendering of what that would be like.

Our plan is [to] move the central original early core of the house, which was a grand 4 over 4 center hall house, with much original detail preserved, onto a new foundation. At this time we're not asking for permission to do anything more than that, when it comes time to restoring the house, we'll come back before the commission for a COA. For example, we'll want to change the door from the early 20th Century door there now, to a more appropriate Greek Revival door system.

This is the rendering referred to in Swope's email.

So now we have the house that was supposed to be moved pretty much intact with "much original detail preserved" being "disassembled" with the intention of "reassembling" it on Union Street. Looking at the house today, it is clear that it has been stripped of any surviving interior detail. An eyewitness reports seeing what she thought were the newel posts, balusters, and banister of the two-story staircase being hauled away, to an unknown destination. Presumably, in the fullness of time, a giant pile of two-hundred-year-old bricks will be delivered to 215 Union Street to be reassembled into resembling the historic house, but this is not what the Historic Preservation Commission was asked to review and approve. 

Sadly, the notion that "disassembling" and "reassembling" (or deconstruction and reconstruction) somehow qualifies as "moving" may be suggested in the language of the certificate of appropriateness, written by the HPC's legal counsel, Cheryl Roberts.

Pursuant to Chapter 169 of the Hudson City Code, the Commission finds that the proposed relocation of the historic structure currently located at 900 Columbia Street to an empty lot on 215 Union Street is compatible with the Union/Allen/Front Street Historic District. The structure located at 900 Columbia Street is slated for demolition. If not relocated, the structure will be lost to the community. Its relocation to 215 Union Street is compatible with the existing structures in close proximity to the relocation site. The structures surrounding 215 Union Street were built from the late in the [sic] eighteenth to early twentieth centuries and are of late Georgian to Queen Anne style. According to the applicant, the structure to be relocated was built in circa 1830 and is of early Greek Revival style. These architectural styles all appear in Hudson in close proximity to each other and are compatible.

Since 900 Columbia Street was neither individually designated or part of a historic district, the certificate of appropriateness focuses on the suitability of siting the house in a National Register and locally designated historic district. The consistent use of the term relocate rather than move, however, seems to open the door to the alternative of getting it there in little pieces rather than in as intact a condition as possible. 

Gossips has been advised by the State Historic Preservation Office that there is no official definition for move or relocate. That's probably because the preservation world prefers things to stay where they were originally sited. The location of buildings is usually an important part of their historic significance, and this certainly has turned out to be the case for 900 Columbia Street. It was one of the first houses to be built on Prospect Hill, and its original owner, Captain William Ashley, was the person who gave the hill its name, inspired by the fine prospect it afforded of the Hudson River and the mountains beyond.

This picture, taken shortly after 5 p.m. today, makes it painfully clear that the Historic Preservation Commission, in granting the certificate of appropriateness--indeed, in celebrating this proposal as a way to preserve a significant historic house--was the victim of a colossal bait and switch. Even if all the bricks are being numbered and they are reassembled exactly as they were, the mortar would be different, and the house would not be what it was. More likely, however, a new house will be constructed at 215 Union Street, perhaps with the same dimensions of the original house, and covered with a veneer of old bricks. That's not historic preservation.
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Galloway Gallery: Exhibit 46

Signs in front of the building announce "Sale Pending" and "Going Out of Business." It's been known for a while that Harmon was looking to retire and the building that housed Harmon's Auto Repair was for sale, but Gossips learned only today that when the sale closes next week, the new owner of the property, which extends along the west side of Third Street from Union to Partition, will be T. Eric Galloway.

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Ear to the Ground

Gossips has learned that Cheryl Roberts has resigned from Rapport Meyers, the law firm she joined "Of Counsel" in April 2011. Roberts was appointed city attorney by Mayor William Hallenbeck in January 2012. She had previously been employed by the City, since 2006, as legal counsel for and author of Hudson's Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan. It is expected that Roberts will be moving into an office in City Hall, which is the first time in at least twenty years, possibly ever, that a city attorney has had an office in the municipal building.

In With the New, Out With the Old

Since today was Sunday, there was no work--construction or deconstruction--going on at 900 Columbia Street, so Gossips was able drive up the road that leads to the other houses that share the address 900 Columbia Street to take some pictures of the new building rising up as the historic building is coming down.

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Executive Powers

One of the things being discussed in the Common Council Legal Committee is amending the process by which mass gathering permits are applied for and granted. The impetus for doing this is Mayor William Hallenbeck's decision to approve a mass gathering permit that allowed Joe Fiero of American Glory to shut down the 300 block of Warren Street on a fine Saturday in May, much to the annoyance of other business owners on the street, for an event that didn't live up to expectation.

The challenge is to amend the law so that the desire of one does not interfere with the interests of many without curtailing the power of the mayor, since a referendum is required when an action by the legislature changes the executive's power.

Soon after the July Legal Committee meeting at which amending the process was discussed, Gossips discovered, while searching the Common Council minutes for clues about what happened to the Hudson-Fulton fountain, that a similar situation had occurred a hundred years ago. The following excerpt is from the minutes for January 26, 1911:

Alderman McAree inquired as to whether the Mayor had given permission to representatives of the Italian Church to discharge fireworks recently, and Alderman Finigan inquired as to whether the Mayor was liable in case of an accident resulting from his granting such permission.

The Recorder read Ordinance No. 36 in relation to the subject.

Alderman McAree then moved that the Finance Committee be authorized and directed to amend Ordinance No. 36, so as to curtail the discretion given to the Mayor.

Alderman Finigan suggested that if the Mayor was to be given such discretion he should be required to give a bond in order to indemnify the city.

The motion of Alderman McAree was adopted.

A hundred years ago, the Common Council seemed to have no constraints when it came to curtailing the executive's powers. The minutes for March 2, 1911, reveal the reason why the Common Council wanted to hold the mayor responsible for his decisions.

A claim of Basil Halloran for $15,000 damages, for alleged injuries received by an explosion of a piece of fireworks which he picked up in an alley north of Robinson St. was read, received and placed on file.

The piece of fireworks that injured Halloran was no doubt from the fireworks discharged by the "Italian Church." According to the 1912 Hudson city directory, St. Maria Del Monte Carmelo was located at "Market Place," North Front Street near Diamond Street.
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Where Did the People Go?

When the new building being constructed at 900 Columbia Street was first proposed in February 2011, it was explained to the Planning Commission that the ten residents of the group home operated there by the Mental Health Association would remain in the historic building until the new facility was completed. When they had been moved to the new facility, the historic house would be demolished to make way for a parking lot.

The timetable changed in June 2013, when the Galvan Foundation requested an extension on their certificate of appropriateness to move the building. According to a letter sent to the Historic Preservation Commission by Walter Ritchie, at the behest of the Galvan Foundation, the historic house could not be moved until the ten residents of the group home had been relocated, but they would be out of the building by the end of July 2013.

Today, as the historic building is being "disassembled," the new building is rising behind it. But what happened to the ten people that made up the group home at 900 Columbia Street?

When Gossips spoke with Daniel Kent, executive director for the Galvan Foundation, on Wednesday, he confirmed that they had been moved out, on schedule, at the end of July. When asked where they had gone, he first said he didn't know and then said the question should be directed to the Mental Health Association.

Weeks ago, it was rumored that the residents of the MHA group home would be moved to 67-71 North Fifth Street, a property owned and recently reconstructed by the Galvan Foundation. Evidence now suggests that those rumors may have been true.

Although the exterior of the building remains only partially painted, there are curtains, which are always drawn, at all of the windows, and neighbors report seeing furniture being delivered to all three units at the same time by the same truck. The new residents rarely appear in front of the building but seem to congregate, according to reports, under a canopy tent in the backyard.

If the residents of the MHA group home have, in fact, been relocated to 67-71 North Fifth Street, this raises some questions. The building, now a triple house as it had been historically, is located in an area that is zoned R-2. According to Hudson code (Chapter 325-8 B and 325-7 B), "Hospitals, sanitariums, philanthropic or eleemosynary institutions and convalescent or nursing homes or homes for the aged" are a conditional use in an R-2 District, subject to the approval of the Planning Commission, provided that "such hospital, institution or home does not primarily care for patients suffering from alcoholism and is not a transitional service facility."

When advocates for the preservation of 900 Columbia Street tried to persuade the Mental Health Association to sell the historic house and locate elsewhere, MHA maintained that the constraints of Hudson's zoning made this impossible. If it is now true that MHA has relocated its clients to this Galvan-owned property in an R-2 District, they seem to have found a way to skirt the city's zoning laws.
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Hudson in the New York Times

Stockholm, which is having its American premiere at Stageworks/Hudson, got a rave review from Ben Brantley in yesterday's New York Times: "Dancing Erotically with Knives." 

It's still possible to see the performance, today at 2:00 and 8:00 p.m., tomorrow at 2:00 and 7:30 p.m., and next week Wednesday through Sunday. Visit the website or call (518) 822-9667 for tickets.

A Bridge Too Far?

Rumor has it that the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, a.k.a. "The Bridge," to be situated at 364 Warren Street, has encountered some unanticipated problems. Lynn Sloneker has the story on her blog, Unmuffled: "Rumor Patrol: Has the Bridge collapsed?"

"Disassembling" a Landmark: Day 3

This is what the historic house at 900 Columbia Street looked like today at about 4:30 p.m.

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt has an account on his blog of a conversation with Ken Flood, commissioner for planning and economic development for Columbia County: "Ken's convo with Kevin." A sample of what Flood said: "Restaurants in Hudson and Chatham . . . don't provide good jobs except for the owners."

Claverack Bridge Is Coming Back

The Register-Star reports today that the bridge on Route 23B over Claverack Creek is expected to reopen, on schedule, for Labor Day weekend: "Claverack bridge to reopen next week." 

The article talks about pieces of wood from a platform under the bridge seen floating in the creek and quotes Department of Transportation spokesman Bryan Viggiani as saying, "Their [sic] supposed to keep the creek as clean as possible. . . . They are supposed to take precautions and get things out of there when they are done."

They took precautions about some things. A reader kayaking on Claverack Creek last Sunday spotted these life preservers hanging on either side of the bridge, presumably there lest some unfortunate worker should topple into the creek below.

Memory Lane

A reader reminded Gossips of this press release, from May 7, 2012, which can still be found on the Galvan Foundation website.

THE GALVAN FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES A HISTORIC PRESERVATION INITIATIVE TO SAVE TWO HISTORIC AND IMPORTANT PIECES OF HUDSON’S ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE.

HUDSON, NY May 7, 2012 -- The Foundation mission, in part, is preserving the unique architectural heritage of the City of Hudson. In accordance with our mission, the foundation proposes to move 900 Columbia Street and the Robert Taylor House to vacant lots Galvan already owns.

900 Columbia Street is currently a group home run by the Mental Health Association of Columbia Greene Counties. They are in need of a new housing facility, which they plan to build on the lot behind 900 Columbia, and then raze the house to make room for parking. They have generously offered to transfer the building at no cost to anyone who would move it. The site selected for the house is located at 215 Union Street, Hudson, NY.

The Robert Taylor House, located at 68 South 2nd Street, has been vacant for many years. On its current site the house is somewhat lost, and looks out over warehouses, when originally it looked out over the South Bay towards Mt. Merino, the river and the Catskills beyond. The site selected for the Taylor house is 21 Union Street, Hudson NY.

These moves require cooperation and assistance from the several City agencies as well as residents. For example, we must provide the movers with a clear path, including temporarily adjusting electrical lines and street lights.  We also have to trim any tree branches that might impede the move, and no parking on the streets along the route will be possible on the day of the move. Traffic will also have to be rerouted for the move. The Foundation is hopeful that in the interest of preserving these two important historic houses that all interested parties will provide the cooperation necessary to make these moves possible

On May 11, 2012, the Historic Preservation Commission denied a certificate of appropriateness to the proposal to move the Robert Taylor House but granted a certificate of appropriateness to move 900 Columbia Street. The press release makes it pretty clear that what was being proposed at the time, and, more importantly, what the HPC deemed appropriate, was to move the house not to "disassemble" it and "reassessible" it, which is what is actually happening.

"Disassembling" a Landmark: Day 2

This is what the historic house at 900 Columbia Street looked like at about 7:30 p.m. today.

Hudson in the Movies

In the summer of 2011, a movie called Love Orchard, starring Bruce Dern and Columbia County's own Kristanna Loken, who grew up on Love Apple Farm in Ghent, was filmed here in Hudson, at the Columbia County courthouse. The film was shown last year at the Chatham Film Festival, but, recently renamed Fighting for Freedom, it will have its theatrical release next month, on September 13, opening in two theaters--on the West Coast, at the Laemmle Theatre in North Hollywood, and on the East Coast, at Fairview Cinema 3, just across the border in Greenport.

When she was growing up here in Columbia County, Loken and her family were regulars at Fairview Cinema 3. Now, with an established film career and her own production company, Loken wants to help the movie house of her childhood survive.  

As reported on Gossips previously, the major studios have announced that, starting in 2014, all movies will be distributed in digital format. To stay in business, Bruce Mitchinson, owner of Fairview Cinema 3, needs to equip all three theaters at Fairview Cinema 3 with DCI (Digital Cinema Initiatives) compliant projectors and sound systems. He purchased new digital equipment for one of the theaters last year, but to remain profitable, he needs digital projectors in the other two theaters as well. 

To benefit Fairview Cinema 3 and help Mitchinson get the digital projectors he needs, Loken and her father, writer Chris Loken, who wrote the screenplay for the film, have arranged for the East Coast premiere of Fighting for Freedom to take place at Fairview Cinema 3. Mark your calendars (yes, it's Friday the 13th, but who's superstitious?) and look for more information about the event on Gossips as it becomes available.
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The image of Kristanna Loken in the courtroom of the Columbia County courthouse is a screen capture from the movie trailer.

MAI Watch

With three days left, the Kickstarter campaign to fund phase one in the development of the Marina Abramovic Institute here in Hudson has reached its $600,000 goal. 

More Reading for the Curious

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for 701 Union Street, the proposed new location for the Hudson Police Department and city court, can now be viewed on the City of Hudson website.

Housing Study Goes Public

The Housing Needs Analysis, done for the City of Hudson by the New York State Rural Housing Coalition and dated May 14, 2012, has finally been made public and can be downloaded here.

New Site Plan Approval Law

Before its regular meeting last night, the Common Council held a public hearing on the new Site Plan Approval Law being fast-tracked through the adoption process by mayoral "letter of necessity." The hearing started out with city attorney Cheryl Roberts and Common Council president Don Moore making a couple of minor changes to the text of the law--multifamily properties was changed to residential uses containing at least four dwelling units; residential use containing at least three properties was changed to residential use containing at least four properties. Moore then explained that the county planning board, which needed to review and make a recommendation on the law, was meeting at that very moment, and he was expecting a call letting him know their decision.

Curious about the haste and extraordinary measures, Gossips asked, when the time came, why the law was being pushed through with such urgency. Moore explained that, since it was the construction season, they didn't want to hold up projects or inundate the Planning Commission with applications for site plan review for such things as porches and minor additions. Since the Planning Commission never seemed to get applications for porches and minor additions, that explanation seemed inadequate.

Later in the meeting, Roberts revealed the reason for the urgency. In June, right about the time it was being discovered that Peter Wurster, the code enforcement officer, had not required a site plan review by the Planning Commission for Fish & Game, the mayor decreed that the law must be followed. As it was then written, the law required that every project that needed a building permit also needed to be reviewed by the Planning Commission, but the code enforcement officer used his discretion to waive a Planning Commission review when he felt it unnecessary. If the code enforcement officer was now expected to follow the law, with no exceptions, the law needed to be changed to make following it practicable.

In the discussion preceding the vote, Alderman David Marston (First Ward) questioned using "at least 1,000 square feet" as the size of an addition that required a site plan review, saying that was too large in a city as small as Hudson, with buildings in such close proximity to one another. He also objected to the fact that the law had bypassed discussion in the legal committee.

Given the accelerated process--skipping committee and eliminating the requirement that it sit on the aldermen's desks for ten days--a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the law. When they were voting on the SEQR form required for this action, Alderman Robert "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward) had stated, prematurely but loyally, "If the mayor wants this, I want it, too." When they were voting on the actual law, Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), for comic effect, echoed Donahue's words. Marston and aldermen Nick Haddad (First Ward) and Chris Wagoner (Third Ward), however, voted against passing the law. Nevertheless, with Moore and all the other aldermen voting for it, the law achieved the two-thirds majority required.
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Redefining "Move"

A call half an hour ago from a reader sent Gossips scurrying up to 900 Columbia Street to see what was going on. There is a dumpster in front of the building, window sash has been removed, and the roof is gone. Is this being done in preparation for moving the building?

A call to Daniel Kent, executive director of the Galvan Foundation, revealed that the house is being "disassembled"--taken apart down to its individual bricks, something some might call demolished--to be "reassembled" in the 200 block of Union Street. That's probably not what most people anticipated when Galvan announced its intention to save the historic house by moving it to another location.
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Council Still Not Ready to Commit

The original agreement with the owner of 701 Warren Street allowed three months for the City to do its due diligence before deciding whether or not to buy the property for use as a police and court building. Part of that due diligence was an environmental study. Late yesterday afternoon, only eight days before the time runs out on the City's purchase agreement, Morris Associates delivered the Phase I environmental study which recommended that there be a Phase II. 

That the site requires a Phase II environmental study probably should come as no surprise. It's right next to the railroad tracks, and apparently, in the distant past, ashes and old railroad ties had been dumped there. In the more recent past, the building was an auto parts store. What's surprising is that it could have been converted into a gym without undergoing any environmental review.

With time running out, the Common Council had the choice last night of walking away or extending the agreement to buy the building (which will now cost a nonrefundable $5,500 a month) in order to do a Phase II environmental study and complete the painstaking cost analysis being done to avoid another costly boondoggle like the ultimately scrapped plan to build a senior center. Last night the Council voted unanimously to extend the agreement for two months and to transfer another $4,000 from the General Fund to pay for further environmental testing. John Mason has the whole story in today's Register-Star: "City buys time to make police/court HQ decision."  

A Weird Turn of Events and a Tragic Fish Story

Nathan Mayberg reports in the Register-Star that Local Ocean was sold today to Michael Spielman, the man who held the mortgage on the property: "Local Ocean property sold back to original owner for $3M." Spielman promises that "the building will be utilized" but not for aquaculture. There are hundreds of thousands of fish--some say millions--left at the facility, and, according to the Register-Star, Spielman would be glad to sell them to anyone who wants them. 

Apologies and Platitudes

HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier said she wished she could "turn back the hands of time." Berkshire Union Free School superintendent Bruce Potter lamented that "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." Common Council president Don Moore opined that "it's not important if you make mistakes, it's how you respond to them" and went on to say, "Out of something wrong, something right can happen." Suttmeier called the plan to site an alternative learning program on Warren Street "a bold move," and said, "When there are bold moves, there is turbulence."

Arthur Cusano reports on last night's panel discussion about "The Bridge" in today's Register-Star: "Warren St. alternative ed forum draws heavy feedback." Sara Kendall was there recording the presentations and the discussion for WGXC, so chances are, in the fullness of time, those who were not there will be able to listen to the proceedings for themselves.

In her comments, Suttmeier recounted how the choice of 364 Warren Street had been made. She said they had first "looked to the home campuses" but found that (1) there was no space and (2) there were "union issues." It seems that union agreements prohibit faculty from other school districts from working in HCSD schools, and the teachers in this program will be Berkshire Union Free School faculty. She then explained that, when she "first became superintendent," Daniel Kent contacted her and offered to house the alternative learning program in the Armory. (Suttmeier took over as superintendent on July 1, 2012; Kent took over as executive director of the Galvan Foundation on September 19, 2012.) At the time, there was no ALP, but in April 2013, when she was seeking a site for the new program, Suttmeier called Kent to see if the Armory was still available. Just a month earlier, in March 2013, the Galvan Foundation had offered the space in the Armory not already committed to the Hudson Area Library to the City of Hudson for a senior center. Something else had to be chosen from the Galvan inventory of vacant buildings, and 364 Warren Street was it.

During last night's panel discussion, it seemed frustratingly impossible to separate the noble intentions of the program from the careless and wrongheaded decision to site it in the heart of Hudson's main street. Most people who expressed concern about with the location and dissatisfaction with the process by which it was chosen seemed compelled to preface their criticism with complimentary statements about program lest they be perceived as heartless malcontents. A refreshing exception was Bruce Porter, writer and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia, now retired and living in Hudson. After Mayor William Hallenbeck's comments, in which he declared that "the bottom line is if one child is saved," Porter began by saying, "Enough of the violins." Porter's criticism was directed at the program: "I have not heard anything here that increases our confidence in this plan." He cited the HCSD administration's record of running "probably the worst high school in the state" and suggested that HCSD has a "record of disaster."

Criticism of the program also came from Linda Mussmann, co-director of Time & Space Limited, who observed that "the community is not included in your grand plan," and predicted that "if the community is not engaged, you will fail." She also spoke of the lack of minority faculty in the Hudson City School District and wanted to know how many of the teachers in the alternative program were minorities. She was told by Potter that three of the ten people who would be working with the students were minorities: the psychologist and two of the support staff. He stressed that the faculty for the program were selected because "they are excellent at what they do."

Joan E. Hunt, project manager for the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, also urged that the program include plans for involving the community. Suttmeier spoke to the intention to "invite students out into the community and invite the community into the school" and said she didn't know how the "myth" that kids will be "locked up in the building" got started. That seemed a rather disingenuous comment, since Suttmeier was present when Joe Catalano, attorney for the Galvan Foundation, tried to persuade the Planning Commission that the school would have no impact on the surrounding neighborhood by saying there would be "minimum use outside the building" and instruction would take place "behind closed doors."
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Grow Your Own Fish

If you've ever fantasized about having your own high-tech fish farm, today's your chance. Local Ocean is being auctioned off "in front of the steps" at the temporary Columbia County courthouse in Claverack. The bidding begins at 11 a.m. Arthur Cusano has the story in today's Register-Star: "Greenport's Local Ocean goes on the block today in Claverack." 

Defending the Viewshed

The Olana Partnership and Scenic Hudson have filed a legal challenge to overturn the approval granted by the Town of Livingston Planning Board for a 190-foot communications tower on Blue Hill, in the Olana viewshed. Joe Gentile has the story in today's Register-Star: "Environmental groups challenge Blue Hill ruling." 

In granting the approval, the Livingston Planning Board seems to have ignored letters of concern from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) indicating that the tower would negatively impact views from Olana, which SHPO called a “preeminent historic landmark.” The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a request from The Olana Partnership and Scenic Hudson for a review of the site under the provisions of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. In a letter issued on August 5, 2013, the FCC stated: "The proposed tower would be plainly and prominently visible from Olana, which is a National Historic Landmark. Moreover, as the home of a landscape artist and the site of many of his famous works, the view from Olana is not only a contributing characteristic to its historic integrity, but is uniquely important to understanding the life and experiences of its famous resident. In addition, the proposed lattice tower may present a significantly greater visual intrusion than the existing guyed towers on the Olana property and landscapes."

Olana attracts 130,000 visitors every year, who support 267 jobs and generate $7.9 million for the local economy. The views from Olana are integral to the experience of the historic site and represent the birthplace of America's first art movement. To protect the Olana viewshed, Scenic Hudson has worked directly with more than a dozen property owners and invested nearly $6 million to conserve more than 1,500 acres of their lands. Other conservation groups have partnered with landowners to preserve nearly another 1,000 acres.

Photo of Blue Hill courtesy Jonathan Simons

The Over Powerful Fifth Ward and How It Began

Last February, the Common Council adopted the new weighted vote, based on the 2010 census and impacted by the New York State law, passed in August 2010, requiring prisoners to be counted, for legislative purposes, in the communities where they were living prior to becoming prisoners instead of in the communities where they were incarcerated. The big winners in the new weighted vote were the aldermen from the Fifth Ward, whose weighted votes in a simple majority went from 278 to 364 each. Whereas before, the vote of an alderman from the Fifth Ward was 2.957 times more powerful than that of an alderman from the First Ward or the Fourth Ward, it is now 3.831 times more powerful. Put another way, an affirmative vote cast by an alderman representing the First Ward or the Fourth Ward represents a little more than 9 percent of the total votes needed for a simple majority, whereas an affirmative vote cast by one of the aldermen from the Fifth Ward represents 36 percent of the votes needed for a simple majority.

Various plans have been suggested to give more equity in representation. In 2003, there was a referendum on a proposal to eliminate the weighted vote by replacing the wards with election districts of equal population, whose boundaries would be redrawn after every decennial census. The referendum was defeated, probably in part because people feared microcosmic gerrymandering and also because there was, particularly with residents of the original part of the city, a reluctance to do away with the old ward boundaries that have existed for two centuries.

The Hudson Democrats have made eliminating or rebalancing the weighted vote a plank in their 2013 platform. Democratic mayoral candidate Victor Mendolia has suggested that an easy way to achieve better balance would be to create a Sixth Ward by dividing the Fifth Ward into two wards using the current election district boundaries.

This review of the weighted vote is by way of introducing another discovery made over the weekend: this item, which appeared in the Hudson Daily Evening Register for April 30, 1886, soon after the creation of the Fifth Ward. The text is transcribed below.

The Additional Ward for Hudson.

Now that the bill creating an additional Ward for this city has become law, there is much inquiry as to how and when the law goes into effect. The Act provides that--

"At the annual election for city and ward officers to be held in said city on the first Tuesday of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, there shall be elected in said Fifth Ward, one alderman to serve for the term of one year, from the first day of January next succeeding his election, and one alderman to serve for the term of two years from such first day of January, and thereafter the alderman annually elected in said ward shall serve for the term of two years from the first day of January next succeeding his election. * * * There shall be elected in said Fifth ward, at the annual election for city and ward officers, to be held in said city on the first Tuesday of December, eighteen hundred and eight-six, and annually thereafter, one supervisor, who shall serve for said ward." 

While it is not entirely clear, it seems that the Fifth Ward may have started out having only one alderman, who was elected first, in an even year, to a one-year term, so he could get on the same cycle as the rest of the aldermen, who were, as they still are today, elected at the end of an odd year to start their two-year terms at the beginning of an even year. One alderman from the Fifth Ward may have been a way of achieving representation proportionate to population, since in 1886, the Fifth Ward was definitely more sparsely populated than the other wards. This map of the Fifth Ward is from the 1888 Beers Atlas.

Meeting Reminder

The panel discussion and public forum about locating "The Bridge," an alternative learning program for students from the Hudson City School District and the Catskill Central School District, in the former Register-Star building at the corner of Warren and Fourth streets happens tonight at 6 p.m. at the Central Firehouse, 77 North Seventh Street. The agenda for the meeting can be viewed here.