Are You Missing the Farmers' Market?

Do you wake up on Saturday morning at a loss to know where you can go to buy what you need to get through the next week?

Be discomfited no more. Today and for the next two Saturdays--December 7, 14, and 21--right up to the Winter Solstice, the holiday version of the Hudson Farmers' Market returns to the Fellowship Hall of Christ Church Episcopal, 431 Union Street. From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m., twenty-two vendors set up shop, inside and outside, offering everything you need to entertain your guests and sustain yourself as Christmas approaches.

Deciding the Garden's Fate

At last night's meeting of the Board of HCDPA (Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency), executive director Sheena Salvino began by stating the goal: to explore "the spectrum of practical options" in the controversy between the Hudson Community Garden and Columbia County Habitat for Humanity over the parcel of land at Columbia and Second streets that has been a community garden for twenty years.

After making the point that he had "made himself available" to all the parties involved, Mayor William Hallenbeck, who sits on the HCDPA board, said he was "taken back" by reading in the newspaper that the community garden had gotten a one-year lease from HCDPA. He said he, "as a board member," had not agreed to the lease. In the same vein, Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward), also a member of the HCDPA board, declared that he "almost went through the ceiling" when he read the article. He told the representatives of the garden present, "You have no standing there," and accused them of "trying to pressure this board" and "bully this board and the City."

Garden director Vanessa Baehr apologized for releasing the information to the press, explaining that she believed that, because the garden directors had been asked to sign a lease, it was HCDPA's intention to renew their lease for another year.

Not far into the meeting, Salvino's "spectrum of practical options" seemed to get narrowed down to three: the community garden gets the land; Habitat gets the land; the garden and Habitat split the land. 

There are four lots involved: 202, 204, 206, and 208 Columbia Street—the fourth lot being larger than the other three combined. Although the fence, erected by HCDPA in 1995, encloses all four lots, and the garden shed, the frost-proof pump, and the raised beds are all located there, 208 Columbia Street was never included in the land leased to the community garden. Asked if this lot, which is 75 x 120 feet, would be sufficient to build on, Brenda Adams, executive director for Habitat, acknowledged that they could build another pair of houses there but later explained that their original plan was to "engage an urban planner to determine the best build-out of the [entire] site"—from three to five houses. Asked if the garden could vacate the site, Baehr indicated that it would be asking them to "give up the most crucial part of the garden."

It was generally agreed that there were "open-ended questions" that needed to be answered before the board could make a decision. The lots need to be appraised, a process which could not commence until today. Salvino has in mind an alternative space for the garden on property connected with Bliss Towers but apparently has not yet spoken with Jeff First about the possibility. The board wants data about the families being served by the garden--Do they rely on the garden for food or is their participation "recreational"?

Hallenbeck, who was absent from the HCDPA meeting in November, suggested that the board "consider all these issues over the next month and make a decision in January." Interestingly, in January, the board, which is made up of only five people, will very likely have three new members. Cappy Pierro, the Common Council majority leader, will no longer be on the Council; Ohrine Stewart will no longer be the Common Council minority leader since there will be a Republican on the Council; and there will probably be a replacement for Lyle Shook, who resigned from the board last month. 

In response to the proposed postponement, Adams pointed out that Habitat had "an issue associated with time." It seems that they have applied for a grant, the deadline for which was sometime in September. Habitat has gotten extensions on this grant pending an "acquisition decision," but they will lose $50,000 to $60,000 in grant money "if there is no decision made now." Although audience member Timothy O'Connor suggested that this "might be perceived as Habitat trying to bully the board," it was decided that the HCDPA board hold a special meeting on Thursday, December 19, at 6 p.m., to decide the fate of the parcel.

Before the meeting moved on to other things, Baehr made reference to the City's Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2002. She pointed out that "Cultivate the Development of Community Gardens" is the third recommendation under "Plan Goal 2: Protect & Strengthen Hudson's Sense of Community." Although it's not clear that recommendations are listed in order of importance, it's curious that "Develop a Housing Strategy" is the eleventh recommendation under "Plan Goal 3: Promote Economic and Cultural Vitality," after such things as "Improve the Pedestrian Streetscape" (2), "Develop a Fully Integrated Bike & Pedestrian Trail Network" (6), and "Develop a Community Newsletter and Web Page" (9). Here is the text of the recommendation:

While many of New York State’s urban communities are struggling with strategies to attract middle-class residents, Hudson has already started to attract this group. Hudson’s continuing revitalization is likely to coincide with increases in the cost of housing (including housing values and rents). For the most part, this increase in value will be a very good thing for Hudson. However, the challenge for local decision-makers, the business community and neighborhood residents will be to ensure the benefits of Hudson’s resurgence are shared among all community members. Consequently, a coordinated, multi-tiered approach must be developed involving the City, the private sector and not-for-profit organizations such as Housing Resources.

For those who have never read Hudson's eleven-year-old visioning document and for those who haven't read it in a while, the Comprehensive Plan, available on the City website, makes very interesting reading.
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How Will You Know If You Don't Ask?

On Wednesday, Gossips published photographs of activity--brush being bulldozed and gravel dumped--occurring on the 4.4 waterfront acres recently discovered to be owned by the City of Hudson and asked: Who is doing this and why?

The definitive answer came yesterday from Common Council president Don Moore, who, in a comment on Gossips, provided this information: "The rail company, which took over from CSX earlier this year, is doing repairs to switches and rail." Moore also sent this photograph, taken just east of one of the photographs published by Gossips, which shows the new rails stacked along the access road next to the tracks.

News from an Urban Garden

Despite the drizzle and gloom, two colorful handpainted murals went up on the fence of the Hudson Community Garden today, and more are on the way.

The Register-Star reported today that the Hudson Community Garden has signed a lease for 2014 with HCDPA (Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency): "Community garden gets 1-year lease." This would seem to be good news, but, as garden directors Vanessa Baehr and Sarah Falkner point out, "It's the same lease we've had over the years which stipulates it can be broken at any time to be developed." Also, HCDPA executive director Sheena Salvino recently informed them that a good part of the parcel which has been developed as a garden over the past two decades is not included in the lease.

HCDPA meets tonight at 6:30 at City Hall.
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An Idea That Didn't Work

As the happy hour approaches, Gossips reminds readers that today is Repeal Day. Eighty years ago today, on December 5, 1933, at 5:32 p.m. Eastern Time, the 21st Amendment was ratified, ending Prohibition.

Catch the Christmas Spirit

Watching It's a Wonderful Life is a holiday tradition for many people, but how often do you get the chance to see the 1946 movie on the big screen in a real theater? The rare opportunity comes next Saturday, December 14, when Friends of Fairview Cinema 3 present Breakfast and a Movie at 9:30 a.m. at the theater in Fairview Plaza.

The choice of It's a Wonderful Life is especially appropriate. In the movie, the community of Bedford Falls comes together to help George Bailey in his hour of need and save Bailey Building and Loan from being destroyed by the evil Mr. Potter. Breakfast and a Movie is another opportunity for our community to come together to help Bruce Mitchinson raise the money needed to buy digital projectors and keep Fairview Cinema 3 from going dark. 

Breakfast--coffee cake and coffee--will be served starting at 9:30, and the movie will begin soon after. A $25 donation is requested for the Fairview Cinema Projector Fund. Reservations are requested, too--not because seating is limited but because we need to know how much coffee to brew and how much coffee cake to bake. Click here to send an email and let us know you're coming.

On December 14, enjoy a happy ending and help make another one happen!

Untangling the Power Lines

Adam Clayton has an overview of the sometimes baffling power line expansion looming in our future in today's Register-Star: "PSC plans to hear power line concerns before moving ahead." The article clarifies that expanding the power line is part of Governor Cuomo's proposed "New York Energy Highway." There are four different energy suppliers presenting four different proposals to achieve this. They are New York Transco, a collaboration of transmission owners that includes National Grid; North American Transmission; Boundless Energy; and NextEra. 

Last week, a reader provided the URLs to the proposals from these groups in a comment on Gossips. For our readers' reference, Gossips republishes them as hyperlinks here:

• New York Transco
• North American Transmission 
• Boundless Energy
• NextEra

Bloom Where You're Planted

John Mason reports today in the Register-Star that the board of the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) has decided to write off as a bad debt the $13,000 in restitution still owed to the city agency by Quintin Cross: "Agency writes off $13K Cross restitution." In 2007, Cross, then a Second Ward alderman and Common Council majority leader, who sat on the boards of HDC (Hudson Development Corporation) and HCDPA (Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency), was convicted of using city credit cards for personal expenses and embezzling public funds. As part of his sentence, Cross was ordered to pay $16,000 in restitution. Of the amount, $13,000 remains unpaid. Cross's attorney maintains that Cross has served his time and is therefore not required to pay the remaining $13,000.

Eyesore or Historic Artifact?

NOTE: This post was originally published a week ago.
Most communities eliminated their air raid sirens decades ago, after the fall of the Berlin Wall, the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War. Not so Hudson and Columbia County. The faded yellow air raid siren, probably no longer functional, is still mounted on the parapet of the courthouse, looking singularly out of place on the 1907 Beaux Arts building.

The construction going on at the courthouse and the elimination of the foundation shrubbery have the effect of throwing the air raid siren into stark relief against the sky, inspiring talk of removing the obsolete appliance. There is some thought, however, that the air raid siren might be considered a historic artifact, a valued relic of the Cold War. 

So Gossips is conducting a poll to gather readers' opinions of the air raid siren. Is it an eyesore that should be removed? Or is it a historic artifact that should be preserved? Look for the poll at the right and share your opinion.

The poll is now closed. Here are the results.

Hudson River Exchange Returns

The Hudson River Exchange debuted on what had to have been the hottest weekend of the summer, but despite the oppressive heat, it was a tremendous success. Since then the aggregation of local makers and collectors has returned to do a weekend pop-up shop at Sorted Creative on Warren Street in October and a gift booth at Basilica Farm & Flea last weekend. 

Now the Hudson River Exchange is getting ready to open a pop-up vendor market at 704 Columbia Street, on the north side of the Public Square (a.k.a. Seventh Street Park). The Winter Market will open its doors at 2 p.m. this Saturday--three hours in advance of the start of Winter Walk--and will stay open throughout the event, offering the wares of amazing vendors, music, and food until 8 p.m. 

The Winter Market will be open again on Sunday, December 8, from 11 am. to 5 p.m., and on the following weekend, December 14 and 15, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day, Saturday and Sunday. 

Mysterious Activity on the Waterfront

For almost the entire first half of 2013, the City of Hudson negotiated with Holcim to get ownership of a parcel of land--slightly less than 10 acres--south of the port. The land transfer was necessary, we were given to believe, if the City was to get state and federal approval of its LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program). The City seemed amenable to making a fifty-year commitment in order to achieve this end, but it turned out that Holcim was unwilling to sign the agreement that they themselves had crafted.

In June, the Valley Alliance made public a surprising discovery: 4.4 acres of the sought-after land already belonged to the City. Back in 1981, the City had done a land swap with Holcim, then St. Lawrence Cement, and because it was--then as now--illegal for the City to divest itself of waterfront land, the transaction that transferred the ownership of that parcel in 1981 was null and void. The City still owned the 4.4 acres.

The City was skeptical about the discovery and spent months vetting the Valley Alliance's research. Finally, on October 15, Common Council president Don Moore announced, in an offhand way at the beginning of a Council meeting, that the City's investigations had determined that the Valley Alliance was right. Of the 9.96 acres the City was negotiating with Holcim to acquire, 4.4 acres already belonged to the City.  

Since October, the ramifications of this discovery--for the proposed land transfer with Holcim or for the LWRP--have never been discussed in a public meeting, but yesterday a Gossips reader reported that something is happening on that land. Brush has been bulldozed, and gravel is being laid down. 

The activity is going on in the area that presumably is still owned by the City of Hudson. The question is: Who is doing this and why?
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The map showing the location of the 4.4 acres was created by the Valley Alliance. This map was also used to show the location of the current activity.

Passing the Budget

Two days before Thanksgiving, the Common Council held a special meeting to vote on the 2014 city budget. Of the eleven members of the Common Council, only five showed up--Council President Don Moore and aldermen "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward), John Friedman (Third Ward), Ohrine Stewart (Fourth Ward), and Abdus Miah (Second Ward). To make a quorum, Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward) had to be summoned from his home in Taghkanic, and those assembled had to wait for him to get there. John Mason has the story in today's Register-Star: "Budget cuts, low mandate hikes keep city taxes down."  

Some significant news revealed in the article, which seems not to have been announced anywhere but on her Facebook page, is that Cheryl Kaszluga is the new sole assessor for the City of Hudson. She was appointed by Mayor Hallenbeck and sworn in on November 22.

Of Particular Interest

Sam Pratt reports on his blog this evening that the "driver" of the Metro-North train that derailed yesterday near Spuyten Duyvil lives in Germantown: "Engineer of derailed Metro-North train is a local resident."

A Garden in Winter

According to the calendar on the City of Hudson website, the Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency (HCDPA) is meeting on Thursday, December 5, at 6:30 p.m. At their last meeting, on November 7, the Hudson Community Garden, at Columbia and Second streets, was the topic of impassioned discussion. 

The Hudson Community Garden has been in its current location for twenty years, evolving and developing a unique ecosystem. Forty families have plots in the garden and grow a significant amount of their food there. Because, back in 2009, long term mayor Rick Scalera identified the lots at the corner of Second and Warren, which were acquired by the City in the 1970s, as one of three areas where Habitat for Humanity could build, it is Habitat's expectation that they can uproot the garden and build from three to five more of their passive solar houses there, pursuing their "campaign and commitment to build out the street."

This morning, as the meeting approaches that could possibly decide the fate of the community garden, the garden directors, Sarah Falkner and Vanessa Baehr, announced on the community garden's Facebook page a project designed to be visible evidence of the community's support for the garden. They have invited supporters and well-wishers to collaborate in creating a mural on a large banner to be hung on the garden's fences through the winter. In their words, "This will bring color and love to the corner this winter and will show the board of HCDPA that we use the garden as a means to come together even after the harvest has ended." The theme of the mural is nature, food, and community, and people are invited to show what the garden means to them by painting a picture, writing their thoughts or a poem, or just adding their hand print.

The work on the mural started this afternoon and is still going on--until 6 p.m.--at Wellness Collective, 514 Warren Street. Tomorrow--Tuesday, December 3--it will continue in the Children's Room of the Hudson Area Library at 400 State Street from 3 to 6 p.m. On Wednesday, December 4, there are two sites where you can give your visible support: at Sketch, 701 Warren Street, from 2 to 6 p.m., and at the Hudson Youth Center, 18 South Third Street, from 3 to 5 p.m. The plan is to hang the mural on Thursday morning prior to the HCDPA meeting, which takes place at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.

Of Interest

On his blog, Preservation in Action, preservation consultant Ward Hamilton has published a post about the challenges and the importance of local preservation ordinances, locally designated historic districts, and local historic preservation commissions, illustrating his text with photographs (used with permission) of buildings in Hudson found on The Gossips of Rivertown: "'Nobody is telling me what color I can paint my house!'" An amendment is needed to Hamilton's photo credits. The picture of Hudson Upper Depot as it is today is the work of international photographer Lynn Davis and was published on Gossips with her permission.

A Curious Way to Indicate Location

The city clock has been located in the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church for more than two hundred years. A footnote in Franklin Ellis's History of Columbia County explains:

In 1801 (August 8) the council resolved "that Mr. Pratt and Reuben Folger be a committee to procure a suitable clock, with three dials, to be placed in the steeple of the Presbyterian meeting-house, and that they be authorized to procure a sum not exceeding $200 on loan for that purpose, to be applied with the sum already subscribed and now in the Bank for that purpose." That committee reported, Oct. 9, 1802, that they had placed the clock in the steeple, agreeably to directions. The cost of the clock and dials was $465.28.

The meeting house where the first city clock was installed stood at Partition and Second streets. In 1837, when the church moved to its new building at Warren and Fourth streets, the clock moved with it.

    

The tradition of the city clock being housed in the steeple of the First Presbyterian Church continues to this day. Earlier this year, the Friends of the First Presbyterian Church celebrated the 100th anniversary of the Seth Thomas clock that now tolls the hours from the church's soaring steeple. The fact that in 1913 there was a brand-new city clock may account for the peculiar way the proprietor of E. A. Dowling's Book Store describes the location of his shop in this ad, which appeared in the Hudson Evening Register in early December 1913.

    

The "Town Clock" not the imposing church building is cited as the landmark that will help holiday shoppers find their way to the store. 

This historic photograph shows the building in which E. A. Dowling's Book Store, "First door below Town Clock," was located. Today that spot taken up by a municipal parking lot.

Historic photographs from Historic Hudson's Rowles Studio Collection

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It Was Ever Thus

We tend to think of the pressure to do one's Christmas shopping early as a fairly recent phenomenon, but it seems it's been going on for quite a while. This reminder, featuring Santa Claus looking sternly admonishing, appeared in the Hudson Evening Register on November 25, 1913--two days before Thanksgiving a hundred years ago.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas . . .

On Black Friday, the fairy lights in the trees on Warren Street sparkled for the first time this season (or at least they were noticed for the first time by this observer).

Earlier on Friday, the trees at Second and Warren streets were "yarn bombed" by a group of knitters who gather regularly at Verdigris Tea & Chocolate Bar to knit. They transformed one of the trees into Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer and others into red and white striped candy canes. John Mason reported on the crafty escapade in Saturday's Register-Star: "Second and Warren stunned by yarn bombers."

Some shop windows are already decorated for the holidays--for example, the icily elegant polar fantasy created in the windows at Finch. Others will be decked out this week as Hudson's new proprietors prepare for Winter Walk, the Hudson Opera House's festive start of the holiday season, coming up on Saturday night.

For Hudsonians looking to decorate their domiciles for the holidays, a pop-up shop has appeared, in the versatile little space we know and love in the warmer months as LICK, providing all the greenery and natural things needed to festoon the home--inside and out.

Kate and Marilyn of Cedar Farm have filled the tiny space at 253 Warren Street with all manner of natural holiday ornamentation--wreaths lush green or twiggy, bittersweet and other woody things to stuff into urns, door hangings, mantel displays, amaryllis, paper whites. The shop, which opened for business on Friday, will be open today from noon until 6 and next weekend--Thursday through Sunday--as well.

Ear to the Ground

The word on the street is that the Warren Inn has been sold. As the story goes, there was a bidding war for the first--and perhaps only--movie theater turned motel in the country. It's rumored that one of the unsuccessful contenders was the hotel group that counts among its hostelries a luxury hotel on the Upper East Side of Manhattan named for a British essayist. Unfortunately, it's not known who the prospective buyer is or what is planned for the building.

The Bullet We Dodged

A reader reports that according to James Denn, of the New York State Public Service Commission, none of the proposed power line projects will pass through Hudson, but less than two weeks ago, that wasn't the case. 

On November 18, Boundless Energy revised its application to keep the entire route on the other side of the river. Prior to that revision, however, the plan was to bring the power line from Schodack to a new transition station to be built near the existing substation on Fairview Avenue in Greenport and to construct an underground line that followed the route of the ADM spur through Hudson and down to the river. This map, provided by the same reader who reported the news from Denn, shows the route through Hudson that was proposed in October 2013. 

As disturbing as the route is this assessment of Hudson, from the project's Cultural Resources Overview.

Historic Resources/Visual Sensitivity. A small portion of this area is located in the vicinity of the City of Hudson. The likelihood of impacts to historic resources is low since there appears to be few buildings within 0.5-miles of the transmission line placement. There are no NRL [National Register of Historic Places Listed] properties within or adjacent to the proposed route.

"Few buildings within 0.5-miles of the transmission line placement"? The route as it was originally proposed would have passed within a few feet of Hudson Upper Depot, cut through the Public Square, gone within a few yards of the buildings on either side of South Seven Street, bordered the grounds of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, and run within a half mile--it would seem, given that Hudson is only about a mile wide--from the houses at the end of Willard Place and all the houses on the south side of Allen Street. All these properties are part of the National Register-listed Hudson Historic District; in addition, the Dr. Oliver Bronson House is a National Historic Landmark. It's hard to see how these consultants arrived at their conclusion.

Fortunately, this isn't going to happen. Hudson dodged this bullet without even knowing it was in anyone's sights. That last part is troubling. Did anyone in City government know what Boundless Energy had in mind back in October? If the proposal had not been changed, how long would it have been before the people of Hudson got wind of what was being planned?
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A Bovine Visit on Thanksgiving

Seen on Warren Street this holiday morning--a baby ox in training.

Thanks to Sarah Sterling for providing this picture.

Happy Thanksgiving

Eschew the Big Boxes, Escape the Malls

For some, the orgy of holiday shopping begins the moment they push away from the Thanksgiving table. Word is that Kohl's in Greenport is opening at 8 p.m. on Thursday night to accommodate those who can't wait until morning to get started. Warren Street has always offered a civilized alternative for tasteful and imaginative gifts, and this year, on Thanksgiving weekend, there is yet another appealing way to do your holiday shopping in Hudson: Basilica Farm & Flea.

    
The event is an opportunity to select gifts from a variety of products from regional makers, farmers, and vintage collectors. The FARM part is presented in partnership with Modern Farmer Magazine. The FLEA part features local makers and the BUST Magazine Craftacular. Heretofore, the craft shopping extravaganza known as Craftacular has only happened in New York City and London. This Thanksgiving weekend is Craftacular's first foray upstate, bringing fifty vendors of vintage, handmade, and edible treasures to our own Basilica Hudson. 

Basilica Farm & Flea begins the day after Thanksgiving with a Black Friday Soiree. For a $3 admission fee, attendees at the soiree can have a cocktail, listen to live music, sample some of the fresh food, and get a first look at the wares on display. The shopping continues on Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. It's an event not to be missed.

Pursuing the Power Lines

On Monday, Gossips published photographs of a map displayed on the wall at the public meeting in Livingston the previous Friday. The map bore the label shown below, and it was assumed that the red line drawn on the map was one of those alternatives.

This morning, a reader phoned to say that he didn't think the red line marked an alternative route for the power lines. Rather the map had been created by someone who was part of Farmers and Families for Livingston, who was working on a inventory of National Register listed and eligible properties within three miles of the proposed route. The suggestion was that the red line on the map marked three miles west of the route, which presumably is the solid black line at the right.

   
This afternoon, another reader provided the link to a map published by New York Transco, a collaboration of New York transmission owners, among them National Grid. The map, which runs for several pages and purports to show the proposed route of the power lines through Columbia and Dutchess counties, can be accessed here.

Talk of Food

Last week, it was announced that the Galvan Foundation had given a $20,000 grant to the Hawthorne Valley Association to study the feasibility of opening a food market and community learning center in the building at 449 Warren Street known as "Hudson Arcade."

In pursuit of that study, two public meetings have been scheduled. The first will take place on Thursday, December 5, from 5 to 8 p.m. at Solaris Camphill Hudson, 360 Warren Street. The second will  
be held in the community room at Bliss Towers on Monday, December 9, from 5 to 8 p.m. John Mason has the story in today's Register-Star: "Hawthorne Valley to hold public meetings."

Mason reports that Hawthorne Valley has a nonbinding memorandum of understanding with Galvan to lease the building at 449 Warren Street, but the agreement does not include the vacant lot at the corner. Michelle Hughes, the consultant who is conducting the study, said they would be "interested in siting a garden and community space there." Nice idea, but given the City's official hostility to gardens in the past--dismantling the raised garden that once existed at the Youth Center and threatening to do away with the community garden at Second and Columbia street--one wonders how the notion of siting a garden on Warren Street will be received.

Hughes revealed that although they are looking at 449 Warren Street "most closely," they are looking at other spaces as well.

Gloriosky! There's Snow on the Ground!

Playing Catch Up with the Power Line Issue

Last Thursday, Pamela Kline, who is heading up Farmers and Families for Livingston, was interviewed on WGXC by Ellen Thurston and Tom DePietro. In that interview, prior to the public meeting that took place the next day, Kline shared the information that she and her group have ferreted out about the proposals to route transmission lines through Columbia County. The interview has now been archived and can be heard here.

What Can They Be?

As is the holiday tradition in Hudson, parking will be free on Warren Street during the month of December. In the past, people have covered the meters with empty boxes wrapped like presents to signal shoppers that they don't need to insert quarters. This year, property owners and shopkeepers on Warren Street are encouraged not just to cover the meters in front of their buildings but to be novel and inventive about it. Gift boxes are great, but consider some alternatives: Santa hats, elf hats, snowman heads, giant Christmas tree ornaments, faux fruitcakes--the possibilities are endless. To provide a motivation to go all out, Alana Hauptmann is offering a $100 gift certificate for brunch or dinner at the Red Dot to the person who creates best the meter decorations. The winner will be chosen by a panel of impartial judges. So unleash your creativity and decorate your meters on December 1.

In Case You Missed It

Last Friday, Farmers and Families for Livingston held an informational and organizational meeting about the proposed power line expansion. Lance Wheeler's two-part video of the meeting can now be viewed online: Part I and Part II.

First Ward Supervisor Sarah Sterling was at the meeting and took these pictures of a map that was displayed on the wall. Marked on the map is the proposed route of the power line. The first picture shows the area immediately surrounding Hudson. The second focuses in on Hudson and shows the route of the power line entering the city at the state boat launch and continuing on through South Bay.

I Hate to Say I Told You So, But . . .

The only topic of discussion at the Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting last Thursday was how to eliminate the truck routes through Hudson. Joining the committee for the discussion were city attorney Cheryl Roberts; Sheena Salvino, executive director of HDC; Duke Duchessi and Bill Roehr, from TGW Consultants; and Nick Melson, chief of staff for Assemblymember Didi Barrett.

The meeting started out on a disheartening note, with a report from Roberts about relevant case law. In 2009, the City of Lackawanna tried to prohibit trucks with a gross weight in excess of 10,000 pounds from traveling anywhere in the city except on two designated routes. By doing so, they reduced the number of truck routes through Lackawanna from three to two. The City was sued by Baynes Freight Contractors whose trucks used the eliminated truck route to deliver milk to a Sorrento cheese factory in an adjoining municipality, Buffalo. In December 2011, the New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Fourth Department, ruled that the city ordinance eliminating the third truck route in Lackawanna was invalid.

As happens whenever the problem of trucks in Hudson is discussed, there were lots of suggestions, most of which seem never to be acted on. Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), himself an attorney, suggested the City needed to "go to the legislature." "Design what we want the law to read [regarding municipal control over transient truck traffic] and go to the legislature," he recommended.

 
Don Moore, Council president and chair of the Economic Development Committee, shared a recommendation from our new code enforcement officer, Craig Haigh, who used to be a long haul trucker: signage. The assumption is that truckers don't like negotiating Hudson's narrow and congested streets and would happily go a few miles out of their way to avoid them. The problem is, of course, figuring out an appropriate place to put the signs. If they are placed at the city limits, it's too late for truckers to opt for another route.

Alderman David Marston (First Ward), who apparently has been tasked with ferreting out and assembling data, shared the information, from the New York State Department of Transportation, that Green Street is the busiest street in Hudson--much busier than Columbia Street. This is not surprising, considering that Routes 9 and 9G through Hudson converge on Green Street and all trucks moving through the city--including those carrying gravel bound for the port--travel along Green Street, but it is interesting, considering how many complaints about the truck route have to do with Columbia Street. Case in point, Alderman Ohrine Stewart (Fourth Ward) suggested, as others from the Second and Fourth wards have before her, that, to inconvenience the truckers and encourage them to seek routes around that city, the truck route be moved from Columbia Street to Warren Street.
  

Roberts wanted information, from DPW and other sources, to measure the impact of Widewaters, a.k.a. Greenport Commons, on truck traffic and on the city's infrastructure. "They are getting the tax revenue from all the development," said Roberts, "and we're getting the traffic." Unfortunately, most people didn't have the prescience to see this coming. In January 2007, when the Greenport Planning Board was reviewing the Widewaters project, this writer, then an alderman representing the First Ward, introduced a resolution in the Common Council finding that "the traffic impacts from the project are likely to have significant impact upon the City of Hudson, its infrastructure, historic buildings, and quality of life" and recommending and requesting that the Town of Greenport Planning Board issue a Positive Declaration under SEQRA, direct the applicant to do a Draft Environmental Impact Statement, and list Hudson as an "interested agency" in the SEQRA review. The Common Council did not pass the resolution. Most of the aldermen then on the Council shared the opinion voiced by Doc Donahue, then as now Fifth Ward alderman, that Hudson shouldn't try to tell Greenport what to do.
   

Friedman made the suggestion that the Hudson police be trained to "monitor the trucks and all the laws that apply to trucks"--the idea being that if truckers think there's a likelihood that they will be stopped, detained, and possibly ticketed in Hudson, they will go to whatever lengths necessary to bypass the city to reach a destination on the other side. If enforcing the law could dissuade truckers from traveling through Hudson, it seems there are things the police could be doing already to achieve this goal. Stewart reported complaints about trucks speeding and barreling through yellow lights without even slowing down. Stewart's comment inspired Friedman to suggest that the City impose higher fines for moving violations on vehicles with more than two axles.

The search for relief from the tyranny of trucks in the city continues.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

The Reading Marathon Has Begun

It started at 2 p.m. today and will continue through tonight and tomorrow morning until 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. For twenty-four hours, volunteers will be taking turns reading aloud from Walter Moers' "odd" and "wildly imaginative" fantasy for bibliophiles, The City of Dreaming Books. The reading is happening at Basilica Hudson, so if you have a few hours with nothing to do or if you wake up in the middle of the night and seek distraction, head down to the Basilica. 

The reading marathon is sponsored by the Marina Abramovic Institute, and it's meant to be a long durational event. They are encouraging people to stay for a while and are even providing pillows and blankets so that listeners can take naps. John Mason tells more about the marathon in today's Register-Star: "24-hour reading marathon set for this weekend."