Other Matters Before the Planning Board

Although the project of greatest interest at the Planning Board meeting on Thursday was the Colarusso haul road, the Planning Board did a lot of other business before getting to that project. They approved four projects and heard a presentation about a new one.

Photo: Julie Metz

The first of the projects approved by the Planning Board was the redevelopment of 124 North Second Street, now the location of COARC Manufacturing, into a site for the production of sauerkraut, kimchi, and other lacto-fermented vegetables. The project is being undertaken by Whitethorne LLC, a for-profit subsidiary of Hawthorne Valley Association. The benefits of the project include fewer trucks coming and going from the site, upwards of twelve new jobs for local people, and the return of the property to the tax rolls. For those concerned about odors emanating from the sauerkraut plant, the plan is to eliminate them with an air filtration system.

The next project to get approval from the Planning Board was 34 Allen Street, the former Allen Street School. The building is to become a private art gallery, studio spaces, and one short-term residential unit for an artist-in-residence program. The plans for the restoration were approved by the Historic Preservation Commission in January, and because state and federal preservation tax credits are being used in funding the project, all the work being done adheres strictly to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards.

The proposal to build four new townhouses on Hudson Avenue was also approved, ending an approval process that took more than a year and required an amendment to zoning code. Hudson Avenue is not included in the Union-Allen-South Front Street Historic District, so the HPC was not part of the review process. Speaking of the compatibility of the new construction with its context, developer Walter Chatham said, "It will not only blend in but disappear amidst all the 19th-century buildings around it." Unfortunately for those who thought these houses might ease the shortage of affordable housing in Hudson, Chatham explained that he intends to sell the three-bedroom houses when they are completed and estimated the price would be $600,000, with this proviso, "We will sell then for as little as we can based on what we can build them for."

The fourth project to be approved was the conversion of 886 Columbia Street, the early 20th-century house once known as the Dinehart mansion, into six medical office suites. The project involves constructing an elevator tower at the back of the building, expanding the parking lot, and changing the traffic pattern for entering and exiting the parking lot. It was revealed on Thursday that the plans also include "re-glazing the brick--going from mustard yellow to blue-gray. This alteration is something that the Historic Preservation Commission might take issue with, but 886 Columbia Street is neither individually designated nor part of a local historic district, so the HPC has no power to protect it.

The new project that came before the Planning Board on Thursday is the plan to build out the basement space at the former Hudson Armory. Of the space, which will be entered from Short Street, 1,700 square feet will be used by the COARC daycare program (Columbia Memorial Hospital recently acquired the building on Prospect Avenue that was the site of COARC Starting Place) and 1,500 square feet will be used for professional office space.

As is often the case with the Planning Board, the question of parking arose. The new use, which according to code enforcement officer Craig Haigh is a conditional permitted use subject to Planning Board approval, will require ten parking spaces. Jason O'Toole, who was presenting the project for the Galvan Foundation, which owns the building, told the board, "There is no offstreet parking we can offer," and made reference to "the municipal parking lot on Columbia Street." Presumably he was referring to the parking lot between Fifth and Sixth streets, which is two and a half blocks from the Short Street side of the armory building. He also made reference to a house across the street--59 Short Street--owned by Galvan, which he suggested might be demolished to create offstreet parking.

The area immediately behind the armory building might have been used for parking had it not been included in the site's elaborate landscaping plan, and, as O'Toole pointed out, the forty-six children who will be coming to the site for daycare need an outside play area.

Planning Board chair Tom DePietro requested a parking plan from the applicant and then scheduled a public hearing for Thursday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m.
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An Appeal from the HPC

The Historic Preservation Commission is putting together a brochure to introduce property owners in Hudson's historic districts to the benefits and responsibilities of owning a historic building. They are now seeking photographs to illustrate the brochure--streetscapes, individual houses, details of buildings, pictures that show the richness and character of Hudson's architectural heritage. 

If you have photographs you would like the HPC to consider for use in the brochure, please submit them digitally to HPC member John Schobel. By submitting a photograph you grant the HPC the right to use the photograph without seeking further permission. If your photograph is used, you will be credited in the brochure.
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Things to Do Before Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, is the last day for completing the Hudson Area Visitor Survey. Don't let the name mislead you. The survey is not just for visitors. Residents of Hudson and Columbia County are also asked to complete the survey. Click here to begin.

Beth Schneck Photography

Then tonight, after you've completed the survey and are ready to turn in, don't forget to set your clocks ahead one hour. Yes, it's true. Although the winter winds blow, and it's bitterly cold, Sunday morning at 2 a.m. we spring ahead! 
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Of Interest

In today's Register-Star, Rosa Acheson has the story of the meeting between the mayor and City attorneys and Colarusso and its attorney which was discussed briefly at Thursday's Planning Board meeting: "Planners question private meeting between Hudson officials and Colarusso reps."
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In Memoriam

Photo: Carlos Loret de Mola

Julia Philip, one of the great women of Columbia County, who in 1992 was part of the group that purchased the Hudson Opera House and initiated its restoration and amazing development as an arts center, was a longtime trustee of the Columbia County Historical Society, served on the boards of the New York State Historic Sites Clermont and Wilderstein, owned and operated Philip Apple Orchard, and lived in the the wonderful historic house Talavera in Claverack, died on February 20. Her obituary was published earlier this week on imby: Julia Philip, 1924-2017.

The Surprising Machinations of the Internet

If you Google "A. Colarusso & Son," as I did earlier today, this is what appears on the screen:

If you were to click on one of those pictures at the right, the one that shows gravel barges on Hudson's waterfront and has the label "See photos," you would learn that the source of the photo is given as "gossipsofrivertown.blogspot.com."

I took this picture on October 5, 2011, and used it in a post published that day called "Riverfront Reconnaisance." The post was mostly about a wonderful restored 1926 motor yacht called Freedom which was then moored at a Hudson Power Boat Association dock, just south of their club house. Here's how I related this picture to the yacht:

On the opposite end of Henry Hudson Riverfront Park this morning, in stark contrast to the restored grace and elegance of Freedom, a gravel barge was docked at the "port," extending well beyond Holcim property, halfway across the mouth of the adjacent slip, and intruding into what is now the southernmost part of our riverfront park.

The picture was taken back in the day when Holcim owned South Bay and the dock, and O&G was the entity trucking gravel to the dock and shipping it out on barges. But it's a good picture. I like it, and I've used it twice since then in posts that mention Colarusso--on July 20, 2016, and January 27, 2017--which, of course, is how the internet made the connection.
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The Planning Board and the Haul Road

Jess Puglisi of WGXC recorded last night's Planning Board meeting, and it can now be heard online. The meeting lasted for close to two hours; the discussion of the proposed Colarusso haul road begins at 50:15. In case you don't want to listen to the proceedings, Gossips will report on some of the more notable moments.

Photo: Julie Metz

Needless to say, when the attention turned to the haul road, the first thing to be discussed was the unexpected recusal of Ray Jurkowski, the engineer from Morris Associates who had been advising the Planning Board on the Colarusso proposal. Planning Board chair, Tom DePietro explained that the Greenport Planning Board had asked Jurkowski to make a choice: he could work for Greenport or Hudson but not both. Because he is on retainer with the Greenport Planning Board, advising them on all projects that come before the board, whereas in Hudson he is only engaged on a case by case basis, Jurkowski chose Greenport. No reason was given for why the Greenport Planning Board felt Jurkowski could not work for both planning boards in a coordinated review. DePietro reported that Virginia Benedict, attorney to the Greenport Planning Board, had advised the board not to share that information. Mitch Khosrova, attorney to the Hudson Planning Board, remarked that the situation was "like nothing I have ever experienced." Noting that there was no coordination in what is supposed to be a coordinated review of a proposal that impacts two municipalities.

Jurkowski submitted his comments on the revised project narrative on Monday, February 27. On Tuesday, February 28, the Greenport Planning Board went into executive session to discuss an issue having to do with Jurkowski. Presumably it was in this executive session that Jurkowski was told he would have to make a choice. He informed DePietro that he would be recusing himself from Hudson's review of the proposed haul road on Friday, March 3. Khosrova advised, "This board should decide if it wants to have another engineer," indicating that another engineer should be hired "if the board wants something more from an engineer than what Ray has already submitted." The board decided it wanted another engineer.

Another moment of interest came when Planning Board member Clark Wieman asked about a meeting he'd heard about "with the Colarusso attorney and the mayor." Khosrova, who apparently was also part of the meeting, said the meeting was about the relationship between the City and Colarusso. Khosrova spoke of "public statements and acrimony" and "stuff in the papers" and said that a week ago it was decided that "getting the parties together would be useful." When Wieman asked if the outcomes of that meeting were relevant to the Planning Board's consideration of the project, he was told they were not. Soon after that, Khosrova assured that Planning Board that Colarusso had nothing to do with the Greenport Planning Board's demand that Jurkowski work exclusively for one planning board or the other.

In his presentation to the board, P. J. Prendergast, engineer for Colarusso, spoke of a benefit to Hudson of the proposed haul road that they had been overlooking: the elimination on the streets of Hudson of "retail traffic." The haul road would enable trucks coming to Colarusso from the south to pick up gravel and asphalt to avoid entering Hudson altogether. Instead they could turn right, before reaching the Hudson city limits, onto the stretch of the haul road going east from Route 9 to the quarry, thus avoiding traveling on Worth Avenue, Warren Street, Park Place, Columbia Street, and Green Street on their way to Newman Road and back. According to Prendergast, this would take 70 trucks a day off the streets of Hudson--35 coming and 35 going.

The volume of traffic to the dock remains an issue. On Thursday night, Prendergast maintained, as he has before, that "the project is not about expanding operations; it is about redirecting trucks to a remote area"--i.e., the causeway through South Bay. Khosrova made the point that if they declare the volume of traffic to the dock will not increase, it has to be known what the volume is now. Without that knowledge, there is no way of knowing if it has increased or not. "Why has this been neglected for so long by the applicant?" he asked. JR Heffner, vice president of operations for Colarusso, maintained that all the information was in the Creighton Manning study. "If it's buried in the document," said Wieman, "why do we have to dig for it?"

Wieman brought up the question of alternative routes, noting that one alternative--going between Route 9 and Route 9G along Route 23--was acknowledged but dismissed as being "not economically feasible." This route would be three times longer than the proposed haul road route. Khosrova commented, "DOT [Department of Transportation] won't like that." DePietro then observed, "They've been talking about the social benefit [of the proposed haul road], but they have had this opportunity all along." Prendergast responded to DePietro's comment, "The applicant is under no requirement to do any of this."

Photo: Julie Metz

When Wieman observed that the haul road "supports activity on the dock" and suggested that the "biggest issue is waterfront industrial activity," Prendergast asserted that "nothing was done down there that helps them expand," referring to the improvements made to the dock without site plan approval from the Planning Board. The improvements are now subject to an Order to Remedy issued by the Hudson code enforcement officer, which Colarusso has appealed. That situation is expected to be taken up by the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday, March 15. The ZBA meeting begins at 6 p.m. at City Hall.
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More Change on Warren Street

The shiny taco truck that has been a fixture at 347 Warren Street is soon to be just a fond memory. The taco truck, first known as Tortillaville and owned and operated by Brian Branigan and Allison Culbertson, started at that location in the spring of 2010. In October 2013, Branigan and Culbertson sold it to Bruce and Deanna Gardom, who have operated it since as Once Upon a Taco.

Bruce Gardom announced on Facebook yesterday that Once Upon a Taco is going out of business. The taco truck must vacate its location by March 15, and the truck and the business are for sale. Information about the sale can be found on Craigslist.
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Another Loss for Hudson

Gossips just learned that Jeff Tiernan, also known as Karaoke Jeff, passed away earlier this week. Jeff was a colorful and familiar figure on Warren Street, with a warm and cheerful greeting for all he encountered. The image below is a screen capture from a YouTube video of Jeff performing at Club Helsinki Open Mic last August.

Rest in peace, Karaoke Jeff. You will be missed by many. Hudson will not be the same without you.

Thanks to Kristen Jones for posting the link to this video on Facebook

The Last Picture Show for the Last Picture Show

Bruce Mitchinson told Gossips this morning that for Fairview Cinema 3's final weekend he has booked The Last Picture Show, Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film based on a novel by Larry McMurtry. 

The choice of movies is poignantly appropriate on several levels. The Last Picture Show was released the year after Mitchinson started his movie theater career and two years before Fairview Cinema 3 first opened. At the center of the plot is the closing of the Royal theater in Anarene, Texas, a dying town where the diner, the pool hall, and the movie house are the only places to go. The following paragraph is quoted from Roger Ebert's 2004 review of the film:

[The Last Picture Show] opens on Saturday, Nov. 12, 1951--the eve of the Korean War, and the beginning of the end for movie houses like the Royal, where Sonny (Timothy Bottoms) grapples in the back row with his plump girlfriend Charlene (Sharon Taggart), while enviously watching Duane (Jeff Bridges) kiss the town beauty, Jacy Farrow (Cybill Shepherd). On the screen are classics like Red River and Wagonmaster, which speak to the legends of this land, but already the ugly little black and white sets in local living rooms are hypnotizing the locals with Strike It Rich! and other banal trivialities that have nothing to do with their lives or anyone's lives.

The movie was nominated for eight Academy Awards, among them Best Picture and Best Director, and hailed as "the most important work by a young American director since Citizen Kane." In 1998, the film was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.

If you have never seen The Last Picture Show, or if you haven't seen it since 1971, you can watch the movie trailer on YouTube. But don't miss your chance to see it next weekend at Fairview Cinema 3. The movie will be shown on Friday, March 17, Saturday, March 18, and Sunday, March 19. Showtimes are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings at 7 p.m., and bargain matinees at 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
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Of Interest

Two days after it was announced, the Register-Star reports on the closing of Fairview Cinema 3: "After 44 years, it's the end for Fairview Cinema 3."

Just Because . . .

Recently, while going through some files, I came upon this photograph, which is too wonderful not to share, for no particular reason.

The building at the center, of course, is the firehouse of C. H. Evans Hook & Ladder Company No. 3, now the Spotty Dog. In front of the firehouse, the men of the company pose on the ladder truck. I don't know the year it was taken (I would guess the early 1940s) or the occasion, but it's clearly summertime and the celebration is patriotic--perhaps the Fourth of July?
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Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring in the Garden

As the bleak months of winter come to a close, we all look forward to the joyous new growth and color of a spring garden, but according to garden and landscape designer Peter Bevacqua, winter in the garden doesn't have to be a barren and desolate and unappealing. On Saturday, March 11, Bevacqua will share some simple guidelines for creating a garden that looks great all year long, even in winter, in a talk called "A Garden for ALL Seasons."

Says Bevacqua, "Even with our winters, using these fundamental guidelines, our gardens and landscapes can be interesting and dramatic throughout the seasons--and winter is the best time of year to take a hard look and ask ourselves if our garden is really as good as it could be. Do we like what we see now? This is the time of year where answers can be revealed."

After a career on the creative side of advertising, Bevacqua began gardening in earnest and before long started Peter Bevacqua Garden Design. He honed his gardening skills studying with Christopher Lloyd and Fergus Garrett at Great Dixter in England and with Helen Dillon in her garden in Dublin. Bevacqua's own garden in Claverack has been featured in the New York Times and in the books Gardens of the Hudson Valley and Private Gardens of the Hudson Valley, both published by Monacelli Press.

The event on Saturday takes place at the Claverack Free Library, 629 Route 23B, at 4 p.m. 
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Another Bump in the Road

It seemed odd last fall when Ray Jurkowski, the engineer retained as a consultant by the Greenport Planning Board, appeared also as the engineer consulting with the Hudson Planning Board on the proposed Colarusso haul road. Was he the only engineer in the area capable of advising on this project? It turns out Jurkowski is considered the "city engineer" for the City of Hudson. It was Jurkowski who was brought in to help code enforcement officer Craig Haigh assess the structural viability of 718-720 Union Street. 

Once the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) named the Greenport Planning Board the lead agency for SEQR (State Environmental Quality Review), the advantage of having the same engineer advise both boards became clear. Jurkowski could keep the concerns about the haul road that are uniquely Hudson's before the Greenport Planning Board as they did their scoping and assessment of the environmental impact of what was being proposed, facilitating what is supposed to be a coordinated review. 

At the last Greenport Planning Board meeting, however, there seemed to be a problem, centering around Jurkowski, and the board went into executive session to discuss it. Today, the Register-Star reports the outcome of that closed door meeting: "Engineer stops advising Hudson on Colarusso haul road." It seems that the Greenport Planning Board asked Jurkowski not to work for the City of Hudson, and last week, Jurkowski informed Hudson Planning Board chair, Tom DePietro, that he would be recusing himself from Hudson's consideration of the proposed haul road.
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The End of an Era

Gossips learned this morning that Fairview Cinema 3, Hudson's only independent, locally owned and operated hometown movie theater, just across the border in Greenport, will go dark forever at the end of the evening show on Sunday, March, 19.

The theater has for several years been struggling with two challenges that have finally proved insurmountable. At the beginning of 2014, movie studios stopped making film prints in favor of distributing only digital copies of movies. The switch required theaters to invest in expensive new digital projectors and sound systems. Bruce Mitchinson, the owner of Fairview Cinema 3, was able to equip one of the three theaters with the new digital equipment, but he has been reluctant to invest in digital equipment for the other two theaters because, for the past three years, he has been unable to negotiate an affordable lease renewal with the owners of the shopping mall.

With the closing on March 19, Fairview Cinema 3 is ending 44 years of continuous operation, and Mitchinson is ending a 47-year career in the movie theater business, the last 18 as the owner of Fairview Cinema 3. In his career choice, Mitchinson followed in the footsteps of his father, Wilfred Mitchinson, who was the projectionist at such storied Hudson movie houses as the Warren Theatre, now Rivertown Lodge, and the Community Theatre, the future home of the Marina Abramovic Institute.

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Eleanor Update

If you are curious about the restoration of the Hudson River racing sloop Eleanor, a chance to learn about the sailboat's history and the progress being made in the restoration is coming up. On Saturday, March 18, there will be an open house from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the restoration site in Hudson River Industrial Park, 99 South Third Street. Coffee and muffins will be served, and you will have a chance to learn what has been completed and what lies ahead in the restoration of this National Register-listed sailboat. The Eleanor restoration site is behind Door 19 at the Hudson River Industrial Park (the former L&B building), on the west side of the building, behind Basilica Hudson.
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Largesse with Limits

In October 2014, the Galvan Foundation purchased the building at the corner of Third and Allen streets that had been the home of the Salvation Army for probably two decades. This is where the Salvation Army serves lunch and distributes food to those in need. When the Galvan Foundation acquired the building, it was announced that Galvan had contributed $15,000 to the Salvation Army's food program and would allow the organization to occupy the building rent free while it was determined "whether to improve and expand the existing building or assist in relocating it to another property in Hudson."

A year ago, on March 4, 2016, Galvan announced that it was creating a new home for the Salvation Army in the building on the first block of Warren Street that was built in 1975 as a strip mall and was for many years the location of COARC. The press release at the time stated: "Salvation Army joins Berkshire Farm Center and Services for Youth and Warren Street Academy as tenants in Galvan Opportunity Center. These organizations provide critical programs proven to expand social and economic opportunity for the residents of Hudson."

At the affordable housing forum a couple of weeks ago, Rick Scalera, special adviser to the Galvan Foundation, said they were "finishing up 11 Warren Street, where the Salvation Army is moving into." It seems, however, that it is up to the Salvation Army to outfit the space. 

Recently, a GoFundMe campaign was launched to help with that challenge. The narrative about the campaign explains: "Although local stores and farms provide most of the food we cook and give away, we're on our own in terms of funding the Soup Kitchen's supplies and operations. Our wonderful director has to raise all the money herself, and there's not enough left over to outfit a new kitchen." Right now, the goal is to raise $7,000 for a new stove, but there are many other things that are needed, among them "a walk-in cooler, a dishwasher, good utensils, steamer trays, steel counters, and real plates (not horrible plastic foam)."

Click here to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign and help buy a new stove for the soup kitchen.
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By Your Dog They Shall Know You

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

I go to PetSmart a lot--perhaps more than I go to ShopRite. Whenever I go to PetSmart, I take Joey with me. They welcome dogs, and Joey likes the outing. When we walk through the front door, it's like Norm Peterson entering Cheers. Everyone knows Joey's name, and they call it out when they see him.

Joey and I were at PetSmart late yesterday afternoon. When I got home with our bag of goodies, I discovered there was a problem. I wanted to rectify it right away, so I called the store. When my call was referred to the store manager, I opened the conversation by identifying myself, using my own name. After I had explained the problem, the young woman asked, "Is this Joey's mom?"

I should have said that in the first place.

"Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined (by Gossips) because Hudson is a metropolis in microcosm.
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The Obscure Joys of a Liberal Arts Education

This morning on The Roundtable on WAMC, I heard panelist Rosemary Armao say, speaking of Marco Rubio, "I'm searching for another word for impotent." "Hah!" I thought. "Paralipsis!"--not offering it as a synonym for impotent but as the name of the rhetorical device she had just employed, perhaps unintentionally.
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In Memoriam: Gus

Long time readers of Gossips will remember my beloved dog William, who died in November 2014. William, who lived in Hudson for more than fifteen years, was a dog about town, enjoying long walks around Hudson both morning and evening. As a consequence of his frequent and regular presence on the streets of Hudson, William had a lot of friends--both human and canine. Over the years, before and after his own death, William's dog friends--Needles, Lucy, Quinn, Henry, Allegra--have passed on. Recently, I learned of the death of William's last surviving canine friend, Gus.

Gus at Olana

Gus was the most gentle and patient of dogs. My favorite personal memory of him illustrates this. I was on a morning walk with my dog Joey a few months after I had adopted him, and as we approached Gus's house, I saw him walk from the backyard to the front of the house, climb the steps to the front door, and sit there, patiently waiting. He didn't bark or scratch on the door. He just waited, clearly trusting that someone would eventually let him in. 

Because I didn't want Joey to bark at Gus, as is his wont, we crossed the street, leaving Gus sitting on his front porch, but when we got home, I called Gus's human to make certain Gus was safe. I was told this happened often. Gus would be let out into the backyard, and sometimes it was forgotten that he was out there. When this happened, and waiting at the backdoor to be let back in didn't work, Gus would go around to the front door and wait there. In any event, by the time Joey and I had walked the block and a half from his house to ours, Gus was safely back in his house.

Farewell, sweet Gus. You were a very good dog.
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Thoughts About the Fence

At the Common Council Police Committee meeting last Tuesday, Hudson Police Chief Ed Moore reported that the city court would be moving into 701 Union Street on March 14--a week from Tuesday. The Hudson Police Department will move its headquarters to the new building soon after, probably in early April.

Meanwhile, Gossips readers have raised some questions about the fence that has been erected along the sidewalk in front of the building.

One objection to the fence is that the message it sends seems to negate all efforts at community policing. It puts a barrier between law enforcement and the judicial system, as if the public servants tasked with upholding the law and maintaining order need to be closed off and protected from the people they serve.

Another objection to the fence is that there is no break in it and no way for pedestrians to approach the building except by using the driveways at either end of the fence, which people on foot will have share with people in cars. 

The architect's rendering of the building (below) shows a fence, but one that is really more like a railing than a barrier and has a pedestrian entrance.

Gossips contacted Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton and Chief Moore to find out how we ended up with this fence. Here's what was learned. 

No plans for the site were included in the capital budget. It will be remembered that paving and landscaping were bid out as "alternative costs," and since it turned out that these costs would have brought the total price of the project over the amount approved by the Common Council, paving and landscaping were eliminated from the project. A new fence and pedestrian walkway were presumably part of the "alternative costs." There had been an old split rail fence and some uneven railroad tie steps leading down from the sidewalk, but the plan was simply to remove them.

Once the old split rail fence was gone, though, there was concern about the steepness of the slope from the sidewalk to the "sunken" parking lot, and it was decided that a new fence was needed. The fence there now was chosen because it is similar to the the fence across the street, enclosing the patio at the Iron Horse Cigar Depot.

The mayor had this to say about the fence: "Obviously, this is not ideal, and I think everyone involved in the construction phase of the project agrees that something more aesthetically pleasing and consistent with the building's design would be preferable. Once the project is completed and we evaluate what, if any, funds are remaining, we hope to revisit [the fence] as well as the other issues (e.g. parking lot and pedestrian access from the street)."

So, how likely is it there will be money left over for such niceties as landscaping and repaving? When the bids were opened back in January 2016, Gossips calculated that the lowest bids totaled $2,824,100--$228,400 less that what the Common Council had approved for the project. In July 2016, when the Council approved spending $49,000 to replace the roof on the building, city treasurer Heather Campbell said that the contingency in the budget--the difference between the amount approved and the amount being spent--was $200,550. All the change orders, including the roof, amounted to $151,545, so at that point there was potentially $49,005 that could be spent on landscaping and site enhancement. It is not known how much of that possible $49,005 was spent for the fence that's there now. To give a sense of what's needed to landscape the site properly, the bids for "alternative costs" ranged from $247,000 to $438,000.
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The Saga of a Law

"Laws are like sausages. It is better not to see them being made." There are several variations of this sentiment, and at least as many people believed to have said it. One source attributes this variation to Mark Twain: "Those that respect the law and love sausage should watch neither being made." And so it has been with the law creating the City of Hudson's lodging tax. It's not that anything inappropriate happened; it's just that it took such an excruciatingly long time.

The notion that a lodging tax could be a painless source of new revenue for the City of Hudson originated with Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), who suggested it back in September 2014. In January 2015, Friedman, who then chaired the Legal Committee, and Nick Haddad, then First Ward alderman and chair of the Finance Committee, issued a press release introducing the idea of a lodging tax as a means to broaden the tax base and bring some relief to property owners. 

For the next several months, the law to create a lodging tax in Hudson was crafted by Friedman and the Legal Committee, and in August 2015, the law was laid on the aldermen's desks. Imposing a new tax requires enabling legislation from the state legislature, and in September 2015, a resolution was passed to send the proposed law to Albany. But getting enabling legislation passed required more than a resolution. It needed the support of our local representatives in the Assembly and the State Senate, who must sponsor the bill and shepherd it through the process. In February 2016, it was discovered that the matter had been presented neither to Assemblymember Didi Barrett nor to Senator Kathy Marchione, and their support had not been solicited.

That oversight was soon corrected, and with the support of Barrett and Marchione finally engaged, the enabling legislation for our lodging tax was approved by the Assembly and the State Senate on June 17, 2016, in the final hours of the legislative session. What remained was for Governor Andrew Cuomo to sign the bill, which he did at the last possible moment on November 28, 2016. The lodging tax was good to go . . . but was it?

At the first informal Common Council meeting for 2017, Alderman Rick Rector (First Ward) asked about the lodging tax and was told by Heather Campbell, the city treasurer, that there was no system in place to track and collect the tax and what was needed would have to be far more sophisticated than anything the City now has in place. Last month, on February 21, the Council passed a resolution approving the purchase of a software system to collect the lodging tax, but the law creating the lodging tax has not yet been enacted. It is still lying on the aldermen's desks.

Voting to enact the local law that would create the lodging tax was on the agenda for the February meeting of the Common Council, but when it came time to vote, Alderman Michael O'Hara (First Ward), who chairs the Legal Committee, moved to table the vote. The law before them was a revised version of the original law, but he and his committee, assisted by Steve Dunn, were working on a new version of the law, which wasn't ready yet. This situation provoked some mild consternation from Rector at the Common Council meeting and something much stronger than consternation from Friedman, the author of the original law, at the Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee meeting this past Wednesday night. 

On Thursday, March 2, at a special meeting of the Legal Committee, the rewritten law was reviewed, discussed, and pronounced good. With a few minor changes, which could easily be done in time, the law would be ready to be presented to the Council at its next meeting on Monday, March 13. According to Andy Howard, counsel to the Council, even though the original version of the law has been sitting on the aldermen's desks (figuratively speaking) since August 2015--more than a year and a half--this new version will have to "ripen" on the aldermen's desks for ten days before it can be voted on, which means, unless a special meeting is called to enact the law, it cannot be voted on until April 2017--two years and seven months from idea to actuality.
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Now, Here's an Idea

People in Hudson perennially complain about speeding. The police perennially explain that they must devote their time to more serious criminal activity rather than "quality of life" issues like speeding. This morning in the "Bluff the Listener" segment of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me on NPR, there was news of a vigilante effort in a village in Scotland that we may want to consider here.

The residents of Hopeman, a seaside village on the coast of the Moray Firth, are donning fluorescent vests and pointing hairdryers at cars, mimicking police officers with speed cameras, in an effort to deter speeding. Notwithstanding the picture above shows a member of the local Council in a high-visibility vest holding a hair dryer, the official position of local government is that deterring speeding is a matter for Police Scotland. The story is told by BBC News: "Hairdryers used to strike blow against speeders in Hopeman."
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Of Interest

The next auction at Stair Galleries, Americana at Stair, contains many framed vintage photographs of Hudson. One of them, which shows people ice skating on Underhill Pond, is reproduced below. The auction takes place next Saturday, March 11. The preview begins this weekend. 

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A Birthday Celebration and Commemoration

The founder of the Shakers, Mother Ann Lee was born on February 29, 1736. Tomorrow night, Saturday, March 4, from 5 to 7 p.m., there will be a celebration of Mother Ann Lee's 281st birthday at The Shaker, 119 Warren Street.

The celebration of Mother Ann Lee's birthday kicks off Women's History Month. The Shakers were active early advocates for equality of the sexes, and The Shaker is commemorating Women's History Month with an exhibition of images of influential Shaker women from the collection of the Shaker Museum|Mount Lebanon. 

This year--2017--marks the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in New York. To mark the centennial of this landmark event for women's rights, the Shaker Museum is mounting an exhibition entitled Break Every Yoke: The Shakers and the Fight for Gender Equality and Women's Suffrage. The exhibition opens in June.
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More About the Grant for the Dunn Building

There has been a lot of angst about the Restore NY grant for the Dunn building on the waterfront. When the grant was applied for, it was thought of as a way to stabilize the building and arrest its deterioration without making a commitment to its ultimate use. For this reason, people rallied around the effort and gave it their full-throated support. But the enthusiasm waned when Alderman Rick Rector (First Ward), at a meeting of the Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting in January, announced that he had recently learned that "the grant is tied into a developer with a plan in place." This was not something most people wanted to hear--especially not those who recognize that what happens with the Dunn building will define future development at the waterfront.

At the Hudson Development Corporation meeting earlier this week, before the board went into executive session to discuss the Kaz proposal, executive director Sheen Salvino offered some more clarification about the grant and its requirements. She explained that, although the grant is for $500,000, the actual amount awarded is based on a per square foot allocation that is different depending upon the intended future use of the building. Because the Restore NY grant program is meant to encourage economic development, the amount per square foot for a building being stabilized for a commercial use is greater than for a building being stabilized for a not-for-profit purpose. The message seemed to be that before the City can start using any of the money, there must be a commitment to the nature of the building's use--not a specific plan, not a specific developer, but the type of use. Saying it will be commercial would bring in the most money, but if the community should decide, during the course of revising the LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program), that the highest and best use of the building is not commercial, there could be problems down the road. 

The pressure is on for the City to decide how the building should be used. It is expected to be a topic of discussion at the next Economic Development Committee meeting, scheduled to take place on Thursday, March 16, at 6 p.m., at City Hall.
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BB Guns in School and on the Street

BB gun used in robbery|Photo: HPD 

On February, a thirteen-year-old, armed with a BB gun, held up a convenience store on Warren Street. Today, the Register-Star reports about two students facing year-long academic suspensions for bringing BB guns to school: "Hudson City School District Board of Education holds executive session to discuss suspension appeals." 

Last night at the Common Council Youth & Aging Committee meeting, youth director Nick Zachos announced a little victory in the effort to keep these very realistic looking BB guns out of the hands of kids. As the result of what he described as "a little campaign" initiated in a meeting of parents at the Hudson Youth Center, the Walmart in Greenport, where the BB guns can be purchased for $20, is now displaying them in a locked cabinet, which makes acquiring one at bit more difficult.
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Upheaval in County Democratic Committee

This morning, Peter Bujanow issued an email announcing his resignation as chair of the Columbia County Democratic Committee and the resignations of three other officers: Debby Mayer, first vice chair; Mark Leggett, second vice chair; and Angella Pace, secretary. All resignations are effective March 3, 2017. (Treasurer Deb Shakotko resigned on February 13, 2017.) In his email, Bujanow explains the action is a consequence of "the shift in sentiment among some of the rank and file." On his blog, Sam Pratt provides background and insight into what happened: "Facing an insurrection, County Democratic leadership resigns en masse."
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Hudson Area Visitor Survey

Yesterday, the Hudson Opera House, along with Assemblymember Didi Barrett, a consortium of regional cultural organizations, historic sites, galleries, shops, dining and lodging establishments, announced the launch of a comprehensive visitor survey for the greater Hudson region. The survey was made possible by a $60,000 grant from Empire State Development's MarketNY program and was supported by the I ♥ NY Division of Tourism under the governor's Regional Economic Development Council Initiative.

The survey, conducted by George Wachtel of Audience Research & Analysis and Larisa Ortiz Associates, is being undertaken to assess the needs of the growing tourism market within a fifty-mile radius of Hudson. It will collect primary market research information--research information currently not available--from visitors to the area, which can be used to develop market-based solutions to support community revitalization efforts and help civic leaders, business owners, and nonprofit organization define and achieve collective goals and support sustainable growth.

Although it is called a "visitor survey," residents--both full-time and weekend--are encouraged to complete the survey as well as visitors. Everyone who participates has a chance to win one of fifty $10 Amazon.com gift cards or the grand prize of a "Stay and Play" package that includes a two-night stay for two at Wm. Farmer & Sons, dinner for two at Fish & Game, and passes to area arts and tourism destinations. To complete the survey, click here.

Greenport Planning Board and the Haul Road

It was thought that the Greenport Planning Board's review of the proposed Colarusso haul road would begin last night, but it didn't.

The board acknowledged the receipt of the revised project narrative (a condensed and somewhat out-of-focus version of which is now on the City of Hudson website). Ray Jurkowski, the engineer who is consulting both with the Greenport Planning Board and the Hudson Planning Board on this project, had some requests for further revision, having to do with the presentation of the number of truck trips from the quarry to the dock and relocation of the roadway on the "causeway." 

The most significant part of the meeting began when Virginia Benedict, legal counsel to the Greenport Planning Board, delivered her opinion that the review of the project had to be postponed. She explained that on the previous day she had received copies of the Order to Remedy (OTR) issused by the City of Hudson for work done at the dock; the cover letter of the appeal of the OTR; and a letter from Craig Haigh, code enforcement officer, to Lisa Kenneally, chair of the Hudson Zoning Board of Appeals. Benedict told the folks from Colarusso present--J. R. Heffner, engineer P. J. Prendergast, and attorney John Privitera--that Greenport "doesn't want a segmentation argument." She conjectured that the Hudson ZBA could not make a judgment in the matter until the SEQR process was over, but she was seeking advice from the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the General Counsel staff and was advising the Greenport Planning Board not to proceed with its review of the project before hearing from the DEC.

Privitera objected to the notion that the dock had to be included in SEQR to avoid segmentation, insisting that "the project site is the haul road." Prendergast lamented, "We're going to lose another month." Chair of the Greenport Planning Board, Edward Stiffler reiterated that the board needed to get "an answer that counsel is comfortable with" before proceeding. 

The board did, however, tentatively schedule a public hearing, or what Stiffler carefully defined as "a public informational meeting to solicit input for the SEQRA review." The date and time are Tuesday, April 18, at 6:30 p.m. The meeting is expected to take place somewhere on the campus of Columbia-Greene Community College. Unfortunately, the night chosen for this meeting is the same night that the Hudson Common Council has its regular meeting for the month of April.
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What's to Become of the Kaz Warehouses

Last week, there was a forum about Hudson's need for affordable housing. Yesterday, the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) Board of Directors met in executive session for more than an hour to discuss the $25 million mixed use development proposed by Sustainable Community Associates--a project expected to have an affordable housing component. This morning, HDC executive director Sheena Salvino issued a press release about the status of the project, which tells us basically nothing we didn't already know. The press release is published below, uncorrected.

Montgomery Street Redevelopment Project on Hold 

Until CSX Lot Secured

Hudson Development Corporation, nonprofit local development corporation, and Ohio based developer, Sustainable Community Associates, in a joint statement have announced that the mixed use redevelopment of the former KAZ Warehouse on Montgomery Street will be put on hold until control of the CSX parcel is obtained. 

HDC released a Request for Proposals in March 2016 for the redevelopment of the abandoned warehouse with the purposes to return the property to the tax rolls and create jobs in Hudson. Sustainable Community Associates answered that call with an ambitious project proposal calling for a mix of commercial, retail and housing.

"At the kickoff meeting in May 2016, the members of HDC, SCA, and City of Hudson officials met to discuss the many moving parts of this proposal and the thresholds that would have to be met before SCA's shovels could go in the ground," says HDC Executive Director, Sheena Salvino. "The key component being the acquisition of the CSX parcel which offers access and frontage via Front Street."

Early and often contact with the CSX Real Estate Office in Florida was made, but it was not until Minority Leader, Senator Charles Schumer got involved in December of 2016. "We were thrilled that Senator Schumer saw the value of this project for Hudson and was able to lend his support," says Mayor Tiffany Hamilton.

Since December, CSX has reached out and we are looking for ways to meet the needs of both interests, said Mayor Hamilton.

SCA Partner, Ben Ezinga stated the "We are optimistic that CSX will work with HDC and the City so that the full site will be available for redevelopment." He continues, "Without that parcel, our project cannot be fully realized."

"Negotiation for the sale of the warehouse will always be stalled if HDC cannot gain site control of the CSX parcel," says Board President Duncan Calhoun. "We feel we are well positioned to obtain the site control and we will continue to prioritize the acquisition so that the full proposal submitted by SCA can move forward."

Gossips Note: "Ohio based developer" Sustainable Community Associates was founded in 2001, when its three partners were students at Oberlin College. One of the partners, Ben Ezinga is a native of Columbia County and currently lives in Hudson.

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