Legislation and Dogs

Tomorrow at 4 p.m., Mayor Rick Rector will hold a public hearing before acting on an amendment to Section 70-4 of the city code to allow dogs to be present in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park.

Also tomorrow, at the informal Common Council meeting, which takes place shortly after 7 p.m., following the organizational meeting, the new Council will receive Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton's veto of the resolution passed by the previous Council expressing "its opposition to the construction of a dog park at Charles Williams Park" and recommending "that the Mayor explore constructing a dog park at another location." The mayor's veto, which was issued on December 20, 2017, reads in part:

In October of this year [2017], after evaluating every available green space owned by the City of Hudson, I, in consultation with others, determined that the Charles Williams Park was the most logical location for a dog park based on, amongst other things, the following factors:

• Charles Williams Park has the most available green space of any park within the City limits;

• The original design for Charles Williams Park contemplates the inclusion of a fenced-in area for dogs;

• Charles Williams Park is markedly underutilized by the majority of Hudson's citizens;

• Residents of Mill Street have raised the issue of nefarious activities taking place in the park;

• Increased use of Charles Williams Park will act as a deterrent for those wishing to use the park for illicit activities;

• There is parking available at the end of Mill Street near the entrance to Dugway Road, as well as available street parking (all homes have driveways);

• As with all other streets in the City, Mill Street is a public thoroughfare, open to pedestrian and vehicular traffic;

• While there can be a conversation with residents regarding the dog park rules and any safety concerns, it is important to bear in mind that Charles Williams Park is a public amenity funded by all of Hudson's taxpayers, and full use and enjoyment of the park should be encouraged;

• In the City's densely-populated two square miles, every resident experiences pedestrian and vehicular traffic--including in some areas heavy truck traffic--passing by their homes, and is surrounded by other homes, businesses, parks, schools, churches, healthcare facilities, etc.;

• As has been documented in countless studies, dog parks provide many social benefits to communities; and

• Roughly $14,000 of private funds have been raised specifically to construct a dog park, providing the community with a highly desired amenity at no cost to the taxpayers (the park will continue to be mowed, as it is now, by DPW).

If the Council decides to vote on overriding the mayor's veto, that vote would not happen until the regular monthly meeting of the Council on Tuesday, January 16.
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A Little Frivolity as We Return to Double Digits

The pet sitting and dog walking service Rover.com recently published its list of most popular dog names in 2017, and Joey was relieved to know his name wasn't on the list. (There's nothing more unsettling than hearing your human call your name at the dog park and seeing another dog come running.)

The ten most popular names for male dogs are Max, Charlie, Cooper, Buddy, Jack, Rocky, Oliver, Bear, Duke, and Tucker.

The favorite names for female dogs are Bella, Lucy, Luna, Lola, Sadie, Molly, Maggie, Bailey, and Sophie.
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Fire in the Frigid Night

Facebook|Rick Rector

Last night, in the bitter cold, there was a fire in Hudson that called out Hudson's volunteer firefighters as well as units from Greenport, Catskill, Stottville, Athens, Claverack, and Germantown. The fire started on the third floor of 260 State Street, now known as 3rd State. The people in the building at the time of the fire escaped safely; two firemen suffered minor injuries. Amanda Purcell has the story in today's Register-Star: "Firefighters injured in State St. fire."
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Exploring Our Region's Dutch Heritage

Next Saturday, January 13, Historic Hudson and the Columbia County Historical Society are sponsoring a lecture by Dutch restoration architect Andre Hoek, "Discovering Layers in Time: Life in the Netherlands 1650-1700." In a talk described as an "illustrated tour . . . including fine art, architecture, and gardens," Hoek will explore how the people of the Netherlands lived during the last half of the Dutch Golden Age by examining visual evidence in what remains of 17th-century Dutch villages, farms, buildings, and gardens and by studying the famous paintings of the time which captured interiors and landscapes. He will discuss everyday matters of the era from a Dutch perspective, revealing how the appearance of dwellings, paint colors, building materials and techniques, and even cooking methods can be discovered in the layers of historic buildings.

The lecture takes place at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 13, in Van Buren Hall, located upstairs at Kinderhook Village Hall, 6 Chatham Street, in Kinderhook. Following the lecture, there will be a reception at the Columbia County Historical Society Museum & Library Building, just around the corner at 5 Albany Avenue.   

For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.
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No Connecticut Garbage in Upstate New York

On December 16, Gossips reported the news that a plan to transport trash from Connecticut to be incinerated in the cement kiln at the LafargeHolcim plant in Ravena was one of three proposals being considered by the State of Connecticut to address the problem of an aging incinerator in Hartford. On December 26, Dave Fletcher, the plant manager at Ravena, issued a statement asserting that Mustang Renewable Power Ventures, the company that had made the proposal, named the plant as a partner without the consent of LafargeHolcim. Earlier this week, the Times Union published an article that puts all fears to rest, reporting that the State of Connecticut has opted for a different solution: "Connecticut puts final nail in former Lafarge garbage burning plan." 

The other two proposals being considered were rebuilding the incinerator in Hartford or expanding an existing incinerator in Bristol. The Times Union article doesn't indicate which proposal Connecticut decided to go with, but a website called Waste360 reported yesterday that the incinerator in Hartford was to get a $229 million upgrade.
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Thanks to Virginia Martin for bringing this to our attention

Ear to the Ground

The word on the street is that Sarah and Aaron Dibben, who provided the coffee part of Moto Coffee Machine, are moving up the street to Warren and Seventh, where Lick is located. Since the Dibbens' first enterprise in Hudson was called Swallow, I was hoping for a new business with a name that combined two imperatives: Lick & Swallow. But no. The new business is to be called Supernatural Coffee.

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Looking Beyond the Cold

On Monday, when we emerge from this nasty bombogenesis weather event and temperatures rise back into the 20s and 30s, city government meetings, which have taken a little interregnum break, resume their usual schedule. 

On Monday, January 8, at 4 p.m., Mayor Rick Rector holds his first public hearing on the amendment to Section 70-4 of the city code which will "permit dogs to be present at the Riverfront Park." The Common Council passed the amendment in December, and now it falls to Rector to sign it into law.

At 7 p.m. on Monday, the Common Council has its organizational meeting, at which Council president Tom DePietro will introduce his rules of order for the Council and announce the makeup of the standing committees and the creation and makeup of any new committees. The informal meeting for the month of January, at which new resolutions are introduced, follows the organizational meeting.

On Thursday, January 11, the Planning Board meets for the first time in the new year. It's not known what's on the agenda, but the meeting should be interesting just to see what new appointments to the board have been made. The board has three vacancies: Carmine Pierro's term is up; Tom DePietro's term is up, but he also cannot continue to serve because he is now Common Council president; and Amy Lavine is no longer on the board.

On Friday, January 12, at 10 a.m.,the Historic Preservation Commission has its first meeting for the new year. The HPC has one vacancy: Gini Casasco moved out of Hudson. A replacement for Casasco may or may not have been appointed by the time the HPC meets on Friday.  
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A Hundred Years Ago: Cold, Frozen, and Dark

We know that a hundred years ago, Hudson was experiencing record cold temperatures--colder even than the frigid temperatures we are enduring today. In past days, Gossips reported that, a century ago, the practice of keeping faucets dripping to prevent frozen pipes was causing a dangerous water shortage. We learned that ringing in the new year in Hudson was uncharacteristically quiet in 1918 because steam was needed to keep manufacturing plants going and there was none to spare to sound whistles. Today, we report on another utility that was challenged in 1918 by the extreme cold: the supply of electricity.

 

In 1918, Hudson's power came from a hydroelectric plant that harnessed the waterfall on Kinderhook Creek at Stuyvesant Falls. The plant was built in 1901 by the Albany & Hudson Railroad and Power Company, which had been chartered in 1899. It generated power to run the electric railroad between Hudson and Albany, as well as supplying electricity to the surrounding area. 

Photo: Upstate Earth

In 1903, the company was renamed Albany & Hudson Railroad Company, and in 1909, it was sold to the Albany Southern Railroad, which owned it in 1918.

Photo: Albany Engineerring Corporation

In 2009, Albany Engineering Corporation rehabilitated the plant and is once again using the falls at Stuyvesant to generate electricity.

Photo: Albany Engineering Corporation

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A Preview of the Public Pier

A waterfront pier project was one of the Priority Projects in Hudson's application for the Downtown Revitalization Initiative award. When it appeared in the application, very little was known about it except that it was to be located along the embayment farthest south, the one immediately adjacent to the Colarusso dock. 

When, at the second public engagement meeting, the people attending were asked to affix green stickers to indicate their priorities, the public pier came out close to the top. Only North Bay ReGeneration, a project being proposed by Kite's Nest, and "Improve pedestrian and vehicular circulation," whatever that means exactly, rated higher. Mention of the pier's popularity at the last DRI Local Planning Committee inspired LPC member Peter Jung to quip about "peer pressure."  

Recently on Gossips the public pier was the subject of a somewhat contentious exchange of comments, prompted by a mention of the pier as a possible fulfillment of Mayor Sam Wheeler's desire for a "fishing hole" back in 1967, but most people reading those comments probably had little idea of what the two commenters were disagreeing about. Though much talked about and apparently much desired, it has not been generally known exactly what the public pier would be . . . until now. 

A booklet called Railroad Point Pier was created as a presentation piece for the project, and Gossips was fortunate enough to get a copy of it. In the booklet, the pier is identified as Phase II of the multi-phase project envisioned for the area south of Rick's Point by the Hudson Sloop Club. Phase I is the Everett Nack Estuary Education Center, for which the Sloop Club was awarded a $91,780 grant from the Hudson River Estuary Program in 2015.

The design for the Nack Center, which is essentially a repurposed shipping container, has evolved a bit from the example provided in 2015, taking on a prefabricated Quonset roof to create a covered boat-building yard and outdoor classroom.

The proposed public pier, which is not so much a pier as it is a boardwalk on the spit of land between two slips, extends west from the Nack Center and ends in an observation deck.

The booklet provides the following description of the pier: 

The public pier will provide safe access points, integrated periodically along the length of the pier, allowing visitors to learn about and interact with the Hudson River.

The northern slip [that is, the slip that runs along the southern edge of Rick's Point] will provide opportunities for small boats and paddle craft to launch and learn in shallow water conditions. The southern slip, with its deeper water, will be accessible to sailboats and larger craft, providing much-needed dockage for local river organizations such as the Apollonia Project, the Clearwater and Riverkeeper.

An observation deck at the end of the pier will provide a unique vista of one of the most scenic stretches of the Hudson River. The pier will be equipped with a real-time monitoring station, feeding river info to the Nack Center, including tides, temperature, turbidity, commercial traffic and more.

Now we know, in some detail, what the public pier proposed for DRI funding is all about.
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A Treasure Trove of Images

Back in the 1990s, Robert and Evelyn Monthie were the premier and pioneer collectors of old pictures of Hudson and Columbia County. They would photograph people's collections of photographs and turn them into slides. More than once, in its early days, Historic Hudson sponsored showings of the Monthies' slides. That collection now resides at the Columbia County Historic Society. The images of Hudson have been digitized, so they can be viewed on a laptop computer instead of projected on a screen. The picture below, which shows the Washington Hose firehouse (now the Chamber of Commerce) before the truck bay on the south side of the building was constructed and before all the buildings along North Front Street were demolished, is from the Monthie collection.

Evelyn & Robert Monthie Slide Collection|CCHS

Technology in the past quarter century has made preserving and sharing old photography easier. In 2015, Peter Cipkowski made his grandfather's home movies of life in Hudson available on YouTube. This morning, Ralph Del Pozzo introduced me to a wonderful online collection of photographs, the work of Howard Gibson, a professional photographer who lived in Germantown from 1947 until his death in 1978. Bruce Bohnsack purchased a collection of Gibson's work from his estate and has created a website to memorialize Gibson and share his work: photobygibson.com.

The subject of much of the collection is, of course, Germantown, but there is an entire section--133 photos--devoted to the City of Hudson. Most of the pictures were taken in the '50s and '60s and show such things as the exterior and the interior of the Half Moon in 1960, the train station before it was restored in the 1990s, the beach at Oakdale in 1951 and 1960, boat races at the Hudson Power Boat Association in 1951, opening day in 1960 of the Dairy Queen on Green Street, and Democratic Party fundraisers held in the ballroom of the General Worth Hotel in 1952 and 1960 at which Eleanor Roosevelt was the guest of honor.

PhotobyGibson.com

Along with Gibson's own mid-century photographs, the collection includes some older images, dating from 1917. An example is this picture of 508 Warren Street, back in the day when it was the Miller brothers' barbershop and the building next door was the Star Theater.

PhotobyGibson.com

It's a wonderful collection, and I urge readers to explore and enjoy it. Thank you, Bruce Bohnsack, for making these images available to all.

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History Repeats Itself

After days of bitterly cold temperatures, we're having to brace ourselves for even colder weather in the next few days. But it seems things were worse a hundred years ago. Today, I discovered this article in the Columbia Republican for Tuesday, January 1, 1918, and am compelled to share it--especially since there was a plumber's van parked on my street today when Joey and I ventured out for our late afternoon walk.

Stay warm and safe, readers, as winter storm Grayson approaches, followed by colder temperatures than we've experienced yet . . . but, mercifully, not as cold as it was in 1917.
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Save the Date

Don't go to New York or Washington. Plan to be here on Saturday, January 20, for the second Women's March in Hudson.

The event begins at 1 p.m. with a rally in the Public Square (a.k.a. Seventh Street Park), followed by a march down Warren Street to Front Street and over to Basilica Hudson, where a party is planned. Announcements of the event promise "Warm food and drink. Music and performance art. Camaraderie and inspiration." 

So, get out your pink pussy hats--or not--and join the march to show that a woman's place is in the resistance.
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DRI Update

The deadline just passed for submitting new proposals for Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding. It was today at noon. It may be a while before the public learns what new projects have been proposed. The next Local Planning Committee meeting takes place on Tuesday, January 23, and the next public workshop place on Thursday, February 8. Meanwhile, if any information about the new proposals becomes available, Gossips will certainly share it.

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The Great War: January 1, 1918

In June, Gossips shared the report, which appeared in the Hudson Evening Register, that Dr. Henry C. Galster, "well known physician and surgeon of this city," had been commissioned as a captain in the medical section of the Officers Reserve Corps of the United States Army. Gossips readers will remember that Galster lived and practiced medicine at 454 Warren Street, in the house where Nolita is now located. His shingle can be seen on the ground floor entrance to the house in this photograph by Walker Evans.

  
On January 1, 1918, Galster was the subject of two items in the Columbia Republican. The first reported the rumor of his death. 

The second was a letter from Galster written to a friend in Hudson, which was printed in its entirety in the newspaper. There is much of interest in Galster's letter, and Gossips will transcribe it in its entirety here.

Dear Friend:

Received your long and newsy letter the other day and very glad indeed to get it. I never before appreciated letters as I do those I receive out here. It came on Monday with six others so you see I had quite some news.

Mail coming over here has been very irregular indeed and I was out here a little over six weeks before I had any news of any kind from home. Of course, I cabled my safe arrival to Mrs. Galster upon arriving--. Even so, it was not sent until four days later. From what I can learn, all cables are held up at least that long for the purpose of censorship. Haven't had a word from any of the fellows, with the exception of yourself and Dr. Harris.

Several of my other friends have written to me having seen my address in the paper.

If this letter reaches you before 1-1-18, I hope you'll wish everybody a Happy and Prosperous New Year for me.

Rather hard to write very much of what one sees over here for one doesn't know how much the censor will allow. We are supposed to censor our own letters and consequently one is in duty bound not to write anything about military subjects that might give information to our enemies.

I've been at the front a couple of times and it wasn't so bad as they say; it might have been worse. While in the back areas we have pretty good times and oftimes one is able to find a good place to have dinner. In most of the larger places one finds an officers' club where one is always welcome, although at times one is stared at because we are probably the first American officers they have seen. this is not happening quite as muh at present for we are becoming quite numerous and I attended a lecture the other day at which I met about a dozen American mos [medical officers]. I met three chaps who had come across with me. Glad to see them you may be sure and learn what they had been doing and how they were enjoying the work.

The British officers as a class are as fine a body of men as one would care to meet. Very courteous and obliging; nothing being too much trouble.

I'm with a Territorial battalion which before the war resembled our National guard very much.

Forgot to tell you I was over to lunch to-day with a young chap from Albany, Dr. Dickinson. We were together in Washington and remained together for some time after landing over here. He is at present in another regiment and brigade but same division as I am. Although not many miles or kilometres (for metric system is used here almost exclusively) apart I hadn't seen him for nearly six weeks until day of lecture. So today I went over to have a good long chat with an old friend. By the way, Dr. Edwards knows him very well.

Thought all soldiers were to have a vote. Of course, I know I am not one still, as I'm supposed to be one, I wondered why I never received a ballot. Don't believe it would have made any difference. Do you?

I'm supposed to be sleeping in a bed that Napoleon slept in many years ago. It may be like the beds they tell you about that George Washington did the same. Anyhow, it's jolly comfortable and I'll enjoy it while I can because one doesn't strike such things every day. M.O. usually lucky for I am third senior officer at H 2 and I am looked after very well.

Don't think much of the heating arrangements of old world houses for they are inadequate. Oftimes wish I could find a place with either a hot air or hot water furnace. No such luck.

Now 10:30 p.m., so good-night for now.

As ever,

Sincerely,

Henry C. Galster

At the time he wrote this letter, Galster was 29. Despite rumors to the contrary, Galster survived the war, returned to Hudson, and served as mayor in 1921 and 1922.
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The Hudson Water-Works

On New Year's Eve, Gossips reported that a hundred years ago, on that same day, the City of Hudson's water supply was dangerously low because people were letting faucets drip hoping to keep their pipes from freezing. As today, it was brutally cold in Hudson at the close of 1917. The article reproduced from the Hudson Evening Register for December 31, 1917, contained the following statement: "City Engineer [Michael J.] O'Hara admitted that the situation was exceedingly alarming, and that a bad fire might necessitate the putting into operation--if under prevailing conditions that were possible--the old plumbing apparatuses." Gossips wondered what those "old plumbing apparatuses" might be, and, a few hours after the post was published, Rob Perry, superintendent of the Department of Public Works, provided the answer. 

In 1917, the City was receiving its water from the "new" Churchtown Reservoir in Taghkanic. Prior to that, the primary source of water was the Hudson River. Perry referred me to the 1878 History of Columbia County, by Franklin Ellis, and section on the "Hudson Water-Works." The following is quoted from that work: 

[T]he introduction of an amply water-supply was looked upon as a project too gigantic to be undertaken by a city of Hudson's population and resources. It was not, therefore, until October, 1871, during the great Chicago fire, that the question was seriously agitated. It was then thoroughly discussed through the newspapers and at public meetings, and the result of these discussions was the passage of a law, in the spring of 1872, authorizing the construction of water-works, and appropriating therefor one hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The commission appointed under the law caused surveys and estimates to be made, and it was demonstrated to be impracticable to erect such works as the interest of the city required within the appropriation. Therefore, in the spring of 1873, a new law was enacted, authorizing the expenditure of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. . . .

According to the inflation calculator consulted, $250,000 in 1873 is the equivalent of $5 million today. The account by Ellis continues:

These works were completed within the time estimated to be required and within the appropriation; which can be said of few public works of equal extent and importance. The commissioners under whose supervision and control the works were constructed were Messrs. F. F. Folger, Edwin C. Terry, Lemuel Holmes, William H. Gifford, Hiram Macy, and Thomas S. Gray.

The water is taken from nearly opposite Ferry Street, at a point where the depth of the river is 35 feet. . . .

The pumping building and engine-house is a fine structure, fifty-eight feet ten inches by sixty-five feet seven inches, and fifty-two feet in height to the ridge, with pressed-brick faces and marble trimmings. Its location is on Water Street, west of Franklin square, and between the Hudson River railroad and the river. Its cost was about $15,000. The pumping-engines and boilers were built by Clapp & Jones Manufacturing Company, of Hudson, at a cost of $40,000. All straight pipes were furnished on contract by the Warren foundry, and most of the specials were cast by Messrs. Gifford Brothers, of Hudson. The length of pipe now laid in the system is about thirteen miles.

Perry speculated that the City Water Department kept the pump station at the river operational as an emergency backup for a few years after the Churchtown Reservoir became operational. He also surmised that the brick building at the far left in this picture, published on Gossips on December 29, identified in the caption as the "DPW garage," which was demolished in 1967 "to make way for the long awaited Hudson Boat Launch Site," is the Hudson Water Works pumping building and engine-house constructed in 1873.

Evelyn & Robert Monthie Slide Collection, Columbia County Historical Society

This morning, Perry provided evidence that the DPW garage demolished in 1967 was indeed the original Hudson water works. These plaques hang on the north wall of the mechanics' bay in the current DPW garage, presumably constructed in 1967.

 

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2018 Begins in Hudson

Shortly after noon today, Hudson's new mayor, Rick Rector, took the oath of office, administered by city clerk Tracy Delaney, in the auditorium in Hudson Hall at the historic Hudson Opera House.

Also sworn in at the ceremony today were Common Council president Tom DePietro, eight of the ten aldermen, city treasurer Heather Campbell, assistant city attorney Mitch Khosrova, and mayor's aide Branda Maholtz. The eight aldermen present for the swearing in were Rob Bujan and Kamal Johnson (First Ward), Tiffany Garriga and Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward), Shershah Mizan (Third Ward), Rich Volo (Fourth Ward), Eileen Halloran and Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward). Calvin Lewis (Third Ward) and John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward) were not there.

In his remarks following his swearing in, Rector thanked Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton for her leadership and service. He confessed, after working closely with Hamilton over the past two years, to being "constantly amazed by her intelligence and fierceness." "She is one smart lady," Rector declared, "and we are all lucky to have had her as our mayor."

In his first address as mayor, Rector returned to the theme of his campaign--One Hudson--telling the audience that filled Hudson Hall it is was more than a "simple marketing gimmick." "It is something I truly believe in and hope to bring to all aspects of my service as your mayor." He went on to elaborate on the theme:

Divisiveness is such a part of today's culture. It is so easy to drive wedges between people and ideas. It is so simple to stir the pot and create adversarial tensions. Finger pointing, mean-spirited posts and comments on social media, judging others as if we have no faults of our own are frequent and almost commonplace in our society. . . . 

It is much harder to find the common ground. It is more difficult to put aside differences to find mutual purposes and goals. Opening doors that have been closed will necessitate additional effort. Being open to our neighbor's concerns requires being more perceptive and broad-minded.

Rector called for people to work together "toward determining what is best for the entire city," concluding, "Together we can become One Hudson and work toward a greater goal for all."

Before the swearing-in ceremony began, Rector had placed buttons with the "One Hudson" logo on the chairs positioned on the stage, where the elected officials being sworn in would sit. The logo represents the five wards of equal size interlocking to form a circle. Gossips observed that all but two of the newly elected officials were wearing the buttons when they took their oath of office.

Lance Wheeler's video of the event is now available on YouTube. You can watch it by clicking here.  
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Happy New Year 1918

When the ball dropped in Times Square last night marking the beginning of 2018, it was noted in various reports of the event that it was the coldest New Year's Eve since 1917. Last night at midnight, it was reportedly 9 degrees in New York City; in 1917, it was 1 degree. 

On New Year's Day 1918, the Columbia Republican featured this story on its front page, under the banner headline "A HAPPY NEW YEAR."

 

A century later, our frigid temperatures have prevailed for more than 72 hours and are predicted to continue for at least another 48 hours. Stay warm. And a New Year Year from Gossips!
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