The Future for Oakdale Lake

At tonight's Common Council meeting, the aldermen will be voting on a resolution "supporting the efforts of The Friends of Oakdale Lake"--in particular supporting a design project to be undertaken by the Hudson Valley Initiative at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning.

The idea for the project originated with Tamar Adler, who realized, when she started taking her two-year-old son to Oakdale, "both what a treasure we have in Oakdale and how badly certain things were needed there. It was easy for me to see that some of its underuse was the fault of perception issues: even the most basic understanding of how humans interact with their environments dictates that we need clues, encouragement, and to see other people doing what we might want to do." Adler suggests that "human interventions in the form of docks, platforms, stairs, free paddle boards or paddle boats, natural/ecological water quality improvement etc. can keep humans in excited and regular interactions with this/these [natural] spaces."

Adler's enthusiasm for Oakdale and her desire to see its many "lovely and promising attributes" enhanced and appreciated led her to the Hudson Valley Initiative, a program of Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Preservation, and Planning, which "facilitates applied research into complex spatial, ecological, and economic opportunities in the Hudson Valley." The Hudson Valley Initiative was interested in working with Hudson on a vision for Oakdale's future.

The Hudson Valley Initiative project will cost $10,000, for the stipends, travel expenses, and material expenses of the graduate students who will undertake the studies, conduct the workshops, create the renderings, and write the report. As of this afternoon, all but $120 of the $10,000 has been raised--the first $5,000 in large donations, and the remaining $5,000 through a GoFundMe campaign. Adler says of the proposed study: "This is not 'outsiders' coming and designing something which will then be built, but a group whose specific goal is site-specific, community-specific, collaborative work. Their specialty is helping to tease out a vision in collaboration with a community."

To learn more about the goals of the project, check out "Oakdale Lake: Ideas for Design and Use" and visit the Friends of Oakdale Lake website.
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Sunday Is Mrs. Greenthumbs Day 2018

In 2014, a group of people--mostly gardeners but not all--decided to revive a tradition that had started more than a decade earlier: Mrs. Greenthumbs Day, honoring the memory of Hudson's most talented, most exuberant, and most famous gardener, Cassandra Danz, who had a local radio show, appeared on national television, and wrote books as Mrs. Greenthumbs.

Mrs. Greenthumbs Day was and is observed with the most democratic of garden tours. People with gardens they love, work hard at, and are proud of open their gardens to fellow gardeners, gardener wannabes, and garden appreciators. The garden tour is a unique opportunity to view gardens hidden behind buildings and fences and to get inside gardens that can only be tantalizingly glimpsed from the street.

Now a biennial event, Mrs. Greenthumbs Day returns this year on Sunday, July 22. Twenty-one gardens in Hudson will welcome visitors from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The gardens are clustered together in different locations throughout the city, making walking from garden to garden on this self-guided garden tour, a pleasant stroll around town. The map below shows the locations of all twenty-one gardens. Balloons will mark the entrance to each garden.

Click on the map to enlarge it and then print it out, or email  Gossips to request a pdf of the map. On the day of the tour, maps will be available at Nolita Café, 454 Warren Street; The Secret Gardener, 250 Warren Street; and the Hudson Opera House (Hudson Hall), 327 Warren Street.   

The garden tour is free and open to all, but there will be the opportunity at each garden to show your appreciation by making a contribution to the Hudson Parks Conservancy to support its effort to restore and enhance our city's parks.

When the garden tour is over, garden "tourists" are encouraged to come to the Parks Party, from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Secret Gardener, 250 Warren Street, to celebrate the launch of the Hudson Parks Conservancy. The goal of the new organization is to work with the City of Hudson to enhance the city's public parks and make them sources of community pride that enrich the lives of all Hudsonians. A donation of $40 is requested for the party, which can be paid at the door. Click here to RVSP.
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The Great War: July 16, 1918

The banner headline of the Columbia Republican for July 16, 1918, proclaimed: "AMERICANS SMASH THRU GERMAN DRIVE." The subhead elaborates: "After Enemy Had Crossed the Marne River at Chateau-Thierry, the Americans Drove Them Back in Counter-Attacks, Captured 1,600 Prisoners, Cut Off Their Retreat and All Germans on the South Bank of the River Are in Danger of Capture."

Elsewhere on the front page it is reported that "Seventy-Five Boys Left Monday," and at the bottom of the page, there's a picture of those seventy-five "boys," posing on the steps of the Columbia County courthouse.

The second page of the newspaper--the editorial page--also has an item worth sharing: a comment about the seventy-five young men from Columbia County who left the previous day, on their way to war.

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What's Happening to America?

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

Am I so old, or has the country--even the part of the country that listens to NPR--been frighteningly "dumbed down"? This evening, some national news was interjected into NPR's special coverage of Donald Trump's summit with Vladimir Putin. Ari Shapiro (I'm pretty sure it was Ari Shapiro) reported that Sears had closed its last store in Chicago and then stated, in a perky manner that suggested listeners would be surprised by the news, "Sears actually was started in 1893 as a mail-order company."

"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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Meetings of Interest This Week . . . and a Gala

The calendar was free of meetings and events today, but that's hardly true for the next three days.

On Tuesday, July 17, there are three meetings of interest, but one of them won't be open to the public.

• At 1 p.m., the nominating committee of the Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) board of directors meets to interview potential new board members. It has been announced that this meeting will be held in executive session. In May, four members of the board--Seth Rapport, Kristal Heinz, Duncan Calhoun, and Brian Stickles--resigned after Common Council president Tom DePietro, who serves on the board ex officio, asked the city attorney to "look into how does one get rid of an LDC [local development corporation]." The whole crisis of confidence grew out of discontent and mistrust regarding HDC's handling of the Kaz redevelopment project.  
• At 5:30 p.m., the Common Council Finance Committee meets at City Hall. The agenda for the meeting can be viewed here.
• At 7 p.m., the Common Council holds its regular monthly meeting at City Hall. A number of resolutions introduced last week will be voted on at the meeting, and presumably Council president Tom DePietro will allow the public to comment on the proposed zoning amendment that would allow Stewart's and Scali's to expand in exchange for some unnamed amount of money from Stewart's in the form of a host community benefit agreement. Also to be voted on at the meeting are the resolution to adopt the Strategic Housing Action Plan and the resolution to support the route of the Empire State Trail through the city.

On Wednesday, July 18, there are meetings all day, not all of them open to the public. The good news is that the day ends with a gala.

• At 12 noon, the HDC governance committee meets to discuss planning for agency administration--something necessitated by the imminent departure of HDC director Sheena Salvino. There is no indication that this meeting will be held in executive session.
• At 1 p.m., the HDC nominating committee meets again to interview potential new board members. It has been announced that this meeting will held in executive session.
• At 5:15 p.m., the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee meets at City Hall. The main business of this meeting is always to receive DPW superintendent Rob Perry's report.
• At 6:00 p.m., the Zoning Board of Appeals will hold a public hearing on a request from Hudson Mainstay, at 437 Warren Street, for an area variance for five offstreet parking spaces behind the building. After the public hearing, the ZBA will conduct its regular monthly meeting.
• At 7:00 p.m., OutHudson holds its Awards Gala at Helsinki Hudson. There will be live performances, much banter, and the presentation of awards to the most fabulous entries in the 2018 OutHudson Pride Parade. Awards will be given in the following categories: Best in Theme: Superheroes; Most Kitschy-est; Most MARVEL-ous; RainBOWIE-est; Most Villainous, Most Gender-bending; and Most OUT-rageous. A $5 to $10 donation is suggested.

On Thursday, July 19, the Common Council Economic Development Committee meets at 6:00 p.m. at City Hall. No agenda is yet available for this meeting.
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Party for the Parks

In September 2017, Gossips announced an initiative to morph what was fondly known as the Mrs. Greenthumbs Hedge Fund, an informal group who organized the biennial Mrs. Greenthumbs Day Garden Tour and raised money to fund improvements to the city's parks, into a full-blown Hudson Parks Conservancy, to carry out the mission on a grander scale. At the inaugural meeting, which took place on October 20, 2017, the organizers knew they'd struck a chord. More than a hundred people came out, enthusiastic and eager to share their ideas about how Hudson's seventeen parks--large and small, historic and fairly new--could be improved and how a parks conservancy could help make that happen.

Since that inaugural meeting, the Hudson Parks Conservancy has made significant progress. It is now a registered not-for-profit, with a board of directors, active committees, a logo, and several projects in various stages of planning. The projects range from conceptual to hands-on, using community research to understand what people want from their parks and conceptualizing how the city's park might be enhanced. The goal of the Hudson Parks Conservancy is to partner with the City of Hudson in maintaining and improving the city's parks to ensure that these most democratic of spaces enrich the lives of all Hudsonians and are a source of community pride.

On Sunday, July 22, from 5 to 7 p.m., the Hudson Parks Conservancy is celebrating its auspicious beginning and launching its next phase with a Parks Party at The Secret Gardener, 250 Warren Street. The party follows this year's Mrs. Greenthumbs Day Garden Tour, a self-guided tour of twenty private gardens in Hudson open for visitation from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The garden tour is free. A donation of $40, which can be paid at the door, is requested for the Parks Party. Click here to RSVP for the party.  

Plan to spend next Sunday outdoors in Hudson. First, tour some of the city's private spaces--gardens hidden behind buildings and fences or only tantalizing glimpsed from the street. Then, gather at The Secret Gardener to celebrate and support the Hudson Parks Conservancy's efforts on behalf of the city's shared public spaces. 
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Friday at the HPC

Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Friday was one of the longest in recent memory--going on for close to three hours. During that time, a few projects of interest were considered and granted certificates of appropriateness. 

The first in our review is 364 Warren Street, the building which for two centuries was the location of the Register-Star and its antecedents. According to the evidence in this picture, the building was constructed in 1805.

There have been many changes to the building's facade over the past two centuries--some minor, some more dramatic. In 1919, there was a fire in the building, and in the reconstruction after the fire, the roof line was altered.

 

What had been a gabled roof for the first 114 years of the building's life, became a flat roof with a decorative cornice.

1963 photobygibson.com

The latest changes to the facade, as Jason O'Toole, property manager for the Galvan Foundation, explained it, are to assure that 364 Warren Street has "flair" like 366 Warren Street, which he called "beautiful." Essentially the storefronts and the entrance to the building are being restored to what they were when the building was reconstructed after the fire, the exception being the addition of pilasters on either side of the storefronts and the central door.

The red paint that is now on the building will be removed (O'Toole volunteered to provide information on the paint removal techniques to be employed), and the plan is to repaint the building the terra cotta color shown in the rendering.

Another Galvan project that came before the HPC on Friday was 22-24 Warren Street. Like 364 Warren Street, this is a building--or perhaps two--that has experienced much change in the more than two hundred years of its existence.

The 1873 Beers Atlas map shows that there was a single structure on the site at that time.

But there is photographic evidence that prior to urban renewal in Hudson, and for many decades before that, probably from as early as 1903, there were two separate but connected dwelling units on the site--two houses of different heights, different roof profiles, and  different architectural styles.

The historic preservation initiative that was part of urban renewal in Hudson determined that the two buildings were originally one house, an example of "Federal Period Architecture," and set the date of its construction as "c. 1795." There's a plaque to that effect on the building. 

Although identifying the building as "Federal Period Architecture," the urban renewal restoration of the building stopped short of imposing the generally agreed upon features of Federal style--most notably symmetry--on the building. The third story of one of the dwellings was eliminated, and the roof was changed to be one roof over what had been two buildings, but the placement of the door and the windows remained the same. The door was off center, and there was no regular rhythm to the placement of the windows. What's been proposed for the next phase of the building's life is a complete transformation into what is accepted as textbook Federal style.
  

The door will be moved to the center of the house, and all the windows in the facade will be moved to create strict horizontal and vertical symmetry. 

The only detail in the plan that troubled the HPC was the steps leading to the front door. What was proposed was stone with blue stone for the treads and platform. What was recommended by the HPC was antique--salvaged or reproduction--brick. HPC chair Phil Forman encouraged the use of "anything that creates an authentic touch . . . to bring in some sense of age." Forman also suggested that the railings proposed for the front stairs were "way too slick." O'Toole offered to use railings similar to those approved for 260 Warren Street.

Of interest too from Friday's meeting is 545 Union Street, which is soon to get some attention.

The HPC approved Dutchman repairs or replication of the cornice, newel posts, railings, and balusters on the porch of this house, as well as replacing broken panes of glass in the existing windows.  

The HPC also announced its new official policy on the removal of asbestos, aluminum, and vinyl siding. Henceforth, all certificates of appropriateness for the removal of such siding will contain this language:

This approval does not apply to any historical building elements not currently visible that are revealed in the course of the approved alterations. If any historical building elements are revealed, applicant must inform the Building Code Enforcement Officer immediately, and applicant may need to apply for another Certificate of Appropriateness.

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River Watch

Photo: Allison Dunn|WAMC

On Wednesday, July 11, a scoping session took place in Poughkeepsie. It was the last of five held by the Army Corps of Engineers on its plans to manage storm risk in New York Harbor. Of the first four scoping sessions, two were held in New York City and two in New Jersey. 

The Army Core of Engineers is considering six conceptual plans to manage storm risk, ranging from storm surge barriers to levees to natural and shoreline solutions. According to John Lipscomb of Riverkeeper, two of those plans--"Alternative 2, which is the Sandy Hook to Rockaway barrier, or Alternative 3A, which is the Verrazano and Throgs Neck and Arthur Kill barrier"--would be disastrous for the Hudson River. In a report on the meeting by Allison Dunn for WAMC, Lipscomb says, "If those are the finalists, essentially what we said to the Hudson River is, 'How do you want to die, firing squad or hangman's noose?'"

The entire report on WAMC can be read and heard by clicking here.
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Attention in the New York Times

In 2015, Gossips followed the journey of Apollonia from Buzzards Bay to the Hudson River. Today, I was alerted to an article about Apollonia which will appear in Sunday's Metropolitan section of the New York Times: "Artisanal Foods, Coming by Sail to a River Port Near You."

Photo: Lauren Lancaster|New York Times

Although Hudson is the Apollonia's home port of choice, it is moored in Athens these days. Unfortunately, the Railroad Point Pier, which was intended, among other things, to provide docking space for the Apollonia, was not one of the projects chosen to receive DRI funding. 
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Inside Bliss Towers

In March, there was much attention being paid to Bliss Towers. Congressman John Faso, who had toured the building with Tiffany Garriga, alderman and former resident of Bliss Towers, had written to HUD secretary Ben Carson, calling his attention to the living conditions at Bliss Towers, allegedly saying they had "deteriorated well beyond livable." Meanwhile, Timothy Mattice, who had taken over as executive director in September 2017, was doing a reassessment of the entire building, preparing to address both buildingwide issues and problems with individual apartments.  

Since March, the intense scrutiny of the building has relaxed, but the plans for improving the building are moving ahead. The fences have come down, and plans for new landscaping are being pursued. The lobby has been redone. One third of the units have been completely rehabilitated--new kitchens, new bathrooms, new flooring. Another third will be rehabbed next year. The remaining third required only a new coat of paint.

On June 29, there was an open house at Bliss Towers, to introduce residents to available community services and people in the community, who may never have visited Bliss Towers, to the building and to show off the work being done. Gossips was not able to attend the open house, but recently, Fourth Ward alderman Rich Volo provided these pictures of the lobby and the kitchen in one of the apartments being rehabbed.

  

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Local Impact of a New USDA Contract

Photo: Amy Brown

An article from Modern Farmer came to my attention yesterday, reporting that people using SNAP benefits may soon no longer be able to shop at farmers markets: "Tens of Thousands of People Are About to Lose the Ability to Buy Fresh Food at Farmers Markets." The article begins:

Farmers markets are a huge and growing supplier of healthy food to those using SNAP benefits, better known as food stamps. In New York City alone, an estimated $1 million per year is spent at farmers markets using SNAP. Many cities and states have additional benefits; in New York, for example, SNAP users get an extra two dollars to spend on produce for every five dollars spent at the farmers markets.

This is true at the Hudson Farmers Market. SNAP recipients swipe their cards; $5 is deducted from the card, and they get $7 in tokens to spend at the market. Two weeks ago, the Hudson Farmers Market was at the open house at Bliss Towers to spread the word about this benefit.

The ability to use SNAP cards at the Hudson Farmers Market and every other farmers market in New York State could end on July 31. The reason has do with the software required for swiping cards and the USDA awarding the contract for managing the program, which for years had been done by the Farmers Market Coalition, a national nonprofit that promotes and helps farmers markets, to a new company called Financial Transaction Management, LLC. The article in Modern Farmer provides all the details.
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Fifteen Minutes of SWAT

On June 5, the Shared Services Response Team conducted a raid at three locations on State Street. A week later, at a Common Council meeting, Fourth Ward supervisor Linda Mussmann spoke out against what she called "a militarized raid on Hudson," saying "it doesn't belong in our community." Mussmann, who lives about half a block from two of the houses that were raided, told the Council, "I stepped out the door and thought I was in Iraq." The Register-Star, in an editorial on June 15, took Mussmann to task for her hyperbole: "Her comment about Iraq was exhibited poor judgment. We don't know for sure, but it might be safe to say Mussmann has never been there. If that is correct, she can ask any Middle East veteran who will tell her that one night in Iraq was 1,000 times worse than any 15-minute police action on a city street."

At the Common Council Police Committee meeting on June 25, Mussmann herself did not speak. Instead Claudia Bruce, Mussmann's wife and partner in TSL, did. She expressed her concern that the trust between the community and the police is harmed by the SWAT raids "because they are overwhelming in a neighborhood." Bruce asked about the role of the mayor in planning such action and wanted to know if the mayor gave his "say-so" to the raids. Responding to Bruce's suggestion that the mayor should be the one to decide if the deployment of the shared services team was warranted or not, Mayor Rick Rector said that Chief Ed Moore advised him before the raid took place but he was not involved in deciding when a situation called for such action. "He's the expert," Rector said of Moore, "I'm not the expert, and I have complete faith in him and his department." In his comments, Rector also mentioned that a new police commissioner had not been appointed since Martha Harvey, appointed by Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton in September 2016, resigned in August 2017.

Photo: Linda Mussmann|Facebook

The issue of the police commissioner--or the lack of one--was taken up at Monday's informal Common Council meeting by Maija Reed. Reed called on the mayor to appoint a police commissioner, reading extensive passages from the city charter as evidence that the mayor was obligated by the charter to make such an appointment. One of the passages was Chapter 4-4B, which states: "The Mayor shall appoint the following officers to serve at his pleasure: (1) Commissioner of Public Works; (2) Commissioner of Police; (3) Commissioner of Fire; (4) Commissioner of Youth; (5) Commissioner of Purchases; (6) Commissioner of Grants; (7) Harbor Master." For decades, there had never been a commissioner of public works in Hudson until Mayor Dick Tracy appointed Michael O'Hara to that position in 2006. There has never, to my knowledge, been a commissioner of purchases. There has been a commissioner of grants during only two administrations in the past quarter century: Sam Pratt had the position when Ken Cranna was mayor (2000-2001), and Daniel Karpowitz during the Tracy administration (2006-2007).

The connecting thread in all of this can be found on Linda Mussmann's Facebook page.  There she expresses her opinion that the Common Council should pass a resolution requiring the Hudson Police Department to opt out of the Shared Services Response Team (the team is made up of officers from the sheriff's departments of Columbia and Greene counties and the HPD) and also reveals her preference for police commissioner: Peter Volkmann, the police chief for the Village of Chatham who was the Democratic candidate for Columbia County sheriff last November. Volkmann is known for a program he launched in Chatham to address opioid addiction called Chatham Cares 4 U (CC4U). In a video accompanying an article about Volkmann that appeared in April in the web magazine CityLab, Volkmann says he trains his officers to be "guardians of our community; they are not warriors." Those terms were also used by Bruce at the Police Committee meeting when she told Moore, "SWAT training makes warriors; police officers are guardians."
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What Didn't Make It

Now that we all know what projects will be getting funding from the Downtown Revitalization Initiative, it's time to consider what didn't get funding. The final list of projects submitted in March can be found here. Of the list, those that will not get DRI funding are:

• Railroad Point Pier

• Citywide Wifi
• Community Makerspace/Business Incubator
• State Street/Columbia Street Site Prep Work
• Wayfinding and Signage
• Homeowner Improvement Grants

It is of interest that each of the projects to be funded with DRI will get exactly the amount proposed, with the exception of the redevelopment of the Kaz site. It was proposed that $2 million in DRI funding go that project; it will in fact be getting $487,160.

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The Word Is Out

The projects to receive DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative) funding were announced today. They are as follows:

• Implement Complete Streets Improvements ($3,982,550)
• Renovate Promenade Hill Park and Provide ADA Access ($1,100,000)
• Improve the Safety and Aesthetics of Cross Street and the Second Street Stairs ($250,000)
• Establish the North Bay ReGeneration Project for Environmental Education ($400,000)
• Establish a Community Food Hub to Support Small Startup Businesses ($700,000)
• Stabilize the Dunn Warehouse for Future Re-Use ($1,000,000)
• Winterize Basilica Hudson and Create a High-Visibility Public Greenspace ($250,000)
• Redevelop the KAZ Site a Mixed-Use Transit-Oriented Development ($487,160)
• Provide Workforce Development Infrastructure at River House ($250,000)
• Repurpose Historic Fishing Village as a City Park ($150,290)
• Construct Mixed-Use and Mixed-Income Housing on State Street ($800,000)
• Provide Minority, Women and Veteran Owned Business Support ($100,000)
• Fit Out Commercial Kitchen and Retail Space to Provide Workforce Training ($230,000)

Click here for full information.
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Another Threat to the River

Riverkeeper is issuing a warning about a new threat to the Hudson River. A blog post on the Riverkeeper website, with the title "Storm surge barriers for NY Harbor: Army Corps proposals threaten the very life of the Hudson River," begins:

The Hudson River needs you again. It faces an existential threat.

You may not have heard, but you should: In response to Superstorm Sandy, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering six different plans involving massive in-water barriers and/or land-based floodwalls, dunes and levees intended to "manage the risk of coastal storm damage" to New York Harbor and the Hudson Valley.

Anyone who cares about the Hudson River needs to become informed and involved, now. Several of these plans--specifically, the ones including giant in-water barriers throughout New York Harbor--would threaten the very existence of the Hudson as a living river.

Click here to read the entire post.

There's an informational meeting tonight, Wednesday, July 11, in Poughkeepsie. It will take place in the Auditorium Room of the Hudson Valley Community Center, 110 South Grand Avenue, from 6 to 8 p.m.
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Lively Discussion

The Common Council didn't always meet twice a month. The practice wasn't introduced until 2000, when Ken Cranna was the mayor, and Mary Anne Lemmerman was Council president. The first meeting of the month--the informal meeting--was initiated to introduce new resolutions and legislation, giving the aldermen eight days to consider them before voting on them and also giving the public the opportunity to know what was before the Council before the aldermen voted. In the beginning, it was also a time when the public could express concerns, either on issues before the Council or new issues. Over time, with different Council presidents, the nature of the informal meeting has evolved, but it remains the meeting at which most resolutions and new legislation are introduced.

At the informal Council meeting on Monday night, the proposed amendment to the zoning code for R-2 and R-2H districts (now known as Local Law No. 5 of 2018) was introduced. Presenting the legislation, Council president Tom DePietro reminded everyone that this was "the beginning of a very long process." Later, he elaborated on that process, saying the amendment would have to go to the Hudson and Columbia County planning boards for a recommendation and noting that the amendment, if passed, would only allow any expansion of a nonconforming use to go before the Planning Board for site plan review. 

Asked by DePietro to comment on the proposed amendment, John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward), who chairs the Legal Committee, where the amendment originated, explained that the zoning code was being amended for two "historic businesses"--a term now being used to describe any business that has existed for twenty years or more. He spoke of a community benefit agreement with Stewart's and talked about the need to "move forward and deal with problems." Moving forward and dealing with problems involves "retaining a planner to redo a comprehensive plan." This, Rosenthal said, "will cost a great deal of money," and because the City is "very stressed," he went on to say, "it is our job to engage [with 'corporate actors'] to our benefit." To synopsize, what is being proposed is that the City of Hudson change its zoning to accommodate the desire of Stewart's and presumably also Scali's--two nonconforming uses in districts zoned for one- and two-family houses (R-2) or one- and two-family houses with offices as a conditional use (R-2H)--to expand, demolishing residential properties in the process, in exchange for Stewart's giving the City, in a host community benefit agreement, some yet undetermined amount of money.

Alderman Eileen Halloran (Fifth Ward) proclaimed: 'The chairs of the Legal Committee [Rosenthal] and the Economic Development Committee [Rich Volo] and the city attorney [Andy Howard] are to be commended, because they came up with a solution."

City treasurer Heather Campbell wanted clarification: "They'll get to expand, knocking down buildings on either side, but who makes the decision if what they are offering in exchange is greater than what the City is giving up?" The answer given was the Common Council.

Responding to a question raised by Nick Zachos about a possible conflict of interest posed by "a corporation paying for a comprehensive plan that might benefit them," Rosenthal acknowledged the irony of "carving out exceptions to get money to redo a comprehensive plan when the comprehensive plan might not approve what was given up" but denied it would be a conflict of interest.

Although inviting aldermen and elected officials to comment on the proposed amendment, DePietro postponed public comment until the regular meeting of the Common Council on Tuesday, July 17. His reason for doing so seemed to be to allow time for Nick Pierro, assistant fire chief, to make a presentation to the Council--a presentation that had the effect of validating Rosenthal's assessment that the City is "very stressed." The Fire Department is in urgent need of 82 new oxygen bottles, 42 new air packs, and masks for each fire fighter--the total cost of which is "just under $354,000." Campbell characterized it as "a lot of money we weren't planning for." A bond resolution for the needed funds is expected to be presented to the Common Council at its meeting on July 17.

At the end of the meeting, when DePietro invited public comment, Fourth Ward supervisor Linda Mussmann asked, referring back to the discussion of the zoning amendment: "Is there a number connected to the host agreement?" In further comments, Mussmann complained that instead of fostering "lively discussion" DePietro "shuts it down." In responding, DePietro, in addition to indicating that no amount had been agreed to, asked Mussmann if she would like to report what she is doing on the county level. 

On a motion from Alderman Kamal Johnson (First Ward), the meeting was adjourned, at approximately 7:35 p.m.  
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Long Duration Restoration

The long-awaited restoration of 260 Warren Street, at one of the principal gateways to the city, seems finally to be approaching its finale. The building, the owner of which is now listed in the tax rolls as Galvan Civic Housing LLC, has been transferred from Eric Galloway LLC to another for fifteen years or more, and during that time, proposals for its restoration have come before the Historic Preservation Commission three times, and three times, the HPC has granted a certificate of appropriateness only to have it expire before any of the proposed work was undertaken. The last certificate of appropriateness was granted in January 2018, and it appears the third time was the charm, for a couple of reasons.

For one thing, right around the time of the HPC's most recent review of the project, the picture of the building shown below, from the Evelyn & Robert Monthie Slide Collection, was discovered. It provided the detailed guidance needed for the HPC to insist that the original doors, which disappeared without a trace sometime in 2006, be re-created exactly as they were.

The third time was also the charm in that the proposed restoration was actually undertaken.

I have told the story at least once on Gossips of how, while driving by the building one morning, I witnessed the original doors, which had been removed and replaced with plywood sometime before, being loaded onto a pickup truck and how I followed the truck to a garage on Seventh Street. To bring the story full circle, I happened to be driving by the same corner this afternoon and witnessed the new reproduction doors being unloaded from a truck. Back in 2006, I didn't have a camera with me to snap pictures; today, I did.

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Never Mind

If you were planning to spend your early afternoon today at the IDA meeting at City Hall and on Thursday at the HCDPA meeting at 1 North Front Street, you need to find other ways to amuse yourself during those hours. Gossips has learned that both meetings--the IDA at 1 p.m. today and the HCDPA at 2 p.m. on Thursday--have been canceled. 
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Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

The midweek holiday that seemed to spread to the weekends that preceded and followed it is now behind us, and we're back to the monthly round of meetings, starting with a trifecta at City Hall tonight.

Today, Monday, July 9, two public hearings precede the monthly informal Common Council meeting.

• At 6 p.m., there is a public hearing about the proposed new franchise agreement with Mid-Hudson Cablevision. The old franchise agreement expired a few years ago, and it's only now being renewed. To review the terms of the proposed agreement, click here. 
• At 6:30 p.m., there is a public hearing about the route of the Empire State Trail through the city. The route being proposed enters Hudson from the north on Harry Howard Avenue, goes down the Dugway to Mill Street and then Dock Street, south across the city on Front Street, then up Allen Street to Third Street and continues south on Route 9G.

• At 7 p.m., the Common Council holds its informal meeting for July. The proposed amendment to the zoning code that would allow nonconforming uses in R-2 and R-2H districts to double in size and expand onto adjacent lots is expected to be introduced at this meeting. Click here to review the amendments proposed.

The R-2 and R-2H districts are located primarily along Green Street and Fairview Avenue and include the neighborhoods off Fairview Avenue to the west and between Fairview and Route 66 to the east. State Street from Fourth to Sixth streets is also designated R-2 or R-2H as are North Fifth Street and the streets that intersect it--Prospect, Washington, and much of Clinton. 

Also of interest on the agenda for tonight is a resolution to sell 67 Fairview Avenue, a vacant lot where the City demolished a house back in 2013; a resolution to adopt the Strategic Housing Action Plan created by the mayor's Housing Task Force; and the proposed law pertaining to vacant buildings.

On Tuesday, July 10, the Hudson IDA (Industrial Development Agency) is scheduled to meet at 1 p.m. in City Hall. No agenda is available for that meeting.

On Thursday, July 12, there are two meetings--one in the afternoon and one in the evening.

• At 2 p.m., HCDPA (Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency) has its monthly meeting at 1 North Front Street. Among the topics it's possible to predict will be discussed are the agency's financial crisis, the imminent departure of its executive director, and the ongoing sale of surplus property, including the parcel now being sold by sealed bid.
• At 6 p.m., the Planning Board holds its monthly meeting. On the agenda for this meeting is an application for a lot line adjustment at 248 and 250 Columbia Street to create two lots of equal size.

Gossips devoted much attention to these two houses back in 2013, when their owner, Per Blomquist wanted to demolish them and build in their stead a new building with five one-bedroom apartments, each with an area of 700 square feet. A misreading of the Bulk and Area Regulations in the zoning code claimed that the minimum size for an apartment was 1,500 square feet, necessitating an area variance for the building. The error was embraced and vigorously defended for months until finally Daniel Tucsinski, then assistant city attorney and counsel to the Zoning Board of Appeals, succeeded in correcting the misconception and clarifying that 1,500 square feet pertained to the lot not the apartment. Meanwhile, Blomquist had lost his funding for the project and expressed his disdain for the snafu by spray-painting the two houses gold. It will be interesting to see what his plans for these two houses are now, but the request for a lot line adjustment doesn't bode well for their survival.

On Friday, July 13, the Historic Preservation Commission holds the first of its two monthly meetings. A full agenda is not available, but certain to be reviewed is the proposed facade restoration/renovation of 364 Warren Street. Jason O'Toole, representing the Galvan Foundation, presented this rendering of the facade to the HPC at its last meeting, but consideration of the proposal was postponed until architect member Kate Johns could be present, which will happen on Friday.

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