Once Burned, Twice Shy

Those of us who have lived in Hudson for a while remember the Viridian fiasco. Back in May 2013, Mayor William Hallenbeck announced, with considerable fanfare, that the City of Hudson would be powered exclusively by wind energy, purchased from Viridian--a move that would not only benefit the environment but also save the taxpayers of Hudson $40,000 a year. As it turned out, rather than saving $40,000, the City saw a 33 percent increase in its annual electricity costs.

As a consequence of that experience, there may be some lingering skepticism, six years later, about a plan for the City to participate in a community solar project, which is projected will save the taxpayers about $36,000 a year.

Last Monday, Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward), who chairs that Common Council Economic Development Committee, hosted a presentation by Wendy De Wolf of East Light Partners about the group's community solar project in nearby Greenport and the possibility of the City of Hudson becoming the major customer for the project. The PowerPoint from that presentation can be viewed here. The picture below is a rendering of what would be visible of the project from Route 9 approaching Vapor Trail. 

Gossips has been following this project from the beginning, when the plan to site a solar array in close proximity to the grounds of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House were first made known. 

Since that initial announcement in March 2018, East Light Partners has worked with Historic Hudson (the stewards of the National Historic Landmark Bronson House), as well as The Olana Partnership, Scenic Hudson, and the State Historic Preservation Office, to ensure that the project will have no negative impacts on natural resources or historic resources. The proposed siting for part of the array was changed so that it will no longer be visible from the Bronson House, and during site plan review the vegetative screening proposed was enhanced to ensure that the solar array will not be visible from Worth Avenue and Route 9 or from the grounds of the Bronson House.

Construction of the solar array is scheduled to begin next month, and the project is expected to be online by the end of the year. The City's participation in this community solar project will be discussed at the informal meeting of the Common Council tomorrow night, which begins at 7:00 p.m. at City Hall. Whether or not the City decides to become the major customer for this project, individuals can subscribe to the community solar project and be assured of a 10 percent saving on their electricity bills.
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Adaptive Reuse--Elsewhere and Here

There's an article in Chronogram that definitely merits attention: "What We Talk About When We Talk About Adaptive Reuse." The article mentions specifically industrial buildings in Kingston, Poughkeepsie, and Newburgh that have been adapted for various new uses, one example being the Lace Mill in Kingston (shown below), which has been transformed into a complex of affordable artist housing and gallery space by RUPCO (Rural Ulster Preservation Coalition).

Photo: David Miller|Chronogram

Sadly, Hudson doesn't have many historic industrial buildings left that are candidates for adaptive reuse. The last survivor of the complex of buildings that was Hudson River Knitting Mills was destroyed by fire in 2017. (The other buildings in the complex were demolished, in the interest of public safety, in 2009.)

What remain of the historic industrial buildings in Hudson that are candidates for reuse are the Dunn warehouse, owned by the City of Hudson, which continues to crumble while the City grapples with the question of whether or not it can spend any part of the $1.5 million in grant money to stabilize the building without partnering with a private developer . . .

the Gifford-Wood factory at the end of Hudson Avenue, which is currently on the market for $7,625,000 . . . 

Photo: Virginia Martin

and the privately owned former Union Mills building, now known as the Pocketbook Factory, on North Sixth Street.

The Pocketbook Factory has been empty and virtually unused for more than a decade. According to a Gossips source, roof failure is now putting the building at risk.

To quote that source, "Someone with access to capital has to take over soon, or we will lose another one."

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"Bringing Sail Freight Back to the Hudson"

On Wednesday, August 14, the crew of the Apollonia is inviting all who are interested to see the progress that has been made since in 2015, when the 68-foot steel sailboat built in Baltimore in 1948 was sailed from Buzzards Bay to Hudson by Sam Merrett and group of friends and fellow visionaries. The event, which begins at 4 p.m. and continues until dark, is described as "a casual get together where we'll talk shop, cargo, and share in the excitement for what we see as a bright future for our region and beyond."

The Apollonia is the Hudson Valley's largest carbon-neutral merchant vessel. Powered by wind and used vegetable oil, the Apollonia will transport cargo sustainably. As the Apollonia website declares, "This is not a living history project trying to make the past 'come alive.' We are part of a growing sail freight movement committed to relevant, intelligent solutions." Come down to the riverfront on Wednesday to learn more.
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In the Fullness of Time

A year ago, on August 13, 2018, Common Council president Tom DePietro announced the creation of a Planning Task Force, which, he said, would involve "all the relevant agencies"--"HDC, HCDPA, Zoning, and Planning"--and would help with the process of the DRI, the LWRP, and "any other group that needs help in planning for housing and other related projects." He promised to provide full details about the task force at the regular meeting on the Council on August 22, 2018, but no details were forthcoming at the meeting. The so-called Planning Task Force wasn't mentioned again in a public meeting until the end of September 2018, when the Legal Committee began discussing the resolution that would be needed to create such a body.

In November 2018, the resolution creating the special committee to be known as the Zoning and Planning Task Force was passed by the Common Council. The resolution specified that the task force would be made up of the following nine members:

• The chairman of the Planning Board, or a designee
• The chairman of the Zoning Board of Appeals, or a designee
• The chairman of the Historic Preservation Commission, or a designee
• The chairman of the Conservation Advisory Council, or a designee
• The mayor
• The president of the Common Council
• The Code Enforcement officer
• Two members of the Common Council

The resolution also specified that the task force "shall meet at a regularly scheduled time" and "its meetings shall be governed by the Open Meetings Law of the State of New York."

For four months passed, and no meetings of the task force were scheduled. Then, in March 2019, DePietro announced that a visit from Alexandra Church, the city planner from Newburgh, was to be the "kickoff event" for the Zoning and Planning Task Force. Church made her presentation on April 10, but it kicked off nothing. By this time, however, we did know that Alderman John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward) had been named the chair of the task force, but the identity of the second alderman to serve on the task force remained unknown.

Now, almost one year to the day after DePietro announced the creation of the task force, he has finally announced its first meeting, which is to take place on Thursday, September 5, at 7:00 p.m., in City Hall. So, mark your calendars. It should be noted that the resolution specifies that the Zoning and Planning Task Force "shall operate and exist until December 31, 2019." Time is running out.
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Orange Is the New Gray

It took a long time to catch on (249-251 Warren Street has had its current color scheme for a decade or more), but it was bound to happen sooner or later. Hudson is about to get another orange building.

A proposal for 743-745 Columbia Street came before the Historic Preservation Commission this morning. The HPC does not opine on paint colors, because paint color does not permanently alter a building, so all that required a certificate of appropriateness was the new sign proposed for the storefront at the right.

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And Now for Something New and Different

Gossips makes a habit of following the enterprises of Redburn Development, the group that repurposes old industrial and commercial buildings in the Capital Region as apartment buildings and created The Wick Hotel in a historic factory building on Cross Street where soap and candles were once produced. Today, the Albany Business Review reports about one of their projects in downtown Albany, a building they are calling "The Knick" because the offices of Knickerbocker News were once located there: "Redburn Development's first retail tenant in downtown Albany: an axe throwing bar."
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Deer in the Dog Park

Sometimes, heading back from our morning walk in the cemetery, Joey and I detour past the site of the future dog park just to check out how the grass is growing. This morning, we discovered two of a different species of four-legged grazing in the space.

The deer--both males--had entered from the woodsy area behind the dog park site and were prepared to retreat to the same place if Joey and I got any closer.

A secondary reason for heading down to Dock Street is to check out the progress on the trail head for the Empire State Trail being constructed on the site. On July 12, Gossips reported that work on the trail head would begin on July 16 and was expected to be completed by mid-August. The work did begin on July 16 or thereabout. The picture below was taken on July 19.

Since then no appreciable progress has been made. This picture was taken this morning.

The site looks the same as it did three weeks ago except now all the orange traffic barrels and bollards holding up the plastic fencing have been knocked over. Mid-August is only a week away.
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The End of the Public Hearing in Livingston

Last night, the Livingston Planning Board continued its public hearing on the proposal by Global Partners to build a giant gas station (sixteen spots for gasoline and three for diesel fuel) and Alltown Fresh cafe and market at the intesection of Routes 9, 9H, and 82.

The first to speak at the public hearing was David Fingar, recently elected chair of board of Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC). He read aloud a letter from CEDC expressing its support for the project. After reading the letter, Fingar told the audience, "We really do support this. I think it's a really good thing for the Town of Livingston, and I live right here in town." Later in the public hearing, Jeff Hunt read a letter declaring the support of the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce for the project. But the majority of the speakers expressed concern about the environmental and aesthetic impacts of the project and urged the Planning Board to make a positive declaration in the SEQRA process, requiring the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement.

After the meeting had gone on for almost an hour, the Planning Board closed the public hearing. A decision on the project is expected to be made at the board's September meeting.

Dan Udell's video of the meeting is now available on YouTube and can be viewed here. The hour-long video is worth watching if only to hear Armen Donelian describe the project as "a large, ugly, and harmful gas station accompanied by a redundant convenience store" (5:30) and Jonathan Gould critique the proposed design for the building as "a standard piece of commercial roadside architecture … that is just an advertisement for itself" (15:56).
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Marketing Hudson

This morning, Lisa Durfee alerted Gossips to an unusual listing on Zillow: three multifamily houses--one on Clinton Street, one on Washington Street, and one on North Third Street--being sold together as a package deal for $980,000.

The three houses are currently owned by the same people, who live in one of them. The owners could have any reason for wanting to sell all their property in Hudson, but what seems odd is bundling the three together as a package deal. 

The copy accompanying the listing concludes, "Unique opportunity for someone to build their portfolio." That sentence, together with earlier reference to "great Music, Antiques, renowned art galleries and elegant restaurants" as the "key industries" that have made Hudson "the 3rd busiest train destination in the north east corridor," suggests that this package is being marketed to investors, as rental property, possibly short-term rental property.  
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HCSD and Its History

Yesterday, Gossips drew attention to plans to construct a new baseball field on the site of the historic Chancellor Robert R. Livingston Educational Center. 

Yesterday, too, the Hudson City School District released a statement explaining how it came to be that baseball and softball are not to be included, along with football, soccer, and track, in the lavish Bluehawk Sports Complex behind the Jr./Sr. High School building but are to be accommodated behind what is now the elementary school building. That statement can be read here. 

Although it appears the notion of constructing a new baseball field on the site of the historic field has been discussed with "various stakeholders" since last year, the final paragraphs of the statement indicate that plans have not yet been finalized. The demolition of the bleachers behind home plate, however, has begun and will continue. 

The District was recently presented with a design plan that includes these improvements [to operate in a safe and competitive fashion]. However, after careful consideration and public comment, we are not satisfied that these plans serve all the needs of the facility. We will continue to review our options to create a multiple use plan that meets the needs of our students and the community. The current priorities are that the dugouts and batting cages be located in a manner which allows the old track to be maintained for elementary school and community use, and that the fence not obstruct such use. We seek to retain the character and historic intent of the facility while bringing it into the 21st century.

Regarding the current scope of work at the site, we will continue with the removal of the bleachers behind home plate. This work was included in the most recent Capital Project, as the bleachers were deemed unsafe in a state-mandated Building Condition Survey performed in 2015. Once removal is complete, the area will be cleaned up and landscaped for safety and accommodation of District-owned portable bleachers. A final plan for the bleachers is under consideration as part of the larger upgrades to the facility.

According to the statement, HCSD is inviting comments about the project, which can be submitted to hscdboard@hudsoncsd.org. Discussion of the plans will continue in Facilities Committee meetings throughout the early fall. These meetings will be announced on the HCSD website and on the electronic sign in front of Hudson Jr./Sr. High School.
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Recycling Prep

Tomorrow is the day the recyclables are picked up in Hudson by Department of Public Works. Since policies regarding recycling have changed, it may be useful to rehearse what can be recycled and what is trash, so readers can avoid having their recycling rejected. 

An explanation of the recent changes in recycling policy is now on the City of Hudson website. A link is provided there to the list of what can be recycled and what cannot. That list can also be viewed by clicking here. One significant change that may surprise conscientious recyclers is that recycling can no longer be placed in clear plastic bags. Plastic bags of all sorts are verboten. Instead, items for recycling must be placed in a bin that is emptied and left at the site.

After studying the list, I realized that there were some things I regularly recycle that were not on the list of "Acceptable Items": clear plastic containers. So, I took this picture of three such items retrieved from my recycling bin and sent it to DPW superintendent Rob Perry, asking if these were acceptable items.

His response was, "The single stream recycler may sort them out, but we won't." He stressed that anything put out to be recycled--peanut butter jars, yogurt containers, aluminum pans, cat food cans, whatever--must be clean. So, wash out those empty containers before putting them in your recycling bin and avoid rejection.
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You Can't Always Get What You Want

The day after the scuffle in the Galvan Armory involving Common Council president Tom DePietro and former Third Ward alderman John Friedman, DePietro was quoted in the Register-Star as saying, "The less said about this unfortunate incident, the better for everyone." It didn't work out that way.

This afternoon, Amanda Purcell reported on HudsonValley360 that, after an investigation by the Columbia County Sheriff's Office, DePietro has been formally arraigned on the charge of harassment: "Common Council President charged with harassment."
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Another RFP

The DRI Committee still has not decided which firm will undertake the restoration and renovation of Promenade Hill, but in the meantime, another RFP has been issued. This one for what is being called "BRIDGE District Connectivity Improvements." The project combines what was originally two DRI projects: "Implement Complete Street Improvements" and "Improve the Safety and Aesthetics of Cross Street and the Second Street Stairs." The RFP (request for proposals), which can be viewed here, identifies the following "Priority Projects" and "Secondary Projects."

Reading these lists introduced me to a new term: bike sharrow. The word sharrow is a portmanteau word, combining "share" and "arrow." This symbol painted on the roadway is a sharrow.

It doesn't mark a designated bike lane. Instead it indicates that a lane is to be shared by bicycles and automobiles. This article, found in Bicycling, provides a useful discussion of bike sharrows: "No, Really, What Are Sharrows Good For?"

Another thing learned from reviewing the RFP is that the plans for the Second Street stairs have been scaled back. Originally, this elegant and fanciful re-imagining was offered for the stairs connecting Allen Street to Cross Street.

The RFQ contains more realistic aspirations for the stairs, which involve widening them and adding more adequate handrails, a bike ramp (for walking your bike up or down the stairs), bike racks, and resting spots.

A site visit for those interested in submitting proposals has been scheduled for Tuesday, August 13. The deadline for submitting proposals is Tuesday, August 27.
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New Plan for Historic Field

Two years ago, when Hudson High School played its final homecoming game at Barrett Field before moving to its lavish new facility behind the high school, little was known about the future for the historic field that was dedicated in 1932, four years before work began on the Chancellor Livingston High School in 1936. 

Yesterday, Ken Sheffer alerted Gossips to the plans for the athletic fields behind what is now Montgomery C. Smith Elementary school. A website created by Sheffer, called "Save Hudson's Historic Sports Fields," asks the question, "Do you know what the Administration and Board of Education are doing and planning to do to the historic Middle School/High School track and sports complex?" It then provides the following answer:

Sometime in the past 18 months a secret agreement was reached with the "baseball community" to place a monster field with monster fences on top of those historic fields. No public comment or input was asked for and no minutes or documentation of meetings exist. No budget exists. No neighborhood or community survey or outreach was done. No historic or environmental work was done. Yet the School District somehow has detailed architectural drawings. . . . It is a plan that will destroy our historic field. It must be stopped.

The website includes this (annotated) drawing, from January 2019, of what's planned for the field. 

The website further advises:

Now we are reaching a critical juncture as the Board of Education is set to vote . . . to further destroy the historic bleachers that sit behind homeplate down at the old High School (now named the MC Smith Elementary School). The HCSD told us that the bleachers were declared dangerous. We have asked for documentation that states this and we got nothing. We have also asked for any environmental or historic studies done in relation to the bleacher destruction. Again, we got nothing.

For more information, visit the website "Save Hudson's Historic Sports Fields." The HCSD Board of Education meets tonight at 6:30 p.m. in the library at Montgomery C. Smith Elementary School, 102 Harry Howard Avenue.
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On the Waterfront

Today, Joey and I took our morning walk in riverfront park and discovered Apollonia moored in northernmost slip.

Last year, Apollonia spent the month of May at the Hudson River Maritime Museum in Kingston having its rigging restored and rebuilt. Now, looking quite different than it did a year ago, Apollonia is back in Hudson.

Photo: Lauren Lancaster|New York Times

In a brief conversation with Sam Merrett, I learned that a community event is being contemplated to introduce Apollonia to the Hudson waterfront. When information about that event is available, Gossips will share it.
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Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

After a slow week as July transitioned into August, the schedule of meetings and other things to do picks up this week.

• On Monday, August 5, Alderman Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) leads a discussion with East Light Partners about the possibility of the City of Hudson using power from the solar array being developed by ELP in the field just south of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House. 

Gossips has been following this project from the time it was first proposed, through intercession by Historic Hudson, Scenic Hudson, Olana, and the State Historic Preservation Office, to site plan review by the Greenport Planning Board. What will be discussed is the possibility of having this solar array provide the electricity for municipal buildings and streetlights in Hudson. Doing so has the potential to reduce the cost of electricity for the City by about 10 percent, which would be an annual saving of about $36,000. The power generated would also be available to individual property owners.

The event takes place in the Community Room of the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, from 6:30 to 8:30, and there will be cookies!

• On Tuesday, August 6, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. in City Hall. No agenda is available for this meeting, but after the completion of the Natural Resources and Open Space Inventory, the official acceptance of the document by the Common Council, and a two-month hiatus from meeting, it will be interesting to learn how the CAC plans to move forward. 
• On Wednesday, August 7, the Common Council Youth, Education, Seniors and Recreation Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. No agenda is available for this meeting.
• On Thursday, August 8, the second annual Oakdale Lake Picnic, presented by Friends of Hudson Youth and the Hudson Youth Department, takes place from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. at Oakdale Lake. There will be swimming, boating, badminton, beach games, a DJ, and food--hot dogs and ice cream. More information about the event is available here.

• On Friday, August 9, the Historic Preservation Commission holds the first of its two monthly meetings at 10:00 a.m. at City Hall.
• Starting Friday, August 9, and continuing through Sunday, August 11, Operation Unite presents the Hudson Black Arts and Cultural Festival. Click here for more information and a schedule of events.

• On Saturday, August 10, the Great Hudson River Estuary Fish Count happens at various sites along the river, from Manhattan to Peebles Island. Produced each summer by the Hudson River Estuary Program, the one-day fish count gives naturalists the chance to "explore the diverse, slippery, wriggly, and fascinating creatures usually hidden below the river's surface."  

Photo: G. Ballou

In Columbia County, the place to be part of the fish count is Lasher Memorial Park in Germantown, where, from 10:00 a.m. until noon, the Columbia Land Conservancy is organizing the exploration. For more information about the event, click here.

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The Road Not Taken

Recently, I became privy to a letter from John Privatera, attorney for A. Colarusso & Sons, to city attorney Andy Howard. It is dated June 10, 2019, the day before the June meeting of the Planning Board, and it was written in response to a request from Planning Board chair Walter Chatham for a list of conditions Colarusso would find acceptable. 

The basic content of the letter was discussed at the June meeting of the Planning Board, including Colarusso's request that dock operations be allowed to continue until 9 p.m., Monday through Friday, to make up for agreeing to restrictions on the hours trucks may travel to and from the dock. (At the meeting, Privatera argued that the activity at the dock produced little noise, and people liked to park at Rick's Point to watch barges being loaded and unloaded.)

Although there is not much in the letter that isn't already known, a sentence in the introductory paragraph merits attention. In June, Privatera wrote: "We only have a few months to get the Haul Road paved so that trucks can get off the city streets before the new school year around Labor Day, so I believe we have a mutual interest in moving this matter along." This is a standard Colarusso ploy: trying to pressure the Planning Board by making it seem that the Planning Board review it is what is preventing Colarusso from benevolently freeing Hudson from the danger and destruction of their trucks traveling through the city. The truth is that Colarusso could stop routing trucks through Hudson right now if they wanted to, but they don't.

Since August 2017, when the Greenport Planning Board gave its approval, the part of the haul road that is in Greenport--from Route 9G to Route 9 and on through the quarry to Newman Road--could have been built, and there would be no reason for trucks hauling gravel and asphalt to pass through the streets of Hudson. The haul road through South Bay, although not paved, is already in use and has been since the days of O&G. Trucks could be going from the dock to Colarusso headquarters on Newman Road without traveling on city streets now. Trucks traveling to Newman Road to pick up product could be avoiding city streets now. The only thing stopping this from happening is Colarusso's stubborn insistence on paving the entire road--from the dock to their headquarters on Newman Road--at one time, and in the process moving the stretch through South Bay and widening it to two lanes.

Our city is being bullied today in the same way it was in the 1870s, when Fred W. Jones wanted to build his railroad through South Bay, the very railroad that established the route of today's haul road.
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OOPS!

My apologies to "bb" and "Cheviot Views." I unintentionally deleted both your comments on the post "Food News." There's no way for me to undo what I did, so I hope you will submit them again. 

Carole Osterink

The Gossips of Rivertown

Rent Stabilization and Hudson

Yesterday, the Albany Business reported that Kingston may be the first municipality to move forward on rent stabilization under the newly enacted Statewide Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019 by undertaking an apartment vacancy study: "Albany isn't ready, but Kingston is pursuing rent stabilization."

Meanwhile, here in Hudson, Rebecca Garrard of Citizen Action was at the Common Council Housing and Transportation meeting on July 1o to discuss the significance of the new legislation, and in particular rent stabilization. The criteria for a municipality adopting rent stabilization is a 5 percent or less vacancy rate in buildings built before 1974 that have six units or more. The first step is a study to determine how many buildings in Hudson meet the criteria and what the vacancy rate is for those buildings. Garrard suggested the study would cost $15,000. Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward), who chairs the committee, indicated an RFP for a vacancy study should be prepared.

The committee spoke of holding a forum to educate the public about the Statewide Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act. Alderman Eileen Halloran (Fifth Ward) asked that the session include building owners, suggesting that this could make for better tenant-owner relations. She brought up the possibility that regulations to protect tenants could have the unintended consequence of owners taking units off the market. Responding to Halloran, Garriga said, "This is just for the tenant, because the landlord is going to rent regardless." Audience member Kaya Weidman expressed concern about owners shifting from long-term to short-term rentals. Garrard acknowledged that was a possibility. 

The next meeting of the Housing and Transportation Committee had been scheduled for Wednesday, August 7, but today it was rescheduled for Thursday, August 15, at 5:00 p.m. There was been no notice of a change of venue, so for now it can be assumed that the meeting will take place at City Hall.
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Determination of the Grand Jury

Roger Hannigan Gilson, who has been following the case of the assault last month on a member of the LGBTQ community in Hudson, has an report today on his blog, The Other Hudson Valley: "Brief Update: Hudson Man Charged with Assault--But Not Hate Crime."

Food News

For carnivores: Earlier this week, the vending machines at Applestone Meat Company, 21 Green Street, were loaded with cuts of meat of all kinds. The vending machines are available all day every day. The customer service window is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day.

For vegetarians: Impossible Foods announced yesterday that the Impossible™ Whopper® will be available at every Burger King location in the United States--presumably including the one in Greenport--starting next Thursday, August 8. The burger in the Impossible™ Whopper® is made entirely from plants. 
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A Squash Grows on Warren Street

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

Decades ago, when I lived and worked in Manhattan, I was told by a coworker, who lived in Connecticut, that people where she lived always locked their cars during the month August, because if they didn't, they risked having them filled with zucchini. I always remember that wry little story around this time of year but attribute the overabundance of zucchini to the zeal of the suburban vegetable gardener not the tenacity of the zucchini plant.

Today, I learned that there is a squash plant--possibly a zucchini--growing out of the sidewalk in the 200 block of Warren Street. It's obviously a volunteer, but the circumstances that led to its rooting itself in that spot remain a mystery. I expect people parking on Warren Street already lock their cars, so there's no need to warn about the risk of discovering the future produce of this plant your vehicle. 

Photo: Wendy Kenneally

"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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Looking Ahead to the Weekend

The year 2019 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Herman Melville, and today, August 1, is the actual day of his birth. Hudson Hall is honoring Melville and his connections to Hudson--actual and tangential--with a season of theater, talks, spoken word, and music. Tomorrow night, Friday, August 2, the first of those events takes place: Call Me Ishmael--A Story of Exploitation. Conceived and performed by Shanekia McIntosh, Call Me Ishmael expands on the narrative themes of Moby Dick and the start of modern environmentalism, uncovering a historical through line connecting the brutality of the whaling industry, the black migration experience, and the birth of the Save the Whales movement. The one-woman performance takes place at 8 p.m. at Second Ward Hudson, 71 North Third Street. For more information and to purchase tickets, click here.

On Saturday, August 3, it's the Ninth Annual Bangladeshi Cultural Fair, which takes place in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. Notices of the event have conflicting start times. The poster reproduced below indicates 3 p.m.; the event page on Facebook says 4 p.m. Whenever it begins, it continues until 9 p.m., celebrating the culture and traditions of Bangladesh with music, performances, and extraordinary food.

Before the Bangladeshi Fair gets underway, there's another event worthy of note: the Doggie Ice Cream and Biscuit Tasting at House Rules Cafe. From 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, August 3, the folks at House Rules Cafe, 757 Columbia Street, will be introducing their new ice cream menu--and dog biscuits!--by serving up a very special ice cream sundae just for dogs, as well ice cream treats for humans, including a summer parfait that promises to capture the taste of summer.

I probably don't need to mention which event this weekend someone in the Gossips household is most excited about.

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Of Interest

Melanie Lekocevic reported yesterday on HudsonValley360 that Columbia Memorial Health is to receive millions in funding from the Statewide Health Care Facility Transformation Program: "CMH in line for $17.4 million state grant." According to a statement from Governor Andrew Cuomo's office, the funding for CMH will be used "to retire debt to better position the organization to modernize and right-size inpatient facilities and expand community-based outpatient services." 

We know from experience with the Hudson City School District that the buzzword right-size means reduce in size. Given that CMH recently announced plans to discontinue birthing services because of the declining number of births in Hudson and Columbia County, one wonders what else might be part of the "right-sizing" efforts.
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