News from Friday's HPC Meeting

The Historic Preservation Commission meeting on Friday included two public hearings and lasted for more than three hours. Needless to say, the meeting generated lots of news.

The first public hearing concerned 241 Columbia Street, the original house of worship for Shiloh Baptist Church, constructed from 1920 to 1924 and recently designated a local landmark. 

The proposed changes to the building that are part of its restoration include installing windows in the tower; adding a greenhouse structure at the rear; lowering the entrance to the building; moving the door to the basement, now under the stairs, to the left; covering the foundation, which is now stuccoed, with wood siding.

Four members of the public spoke during the public hearing: Chris Perry and Cathryn Dwyre, who explained they lived on Warren Street, in proximity to 241 Columbia Street, and Ronald Kopnicki and Matt McGhee, who have been eloquent and outspoken champions of the building and its history. Perry and Dwyre expressed their satisfaction with the proposed changes to the building, calling them "necessary in terms of [the building's] functionality" and saying they were happy to see the building "brought into the 21st century." Kopnicki and McGhee expressed displeasure over the plan to move the basement door, hence destroying the symmetry of the facade. McGhee read from a history of Old Shiloh and appealed to the HPC to preserve intact the work of the parishioners who built the church and to "give the city a place of history and true inclusion for us all." 

When the HPC deliberated about the building later in the meeting, concerns were expressed both about moving the entrance and the basement door and about covering the foundation with clapboard. Jane Smith, architect for the project, explained that they had looked at many designs to make the stairs and the entrance code compliant, and none was "as successful at respecting the design of the building" as the one proposed. She told the HPC, "We have worked really, really hard on this." The change to the proposed plan that was agreed to was that the foundation would continue to be covered in stucco. With that change, the HPC unanimously voted to grant a certificate of appropriateness to the plans for restoration.

The subject of the second public hearing was the DRI funded alterations to the entrance to Promenade Hill. Chris Anderson of Starr Whitehouse Landscape Architects presented the plan, which has been slightly refined since it was first presented to the HPC on December 6.

Anderson described the plan for the plaza as "reinforcing the visual relationship between Front Street and the Promenade" and spoke of celebrating the history of Promenade Hill and connecting to it. The principal refinement was relocating six lamp posts and adding more lamp posts to insure that the universal access route to the promenade was adequately lighted. Gail Wittwer-Laird, also of Starr Whitehouse, told the HPC that the groundbreaking for the project was anticipated to take place "on a sunny day" in February.

Before the public hearing was opened, Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, advised about procedure, explaining that the SEQRA (State Environmental Quality Review Act) assessment of the project was still outstanding. She asked the HPC to move to make the Common Council the lead agency for SEQRA. A motion was made and seconded and unanimously approved, after which the HPC voted to open the public hearing. There were no comments from the public about the proposed plan. 

Among the new projects to come before the HPC on Friday, three are of interest, the first of those being 94 North Fifth Street, the house whose wrap-around porch with intricate lattice work was, to the dismay of many, removed last fall.

    

It was explained that the front porch had been removed "as a result of miscommunication," but the HPC was assured that the details, in particular the ornate lattice brackets, had been preserved, and the porch was to be reconstructed exactly as it had been.

The subject of much discussion during the review by the HPC were the two over four windows found in various locations on the house. Chip Bohl, architect member of the HPC, noted that windows of this configuration would have been original to the house. Paul Barrett, historian member of the HPC, commented that the windows were unique and cautioned against changing them. Andy Didio, of Taconic Engineering, representing the building's owner, cited consistency, functionality, and availability as reasons not to use two over four windows, but Bohl insisted that the configuration should be maintained, asserting that "consistency is not an argument."

The second project of interest was the restoration of 223-225 Allen Street, the building damaged by fire last May.

Photo: Julie Metz

The plans for restoring the building involve removing layers of vinyl and other siding to expose and restore the original clapboard, reinstating the missing windows on the facade, restoring the Greek Revival sidelights at the entrance doors, and re-creating the entrances in Greek Revival style, which would have been the original design of the building. Two color schemes were proposed for the restored building, although the HPC does not opine on paint color. The restored building will have six apartments, two on each floor.

The same team of architects and owners presented a proposal for 205 Warren Street. This is the third proposal for the building that has come before the HPC in recent years.

In May 2017, the HPC approved a plan that involved converting the ground floor into storefronts. Although it was granted a certificate of appropriateness, that plan was never pursued.

In April 2018, a different plan was presented for the building, which involved, among other things, replacing the vinyl siding with Hardiplank, adding wood panels below the ground floor windows, and enhancing the entrance with a new pediment, entablature, and pilasters. That plan was not pursued either.

What is now being proposed is a restoration that respects what Bohl called "the wonderful idiosyncrasies" of the building.

The plan is to remove the vinyl siding to expose the original clapboard and to restore it. Bohl suggested that in that process they may discover that the first floor windows were originally taller than the second floor windows.  The plan also involves converting the attic into an apartment, and to achieve that a dormer will added at the back of the building. The building currently has four units; the restored building will have five units.  

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. The most disturbing news is that, for the second day in a row, there has been a death from COVID-19. The CCDOH is reporting 47 new cases of COVID-19, but the number of active cases has decreased by 82, suggesting that 128 people are now considered recovering. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine remains that same as yesterday, as does the number hospitalized and in the ICU. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 8.0 percent and a seven-day average positivity rate of 7.7 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 6.7 percent and the seven-day average is 9.5 percent.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 62 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases has only increased by seven since yesterday, which suggests that 55 more people are now considered recovering. There are 37 more county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, and two more county residents are hospitalized. The number in the ICU remains the same, and there has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday.

In his COVID press briefing today, Governor Andrew Cuomo reported that the Capital Region, with 22.04 percent, has the lowest available hospital capacity of any region in the state. When hospitals predict they are 21 days from having only 15 percent available capacity, it triggers a shutdown until the spread of the virus can be brought under control.

Update: Half an hour after the CCDOH released the numbers reported above, the report was updated to include the information that there had been another death from the virus. The total number of deaths from COVID-19 is now 52.

More Word from Our Representatives

About an hour ago, a statement by Kirsten Gillibrand, recounting yesterday's events, appeared in the New York Times: "Kirsten Gillibrand: 'Yes, We Are Safe,' I Texted From the Capitol." In it, Gillibrand asserts:

These rioters must be held responsible for their criminal actions. So should the president who incited them. Every option available, from invoking the 25th Amendment to impeachment and removal to criminal prosecution, should be on the table. These options will require the vice president, cabinet members and Republican members of the Senate to hold the president accountable in a way they never have before. When they fail to take decisive action, history will judge them as complicit.

Congressman Antonio Delgado, in an email distributed to constituents, made a similar appeal:

Donald Trump's actions and words make it clear that he is unfit for the Office of the President.

I took an oath to protect the Constitution. I've come to the conclusion that in order to protect our democracy, Trump must be removed from office by the Cabinet invoking the 25th Amendments or by this Congress impeaching him.

We must restore the soul of our nation. We must protect our democracy. We must repair the damage that has been done through compassion, love, and facts. We must return America as a beacon of liberty, equality, hope, and opportunity for all.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been 77 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases has increased by 22, suggesting that 55 people have recovered from the virus since yesterday. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine remains the same as yesterday, as does the number of people hospitalized and in the ICU. There has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday.  

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 8.0 percent and a seven-day average positivity rate of 7.6 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 9.1 percent and the seven-day average is 10.0 percent.

Happening in Washington

Senator Chuck Schumer made this statement a few hours ago:

What happened at the U.S. Capitol yesterday was an insurrection against the United States, incited by President Trump.

This president must not hold office one day longer.

The quickest and most effective way--it can be done today--to remove this president from office would be for the Vice President to immediately invoke the 25th amendment.

If the Vice President and the Cabinet refuse to stand up, Congress must reconvene to impeach President Trump. 

Late last night, the Wall Street Journal reported: "House Judiciary Committee Democrats Ask Pence to Invoke 25th Amendment to Remove President Trump." The following was quoted from the  message to Vice President Pence from eighteen committee members: "The world watched aghast as insurrectionists, who had been egged on by the President, threatened the safety of elected officials and staff and destroyed public property as they stormed and occupied both the House and Senate chambers bringing our democracy to a halt. At one point, the insurrectionists even removed an American flag flying at the Capitol and replaced it with a Trump flag."

A couple of hours ago, NBC News reported published this update on efforts to take action against Trump: "Schumer calls on Pence to use 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office."

In the meantime, one member of Trump's cabinet, Elaine Chao, wife of Senator Mitch McConnell, has resigned from her role as Secretary of Transportation.

Update 1/8/21  The New York Times reported yesterday that Vice President Pence was refusing to take phone calls from Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer, calling on him to invoke the 25th Amendment. Also yesterday, a second cabinet member, Betsy DeVos, Secretary of Education, resigned.

Local Response to the Chaos of Yesterday

Today, a group of thirty-seven Columbia County officials from different parties condemned the violence in Washington, D.C., yesterday. The group includes the chairman and deputy chairman of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, numerous supervisors, and the leaders of the Republican and Democratic parties in the county. Their statement read:

We strongly condemn the violent actions of those who invaded the U.S. Capitol buildings yesterday. This shameful activity is not to be condoned. Lawlessness and rioting are never acceptable, in any fashion, no matter the reason. Our democracy rests on the orderly and peaceful transition of power, and this transition from one president to another must be allowed and supported. While we each have our political views and affiliations, we stand united in upholding the rule of law, and the Constitution of the United States. We ask you to do the same; our democracy depends upon it.

The statement was signed by Brenda Adams, Supervisor, Town of Canaan; Jacob Ashby, Assemblymember, 107th Assembly District; Didi Barrett, Assemblymember, 106th Assembly District; David P. Bartlett, Sheriff, Columbia County; Arthur Bassin, Supervisor, Town of Ancram; Michael Benvenuto, Majority Leader, Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor, Town of Ghent; Robert W. Beaury, Supervisor, Town of Germantown; Hugh Clark, Deputy Supervisor, Councilmember, Town of Ancram; Monica Cleveland, Town Clerk, Town of Ancram; Donal Collins, Supervisor, Town of Chatham; Greg Fingar, Chairman, Columbia County Republican Committee; Brenda Gevertz, Second Vice Chair, Columbia County Democratic Committee; Deborah Gordon, Councilmember, Town of New Lebanon; James Guzzi, Deputy Chairman, Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor, Town of Livingston; Tistrya Houghtling, Minority Leader, Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor, Town of New Lebanon; Bonnie Hundt, Councilmember, Town of Ancram; Keith Kanaga, Chair, Columbia County Democratic Committee; P.J. Keeler Jr., Treasurer, Columbia County; Chris Kersten, Supervisor, Town of Hillsdale; Ron Knott, Deputy Chairman, Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor, Town of Stuyvesant; Robert Lagonia, Supervisor, Town of Austerlitz; Patsy Leader, Supervisor, Town of Kinderhook; Jeanne E. Mettler, Supervisor, Town of Copake; Abdus Miah, Supervisor, 2nd Ward, City of Hudson; James Miller, Highway Superintendent, Town of Ancram; Matt Murell, Chairman, Columbia County Board of Supervisors, Supervisor, Town of Stockport; Linda Mussmann, Supervisor, 4th Ward, City of Hudson; Norman Rasmussen, Councilmember, Town of New Lebanon; John C. Reilly, Supervisor, Town of Gallatin; Marcie Robertson, Town Clerk, Town of New Lebanon; Richard Scalera, Supervisor, 5th Ward, City of Hudson; Sarah Hoe Sterling, Supervisor, 1st Ward, City of Hudson; Ryan Skoda, Supervisor, Town of Taghkanic; Chris Tague, Assemblymember, 102nd Assembly District; Holly Tanner, Columbia County Clerk; John Trainor, Councilmember, Town of New Lebanon; Clifford “Kippy” Weigelt, Supervisor, Town of Claverack.

Plans for the Plunge in 2021

If snow and frigid temperatures don't deter people from plunging into Oakdale Lake, neither does a pandemic! 

The following announcement was made yesterday:

The Oakdale Plunge returns with an icy cold splash on Saturday February 27th! 

This year we'll be playing it HUDSON SAFE. Small groups of intrepid plungers will jump into Oakdale Lake's frigid water in staggered shifts, maintaining social distance. Spectators will be unable to attend in person, but can still enjoy the show via live stream. Updated information on the schedule and live stream will be available at OakdalePlunge.com closer to the event.

Proceeds of this whacky fundraiser are evenly split, as they are each year, between the Hudson Fire Department Water Rescue and Dive Team and the Hudson Youth Department. The all-volunteer Rescue Team does the crucial job of saving people who get into trouble in the Hudson River, and will use their share to continue upgrading their aging safety equipment. The Youth Department provides free recreation, enriching activities and safe space for local kids and will use the funds raised to support their summer Waterfront Program, providing lifeguards seven days a week for community swimming at Oakdale Lake.

Last year, close to 100 swimmers braved the freezing waters of Oakdale Lake to raise over $30,000. Crazily costumed teams from local organizations and businesses supported the effort, including Avalanche Sponsors Columbia Memorial Hospital and Metzwood Insurance.

To make a splash as an individual or team, or to donate in support neighbors who may be braver than you, visit OakdalePlunge.com.

Can This Be Hudson?

The Galvan Foundation announced this morning plans for not one but two new buildings to be constructed in the area of the city it has dubbed "The Depot District." 

The announcement reads:

We are pleased to share our Depot District plans, including two new buildings at 75 North 7th Street and 708 State Street, along with the restored Upper Hudson Depot building and a new park. . . . The Depot District will feature 138 new homes and 10 new commercial spaces. The plan and designs are the product of extensive conversation with community leaders and officials from the city, county, and state.

First and foremost, the Depot District will help relieve Hudson's housing crisis, as laid out in the city's Strategic Housing Action Plan, by providing both market-rate and affordable apartments in one-, two-, and three-bedroom configurations. Finally, households of all sizes and income levels will access high-quality housing in Hudson that they can afford.

Housing isn't the only challenge that Hudson faces, of course. Over the past year, we granted $100,000 to minority- and women-owned businesses, and we heard from business owners--over and over again--that Hudson needs affordable commercial spaces. So we are designating four of the new spaces for minority and women entrepreneurs with preferential rents.

The Depot District will also feature a new park and will be handicap accessible throughout. All told, the project will invest over $50 million into the Hudson and Columbia County economy. According to independent analysis, it will create 65 new, permanent jobs along with 347 additional jobs during construction.

The fact sheet accompanying the announcement includes the rather vague, uberurban rendering shown above, along with this information.

It is not clear if the two buildings mentioned in the announcement are the same as those for which Galvan has already provided renderings--the five-story building proposed for 75 North Seventh, which was to contain 77 units, and the four-story building that appeared at 708 State Street in renderings of the proposal for Hudson Upper Depot. 

One wonders why the City is bothering to spend $30,000 to hire Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress to create an Affordable Housing Development Plan when Galvan is busy doing all the planning and developing for us.

About That "Seditious, Traitorous Act"

Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued this statement about the events today on Capitol Hill.

In the title of this post, I quote Linda Sanchez, congresswoman from California, speaking on MSNBC earlier this evening.

COVID-19 Update

As if what's going on at the Capitol wasn't enough terrible news for the twelfth and final day of Christmas, the Columbia County Department of Health today is reporting 70 new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases today is 364, 39 more than yesterday, suggesting that 41 people have recovered since yesterday. There are 28 more county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but there are six fewer people are hospitalized. The number in the ICU remains the same, at one. There has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since Monday.     

An Anniversary

This morning, on WAMC's Roundtable, panelist Paul Sparrow, who is the director of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library and Museum, pointed out that today is the 80th anniversary of Roosevelt's 1941 annual message to Congress, now known as the Four Freedoms speech. The following is quoted from that speech:

In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression--everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way--everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want--which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants--everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear--which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor--anywhere in the world.

That is no vision of a distant millennium. It is a definite basis for a kind of world attainable in our own time and generation. That kind of world is the very antithesis of the so-called new order of tyranny which the dictators seek to create with the crash of a bomb.

To that new order we oppose the greater conception--the moral order. A good society is able to face schemes of world domination and foreign revolutions alike without fear.

A transcript of the entire speech can be found here.

FDR's speech inspired Norman Rockwell's famous 1943 "Four Freedoms" paintings, which can be viewed at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.

Real Estate News

Zillow reports today that the sale of 356 Union Street is now under contract. The asking price for the newly restored and renovated building, which contains five rental units, was $1.25 million. The current owner of the building is Galvan Initiatives Foundation.

Photo: Zillow

Appearing for the first time on Zillow today was 601 Union Street, the Terry-Gillette mansion.

Photo: Zillow

The house was built following a pattern by Richard Upjohn that was included in The Architecture of Country House, by A. J. Downing, originally published in 1850. Downing called the design "one of the most successful specimens of Italian design in the United States."

The house became the Hudson Elks Lodge in 1936 and remained that until 2003, when the Elks sold it for $600,000. The asking price is now $6 million. According to Zillow, "Property ideal for conversion to boutique hotel, air B and B, meeting house, banquet/catering gallery, office and/or single-family home." A single-family home is what the building started out as.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. The difference between the total number of cases reported today and the total number reported yesterday is 89. Of those, 54 are described as new cases and 35 are identified as "additional cases reached from the weekend." It's not entirely clear what that means. The number of active cases is now 325--54 more than yesterday. That may mean that there have been 35 recoveries since yesterday, but 35 is the same as the number of cases "reached from the weekend." There are 32 fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, and there is one fewer county resident hospitalized with the virus. The number in the ICU remains the same at one. Since yesterday, there has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County.  

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 5.2 percent and a seven-day average positivity rate of 6.7 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 12.0 percent and the seven-day average is 10.1 percent.

On the Subject of COVID Vaccinations

There have been questions asked and recommendations made regarding the distribution of the coronavirus vaccine in comments on this blog. For this reason, Gossips is providing a summary of Governor Andrew Cuomo's press briefing earlier today which addressed the issue of vaccinations.

Some important facts to remember: New York needs to vaccinate 20 million people. At the present time, the state is receiving 300,000 doses of the vaccine a week. The current vaccines, produced by Pfizer and Moderna, require that everyone receive two doses.

The first priority was vaccinating residents and staff at nursing homes. Vaccinating nursing home residents has been a federal program. New York State is now stepping in to expedite the process, with the goal of getting all nursing home residents and staff their first dose of the vaccine in the next two weeks.

The next priority--and the first priority for state run distribution--is healthcare workers. So far, 900,000 doses of the vaccine have been distributed to hospitals in the state, but there are 2.1 million healthcare workers in the state, and each one needs two doses.

The next group is essential works (for example, police officers, firefighters, transportation workers) and people who are 75 and older. At this point in the distribution process, there will be a shift from distributing the vaccine essentially only to hospitals to what Cuomo called the "retail network"--which includes pharmacies, health centers, health departments, urgent care facilities, and doctor's offices. Statewide, 3,762 provider sites have been identified to be part of the "retail network," 343 of them in the Capital Region. Despite the use of the word retail, Cuomo stressed that the vaccine will be free. There are no copays required.

If you want to know as soon as you are eligible to receive the COVID vaccination, you can sign up here. You are required to give your name, date of birth, address, and an email address and mobile phone number, and you will be notified when you are eligible to receive your COVID vaccination.

Click here to watch Cuomo's entire press briefing.

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COVID in Columbia County

The COVID situation here in Columbia County made Channel 10 news yesterday, in a telephone interview with Jack Mabb, director of the Columbia County Department of Health: "Columbia County cases linked to community spread as record number hospitalized since outbreak." 

Yesterday's numbers from the CCDOH indicated there were thirty county residents hospitalized with the virus. In the interview, Mabb says there were twenty-nine hospitalized but reveals only seventeen of those hospitalized were at Columbia Memorial. Useful information for anyone concerned about exceeding capacity at our local hospital.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there has been another death from COVID-19. There have also been 27 new cases. The number of active cases has increased by thirteen, suggesting that there have also been fourteen recoveries. The number of county residents in mandatory quarantine has decreased by thirteen since yesterday, but the number hospitalized with the virus has increased by seven. The number in the ICU remains the same. 

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 2.9 percent and a seven-day average positivity rate of 6.9 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 10.5 percent and the seven-day average is 9.9 percent.

Police Reform in the City and the County

In early July, Mayor Kamal Johnson appointed the Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission, the body tasked with developing a plan to reform and reinvent the Hudson Police Department in response to Governor Andrew Cuomo's executive order issued in June. Presumably, the group has been meeting regularly since its creation, but so far its only apparent interaction with the public at large was an online survey conducted in October. The first public meeting regarding police reform policy is to take place in two weeks, on Monday, January 18, at 6:00 p.m. 

In contrast to the approach being taken by the City of Hudson, which to this point has not been a very public process, Columbia County designed what seemed to be a very public process, with a Community Input Panel, an Elected Officials/Law Enforcement Panel, a Plan Review Committee, a hired facilitator, and a robust schedule of Zoom meetings. In October and November, the Zoom meetings featured testimony from the members of the Community Input Panel. In December, they shifted to the Elected Officials/Law Enforcement Panel, the group charged with using the community input to come up with ideas for reform. Following the most recent meetings of the Elected Officials/Law Enforcement Panel, a group of county residents submitted the letter of concerns and questions, which they shared with Gossips. The letter is transcribed below.

Thank you for the opportunity to view the December 16 and 17 sessions of the Elected Official/Law Enforcement Panel. We understand that this group is charged with developing innovative actions for a Columbia County Police Reform and Reinvention Collaborative Plan. In our view, the data made available thus far clearly demonstrates the disproportionate impact of arrests and incarceration on minority populations in Columbia County. The first group of 30 citizens [Community Input Panel] included minority persons, some of whom did report episodes of discriminatory treatment and lack of trust in the police.

In the spirit of public participation in producing this plan for our County, we offer the following questions and comments to identify specific areas of existing systemic racial bias and begin to solve the problem of diminished trust in the police:

1. Defining the problem: Dig deeper into the historic data to identify 'what,' 'how' and 'why' associated with arrests and incarceration; and to identify where racial bias exists in the work done by each of the four police departments. Then, ask what can be done to reduce it. If the data is insufficient, what improvements will make this analysis possible?
2. Recruitment and training improvements: Is there diversity of men, women, races and ethnic groups on each of the four police forces that reflects the populations served, including corrections facilities? If not, how can recruiting be changed to achieve greater diversity? How can the impact of racial, gender and ethnic sensitivity training be documented and evaluated?
3. Budget Review: How can police department budgets be reallocated to support innovations? Are there opportunities to better serve each and all community groups?
4. Trust between Police Departments and their Communities: What can the four police departments do to engender trust and confidence in their communities? What innovations would promote informal interactions to humanize all participants, especially among persons of color? Could the County establish a Citizens' Review Board to increase greater community partnership?

We look forward to the efforts of the Panel to openly acknowledge systemic racism where it exists and to develop innovative solutions that will build broader community trust and safety among all residents, police officers and their respective organizations.   

The letter was signed by the following people: Claire Ackerman (Claverack), Carl Atkins (Canaan), Susan Bane (Claverack), Christine (Spee) Braun (Canaan), Jens Braun (Canaan), Craig Dillon (Canaan), Lee Jamison (Stuyvesant), Peter T. Johnson (Philmont), Jeffrey Kiplinger (Claverack), Brian Lifsec (Canaan), Becky Meier (Canaan), Dale Peterson (Copake) Louise Roback (Stockport), Marcella Rosen (Canaan), Stephanie Sussman (Claverack), Joyce Thompson (Taghkanic), Katie Vorwald (Stuyvesant), and Larry Waite (Kinderhook).

The four police departments referenced in the letter are the Sheriff's Department and the police departments of Greenport, Stockport, and Philmont.

Meetings in the First Week of the New Year

The new year is getting off to a comfortably slow start.

• On Monday, January 4, the Tourism Board meets at 7:00 p.m. The link to the Zoom meeting has not yet been published, but it should appear on the City of Hudson website before the meeting begins. Scroll down to the calendar. 
• On Tuesday, January 5, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. A likely topic of discussion may be the Common Council Legal Committee's response to the tree ordinance presented by CAC member Hilary Hillman on December 23. Click here to join the Zoom meeting.
• On Friday, January 8, the Historic Preservation Commission is holding two public hearings. At 9:30 a.m., there is a public hearing on the proposed restoration of 241 Columbia Street, the original Shiloh Baptist Church.

At 10:00 a.m., there will be a public hearing on the redesign of the entrance to Promenade Hill. 

The link to the Zoom meeting will be published on the City of Hudson website prior to the meeting. Scroll down to the calendar.

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COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. The total number of cases reported yesterday was 1,704; the total number reported today is 1,747. From that we can surmise that there have been 43 new cases COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. The number of active cases has increased by 43, which suggests that no one has recovered from the virus since yesterday. There are 47 fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, and the number hospitalized and in the ICU remains the same. There has not been another death from COVID-19 in Columbia County since yesterday.  

The Times Union reported this dire news today: "Capital Region has one of the worst COVID-19 outbreaks statewide." The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a daily positivity rate for the Capital Region of 10.0 percent and a seven-day average of 10.1 percent. The counties in the region with the highest positivity rates in the past 24 hours are Rensselaer (13.4 percent), Greene (11.8 percent), Albany (10.6 percent), and Saratoga (10.0 percent). Columbia County, with a daily positivity rate of 8.4 percent is the second lowest in the Capital Region after Warren County, with 7.7 percent. 

Shared Streets and Street Decor

When the team of Arterial, Street Plans, and Creighton Manning was chosen back in October 2019 to carry out the connectivity project in the BRIDGE District, now known as "Hudson Connects," the assignment was all about creating streets that could be safely shared by pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists. The association of one of the principals on the team, Mike Lydon, with "tactical urbanism" seemed to weight heavily in the selection process.

In July, there was a walking tour and a workshop to gather input from the community. The presentation from that first workshop can be viewed here. In August, there was an open house at the entrance to Promenade Hill, involving both Arterial et al. and Starr Whitehouse, the landscape architects working on the redesign of the entrance to Promenade Hill. At the event, the two design concepts for Promenade Hill presented by Starr Whitehouse--The Meander and The Terrace--seemed to get the lion's share of attention. 

In October, Arterial did its Hudson Connects Demonstration Project at Second and State streets and at Warren and Front, using paint to test such concepts as curb extensions and sidewalks. That was followed up by a survey to gauge the public's response to the demonstration project.

At the last meeting of the Common Council, which took place on December 15, James Ribaudo of Arterial presented the proposed plans for the Hudson Connects project. That forty-minute presentation can be viewed here. It begins at 5:08 and ends at 46:10. Gossips recommends that everyone view the presentation. The following are renderings from the presentation of the intersection at Warren Street and Front Street, destined to become the crown jewel of Hudson intersections.

The design concepts to be introduced in the BRIDGE District will eventually, we are told, be implemented throughout the city. That's a very far-reaching impact, but the public is being given very little opportunity to react to what is being proposed. Up to this point in the process, public participation--the walking tour, the workshops, the survey--have focused on accessibility, walkability, safety, connectivity. Now we are seeing plans that will have a significant impact on the character and the aesthetic of the city, and there seems to be no plan for soliciting public response. Gossips inquired about how people could submit comments about the plans and was told that comments could be directed to mayor's aide Michael Chameides: mayoralaide@cityofhudson.org. 

Arterial is expected to make a second presentation to the Common Council on Monday, January 11, and they anticipate submitting the final plans on January 29. 

Compare the process with that was followed in the development of the plans for the entrance to Promenade Hill. In July, Starr Whitehouse held an initial workshop at which participants were asked to react to preliminary concept designs and possible materials. In August, there was a second outdoor workshop, at which Starr Whitehouse presented two design concepts--The Meander and The Terrace--and sought community input, both in person at the workshop and through an online survey. In October, in a presentation to the Common Council which was not adequately announced, Starr Whitehouse presented their final plan, which, because there was no clear favorite between the two original concepts, combined the elements people liked best from each of the two designs. Based on comments from the Council, the design was slightly tweaked, and on December 4, the final design was presented to the Historic Preservation Commission for review.

The HPC is holding a public hearing on the design for what's now being called the "Lower Promenade" this coming Friday, January 8, at 10:00 a.m., providing yet another chance for the public to comment on the proposed design. No such opportunities are being offered for the public to comment on the materials, street furniture, plantings, or any of the design elements that contribute to the aesthetic of what Arterial is proposing.      

The justification for an HPC review of the plans for Promenade Hill is that the site is in located in the National Register Front Street-Parade Hill-Lower Warren Street Historic District. By the same token, more than half of the BRIDGE District is in a National Register and locally designated historic district. The materials used for sidewalks, the choice of street furniture, the plans for plantings and signage will have an enormous impact on the appearance and character of the city, and the decision making regarding these things should be a more public process. 

Back in 2008, when the City was selecting luminaires for the new lamp posts along Warren Street, the HPC was called upon to make the choice. It would seem that a review by the HPC of the Arterial plans is also in order, particularly if there is to be so little effort to solicit public comment on what is being proposed.

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Withdrawn But Not Forgotten

Two years ago, in January 2019, Amtrak withdrew its plans to install fences and gates along its right of way on the Hudson River, limiting public access to the river. One year ago, Scenic Hudson began work on its Hudson River Access Plan (HRAP), documenting how and where people access the river with the goal of protecting that access. The 2020 Hudson River Access Plan was published in May 2020.

Photo: Jeff Anvezino|Scenic Hudson

While Scenic Hudson was working on the HRAP, Amtrak was confidentially working on a draft plan of its own, called "Five Year Fencing Program on the Hudson Line Section of the Empire Corridor." The new plan significantly increases the number of barriers proposed in the original plan, calling for 23,935 feet of fencing--about four and a half miles--spread over twenty-two sites from Rensselaer to Poughkeepsie. 

Roger Hannigan Gilson was able to obtain a copy of the new Amtrak plan and reports about it today in The Other Hudson Valley: "Amtrak's Secret Plan to Fence Off Parts of Hudson River." It is recommended reading.

Update on the Previous COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health finally released its numbers at 6:30 p.m., but there is reason to believe they may not be entirely accurate. The CCDOH is reporting 77 new cases, but if you compare the total number of cases reported on December 31 (1,667) and the total number of cases reported today (1,704), the difference is only 37. The total number of active cases remains the same as it has been since December 30. There are seven more county residents hospitalized with the virus today as there were on December 31, but the number in the ICU remains the same. There has been one more death from COVID-19 in Columbia County, bringing the total to 50.

COVID-19 Update

Once again, the Columbia County Department of Health did not publish its COVID numbers for today. The New York Forward dashboard, however, is reporting that, in the past 24 hours, 509 test results were received, of which 38 were positive, for a daily positivity rate of 7.5 percent and a seven-day average of 6.9 percent. That gives Columbia County the third lowest daily positivity rate in the Capital Region, after Washington (2.5 percent) and Warren (3.5 percent) counties. Similarly, our seven-day average is the third lowest, after Washington (5.0 percent) and Warren (6.1 percent) counties.   

If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It

At the last meeting of the Common Council Public Works and Parks Committee, Alderman Jane Trombley (First Ward) expressed the opinion, "Alternate side of the street parking is a real pain." That inspired Alderman John Rosenthal (Fourth Ward), who chairs the Legal Committee as well as the Public Works and Parks Committee, to declare that the issue of alternate side of the street parking would be taken up after the first of the year and inspired Aliya Schneider of the Register-Star to do something of an enterprise story on the topic: "City to mull parking rules." 

When I moved to Hudson in 1993, it took one parking ticket to make me realize that finding all the cars parked on one side of the street leaving the other side completely free for me wasn't a happy fluke. Since then, it has been easy to get into the rhythm of alternate side of the street parking. I never considered it a great hardship. The one thing that catches some people up is when the 31st of one month is followed by the 1st of the next month, and cars need to be parked on the odd side for two nights in a row. 

Strangely, although the overnight parking rule is elegantly simple once you catch on, it's challenging to explain--especially with the brevity needed for signage.  

One thing the Council needs to remember in its deliberations about changing the alternate side of the street parking policy is that it doesn't exist to inconvenience people or to extort money in parking fines from residents and visitors. It exists to allow the streets to be cleaned more than once a week, and the reason for frequent street cleaning is something that must be seriously considered. Regular and frequent street cleaning decreases the amount of street debris and pollutants, especially oils and other automotive fluids, that would otherwise end up in the river, carried there by storm water. According to Rosenthal, other cities don't clean their streets as often as Hudson does, but those cities are likely not riverfront communities.

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Happening Later This Month

The Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission, appointed by Mayor Kamal Johnson in July 2020, has been at work over the past six months, although its work has not been a public process. In his inventory of achievements in 2020, published yesterday on his Facebook page, Johnson makes reference to an upcoming town hall meeting on police reform policy to take place on Monday, January 18, at 6:00 p.m. Mark your calendars and plan to be part of what will undoubtedly be a Zoom meeting.

Something to Do in the First Week of 2021

If you haven't done so already, you have just one week to complete the survey intended to gather input "on the existing truck traffic within Hudson and the resulting impact on people living, working, and visiting Hudson." Click here to access the survey. The deadline for completing the survey is Friday, January 8.

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COVID-19 Update

I spent the day agonizing over what should be Gossips' first post in 2021, and, sad to say, this is it. The Columbia County Department of Health did not publish its numbers today, but the New York Forward dashboard is reporting that, in the past 24 hours, 599 test results were received, of which 48 were positive, for a daily positivity rate of 8.0 percent and a seven-day average of 6.8 percent. Dire as that may seem, Columbia County still had the lowest positivity rate yesterday of the eight counties that make up the Capital Region. 

Stay safe. Stay home. This isn't over yet.