New Faces on the Planning Board

On Sunday night, when Gossips published its "Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead," no Zoom link for Tuesday's Planning Board meeting had yet been published. Last night at 6:00 p.m., when the meeting was scheduled to start, there was still no link available on the City of Hudson website. A few minutes into the meeting, as a result of some email networking, Gossips got the link and was able to join the meeting on Zoom, but the lack of general access to the link was unfortunate, particularly since the meeting included a public hearing. The meeting was described on the city website as "hybrid," so there was a reasonable expectation that people could comment during the public hearing on Zoom, but that was not possible because the link was never provided. Nevertheless, after a public hearing that consisted only of a question from the owner of the adjacent property who came to the meeting in person, the Planning Board approved the lot line adjustments sought for 202 and 204 Warren Street, the 1903 Brousseau Buildings now owned by Galvan Civic I.  

This year, the Planning Board has two new members. The terms of Larry Bowne and Clark Wieman expired at the end of 2022, and the new appointees are Randall Martin and Bettina Young.

Randall Martin is a familiar figure on the Hudson scene. He has previously served on the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, the Hudson City Democratic Committee, the Housing Task Force, and the Local Planning Committee for the DRI. If there are any new Galvan projects coming before the Planning Board, Martin may have a perceived conflict of interest. He and his family used to live in one of the three houses owned by Galvan on North Seventh Street which were recently demolished. He now resides in a different Galvan property. In 2020, his business, Martin Audio Visual Services, was the recipient of a grant from the Galvan Foundation.

By contrast, Bettina Young is new to city government and regulatory boards. She is a school psychologist in the Catskill Central School District and lives in Hudson.

Addressing the new members, Theresa Joyner, who was reappointed as chair of the Planning Board, assured them, "We are all residents, just regular people in Hudson. No question is a bad question. So if someone comes to present, and you don't understand, ask that question. Nobody should be embarrassed. We're not going to have a two-man board. We're going to have a seven-man board." In her mention of a "two-man board," Joyner may have been referring to Bowne and Wieman. Bowne is an architect, and Wieman a project manager and urban planner. Both brought a wealth of relevant experience and expertise to the Planning Board.

Although live access to the Zoom meeting was limited, the recording is now available on YouTube. Click here to view it. 

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Help for HALPS

The Preservation League of New York State with its partner the New York State Council on the Arts today announced the recipients of the 2022 Technical Assistance Grants. Nineteen projects representing fourteen counties across the state were selected to receive grants by an independent panel of preservations, and a total of $68,130 was awarded. Among the grant recipients is the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society (HALPS).

 

Photo: Jonathan Simons

HALPS was awarded $3,840 for an electrical analysis. The lighthouse electrical system requires an inspection by a certified electrician to determine the presence of any safety issues that should be mitigated. Working with Quantum Engineering Co., P.C., HALPS will also use this analysis to inform a follow-up survey that will determine the feasibility of installing solar panels on the main roof. This preliminary analysis is the necessary first step to minimizing the lighthouse's carbon footprint. The end goal will be a solar panel installation that generates enough power for normal operations and for an electric heating system.

The list of all the grant recipients can be found here.

Need Trash Bags? Bring Cash

At the informal Common Council meeting last night, DPW superintendent Rob Perry reported that credit and ATM cards are currently not working in the vending machine that dispenses trash bags in front of City Hall. The reason for this, Perry explained, is that the cellular connection for the card reader is 3G, and, as of January 1, 2023, cellular providers had discontinued this frequency in favor of 5G. The City was notified of this change, but the notification came, by email, during the time that City Hall had no access to email as a consequence of the ransomware attack on Rackspace.

Perry said that a new card reader and processor have been ordered, but until they arrive and are installed, the vending machine only accepts cash--dollar bills.

The State of the State and Hudson

Governor Kathy Hochul delivered her State of the State address this afternoon, and there were a couple of initiatives outlined in her speech that seem particularly relevant to Hudson. The entire speech can be heard on YouTube. 

The major themes of the address had to do with improving the lives of New Yorkers: making New York safer and more affordable, providing more jobs and opportunities, and protecting basic human rights. Of particular interest, Hochul declared the era of ignoring the needs of mentally disturbed individuals was over and announced "the most significant change since the deinstitutionalization era of the 1970s." She said her administration was prepared to invest $1 billion to make critical policy changes relating to mental health care. Among the goals of the plan she outlined was the creation of 3,500 new units of supportive housing. 

This announcement resonates for Hudson in a couple of ways. In his report to the Common Council last night, Chief Ed Moore noted that December saw a spike in calls to the police about emotionally disturbed people. There were seventeen such calls. Also, it will be remembered that Eric Galloway has twice, in 2010 as the Lantern Foundation and in 2012 as the Galvan Foundation, proposed a supportive housing project in Hudson--the first to be constructed at the corner of Warren and Fifth streets, the second to be created in the old Hudson Orphan Asylum at State and Seventh streets, a building that has since been demolished. It's been a decade since such a plan has been proposed, but the new level of financial commitment at the state level may revive the idea.

In her State of the State address, Hochul also announced the New York Housing Compact, "a groundbreaking strategy to catalyze housing development we need for our communities to thrive, our economy to grow, and our state to prosper." The goal of the compact is to build 800,000 new homes in the next decade. Every locality in the state will have a target for building new homes. The target for upstate communities is to increase housing units by 1 percent every three years; for downstate, the target is an increase of 3 percent every three years. 

Hochul described the compact as being "laser focused on transit-oriented development." For that reason, she said, "Any municipality with a train station will rezone the area within half a mile to allow for the creation of new housing." It seemed she was only talking about municipalities with MTA stations not Amtrak stations, but that wasn't entirely clear. People do commute to New York City on Amtrak.

There is much of interest in Hochul's State of the State address, and listening to the entire speech is recommended. Click here to access the speech on YouTube.

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Regarding Trucks: Nothing Is Ever Easy

At the December meeting of the Truck Route Committee, Councilmember Margaret Morris (First Ward), who chairs the committee, suggested that a directive issued in 1976 by then police commissioner Thomas Quigley designating truck routes within the city be amended. She specifically wanted reference to Columbia Street below Third and Front Street to be deleted from the directive. Last night, at the informal Common Council meeting, Morris presented a draft for a new directive regarding truck traffic.

Trucks can legally depart from the designated truck routes when making local deliveries. That leaves truck drivers on their own or dependent on their GPS to find their way to destinations. Since it is known that there are now regular deliveries to Harney Tea at the north end of Second Street and there will soon be regular truck traffic to and from the White Toque facility under development at 7 Dock Street, shouldn't the City be providing some guidance about the preferred way to get to these destinations? 

Last November, an eighteen-wheeler bound for Harney Tea had to be assisted by a DPW worker when his GPS routed him by way of Robinson Street. 

Photo: Peter Spear

Photo: Peter Spear

Just this past weekend, another truck bound for Harney Tea had trouble negotiating a turn at Third and State streets.

Photo: Bill Huston

Photo: Bill Huston

The problem of trucks in the city is not one that will be easily solved.

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Starting the Year

At the organizational meeting of the Common Council last night, Council president Tom DePietro announced that the Legal Committee and the Truck Route Committee would continue in the new year, as would the Events Committee, "no longer including Tourism." He also announced the formation of a Parking Committee, tasked with acting on the information and recommendations of the recently completed parking study. 

In a letter to the Common Council, Zachary Bayman, CEO of The Maker Hotel and Gymnasium, where a window was shattered by gunshots in the wee hours of December 10, had asked specifically that the Common Council Police Committee be reinstated. In response to this request, DePietro announced that he wanted Councilmember Theo Anthony (Fourth Ward) to conduct a quarterly forum on public safety. In 2020, Anthony served on the Police Reconciliation and Advisory Commission, a title that morphed into the Police Accountability and Reconciliation Committee, the group that produced the PARC Report. Of his new appointment, Anthony quipped, "I've worked my whole life for this moment."

It was also announced that Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward) would continue as majority leader, and Ryan Wallace (Third Ward) would continue as minority leader.

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Council Decides What Gets Its Support

At a special meeting tonight, the members of the Common Council voted 7 to 4 to support Phase One of the redevelopment of the former Kaz site in its pursuit of a Restore NY grant. 

Those voting in support of the resolution were councilmembers Theo Anthony (Fourth Ward), Art Frick (First Ward), Margaret Morris (First Ward), Mohammed Rony (Second Ward), Dewan Sarowar (Second Ward), Malachi Walker (Fourth Ward), and Council president Tom DePietro. Those opposed were councilmembers Vicky Daskaloudi (Fifth Ward), Amber Harris (Third Ward), Dominic Merante (Fifth Ward), and Ryan Wallace (Third Ward).

Because the resolution to support the Kaz project passed, the resolution to support the Pocketbook Factory adaptive reuse was not voted on.  

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Of Interest

SMU DataArts, "A Leading Research Center for the Arts," has released its list of "The Top 40 Arts-Vibrant Communities of 2022." 

The list is categorized into large (20), medium (10), and small (10) communities. Among the ten small communities is Hudson, NY. Strangely, the population of Hudson is given as 61,776. That's the population of Columbia County not Hudson.  

Thanks to Chad Weckler for bringing this to our attention.

COVID-19 Update

As Gossips reported last week, the Columbia County Department of Health is no longer reporting daily COVID numbers. Instead, at the beginning of each week, they are reporting deaths from COVID that occurred in the previous week and the number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and in the ICU. Today, the CCDOH reported 1 death, 22 hospitalized, and 2 in the ICU. 

A year ago today, on January 10 (January 9 was a Sunday), the CCDOH reported 3 deaths and 335 new cases of COVID-19 since the previous Friday. Three county residents were hospitalized, and 3 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 121.

Meetings of Interest in the Week Ahead

As we move further into January and the new year, here's what's happening on the meeting front.

• On Monday, January 9, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 6:30 p.m. to decide which of two projects the City will support in the next round of Restore NY grants. The two projects are the Pocketbook Factory and Phase One of the redevelopment of the Kaz site, a year-round farmers' market. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

• At 7:00 p.m. on Monday, January 9, the Common Council holds its organizational meeting, at which rules of order are adopted, majority and minority leaders are determined, and the makeup of committees is announced. The organizational meeting will be followed by the informal meeting, at which resolutions are introduced. Among the resolutions are those to sell the parcel on Rossman Avenue and the parcels on Mill Street and at the corner of North Fourth and State streets to the Kearney Group for the purpose of developing affordable housing. Both meetings are hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

• On Tuesday, January 10, Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at noon. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

Update: This meeting was canceled at the very last minute.

• At 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 10, the Planning Board holds its monthly meeting. On the agenda for the meeting is a public hearing on lot line adjustments at 202-204 Warren Street, which seem intended to make the two buildings independent of each other. Also on the agenda is an application for site plan approval presented by Carla Perez-Gallardo, owner of Lil' Deb's Oasis, to convert the former TJ Auto Service Center at 735-737 Columbia Street into a restaurant. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. The link to the Zoom meeting has not yet been published.

• On Friday, January 13, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. At this meeting, the HPC is expected to continue its review of Hudson Public, the hotel proposed by the Galvan Foundation for the corner of Warren and North Fourth streets. The meeting will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

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The Importance of Being Urban

Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau redefined what it considers "urban," and, as a consequence, 1,140 small cities, towns, and villages shifted from being classified as "urban" to being classified as "rural." Previously, a municipality with the population of 2,500 or more was considered "urban." The new criteria raised the population threshold from 2,500 to 5,000. The distinction between "urban" and "rural" matters because it affects the types of federal funding available to a municipality. 

Photo: Zach Neven | Facebook

With a current population of 5,898 (in 2021), Hudson still qualifies as "urban," but not by much. Between 2010 and 2020, the population of Hudson went from 6,718 to 5,894--a difference of 824.

This report from PBS News Hour provides more information about the Census Bureau's modifications and their impact: "U.S. Census Bureau redefines the meaning of urban areas in America."

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It's Only Paint . . . or Is It?

Back in September, the plans to paint 529 Warren Street with diagonal stripes sparked a conversation about paint, both paint color and paint application patterns, among the members of the Historic Preservation Commission. 

During the discussion, which at one point touched on murals, Victoria Polidoro, legal counsel to the HPC, cautioned that any attempt to ban or regulate murals might violate First Amendment rights. On the larger topic of the use of paint in historic districts, Polidoro recommended that the HPC form a working group to study the issue and come up with a proposal. To Gossips' knowledge, no such group has been formed, but if and when it happens, there is another thing the group will have to take into consideration: VARA, the Visual Artists Rights Act of 1990. 

Earlier this week, VARA was the topic of discussion on WAMC's Copyright Forum. It was explained that VARA protects public art. Under VARA, murals painted on buildings cannot be damaged or destroyed even if artists have not registered the copyright or have given up the copyright. The artwork is protected for the artist's lifetime.

Most of the conversation about VARA and its ramifications for murals takes place in the first 13 minutes of the show, but at about 23 minutes in, a caller asks if he would be free to paint over a mural if he had entered into a contract with the artist that specified the contract was good for two years. The caller was told the artist would have to waive the copyright in order to do that. One panelist opined, speaking of the proposed contract, "An artist would be a fool to sign it." The show's host interjected, "The owner of the building would be a fool to sign it if he knew that in perpetuity he couldn't do anything with the building." One of the panelists corrected him, saying, "It's only the lifetime of the artist. Not quite in perpetuity." Another panelist offered the opinion that such a contract would be enforceable because the artist was agreeing in writing. It is only late in the discussion that it is clarified that VARA applies only to the work of "an artist of known stature." 

The entire discussion on the Copyright Forum can be heard here. More information about VARA can be found here.

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Galvan's New Interest

Galvan Center for the Common Good, the rebranded Galvan Initiatives Foundation, posted this on its Facebook page today.

One wonders what Galvan's new interest in Savannah (population 147,088) might mean for Hudson (population 5,898).

Of Interest

Upper Depot Brewing Company was reviewed in Chronogram today: "Hop Abroad: Upper Depot Brewing Opens in Historic Hudson Train Station."

Redistricting: The Process Continues

Last year, the redrawn congressional and state senate maps were declared unconstitutional by a state Supreme Court justice and thrown out. The maps were then redrawn by a court-appointed special master. The maps produced by the special master were used for the November midterm elections and resulted in the loss of four House seats for Democrats, helping the Republicans win a majority in the House of Representatives. 

The redistricting process isn't over. On Monday, the Independent Redistricting Commission begins a public hearing tour to gather input on redrawing the State Assembly districts. The hearings will take place at twelve locations throughout the state. The hearing of greatest relevance to us takes place in Albany on Wednesday, January 25, at 5:00 p.m., at the University at Albany, Page Hall--Downtown Campus, 135 Western Avenue. 

To review the Draft Assembly Plan (reproduced above), click here. To see the locations and dates of all twelve public hearings, click here. To submit written comments or sign up to attend a hearing, click here.

Of Interest

The Gilded Age, the time in American history from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the 20th century, is described by Britannica as "a period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption." It apparently also was the time when ice skating became popular in the United States.

Ice skating on Underhill Pond

On Tuesday, January 24, at 6:00 p.m., Maria Reynolds, curator at Staatsburg State Park and an avid ice skater, will talk about the history of ice skating in a lecture titled "Ice Skating in the Gilded Age." The Zoom event is presented by Columbia County Libraries Association. To register and receive the Zoom link, send an email to columbiacountylibraries@gmail.com.

News from the Department of Health

The Columbia County Department of Health has stopped reporting daily COVID figures, but news about the state of things healthwise in the county is still coming in press releases from Matt Murell, chair of the Board of Supervisors. Today's press release contained the following information:

The number of hospitalizations of county residents doubled this past week, as rampant respiratory illness takes its toll, Columbia County Department of Health Director Jack Mabb said this morning. 

The number of hospitalized county residents jumped to 20 this week, twice the number reported last week, Mabb said. Three of those individuals are currently in the ICU. 

"We are in the midst of a big spike in flu cases, coupled with a new subvariant of COVID-19. It can make for a lot of respiratory distress, especially for the elderly and immunocompromised,” said Mabb. 

The number of COVID-19 cases for the first three days this week is 80, a number that remains consistent with recent weeks. 

The county continues to offer COVID-19 and flu vaccines at its Thursday A.B. Shaw clinic. Last week’s totals included 15 COVID-19 shots, eight flu vaccinations, and one monkeypox immunization. Those vaccination opportunities will continue through the month of January.

Vaccinated or not, it may be a good idea to keep wearing a mask in public places where you can't stay six feet away from other people. For more information about the vaccine clinic at the A. B. Shaw Firehouse in Claverack, click here.

Peaceful Transition at the Board of Elections

At this time three years ago, there was some drama surrounding the appointment of the Democratic Commissioner at the Board of Elections. You can remind yourself of it here and here. 

This year, a change happened without a hitch. Ken Dow, who was appointed to the position in February 2020, made known his intention not to seek reapppointment, and Erin Stamper, who was already serving as Deputy Commissioner, was the only applicant for the position. On Tuesday, Stamper was sworn in as Democratic Commissioner of Elections by Holly Tanner, County Clerk.

Photo: Sarah Sterling

The Fate of a Work of "Orphaned Art"

In September 2019, Gossips reported about an oil painting on canvas mounted on a board depicting a naked elderly man which Hudson resident Albert Roberts had purchased at an auction in Kinderhook for $600 in 2002. 

When Roberts found it, it was evident that the painting had been poorly stored somewhere. There were bird droppings on the back. But Roberts, who spent much of his life finding and identifying what he called "orphaned art," believed the painting was from the Dutch Golden Age of painting, the age of Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Rubens. It turned out he was right. In 2019, the painting was authenticated as an early work by Anthony van Dyck and the oil sketch for his c. 1620 painting of St. Jerome with an angel, which hangs in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

In 2021, there were plans for the painting to be returned to the Netherlands, to the museum in Rotterdam where the painting of St. Jerome hangs. At that time, the Register-Star reported, "When the painting is being shown in Rotterdam, Roberts said the museum could buy it." Sadly, Roberts died before he and the painting could make the journey to the Netherlands.

Today, Gossips learned the van Dyck oil sketch will be auctioned at Sotheby's in New York City on January 26. Identified as "A Study for St. Jerome," it appears as item 110 in the collection Master Paintings Part 1. Its estimated value is given as "2,000,000 - 3,000,000 USD." 

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Following Up

On November 29, there was a home invasion at Hudson Terrace Apartments. Today, Chief Edward Moore of the Hudson Police Department issued the following press release regarding arrests following the incident.

On December 20th and 21st 2022, two juveniles involved in a home invasion incident located at the Hudson Terrace Apartments (15 Front Street Hudson New York) were arrested on burglary and assault charges. The home invasion was reported to HPD on November 29, 2022.

On November 29, 2022, at approximately 8:54 p.m., Columbia County 911 transferred a cellphone call to the Hudson Police Department from a woman reporting that several people broke her apartment door down, entered her apartment, and attacked her juvenile daughter. HPD patrol units responded immediately to the area of the Hudson Terrace apartments and found a large group of 15 to 20 juveniles and several adults in the area. Officers spoke to the juvenile victim who said she was pulled from her apartment and struck several times. Detectives and other uniformed officers responded to the scene to assist in the investigation. The victim received visible contusions and complained of head pain. She declined medical treatment at the time of the incident.

The two juveniles were issued juvenile appearance tickets and they were directed to respond to the Columbia County Probation Department on December 27, 2022, with their guardians.

This case is still pending and future arrests are pending. If you would like to share any information with the Hudson Police Department please call (518) 828 3388 and speak with a Detective.

Developing Housing

Recently, two notices appeared on the City of Hudson website regarding the sale of City-owned property to Kearney Realty & Development Group for the purpose of constructing new housing. The first pertains to two parcels on Rossman Avenue, which are to be sold for $25,000. What is being proposed for these parcels is a two-family house.

Rossman Avenue is a locally designated historic district, so the design for the building will need a certificate of appropriateness by the Historic Preservation Commission before it can be constructed.

A second notice pertains to two other properties now owned by the City: the vacant lot at the corner of Fourth and State streets, once of the site of the Fourth Street School and now being used for parking by the County, and the field on the south side of Mill Street. Those two properties are to be sold for $425,000.

A design has been presented for Fourth and State streets, for a building that appears to be oriented toward Long Alley rather than either State Street or Fourth Street.

This building will not be subject to review by the Historic Preservation Commission. The locally designated Warren Street Historic District originally extended only to Prison Alley. At the request of residents and property owners, the North Fourth Street Extension was created to make the area along Fourth Street from Prison Alley to Columbia Street part of the historic district. Over the years, the HPC has received requests from preservation advocates to extend the district farther north to the individually designed Hudson Almshouse (400 State Street) and make the entire Fourth Street transept part of a historic district, but those requests were never acted on. At this point, with the City poised to sell the lot at Fourth and State streets, it's probably too late to do so.   

No design has been presented for the building proposed for Mill Street, but the proposed sale of the property for housing raises some questions. 

When Kearney presented its proposed plans to the Common Council back in September, an audience member asked if repurposing the Mill Street parcel for an apartment building with parking for residents interfered with the plans to upgrade the underused Charles Williams Park. The questioner was assured it did not. But there is another question: Does it violate a commitment made by the City of Hudson almost two decades ago?

In May 2006, the Common Council passed a resolution dedicating 11 acres of what had been the playing fields of the Charles Williams School to "park purposes." The resolution concludes:

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the Mayor of the City of Hudson is hereby authorized and directed to file an application for funds from the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation in accordance with the provision of Title 9 of the Environmental Protection Act of 1993 or the Federal Land and Water Conservation Fund Act of 1965, in an amount not to exceed $350,000, and upon approval of said request to enter into and execute a project agreement with the state conservation easement/preservation covenant to the deed of the assisted property.

The minutes for the Council meeting that took place on May 16, 2006, record that Bill Roehr of the Grant Writers, later known as TGW Consulting, stated after the vote that "the City would take land out of non park use and dedicate it to total park use which creates a match under the Environmental Protection Fund." 

The City was awarded $250,000 for the development of Charles Williams Park. The plans that were submitted with the grant application, the plans that were awarded the grant, include the area south of Mill Street.

It would seem that the parcel that the City is now planning to sell to the Kearney Group is designated parkland, and the sale of parkland requires an act of the state legislature. 

According to the notices that appear on the city website, the Common Council will vote on selling all three parcels at its regular monthly meeting on January 17. This means that the resolutions to do so will be introduced at the Council's informal meeting on Monday, January 9. To Gossips' knowledge, the ramifications of the Mill Street parcel being designated parkland have not been considered or discussed by the Council. Councilmembers Gossips contacted were unaware of the grant or the designation. It will be interesting to see if the issue is discussed at Monday's informal meeting. The informal meeting will follow the Council's organizational meeting, which begins at 7:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join remotely.

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Update: Regarding the issue of the Mill Street parcel, I contacted, my two councilmembers, Art Frick and Margaret Morris. Morris, in turn, contacted Council president Tom DePietro, who offered the following explanation by email:

First of all, the resolution calls for a filing of an easement or covenant, but no such easement or covenant has been filed anywhere based on a search of the county and city database, and the deed itself. Secondly, According to the HANDBOOK OF ALIENATION AND CONVERSION OF MUNICIPAL PARKLAND (2017), "land acquired or improved with State Parks grant funding" is subject to restrictions. However, no money at all was spent on the lot on the southern side of Mill Street. Based on these two facts, our attorney, Andrew Howard, sees no problem with proceeding with the sale.

It is not clear whose responsibility it was to "execute a project agreement with the state conservation easement/preservation covenant to the deed of the assisted property" as prescribed in the resolution passed by the Common Council in May 2006. One would think city attorneys would have something to do with it. In 2006, Cheryl Roberts was serving as legal counsel to the Common Council.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health announced today that it would no longer be reporting the daily number of new cases of COVID-19. Instead, at the beginning of each week, the number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 and the number of deaths from the virus in the previous week would be reported.

Today, the CCDOH reported a death from COVID-19, the first since December 20. The number of county residents hospitalized with COVID-19 is 3 more than on Friday, December 30, but the number in the ICU remains the same.  

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 126 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 7,732, and the number of active cases was 477. There were 200 county residents in mandatory quarantine, 26 were hospitalized, and 3 were in the ICU. The total number of deaths in Columbia County attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 115.

Mark Your Calendars

Fantasies of a pristinely restored Public Square are marred for many by the reality of the folks who hang out in the park, smoking, drinking, sleeping, accosting others, and doing various things deemed unacceptable in civilized society.

Friends of the Public Square (FOPS) has decided to address the situation at an event entitled "Sharing Public Spaces: A Community Conversation." The announcement of the event provides this information:

For a public space that is welcoming for all, it requires respect for others and compliance with local laws. Join the Friends of the Public Square for a panel discussion and conversation on the role of policing, social services, and mental health providers in addressing issues of law and civility in our public spaces, and what can we do to help.

The panel for the discussion is made up of the following people:

• Dan Almasi, Director of Community Services, Columbia County Mental Health Center
• Claire Cousin, First Ward Supervisor, Columbia County Board of Supervisors
• Robert Gibson, Commissioner, Columbia County Department of Social Services
• Kamal Johnson, Mayor of Hudson
• Ed Moore, Chief, Hudson Police Department
• Cheryl Roberts, City Court Judge and Executive Director for the Greenburger Center for Social and Criminal Justice  

The event takes place on Friday, January 20, at 5:30 p.m., in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. Anyone who would like to submit a question in advance to one or more members of the panel is asked to send the question by email to fopshudson@gmail.com.  

Discussions of the Public Square and its denizens always call to mind this video, created in 1993 and discovered on YouTube by Sam Pratt ten or so years ago: "A Day in the Life in Hudson New York." The part of the video filmed in the park is from 2:44 to 6:18 and provides evidence that the Olympic torch, now situated in the little traffic island known as Rogers Park, was originally installed at the northeast corner of the Public Square, the location of the recently removed tourist kiosk.

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What Might Have Been

Today, a reader sent me, digitally, this clipping from the Albany Evening News for December 9, 1927.

This front page article announces an event that was to take place on December 28, 1927. Colonel Frederick Stewart Greene, the Commissioner of Public Works for the State of New York, was coming to Hudson to talk about "a vehicular tunnel to connect the city of Hudson with Catskill, under the Hudson River." It seems the idea had the support of civic groups both in Hudson and in Catskill.

As we know, the tunnel never became a reality. Instead, five years later, in 1932, the New York State Bridge Authority, "born out of the necessity to build a bridge over the Hudson River to link the city of Hudson and the village of Catskill," was created, and, in 1933, work began on the Rip Van Winkle Bridge, which was completed in 1935. The photograph below was taken in 1937, two years after the official opening of the bridge.

Colonel Frederick Stewart Greene, who came to Hudson in 1927 to talk about the tunnel, was an interesting character. He was appointed to the position of Commissioner of Public Works for the State of New York by Governor Alfred E. Smith, as "one of the small group of hard-hitting, sharp-talking experts" Smith gathered together to "run the business of the State without political interference." He served as Commissioner of Public Works during Smith's four terms as governor and also during the terms of Franklin Roosevelt and Herbert Lehman. Greene's obituary in the New York Times, which appeared on March 29, 1939, describes him as "the father of concrete roads in New York" and also noted that he was "an outspoken opponent of roadside billboards." On the latter subject, the Times obituary quotes Greene as saying, "There are people who would put a sign on a coffin if they thought it would bring them a penny."

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Information of Interest for the Week Ahead

This afternoon, Kathy Hochul, dressed in a suit of suffragette white, was sworn in as New York's first elected woman governor, and our former congressman, Antonio Delgado, was sworn in as the lieutenant governor. The new year is officially underway.  

Meanwhile, here in Hudson, 2023 is getting off to a quiet start.

• On Monday, January 2, the City is observing the New Year's Day holiday. City Hall will be closed, and there will be no trash collection. All scheduled refuse and recycling collection is postponed one day throughout the week. 
• On Tuesday, January 3, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda is as yet available for the meeting, but Gossips has learned that Hilary Hillman has stepped down as chair of the CAC, and Rich Volo has taken over as chair. The meeting takes place in person only at City Hall. 

Update: Tonight's meeting of the CAC has been canceled. Rain is expected later today. Everyone can stay home and stay dry.

• On Wednesday, January 4, the Industrial Development Agency (IDA) is scheduled to meet at 4:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at 1 City Centre, Suite 301, and on Zoom. No agenda for the meeting has yet been published nor has the Zoom link been made available.

Update: The IDA meeting has been canceled.

• Also on Wednesday, January 4, the Housing Trust Fund Board meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. No agenda is as yet available for the meeting. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

That's it for the first week of 2023. 

Looking a bit farther ahead, on Monday, January 9, at 6:30 p.m., the Common Council will hold a special meeting "to consider a resolution of support for the latest applicant for the next round of Restore New York grants." As Gossips has reported, the two projects vying for the City's support (a municipality can only support one) are the adaptive reuse of the Pocketbook Factory and the first phase of the redevelopment of the former Kaz site, the creation of a year-round farmers' market.

 

The special meeting will be a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Zoom. Click here to join the meeting remotely.

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