Another Amazing Image of the Past

Timothy O'Connor found this unattributed c. 1860 engraving of Promenade Hill and the waterfront in Carl Carmer's book The Hudson, originally published in 1939.

Torn Between Two Meetings

There are two meetings tonight: the HCSD Board of Education meeting and the Common Council informal meeting. Both begin at 7 p.m.

At the Board of Education meeting, Maria Suttmeier, HCSD superintendent, and Bruce Potter, superintendent of the Berkshire Union Free School District, are scheduled to update the board on the plans for the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy. This presentation is a report to the board and only board members will be permitted to ask questions. The presentation comes early in a very long agenda, but attendees who want to speak on this issue or any other will have to wait through two "instructional conversations" (one of which has to do with the district's 2013 ELA and math test results), an executive session (the BOE's executive sessions are notoriously long), and four items of old business before a "Public Forum" is scheduled. The agenda explains the rules that govern participation in this part of the meeting when public comment is permitted.

With only twenty-three days left before the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy is hoping to open in the former Register-Star building, Suttmeier is promising to "host more than one round table discussion dedicated to the ALP questions very soon." According to Suttmeier, she is working with Council president Don Moore to organize these discussions, and Moore has agreed to moderate them. What a concept--but, if the goal of these discussions is do anything other than try to convince people to be comfortable about having an ALP school in the middle of Hudson's revitalized business district, this is coming several months too late. 

Meanwhile, at tonight's informal meeting of the Common Council, the items on the agenda so far include the introduction of two new laws (renter protection and site plan review), resolutions about financing and budget transfers, and a status report on the plans for the police and court building. The City has until the end of August to complete its due diligence and decide whether or not to buy the building at 701 Union Street.

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Proposed New Local Law

In recent weeks, there have been a couple of issues related to site plan review by the Planning Commission. In the case of Fish & Game, some think the project should have been subject to site plan review, but it wasn't. In the case of the proposed Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, more than two weeks passed after the City got wind of the project before it was decided that a site plan review was required.

Tomorrow night, a new local law, which seems to be bypassing the Legal Committee and coming straight to the full Council from city attorney Cheryl Roberts, is expected to be introduced at the Council's informal meeting. The law, to be known as the "Site Plan Approval Law," is meant to clarify what development projects proposed require a site plan review and "to promote the timely development and redevelopment of properties in the City of Hudson."  

The following language is proposed to replace the current Section 325-35A of the Hudson City Code, a section entitled "Site Development Plan Approval":

A.  Approval Required. No building permit shall be issued, other than for interior alterations or the erection or enlargement of one, two, or three family residences or accessory uses thereto, and no change in use or intensity of use which will affect the characteristics of the site in terms of parking, loading access, drainage or utilities shall be permitted except in conformity with an approved site development plan issued in accordance with this chapter. No certificate of occupancy for such structure or use shall be issued until all the requirements for such approval and any conditions attached thereto have been met. The continued validity of any certificate of occupancy shall be subject to continued conformance with such approved plan and conditions. Revisions of such plans shall be subject to the same approval procedure. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following land uses shall require issuance of site development plan approval:

(1) All new commercial, industrial and institutional development on a previously vacant lot or parcel;

(2) New residential development containing four or more units in non-single family structures on contiguous or adjacent lots that have previously been subdivided;

(3) All expansions of existing commercial, industrial or multifamily properties which increase the ground floor area by at least 1,000 square feet or 25% of the existing ground floor area.

(4) Any conversions of an existing residential structure to a nonresidential or institutional use (excepting the establishment of a home occupation that is a permitted use or accessory use).

(5) All conversions of an existing nonresidential structure to a residential use containing at least three dwelling units.

Home occupation is defined as a "business, profession, occupation or trade conducted by the occupant of a dwelling unit or accessory structure and which is incidental and secondary to the use of the dwelling unit."

Official Opening, Officious Complaint

Tonight from 6 to 8 p.m. is the grand opening of the Democrats' 2013 campaign headquarters, located at 6 South Second Street. It is expected that the candidates and the party faithful will turn out in force to commence the 2013 campaign season.

The story making the rounds is that the location of the Democratic headquarters is causing Mayor William Hallenbeck some consternation. The storefront is located in a building owned by Housing Resources, and the mayor allegedly paid a visit to Stephanie Lane, executive director, to tell her he felt the situation was inappropriate and to remind her that Housing Resources owed the City money. As the story goes, Lane explained to the mayor that it was commercial space, it was available, and the Democrats rented it.

Hallenbeck may be upset because the space used by the Republicans last year as their headquarters--449 Warren Street, which belongs to Eric Galloway's Lantern Organization--is currently undergoing transformation into the Hudson Arcade and isn't available this year.  

The Worst Fire in Hudson History

A few weeks ago, the buildings still missing in the 300 block of Warren Street led Gossips to wonder what happened to them. This curiosity resulted in learning about the "Good Friday Fire" of 1965. Recently, among the old newspaper clippings given to me by Susan Troy, I discovered this item from a Register-Star column called "Kramer's Corner," telling about another memorable fire: the "Gray's Furniture Store Fire." The fire happened in 1902; the article recalling it appeared on March 8, 1972.

DURING HUDSON's long and illustrious history, it has been the scene of some big fires. One of the most destructive broke out early on March 8, 1902. In firemanic circles it is known as the "Gray's Furniture Store Fire."

The 1800's saw a number of conflagrations in Hudson.

One, on Aug. 7, 1838, burned 70 buildings and stores burned to the ground on the site where the Franklin Playground now stands [at the corner of South Front and Ferry streets].

ANOTHER TOOK PLACE seven years later, on June 28, 1844, on the riverfront. The three wharves, a vessel laden with flour, two lumber yards and 34 other buildings on Franklin, Ferry and Water Sts., were consumed with a loss of $175,000, a considerable sum in those days. [Franklin Street ran east of and parallel to Water Street between Broad and Ferry streets.]

SOME OLDER members of our present day fire companies can tell you of several really bad ones--such as the Lincoln Hotel, Oneida Market, Grand Union five-building fire between Fourth and Fifth Sts., on Warren, the First Reformed Church and the four-building fire between Fifth and Sixth. They were all general alarms.

BUT IT IS generally agreed that the "Gray's Fire" was the worst. A newspaper account said: "It was a fire that for fierceness has probably never been equalled in this city."

THE FIRE BROKE out about 5:00 a.m. in the store of Dosenheim & Co. It was disvoered by Miss Hattie Dosenheim, whose apartment was over the store. The flames spread to the building of W. C. Falk's dry goods establishment. At first, it was believed that the firemen had the blaze trapped here, but a sudden wind blew the flames in another direction and from that point on the fire just fanned out.

IT BLAZED INTO the Gray's Furniture Store building. Since there [were] occupants in some buildings set fire, the primary thought was to get them to safety, which was accomplished.

IN ADDITION to Dosenheim's, Falk's and Gray's, Van Tassel's Drug Store, Sheldon's, Booth's Photography Shop, the F & M Herbs' buildings, the Chas. J. Hermance Bicycle Shop and W. H. Crapser estate building were destroyed. 

HUNDREDS OF SPECTATORS were endangered when plate glass windows shattered into the street, and falling electric wires sent sparks shooting. Many firemen were in peril when roofs from which they were directing hoses started to collapse.

DOSENHEIM'S HEAD CLERK almost was trapped when flaming timbers crashed on him as he helped fight the fire. "A cry of horror went up," the newspaper account said, "and there was a rush of men into the debris to rescue him." He was found unconscious, but revived after being carried to safety.

GRAY'S FURNITURE STORE lost over $50,000 in stock, in addition to the building. Van Tassel's Drug Store lost $11,000 and 69,000 prescriptions. The F & M Herbs buildings losses exceeded $30,000 and the other fire-ruined properties were correspondingly high. 

Curious to know what buildings were involved in the Gray's Furniture Store Fire, I went to the History Room at the Hudson Area Library to check the Hudson city directory for 1902 and discovered that the buildings involved were 543 to 553 Warren Street.

• Dosenheim & Co., dry goods, where the fire started, was located at 545 Warren Street--now Ammi Ribar Antiques & Fine Period Frames.
• William C. Falk, ladies & gents furnishing goods, where the fire initially spread, was located at 543 Warren Street--now Bodhi.
• Gray's Furniture, where the fire spread when the wind shifted, was at 547 and 549 Warren Street, and Wm. H. Van Tassel, druggist, was also located at 547 Warren. This location is now Stair Galleries.
• C. J. Sheldon, dry and fancy goods, house furnishing, notions, etc., and Charles F. Booth, photographer, were both located at 551 Warren Street--now Noonan Antiques and Crawford & Associates. 
• William J. Crapser, groceries and provisions, was located at 553 Warren Street--now Hudson City Books.

It's not clear where the F & M Herbs buildings were located. The 1902 directory lists F & M Herbs as cigar manufacturers at 620 Warren Street. According to the directory, Charles Hermance lived at 549 Warren Street, but the location of his bicycle shop is not given.

The lost buildings were all rebuilt or replaced, for here is that streetscape today.

Smoke and Miserere

Gossips has covered the unhappy situation caused by smoke issuing from Fish & Game, and so has the Register-Star. Today, Sam Pratt reports that Peter Wurster, Hudson code enforcement officer, has dismissed the complaints brought by neighbors against the restaurant.

HPC Votes to Approve Armory Project

Rick Rector, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, called it "the most major thing we have dealt with." HPC member Peggy Polenberg, who works as a buyer's agent for Eric Galloway, declared, "We should be doing cartwheels down Warren Street." On Friday morning, the Historic Preservation Commission voted to move ahead on granting a certificate of appropriateness to the design for the Galvan Community Learning Center, the adaptive reuse of the Hudson Armory for the Hudson Area Library, a senior center, and, in a new addition to the building, a community health center--the one caveat being that if significant changes are made to the plan as a consequence of the site plan review by the Planning Commission the project must come back before the HPC.

The approval did not come without the HPC expressing some concern about modernity and differentiating between old and new. Rector observed that the portico proposed for the entrance to the library on State Street "looks very classic not modern." Architect for the project, Vincent Benic explained he didn't want to have "a completely modern intervention" or to have this entrance compete with the original entrance to the building on North Fifth Street. He added that the more classical design of the portico "suited a library function."

HPC member Tony Thompson also had problems with the portico, saying it was not clear what the rationale was for having a Classic Revival entrance instead of continuing with "the modern feel of the courtyard." Benic reiterated that he felt that "putting something completely modern against the building was not appropriate."

The design for the new addition to the building, to be constructed on the footprint of the 1957 garage, has changed since the plans were first presented to the community in December 2012. The element that echoed the turrets of the original building has disappeared, and a parapet with a cornice has been introduced.

The design for the addition drew some criticism from the HPC. Concerned that there might be confusion about what was old and what was new, HPC member Phil Forman asked if they had considered "a more aggressive approach to differentiation." Winnie Moy, Benic's associate, explained that "putting a really modern addition on the building would take attention away from the original building." Benic added that they wanted to make sure the building, with the addition, was viewed "in terms of its totality."

Thompson commented that the design for the addition "seems to be taking architecture from a different period--a 1930s civic building." He questioned the introduction of a cornice "that exists nowhere else." Moy responded, "It's corbelling, and that appears on the drill shed."

Although Thompson, Forman, and Rector all expressed concerns that the portico and the addition were not modern enough or differentiated enough, the HPC made no requests for changes, as they had with the elevator tower proposed for the Hudson Opera House. In supporting the approval of the design for the Armory, Forman addressed this apparent inconsistency by saying that the original design proposed for the elevator tower, which "let the tower mirror the iconic building," was "a tremendous missed opportunity" to differentiate new construction from old. He then dismissed concerns about the portico proposed for the library entrance by saying that it "comes down to a matter of choice or taste."

In a voice vote, Rector, Forman, Polenberg, and David Voorhees favored moving ahead with granting a certificate of appropriateness. Only Thompson dissented, saying that "adding two historic styles to the building turns it into a mongrel." Architect member Jack Alvarez recused himself from the deliberation and the vote for reasons unexplained; Scott Baldinger was absent from the meeting.
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Hit the Streets!

The Hudson Music Fest begins in eleven minutes! Three days of music wherever you go in Hudson. 

Check the schedule here or just get out there on Warren Street and follow your ears. Don't let the rain deter you tonight. Most of the venues are in tents or indoors, and after the rain, on Saturday and Sunday, the weather is supposed to be spectacular!

No Time for Public Comment

The change of use for the former Register-Star building is probably the most controversial proposal to be made for Hudson's central commercial district since 2010, when Eric Galloway's New York City-based Lantern Organization wanted to build Starboard, thirty-three units of permanent supportive housing at the corner of Warren and Fifth streets. Then, overwhelmingly negative community sentiment, voiced at a public meeting, caused Lantern to withdraw its proposal. Now, in considering a plan involving Galloway's Hudson-based not-for-profit, the Galvan Foundation, nobody wants to hear from the public.

On Thursday night, a special meeting of the Planning Commission to review the plan to locate the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, a.k.a. "the Bridge," on a significant corner of Hudson's main street, drew a standing room only crowd. The Planning Commission, guided through the process by city attorney Cheryl Roberts, heard first from Joe Catalano, attorney for the Lantern Organization and now presumably also for the Galvan Initiatives Foundation. He began by explaining that all the students (a maximum of sixty) and half the teachers (six) would arrive on a single bus from Hudson High School every morning at 8 and depart on a single bus every afternoon at 3. Later, he modified that to say that a second bus from Catskill would be arriving and departing each day. Catalano assured the commission that there would be "minimum use outside the building" and instruction would take place "behind closed doors"--including "modified PE," which Bruce Potter, superintendent of the Berkshire Union Free School District, a partner in this endeavor, explained involved such things as weaving and "literature-based assignments about exercise."
Correction: I've been told that Potter did not say weaving but rather Wii Games, which are video games that involve the player or players standing and playing sports against virtual opponents.

The Planning Commission's review of this project needs to be expedited because, if the building is to be used for the alternative learning program, it must be ready for students by September 4. According to Catalano, the developers "only recently" learned that a site plan review was required in order to get a building permit. According to all accounts, no one in city government knew anything about this plan until July 22, so whose fault is it that they are running out of time? 

Catalano asked the Planning Commission to authorize a building permit "at our own risk," meaning presumably that if the site plan was not approved by the Planning Commission, any work on the building done in the interim would be for naught. Roberts advised the commission that this would be illegal and told Catalano, "You've gone to the state legislature [to get enabling legislation passed]. This has been in the works for a while, but the Planning Commission has only just received [the application]."

According to Catalano, the work being done at the building now is all interior demolition. A demolition permit was applied for--by Rick Scalera, special adviser to the Galvan Foundation, whose signature appears on the document--and issued on the same day: July 23.

At the beginning of the meeting, Planning Commission chair Don Tillson explained that site plan review was limited to such things as lighting, parking, access and egress. After some discussion, the Planning Commission agreed to impose some conditions on the project:

• Site plan approval would be for only two years. Since the project is described as a "two-year commitment," and there is a two-year lease with Galvan, were it to continue beyond the two years, it would have to come before the Planning Commission again for review.
• The arrival and departure of students will be supervised. This condition is intended to prevent students from hanging out around the school and loitering in the neighborhood.
• There will be only one bus from Hudson High School and one bus from Catskill arriving and departing each day. According to HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier, "we already stop buses on Warren Street," so having two buses stop to discharge or pick up thirty or so students each won't be any different from what already happens.
• Faculty and staff of the school will not park on Warren Street and take parking spaces away from the customers of retail businesses. Planning Commission member Cappy Pierro helpfully suggested that they could park in the vacant lot, owned by the City, at Fourth and State streets, but Roberts pointed out that probably wasn't an option since "you're thinking of selling that lot."   

Roberts said she was not comfortable about drafting the conditions "on the spot," explaining, "It's very important that the conditions are satisfactory." Catalano volunteered Jonathan Cohen, another Galvan attorney, to draft the conditions. The plan is that, once the conditions have been defined to everyone's satisfaction, the Planning Commission will officially vote on approving and "go through the SEQR form" at their regular meeting on Wednesday, August 14.

When the question was posed of whether or not the project needed a public hearing, Pierro opined, "I think no, because we want to expedite this as much as we can." In spite of the fact that the room was filled to overflowing with people clearly interested in the outcome and just before the meeting Tillson had been handed a sheaf of written comments from Warren Street business owners who were unable attend, which he acknowledged and said would be "taken into consideration," commission members Gail Grandinetti, Claudia DeStefano, and Glenn Martin agreed that they didn't think a public hearing was necessary.

Meanwhile, just down the street, seven retail businesses were celebrating the opening of three new shops and the relocation of one in their midst. The festive mood was diminished only slightly by the presence of a few stunned and disaffected people who had come to the Sunset Soiree straight from City Hall. 

Can it be imagined that the revitalization of Hudson has gained so much momentum that it is a juggernaut--unstoppable and able to survive unscathed plans and decisions that don't take into consideration the interests of the city's main street businesses? That seems like a reckless assumption no municipality should make.
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Scheduling Conflict

Many people fear the change of use proposed for 364 Warren Street will have a negative impact on the business community. In a way, it already is having such an effect.

A special meeting of the Planning Commission to review the site plan for the alternative learning school is happening tonight, Thursday, August 8--on the same night as the Sunset Soiree, a seven store open house to introduce and celebrate three new businesses clustered together in the 400 block of Warren Street--Harvey's Counter, ec•o•sys•tem, and Laloon--and the new location of Kosa. The other shops participating in the festive event, which includes refreshments and music, are OTTO, TK Home & Garden, and Hudson & Laight Gallery.

Two of the shops--Harvey's Counter and Kosa--are located in the newly restored storefronts at 443 Warren Street, and that another cause for celebration. Only months ago, the building looked like this.

Now the "remuddled" storefronts have been restored to their original configuration.

Gossips finds this restoration particularly gratifying since it was guided by a photograph of the building discovered in a 1905 city directory and published on The Gossips of Rivertown.

On the topic of scheduling conflicts, all is not lost. The special meeting of the Planning Commission, which Planning Commission chair Don Tillson makes clear in today's Register-Star is not a public hearing and will not entertain public comment, begins at 6:30 p.m. The Sunset Soiree is from 7 to 9 p.m. So, with any luck, you can go the City Hall to observe the proceedings and still have time to be part of the celebration.

What's Happening With the Senior Center?

That was the question asked toward the end of the Common Council Youth & Aging Committee meeting on Wednesday night. In answer, Council president Don Moore said that the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Galvan Initiatives Foundation, which the City entered into in April, ran out at the end of May, and Galvan didn't want to extend it. Since then, he said, the City has not heard anything more about it from Galvan. Nor has the City heard from the Division of Homes & Community Renewal if the CDBG for $400,000, awarded in 2010, can be repurposed for the rehabilitation of the Officers' Hall at the Armory.

Of Interest

This morning, on WGXC's @Issue, Tom DePietro discussed the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, a.k.a. "The Bridge," proposed for 364 Warren Street, with Bruce Potter, superintendent of the Berkshire Union Free School District, and with Don Moore, president of the Hudson Common Council, and John Friedman, Third Ward alderman. The program has now been archived and can be heard online by clicking here.

So Long, Local Ocean

Rumors that it was closing have been making the rounds for months. Now it seems the inevitable has happened. The Register-Star has the story: "Local Ocean closes its doors."

Hudson Before the Turn of the 20th Century

Another discovery from the stash of old newspaper clippings given to me by Susan Troy are these reminiscences, by George R. Ham, about the Hudson of his childhood. Ham was born in 1885, and he was 86 years old when these recollections were published in the Register-Star in January 1974. What is striking to us, from our 21st-century perspective, is the emphasis on ethnicity, but Ham was remembering a time toward the end of the "Age of Mass Migration" (1836 to 1914), when more than 30 million Europeans migrated to the United States, and country of origin no doubt seemed more significant then.

In Hudson before the turn of the century from 3rd Street to the river there were grand Irish families with here and there a German or French family. The homes and buildings were well cared for. North and South Front Streets had many nice stores owned and operated by the Irish. Only one Jewish family that I can recall, the Paunish family men's shop.

South Front had many nice hotels. I do not know of any Polish families, and remember but one Italian family, the Cardeales.

How well we got along in those days. As kids we never heard of any difference in religion. There was a Sunday School called The North Bay Mission between 1st and 2nd Streets which was well-attended. . . .

Many of the people in the lower part of the city owned row-boats and boat houses in the bays. They would get their firewood, some lumber, fish, hunt and pleasure from the grand old river.

In summer Irish, Dutch, French and others would fill long lines of rowboats with men, women and kids, drinks, sandwiches, cakes, for picnics at Cole's grove, Primen Hook [sic--Priming Hook] or Rogers Island.

The river was clean, nice sandy bottom, and was the source of our water supply. . . . 

Many people kept a horse in those days, and many owned two wheel dump carts. They would cart dirt, ashes and other things for pay. A coal yard between 2nd and 3rd on Diamond St., would have coal delivered at north dock, and would hire all the dump cart men to deliver it to the yard.

The only paved streets were Main St., as Warren was known then, which was paved with round cobble stones. [Note: The name of Main Street was officially changed to Warren Street in 1799.]

Living on Union or Allen Sts. was considered high hat. North of Main St. was like the other side of the track. The ultimate goal was to live anywhere on Main St. . . .

In summer we walked blocks to fetch fountain head drinking water from the widely spread street pumps.

And Promenade Hill! What a place, everything spic and span. Summer nights it was filled with young and old from all over the city and county.

Main St., side walks full of people coming and going, with the din of many steel shod horses on the cobble stones. . . .

And the fourth of July, how they did celebrate, dreaded by horse owners. The horses were scared to death, and would cause many runaways.

I cannot recall any fights or serious mischief. We had a healthy respect for our police, who carried clubs that looked a yard long to us kids, and they did not hesitate to give you a good whack on the backside if you got in the way or was too noisy. Today they would be ostracized for it but no one thought anything of it then. And if your parents heard of it you got some more whacks, but I believe did us some good.

How we enjoyed showing our city to visitors. First on the list was Promenade Hill. What a beautiful sight. The flats were visible only at very low tide. There was a dug-way for rowboats to cross straight to Athens, to see the lighthouse, a ferry boat to Athens, a passenger and freight to Catskill, a boat to Coxsackie. The capacity loads of people on the day boats between Albany and New York City, waving to us on the hill.

Every kid knew the time to look for the big boats, to watch the continuous passage of trains on the N. Y. Central. The long trains of cattle cars, loaded with beef, calves, sheep and pigs being shipped alive to New York City. Even in winter to watch the swarms of men working on the ice. The ice boats and skaters, and the mountains.

To watch the shad and herring fishers in the spring. Our pride in showing the Worth House, where everything happened first, where we saw our first electric light. To watch the stage coaches loading and unloading passengers and luggage. Then to show our beautiful Court House. I still think it a nicer building outside than the one we have today. Then to South 3rd St., to show the Bay Road and Mt. Merino.

Another sight was the bird's eye view of the city from Mt. Ray. Our pride in showing our new 4th St. school, the House of Refugees [sic] it was called then.

Then Underhill Pond, Green Street and the bell drinking fountain for horses.

And what industry with four always busy knitting mills, employing many men and a few young women, the Fiber Works, the Gifford Foundry. If you had a job at the car wheel shop you were above average.

The two busy brick yards . . . two breweries; C. H. Evans, world-known. The beautiful horses. Teamsters employed by these firms were considered the lucky men of the times.

The horse auctions held weekly drew large crowds. It was big news when a resident bought an outstanding horse at an outstanding price, or that a grocer, butcher or sportsman bought a new one.

Winter horse racing on Green St. was tops in sports. Any female brave enough to enter the sport was the darling of the city and county. Bobsled riding at night was another sport. With great long sleds loaded with young men and women, they would start at Academy Hill, down Columbia to Diamond to Front St. The young men spent hours preparing the slide, carrying water to freeze the slideway. North Front and Mill Sts. were reserved for us kids. The police would keep the horse traffic away at night. . . . 

Many of the most prominent citizens lived in the lower part of the city at that time. Wardells Drug Store was there bright and shiny. Things have changed.

Historic photographs courtesy Historic Hudson and Byrne Fone

Industry on the Waterfront

On Monday, Gossips recalled the controversy over the oil refinery proposed for Hudson's waterfront in 1984. At the time, a local historian on the other side of the river came upon an article in an 1841 issue of Rural Repository about Hudson's "first oil refinery": the Sperm Oil & Candle Factory. The article was reprinted in the Catskill Daily Mail on February 1984, with the suggestion "'Twas ever thus." John Cody recently discovered the item from the Daily Mail in his files and shared it with Gossips. Click on the image to enlarge it.

Report from the County IDA Meeting

Gossips was at the Columbia County IDA meeting this morning. The IDA is often a good place to learn news of projects proposed or in the works that will affect Hudson, and two items discussed at this morning's meeting made showing up at 8:30 worthwhile. Both were in the report to the IDA by Ken Flood, commissioner for Planning and Economic Development.

The first was on the topic of the transloading facility, likely to bring more trains through our fair city. Flood said he had little to report. In December 2011, it was announced that this project was awarded a $2.2 million grant. Now, according to Flood, the owners of LS Industrial and the Department of Transportation are trying to resolve "financing issues." Flood reported that things are "at a standstill, waiting for the owners to make a final decision, because it would be a substantial investment on their part"--over and above the $2.2 million in public money.

Flood also talked about the experience he was having going around talking with businesses in all the towns in Columbia County. He reported that "people continue to have issues finding productive employees." He said it was a common theme throughout the county. Meanwhile, a common theme among some politicians in Hudson is the need for jobs. The Hudson Democrats made "Economic Development and Jobs" the second item in their 2013 platform. There are people who need workers, there are people who need jobs. Where is the disconnnect?

Some clues may be in the language of the Democrats' platform:

The Democratic Party believes in the obligation of governments at all levels to help provide citizens with opportunities to earn a decent living in a fulfilling job. That includes advocating for increased access to public transportation, and efforts to build and enhance a qualified workforce through training opportunities that emphasize career and technical education.

Are the jobs available not jobs that pay a decent wage? Are they perceived to be unfulfilling? Do the people who want jobs lack the transportation necessary to get to the jobs? Do they lack the appropriate education and training? What are the real issues that separate the employers and would-be employed?

Not to Be Missed

There is a letter to the editor from Peter Tenerowicz  in today's Register-Star that questions the wisdom and necessity of expanding the Columbia County airport: "Outrageous idea." Skepticism about the airport expansion plan was first voiced back in February by Sam Pratt: "County airport numbers: Pie in the sky?"

A Headline So Nice They Used It Twice

Today's Register-Star has two stories with the headline "In the city, where there's smoke, there may be fire."

One of them is about Hank von Ritter and his latest legal strife with the City of Hudson.

The other is about controversy surrounding the smoke issuing from the new restaurant Fish & Game--a situation that Gossips covered weeks ago.

Back to the Future

Once upon a time, back in 1984, the people in power in Hudson--the mayor, Michael Yusko; the chair of the Hudson Development Office, Art Koweek; the City Industrial Development director, William Loewenstein--thought it was a dandy idea to have a company called Octane Petroleum build a refinery on the Hudson waterfront. Fortunately, a community group with the acronym SHOW (Save Hudson's Only Waterfront) arose to stop the oil refinery. With John Cody as its president and with the help and support of Scenic Hudson, Clearwater, and the Department of State, SHOW succeeded in keeping an oil refinery from being built on our shore.

A while back, Sam Pratt discovered and put online an article about the controversy that appeared in the December 1984 issue of Hudson Valley Magazine: "An Oil Refinery in Our Backyard." This morning, in a collection of old newspaper clippings given to me by Susan Troy, I discovered the following article, which appeared in the Register-Star on March 28, 1984. In it, Loewenstein attacks SHOW and defends the economic efficacy of siting an oil refinery in Hudson. Thirty years later, some of his arguments still sound disturbingly familiar.

Loewenstein: SHOW anti-development

HUDSON--City Industrial Development Director William Loewenstein says SHOW is "anti-development" and that its advocacy of tourism-related uses of the riverfront instead of the proposed oil plant is ill-conceived.

He said SHOW's most recent news release, which recommended exploring alternative uses for the site, was a "propaganda effort" and revealed the anti-oil plant group's "real intent."

"The debate between SHOW and the City of Hudson is really one on the future development course of the city," he said. "SHOW is anti-development. It would like to see the City of Hudson become a service center to provide relatively cheap labor for a tourism and second-home economy. Jobs in areas devoted to tourism are seasonal, relatively low paying and are areas marked with high unemployment. The facts bear this out.

"1. The proposed Octane site is not a virgin piece of land along the river. It contains a large oil tank farm, a lumber yard, a Conrail service facility, a transformer shipping zone and is adjacent to a cement factory shipping area. An area which is unsightly and meets minimum safety requirements.

Photo by M. B. Pfeiffer in Hudson Valley Magazine, December 1984

"2. To develop this area for tourism would mean purchasing not only the existing uses, but the entire cement operation. No one wants to develop a restaurant or hotel sandwiched between a cement plant and an oil tank farm and these existing uses will not go away unless they are purchased by someone else.

"3. The cement company could rightfully argue that by purchasing their loading zone, we are leaving them with an uneconomic remnant and therefore would have to purchase their entire operation.

"4. Therefore, we are faced with the choice of upgrading an existing industrial area and provide adequate fire protection while bringing in new jobs and millions of dollars of revenue to the city, leaving the site alone in its unsatisfactory condition, or purchasing the entire site and using it for an alternative use.

"5. SHOW knows that it is impracticable and impossible to purchase the existing properties. Based on past condemnation awards in the Candy Lane and Simpsonville cases, it could be reasonably argued that acquisition of the site could cost in excess of $30 million." This is more money than the federal government's entire urban parks budget and "an overhead burden that no private developer will pick up, except possibly in certain sections of Manhattan," he said. Making city taxpayers bear the burden would push property taxes "out of sight," he said.

"6. Further, SHOW is misleading people by indicating that taxpayers are footing the bill for the Octane project and (that) these funds could be diverted for another project. The facts are that of the approximately $15 million going towards this facility, only $3.5 million represent taxpayers' dollars which must be paid back to the city, even though they are federal funds. The rest of the funding, including JDA (Jobs Development Authority) funding, is private, a fact that SHOW conveniently forgets to mention.

"7. The City of Hudson has come up with the only practical and feasible plan for this section of the city, and SHOW knows it. If they didn't know it, they could have come up with a practical solution several years ago."

Mr. Loewenstein said SHOW's press release "again raises phony environmental bugaboos in its despicable attempt to panic people, by listing 72 potential dangerous chemicals."

He said many of the chemicals on the list "are emitted when you turn on your oil burner, when a farmer turns on his tractor, or you operate your automobile."

He said an Albany newspaper pointed out that the Capital District "faces a potentially major oil crisis because of all the majors that have moved out and the hundreds of service stations that have left.

"We already pay higher fuel prices than most major metropolitan areas, and now SHOW not only wants to prevent us from lowering those prices, but to prevent a major energy crisis. . . ." 

He said Hudson has followed "a rational plan of development," developing areas of tourism, creating hundreds of jobs by developing industrial parks, and building and rehabilitating hundreds of residential units.

"Now the city wants to upgrade its riverfront in the most practical manner. It wants to create millions of dollars in additional city revenue, create new jobs while making the riverfront more attractive and safer than it is now. SHOW refuses to listen. They love confrontation and couldn't care one bit for the City of Hudson or the future of its residents.["]

Gossips Note: In 1999, Loewenstein, as a paid consultant to the City, tried to bring Americlean, a PERC (perchloroethylene) recycler proposing to use an unproven process to recycle toxic dry cleaning fluid, to the Hudson waterfront. That threat was the beginning of Friends of Hudson, the grassroots organization that succeeded in making Americlean go away and, six years later, won the battle against the SLC Greenport Project. Sam Pratt recalled the Americlean story last year on his blog.

News from the City of Hudson Calendar

On Thursday, August 8, at 6:30 p.m.--27 days before the 2013-2014 school year begins and 17 days after anyone in city government knew anything about it--the Planning Commission will hold a special meeting to consider the plan to locate the Columbia-Greene Partnership Academy, an alternative learning program, in the former Register-Star building at Warren and Fourth streets. Here is the text of the announcement as it appears on the City of Hudson website:

The City of Hudson Planning Commission will hold a Special Meeting on August 8, 2013 at 6:30 PM in City Hall at 520 Warren Street, City of Hudson to consider and make a recommendation on passage of a proposed local law to amend the site development plan provisions of the City's zoning code and to consider a site plan application for development of an Alternative Learning Program facility by the Hudson City School District to be located at 364 Warren Street. 

Everyone concerned about this change of use should make every effort to attend.