News from Just Beyond Our Borders

This morning, Sam Pratt publishes the proposed route through Columbia County of a new power line: "Proposed Transco power line route through Columbia County."

More @Issue Prep

Today Sam Pratt published on his blog a letter from Ancram supervisor Art Bassin to his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors: "Bassin calls on County to table airport plan."

Turn Your Radios On . . . Tomorrow Morning

On Wednesday at 10 a.m., on WGXC's @Issue, Tom DePietro will be talking with county supervisors Art Bassin (Ancram) and Mike Benvenuto (Ghent) about county issues in general and about the proposed expansion of the Columbia County Airport in particular. If you need some background about the airport proposal, these posts on Sam Pratt's blog will provide it: "County airport numbers: Pie in the sky?" and "Supervisor quizzes Flood about the County airport expansion." @Issue can be heard at 90.7 FM or online. 

Of Interest

John Mason has an article in today's Register-Star about the Prison Public Memory Project and its discoveries about the Girls' Training School, which existed from 1904 to 1975 in the facility that is now the Hudson Correctional Facility, and its soon to begin research into the Women's House of Refuge (1887-1904), the institution for which the buildings were originally designed and constructed: "Project recovers prison's memory."

Photo courtesy Historic Hudson, Inc.

Architectural Accolades

Yesterday, the work wall at 255 Warren Street was removed to reveal the newly reconstructed storefront. The picture at right shows what the facade looked like a year ago. The picture below, taken at about 5:30 yesterday, shows some of what's been going on behind that work wall over the past months.

Bravo to Michael Harris and Christopher Haupert for this lovely change in the streetscape.
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Always on Sunday

On September 17, code enforcement officer Peter Wurster issued a demolition permit to allow the second story of a early Greek Revival town house on North Fourth Street to be taken down. Wurster cited "the 'emergency' nature and public safety concerns" as the reasons why he bypassed the Historic Preservation Commission and issued a demolition permit for a building in a locally designated historic district without a certificate of appropriateness from the HPC. Despite the alleged emergency, the second story facade was still standing when Gossips took this picture on Thursday, September 26.

Now, two weeks after the roof and top story disappeared and almost two weeks after the "emergency" demolition permit was issued, the second story is gone. Late Sunday afternoon, a reader sent these pictures of what remains of the house and of the remains that seem to have tumbled into the street during the demolition.

Odd. It was also late on a Sunday afternoon that another reader alerted Gossips to the demolition of the top story. Are there demolition companies that only work on weekends?
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The Dog Camp Squabble Continues

In today's Register-Star, Barbara Reina reports on the Town of Stuyvesant's reaction to the recent court decision in the case of the Glencadia Dog Camp: "Stuyvesant responds to court decision and allegations of kickbacks." On his blog Hudson Sunshine, Will Pflaum responds to the response: "What did I get for that $437 I paid Tal in 2010?"

Dog Tales: William's Walk

Today, we mark the end of National Dog Week with a William story.

Once upon a time, William and I took two longs walks every day. Now, given William's advanced age (he's 15, possibly 16) and growing infirmity, we usually take only one walk and not a very long one at that--maybe only a block or so in any direction from our house. But the beautiful autumn weather has invigorated William. Yesterday, when we set off for a walk in the late afternoon, the destination was LICK. It was a perfect day for ice cream, and I had skipped lunch. My intention was to take a fairly direct route, but William had a different itinerary in mind--up Allen to the courthouse, across to Warren, then back down Warren, stopping at all the places where he has the expectation of treats.

Soon after we reached Warren Street and had started the westerly leg of our journey, we met a beautiful, friendly black and white dog in a dog wheelchair, out with his people. While the dog and William exchanged sniffs and got acquainted, I asked the human at the end of the leash about the dog's mobility problem. It turned out the dog had degenerative myelopathy. William is now showing early signs of that condition, and it was heartening to see how happy and adjusted the dog was with wheels standing in for his enfeebled hind legs and how oblivious William was to there being anything unusual about this dog.

As we continued on down Warren Street, William loitered in front of Tortillaville, as he is wont to do, just long enough for Brian to catch sight of him and call out his name. As William tugged me toward the back of shiny food truck, Brian emerged with William's favorite food: Tortillaville chicken! I chatted with Brian as William scarfed down the treat, but then Brian had to attend to customers. Thanking him, William and I headed on down the street.

As we were about to enter Hudson Wine Merchants--another of William's regular treat stops--a woman noticed William's characteristic head tilt and asked me if he had had old dog vestibular disease. Her dog, she said, had suffered from the same malady, and we commiserated about how frightening it is for humans, how miraculous it seems when the dogs recover, and how resilient they are. All the while, William was standing at the door of the wine shop, waiting, and when we finally entered, Kathleen graciously provided the eagerly anticipated treats.

At last, we reached our goal, LICK, where William had his usual: Betsy's Bow Wow. While ordering our ice cream, I noted that our ice cream days are numbered. The last day of the season for LICK is October 14, Columbus Day. Avery served William his ice cream while we were still in the shop, and it was a bit of a struggle getting it away from him again so we could go outside and sit together on the sidewalk enjoying our ice cream and the glorious day.

When William had finished his ice cream (he finished first), I thought it was time to head on home. It had been a bountiful afternoon for William. He'd had chicken and dog treats and ice cream, and I figured he was ready for a nap. When we got to Bruno's, however, I realized William had further expectations. Even though Bruno's was closed, William seemed convinced that if he stood by the door and waited, Shannon or Wendy would magically appear . . . with chicken! Alas, although he loitered at the door for an embarrassingly (for me) long time, no one came forth.

I am aware that my expansive explanations of why things can or cannot happen have always been pretty much lost on William, but now that it's painfully clear that William is totally deaf, even the one word whose meaning I was quite certain he understood--closed--is lost on him. We made an amusing sight for the men playing chess on the sidewalk outside Jayre's Salon as I alternately gently tugged and patiently propelled my aged dog, who seemed determined to wait in front of Bruno's until Monday morning if need be, along the street. 

We finally did make it home, where chores awaited me, but in fits and starts, and it was clear that William wanted more than anything to tarry outside for the rest of the afternoon and long into the evening. 

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An Opening on the HPC

Since Scott Baldinger resigned from the Historic Preservation Commission at the end of August, the HPC has been short one member. Chapter 169 of the city code specifies: "New Commission members shall be appointed by the Mayor after consideration of recommendations put forward by the existing Commission" (169-3 D). Gossips learned yesterday that the HPC, as a body, has not made any recommendations to the mayor, although individual members apparently have.

Although the process of getting appointed to the HPC has not been codified, one gathers, from observation, that it works something like this. If you are interested in serving on the HPC, you should make it known to a current HPC member and follow it up with a written statement of your interest and qualifications to the mayor, either in a letter or an email. Based on these statements, it seems, the mayor calls people in for interviews, and if he is persuaded of your passion for historic preservation and at the same time feels you will not let the interests of historic preservation impede progress, he will appoint you to the HPC. Regarding mayoral appointments, the law also states: "The Mayor shall not be bound by the recommendations of the existing Commission."

Chapter 169 of the City of Hudson code specifies the makeup of the Historic Preservation Commission.

A.  The Commission shall consist of seven members to be appointed, to the extent available in the community, by the Mayor. All new members, but the architect-member, shall be residents of the City of Hudson and remain so throughout their term.

(1)  At least one shall be an architect experienced in working with historic buildings; if there is no resident of Hudson who has these credentials and is willing to serve on the Commission, a nonresident may be appointed to the Commission;

(2)  At least one shall be an historian;

(3)  At least one shall be a resident of an historic district;

(4)  At least one shall have demonstrated significant interest in and commitment to the field of historic preservation either by involvement in a local historic preservation group, employment, or volunteer activity in the field of historic preservation, or other serious interest in the field;

(5)  All members shall have a known interest in historic preservation and architectural development within the City of Hudson;

(6)  All members, but the architect-member, shall be residents of the City of Hudson;

(7)  The Chairperson of the Planning and Land Use Committee of the Common Council shall be the liaison between the Historic Preservation Commission and the Common Council and shall report to the Common Council regularly on the actions and proposed actions of the Historic Preservation Commission.

Item 7 needs to be deleted from the law; the short-lived Planning and Land Use Committee of the Common Council was abolished at the beginning of 2008.

Anyone who has an interest and background in historic preservation and who appreciates how important Hudson's architectural heritage had been to the city's renaissance over the past quarter century and is to the city's continuing economic vitality should consider volunteering to serve on the Historic Preservation Commission. The HPC meets on the second and fourth Fridays of each month at 10 a.m.   

Cross Over the Bridge

At the Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting last week, the Ferry Street bridge was identified as the number one priority for the City of Hudson. As Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) put it, "The entire south portion of the waterfront hinges on that bridge." CSX has agreed to let the City take ownership of the bridge, but so far, although two grant applications have been submitted, the City has failed to secure the money needed to repair or replace the deteriorated bridge. Bill Roehr, of TGW Consultants, explained that, in the case of the first grant application, the state pulled the money from the program, and no grants were awarded. In the case of the second grant application, he said that the City's application lacked detail.

Earlier this week, cables for counting vehicles appeared, stretched across the western approach to the Ferry Street bridge. It seemed at first that the City might have put them there to gather evidence of the bridge's utility and importance, but that turned out not to be the case. When Gossips asked DPW superintendent Rob Perry about the cables, he said they were placed there not by Department of Public Works but by the NYS Department of Transportation. Why DOT selected that site and how the data gathered will be used remain a mystery.
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Of Interest

Ward Hamilton, historic preservation contractor and consultant who has worked on such high profile projects in Hudson as the General Worth birthplace (211 Union Street), the C. H. Evans Mansion (416 Warren Street), and the former "Apartments of Distinction" (501 Union Street), has published a new post on his blog Preservation in Action: "When do building materials metamorphosize into historic fabric?" A timely question that deserves serious consideration by owners of historic buildings and as well as, or perhaps especially, by preservation commissions.

We Thought of It First

Last January, at a Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting, Sarah Dibben shared the great idea of turning the former Dunn warehouse at the waterfront into an aquarium. Today, the press is full of the news that a study, done by ConsultEcon and paid for by Omni Development Company, is recommending that an aquarium be built in downtown Albany. You can read all about it in the TimesUnion and the Albany Business Review. You can even visit the Facebook page, created to build public support for the project.

An Old CDBG Project Returns

Two years ago, in 2011, the City of Hudson applied for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to install a handicapped ramp at Promenade Hill. The plans for the project, which were developed by Morris Associates, carried a price tag of $279,111.90. The grant application was not successful. Some who worry about the integrity of the design of what is probably the oldest public urban green space in the country to be set aside with the expressed purpose of viewing the landscape breathed a sigh of relief, because it was never clear what the ramp would look like.

The topic of the ramp at Promenade Hill came up on Wednesday night at the Common Council Public Works Committee meeting. It seems there is still a commitment to building the ramp and thoughts of appropriating money for it in the 2014 city budget. DPW superintendent Rob Perry expressed the opinion that DPW employees could do the work and the project would cost much less than the amount written into the grant application. He pointed out, however, that Morris Associates had created no design drawings or elevations. The grant application included only this rendering.

Oddly, the blue and red bullseye at the center of this rather confusing rendering, is not, according to a footnote that appears below it, part of the proposed project: "The reviewer should be aware that the water feature illustrated on the conceptual plan is not incorporated into the CDBG request." (There's also a sculpture garden in the rendering, but no footnote to say that's not part of the request.)

The rendering shows an ADA ramp, with a square configuration, south of the current entrance to Promenade Hill, which leads to the top of the first set of stairs, and a second ramp north of the entrance, along the retaining wall behind the playground. It is this second ramp that the City wants to pursue on its own without grant funding. Council president Don Moore pointed out on Wednesday that it is already possible to get to the level of the playground without climbing stairs. The ramp would enable people in wheelchairs and parents with children in strollers to ascend the rest of the way to the historic Georgian parade and enjoy the views of the river and the mountains.
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Progress: September 26, 2013

This morning, Gossips took a brief tour around Hudson to check on projects we've been watching.

At 900 Columbia Street, all traces of the historic house have disappeared. The new building is getting ready for its roof, windows, and siding, while the site of the historic house that is no more is being transformed into a parking lot.

At 449 Warren Street, work on the building called Hudson Arcade is moving forward. The rumors that the Hawthorne Valley Farm Store will occupy the premises have not yet been confirmed.

But on North Fourth Street, at the site of the would be Hudson River Hotel, nothing has changed since September 15, when it was discovered that the front wall of the building had been taken down to the lintels of the second-story windows--despite reports that on September 17, Peter Wurster, code enforcement officer, bypassed the Historic Preservation Commission and issued a demolition permit to take down the second floor because of "the 'emergency' nature and public safety concerns."

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Film on the Hudson

Since the Quadricentennial in 2009, OurHudson has been working on a documentary film about the Hudson Valley entitled Hudson Rising: Stories of Revival from the Hudson Valley. The film is now almost completed, and there are plans for it to premiere on October 26 at Basilica Hudson. In the meantime, there is an indiegogo campaign going on to raise the $20,000 needed for final post production costs. The perks being offered include your own DVD of the film, an invitation to the premiere screening, and unique tours of Hudson Valley sites. Check it out here.

Olana in the Early Days

On Monday, Gossips recalled the beginnings of Olana as a state historic site. This morning, I discovered, among glowing reports about ongoing urban renewal projects in a Register-Star supplement called the "1972 Progress Edition," this story about the early days of the restoration and preservation of Olana, which includes some intriguing details about discoveries made in the house. 

Historic Olana Mansion Undergoing Roof Repair

Starting 1971 with structural decay, Olana Historic Site made significant advances by the close of the year.

Last spring, serious damage was caused to the 19th century mansion of Frederic Church through deterioration of the roofs and water damage.

Repairs finally started in mid-November and by Dec. 31, one half of the copper built-in gutter was replaced.

The site's maintenance staff performed extensive repairs in 1971, including installing plaster board in basement ceilings to replace fallen plaster, and repairing and painting exterior woodwork. Windows were reputtied and broken panes replaced.

Two important discoveries were made during the year--a Frederic Chuch fresco and two pieces of the Washington Cincinnati China Service.

The fresco was found in the old firewood room, covered with dust. Examination and cleaning revealed a mountain landscape with a European castle overlooking a lake. In the lower left corner was the name Church and the year 69 It was taken to the Art Conservation School, Cooperstown, for cleaning and conservation.

A dinner plate and saucer discovered by Curator Richard Slavin in a small box under a pantry sink, were identified by Carl Crossman, Childs Galley, Boston, as part of the Washington set, considered the most important of China trade porcelains. . . . 

Guides, in addition to host duties, pursued research projects. With the organization of the Friends of Olana, Inc. last summer, a vehicle was created for receiving contributions to the site.

The Friends held a Victorian community picnic last August to commemorate the 100th anniversary of groundbreaking for the castle. More than 6,000 visited the site that day. . . .

Although state budget cuts forced curtailment of visiting hours, daily attendance remained the same as the previous year, with approximately 27,000 visiting the mansion during the season.

The Friends of Olana became The Olana Partnership in 2000. Today, Olana reports 130,000 annual visitors.

Earlier This Month in The New York Times

Yesterday, thanks to a tip from a reader, Gossips linked to a letter to the editor in The New York Times written by Arthur T. Brooks. It was later brought to my attention that earlier in the month another letter to the editor from a Gossips reader had appeared in The New Times. This letter, written in response to an article on how the Bloomberg administration was sprucing up Gracie Mansion for the next mayor of New York City, was from Joan K. Davidson: "Restoring Gracie Mansion." Davidson chaired the Gracie Mansion Conservancy in the early 1980s, which led the effort to renovate the house and restore the grounds of the official residence of the mayor of New York.

Not to Be Missed

Among the letters to the editor in The New York Times on the topic of "G.O.P. vs. Health Law and Food Stamps" is one from Arthur T. Brooks, who lives on Mt. Merino Road. The letter appeared online yesterday, the last of four, and in print today, on page A22.

Will Hudson Accept the Help Offered?

Capital Confidential reported yesterday that a new state panel has been convened to assist fiscally challenged municipalities. "The Fiscal Restructuring Board will offer a blueprint for cash-strapped localities, and up to $5 million in state loans or grants if they agree to implement it." 

Any municipality can apply for help, but there are 389 municipalities in New York that are automatically eligible, and Hudson is one of them. Eligibility is based on "relative property tax rates and whether they've dipped into their reserve funds." We're in pretty good shape with our fund balance (eligibility is below 5 percent, and we're at 30.05 percent), but property taxes are another story. The threshold for eligibility is above 6.823. We're at 11.78.

Looking Ahead to November 2014

On Sunday, Sean Eldridge announced that he was running for Congress, challenging Chris Gibson to represent the 19th Congressional District. Eldridge is the founder of Hudson River Ventures, a small business investment fund that has provided support for such Hudson Valley businesses as Bread Alone, Gigi Hudson Valley Catering, and Chatham Brewing. He is married to Chris Hughes, a Facebook co-founder who is now the publisher and editor in chief of The New Republic.

Eldridge released this video to announce his candidacy. The response to Eldridge's announcement, issued by Gibson spokewoman Stephanie Valle, is quoted in Nathan Mayberg's article in today's Register-Star: "Eldridge declares candidacy for Gibson's seat." The New York Times article referred to by Valle is this one: "Young, Rich and Relocating Yet Again in Hunt for Political Office."