Hudson and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The 2014 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees were announced on Wednesday, and among them are The Replacements, the band formed in 1979 in Minneapolis by Tommy Stinson and his late brother, Bob Stinson. (Tommy Stinson, of course, now lives in Hudson.)

The other nominees are: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Chic, Deep Purple, Peter Gabriel, Hall and Oates, Kiss, LL Cool J, The Meters, Nirvana, N.W.A., Linda Ronstadt, Cat Stevens, Link Wray, Yes, and The Zombies. You can vote for the nominees you think should be inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Online Fan Poll.

Of Interest

On the front page of today's New York Times there's an article about Marina Abramovic and her plans for MAI here in Hudson: "For Her Next Piece, a Performance Artist Will Build an Institute."

Don't Miss the Chance . . .

to see Odds Against Tomorrow at Basilica Hudson on Friday, October 25. A suggested donation of $50 gets you dinner, the rare opportunity to see this American film noir classic, filmed here in Hudson more than fifty years ago, on a big screen, and the chance to help our hometown movie theater (even though it's in Greenport), Fairview Cinema 3, buy another digital projector and stay in business.

As Ed Begley says to Harry Belafonte in this scene from the movie, "It's now or never, Johnny." Seats are limited, and they're going fast. Send an email and reserve your spot now. 

Tweed Ride Tomorrow

The tradition of the Tweed Ride started in England in 2009, where it is called a Tweed Run. A group of cyclists, dressed in traditional British cycling attire, rode through the center of London on vintage bicycles. Hudson had its first Tweed Ride in 2012, and its second is happening tomorrow--Sunday, October 20. Cyclists assemble at the bottom of Warren Street, in front of 1 North Front Street at 3 p.m., and ride through the streets of Hudson. Organizer Lisa Durfee offers these directives:

Please leave all spandex and plastic water bottles at home.

Suggested attire: tweeds, mismatched plaids, paisley and polka dots, knickers, jodhpurs, A-line skirt suits, sturdy oxfords and argyle socks, gaiters, woolen jerseys, bow ties, plus-fours, woolen trousers, natty suiting, hacking jackets with suede-patched elbows, monocles, handlebar mustaches, charming chapeaux, pearls.

Modes of transport: antique bicycle or velocipede, penny farthing, bicycle-built-for-two, unicycle, or other human-powered, pedal-operated vehicle.

If you're still uncertain about what to wear, check out the fashions from last year's Tweed Ride.

Another Gallery Opening in Hudson

In Hudson, there's always news of art galleries opening and hoping to open. On Wednesday, October 23, there's a new gallery opening in an unexpected space: the Hudson office of Assemblymember Didi Barrett. Working with the Hudson Opera House, Barrett plans a rotating exhibition of the work of artists from all over the community. The first artist whose work will be on view in Barrett's office-cum-gallery is Hudson's own Dan Rupe.

On Wednesday, Barrett is hosting an opening reception from 5 to 7 p.m. Barrett's office is located in Hudson's East End, at 751 Warren Street.

The photo accompanying this post shows Dan Rupe and his self portrait, at the opening of Local Self Portraits, an exhibition, curated by Richard Roth, that took place at the Hudson Opera House in June 2010.  

The 1,500 Square Foot Contention

The issue of the 1,500 square foot apartments allegedly required in the R4 zone by Hudson zoning code--a story that Gossips has been following since August--is taken up by John Mason in today's Register-Star: "Does city code require jumbo apartments?"

For his article, Mason sought the opinion of two realtors--Karen Rosenthal and Peggy Lampman--who called the notion of 1,500 square feet as a minimum apartment size "crazy" and "ridiculous." Since publishing yesterday's post about the ZBA meeting, Gossips consulted a land use attorney, who concurred with Gossips that the 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit minimum has to do with lot area not interior floor space.

Mendolia Announces Town Meeting

The week began with Mayor William Hallenbeck announcing that he would not debate his challenger, Democratic candidate Victor Mendolia, because he was too busy running the city to prepare for a debate. Believing that "voters deserve the opportunity to hear directly from the candidates on the issues that are important to them," Mendolia has scheduled a town hall style meeting in place of a debate.

The meeting will take place on Saturday, October 26, at 2 p.m., in the auditorium of the Second Ward Foundation, the former Charles Williams School. The meeting will be moderated by Francesca Shanks, former city editor at the Register-Star and now an editor at the Berkshire Eagle. A second moderator is yet to be determined. Written questions will be accepted from audience members and organized and posed by the moderators.

In the press release announcing the meeting, Mendolia commented: "I am thrilled to be holding this town hall meeting in the Second Ward, an area of the city which is often the forgotten ward of Hudson. I look forward to seeing people from all over Hudson join us in the Second Ward, where I live, for this meeting to discuss Hudson's future."

Hallenbeck has been formally invited to participate but has so far declined. Mendolia indicated that the opportunity remains open to Hallenbeck should be change his mind. "I hope that the Mayor will reconsider," said Mendolia, "and allow the public to compare our visions and our plans for the city. But either way, I will be there ready to share my thoughts and hear from the public about their concerns."

Important Reminder

Don't miss the chance to see Odds Against Tomorrow, the 1959 American film noir, starring Harry Belfonte, Ed Begley, and Robert Ryan and set here in Hudson.

Friends of Fairview Cinema 3 and Basilica Hudson invite you to dinner and a movie at 7 p.m. at the Basilica on Friday, October 25, at 7 p.m. A donation of $50 is requested to benefit the Fairview Cinema 3 Projector Fund. Great movie, great venue, great cause!

Space is limited and reservations are required. Secure your place now by clicking here and sending an email to let us know you plan to attend. 

The image accompanying this post is a still from the movie. Do you recognize the view through the window?

Fighting City Hall

Gossips has been following the progress of Per Blomquist's proposal for 248 and 250 Columbia Street as it makes its way through the regulatory boards. In August, the project came before the Planning Commission. According to the applicant, code enforcement officer Peter Wurster had reviewed and approved the plans, but city attorney Cheryl Roberts, who is counsel to the Planning Commission, checked the Schedule of Bulk and Area Regulations for Residential Districts and declared that the proposed project was in violation of the zoning code. According to Roberts, in an R4 district, each unit in a multiple dwelling building must be a minimum of 1,500 square feet. Blomquist is proposing one-bedroom apartments that would be 770 square feet.

In September, the project came before the Zoning Board of Appeals for an area variance. At that meeting, the ZBA did little more than accept the application for a variance and schedule a public hearing, which took place this past Wednesday. Between the September ZBA meeting and the public hearing, Blomquist appeared at the Common Council Legal Committee meeting, at the invitation of committee chair John Friedman, who promised to "fight with him" to get the necessary permits for the building.

Meanwhile, Gossips, at the suggestion of a reader, looked at the chart on which Roberts was basing the claim that all dwelling units in an R4 zone needed to be a minimum of 1,500 square feet, and came to a quite different conclusion: the 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit had to do with the size of the lot not the size of the dwelling unit itself. Here's the relevant portion of the chart. (The entire chart can be viewed here.)

The words Per dwelling unit appear as a subset of Lot area, which seems to indicate that there is a minimum required number of square feet per dwelling unit for the lot on which a multiple-family dwelling sits. The narrative that references this chart (Chapter 325-18 Schedule of Bulk and Area Regulations; density calculation) says nothing about interior square footage. It has all to do with lots.

Schedule of Bulk and Area Regulations. There is hereby established, at the end of this chapter, a Schedule of Bulk and Area Regulations for all zoning districts. Such schedule sets forth regulations applicable to the following area and use dimensions of a parcel: the area of lots; the heights of buildings; the yards and open spaces provided; the minimum floor area ratio; and required off-street parking spaces. Additional off-street loading and parking requirements are contained in Article IV; alternative area or use dimensions and additional regulations, including those related to conservation development and incentive zoning, are contained in Article V.

What seems to be a reference to floor area here has to do with the relationship of building size to lot size. Floor area ratio is defined at wiseGEEK.com in this way: "The Floor Area Ratio is a commonly used real estate metric. Also known by the acronym FAR, the Floor Area Ratio is the ratio of a building's available square footage to the total area of the lot on which the building sits. . . . Cities and towns often use this ratio in their zoning laws . . . to control congestion or help enforce other municipal ordinances."

This past Wednesday, the ZBA held a public hearing on the project. It was hoped the question of 1,500 square feet requirement would be cleared up, but that didn't happened. A letter from Wurster was read aloud stating that the project was being denied a building permit because the size of the apartments would be less than the required 1,500 square feet each. When Blomquist presented the argument that the 1,500 square foot requirement had to do with lot size not the size of the dwelling unit, Roberts told him that he could have challenged the interpretation of the law or applied for an area variance, and he had chosen to do the latter. Later on, when Gossips presented the same argument--that the 1,500 square feet per dwelling unit applied to lot size not to apartment size--Roberts said it was Wurster's interpretation, and the ZBA had to go by it.

Roberts acknowledged that 1,500 square feet seemed an unreasonable requirement, but speculated that the intent of establishing such a large minimum requirement for the size of individual dwelling units within a multiple-family dwelling was to prevent the creation of SROs (single room occupancy). Democratic mayoral candidate Victor Mendolia pooh-poohed the idea, saying that he'd lived in an SRO that was only 70 square feet. When Gossips pointed out that the Habitat houses recently constructed on the same block had a total of 1,200 square feet on two floors, Roberts said that those buildings did not have to meet the requirement because they were single-family homes.

Because the ZBA had not received an opinion from the Planning Commission, it was determined that the public hearing on 248 and 250 Columbia Street would remain open. The ZBA moved on to the public hearing on a use variance for the Hudson Farm Box, but returned to 248 and 250 Columbia Street when Friedman arrived. Soon after his arrival, Friedman and Roberts withdrew to the hallway to confer. When they returned to the Council room, Friedman alternately encouraged the ZBA to "listen to your lawyer" and expressed the hope that "you can find a way to give the variance that's being requested here." Referring to the city's need for small, affordable apartments for young people--singles and couples--coming to Hudson, Friedman said, "Here we have an attempt to solve a critical problem," noting that Columbia County is the oldest county in the state by median age. 

When Roberts warned the ZBA that a 50 percent reduction in the required size was a substantial change, Friedman urged the members to see the request in terms of the city's greater need. "If you look at it in the larger light," Friedman told them, "the substantiality is less." When Roberts cautioned that granting the variance could be considered "arbitrary, irrational, and capricious," Friedman argued that "the arbitrary and capricious standard is overcome by the deliberation" the ZBA members had been engaged in. Roberts, however, had the last word. "This is not a variance you can grant," she advised the ZBA.

The public hearing on this proposal will continue on Wednesday, November 20. It is expected that the ZBA will have a recommendation from the Planning Commission by that time and will, after hearing additional public comment and closing the hearing, vote on granting the area variance. Of relevance to this discussion, it has been made public that October 22 is Wurster's last day as code enforcement officer. He is retiring to operate a fish and chips restaurant in Greenport, in the former Bubba Bean BBQ.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Odds Against Tomorrow at the Basilica

This promises to be one of the truly memorable events of Hudson's recent history. On Friday, October 25, Friends of Fairview Cinema 3 and Basilica Hudson are collaborating to present Odds Against Tomorrow, the classic American film noir set here in Hudson.

The movie is a cult favorite for many Hudsonians, primarily because it provides such wonderful documentation of the city half a century ago. See Warren Street when it was an archetypal pre-mall American main street. See Promenade Hill before Urban Renewal leveled all the 19th-century buildings that surrounded it. See the waterfront when it was a gritty place of industry and oil tanks.

The event is a rare opportunity to view this classic movie on a big screen, in the company of other Hudsonians, in a former industrial building on the waterfront, a stone's throw from the setting of the film's spectacular climax. 

The special evening begins at 7 p.m., with dinner served prior to the movie. A donation of $50 is being requested to benefit Fairview Cinema 3--to help Bruce Mitchinson equip another of his theaters with a digital projector and keep our only hometown (albeit over the border in Greenport) first run movie house open. Reservations are required, so click on RSVP and send an email to let the people organizing this event know you plan to attend.

Meeting Reminder

Tonight--Wednesday, October 16--the Zoning Board of Appeals is holding a public hearing on two applications for variances:

• A use variance to create a certified kitchen at the Hudson Farm Box, located in Cherry Alley

• An area variance to build a five-unit apartment building that will take the place of 248 and 250 Columbia Street

The public hearing on the first application begins at 6 p.m.; the hearing on the second begins at 6:15 p.m. Both take place in City Hall.

The Word on Those 4.4 Acres

At the Council meeting last night, before the wrangling over 701 Union Street got started, Council president Don Moore announced that the title search commissioned to test the veracity of the Valley Alliance's revelation that the City was negotiating with Holcim for land it already owned confirmed that the Valley Alliance was right. 

Of the 9.97 acres that Holcim was offering to the City, with conditions that would be in place for fifty years, 4.4 acres had been illegally sold by the City to Holcim (then St. Lawrence Cement) in 1981. Since the sale was illegal, the 4.4 acres still belong to the City of Hudson. 

The map is from the Valley Alliance website.

Remarkable Discovery

On his blog, Sam Pratt reports on a document uncovered by Patti Matheney that reveals a different motive for wanting to expand the "safety zone" at the airport and exposes what seems to be a deliberate deception on the part of Ken Flood: "Columbia County's long-term airport plan exposed by sewer grant application."

Why Can't We Get This Done?

An observation made in frustration by Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) and directed at Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward) and former mayor Rick Scalera crystallized the situation at Tuesday night's Common Council meeting. Speaking of the plan to purchase and renovate 701 Union Street for a police and court building, Friedman said, "The problem is that it's not your plan, it's not Galvan's plan."

Throughout the months of discussion of the current proposal for the police and court building, Pierro has often harkened back to the glory days of building the Central Firehouse. Pierro holds it up as an example of how things should be done, but some remember it as a project beset with change orders and escalating costs and an incomprehensible financing scheme. Although it's generally believed that the City owns the Central Firehouse, that's not the case. The building is owned by Community Initiatives Development Corporation (CIDC), whose president is William Loewenstein. The City has a lease agreement with CIDC. It pays about $195,470 a year to CIDC, and in 2035, after paying nearly $6 million, the City will be able to buy the building from CIDC for a dollar.

There have been hints along the way that Pierro, who was part of the committee exploring the feasibility of adapting 701 Union Street for the police department and city court, might advocate for abandoning that plan in favor of building a new building. Back in May, when the Council believed the cost of the purchase and renovation could be capped at $2 million, Pierro was already opining that "we are approaching the point where we can probably put a new building up on city property." Now that a required addition to the existing building has bumped the estimated cost up to $2.53 million, Pierro's enthusiasm for new construction has grown. 

On Tuesday night, he started out bemoaning the fact that the City couldn't get local financing for the project and would have to go to the public bond market. "That's going to be a very lengthy procedure," he predicted, "and we have to pay everyone," making reference to lawyers and bond counsel. He based this dire prognostication on city treasurer Eileen Halloran's report to the Finance Committee that she had bid out the financing for the $500,000 firetruck being purchased for the Hoystradt Company to three local banks and had received only one proposal to finance it over 10 years not 15 years. Halloran's insistence that "we are not locked out of getting funding for the building from a local bank" held no sway with Pierro, who also chose to ignore another point made by Halloran: that the probable period of usefulness for the proposed police and court building, established based on information from the architect, had doubled from 10 to 15 years to 20 to 30 years, allowing the City to finance the project over 20 years, which could help offset the cost of getting the financing.

In a prepared statement, Pierro complained about the process, alleged that the cost had gone from $1.3 million to $2.53 million, groused that there were no renderings and color drawings, fussed that he wanted a new police and court building that is brand-new, and compared the project to the acquisition of Ockawamick.

Alderman Abdus Miah (Second Ward) then weighed in, fretting about the findings of the Phase II environmental study. "We see that Phase II has some problems," Miah said. "I don't know how to fix it." The problems are in fact minor. Radon has been detected under the slab on which the original building sits. This will be mitigated during construction by installing a vapor intrusion system, and the owner has agreed to take the cost of the system off the purchase price. The other environmental finding was metal in the fill used years ago, which is not a problem unless it is disturbed. After explaining this, Alderman Nick Haddad (First Ward), who has been the point man on this project, asked of Miah, "What have you read in the past three days that has made you turn turtle?"

Later, Miah asked the police chief and police commissioner, seated in the audience, "Are you happy with this project?" Before they could answer, Alderman Bob "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward) rephrased the question: "Would you be happy with a brand-new police station, built from the ground up? The cost would not be that much more."

Council president Don Moore, who several times had to gavel the meeting back to order, suggested that the Council consider only the bond resolution--to "move this one more notch"--and postpone considering the resolution to purchase the building for a couple of weeks. Since this was agreeable to all, the vote proceeded. Before casting his vote, Donahue asked, with the apparent expectation of an affirmative answer, "This can be used for a new building, too, right?" When Halloran and city attorney Cheryl Roberts told him no, he seemed flummoxed, uncertain of how to vote. A voice from the audience suggested, "Ask Rick," referring to former mayor and now Galvan "special adviser" Rick Scalera.

In the end, Donahue and the rest of the aldermen present (Wanda Pertilla [Second Ward] was absent) voted unanimously to move the bond resolution forward.

After the raucous meeting had gone on for an hour and a half, the Council went into executive session to review the latest cost analysis of the project. Before that happened, a representative from the New York State Office of Court Administration who was present at the meeting was asked to comment. "This is something we would like to go forward," he said, "and if not, there will be consequences." The consequences would be sanctions on any state funding received by the City.

Scalera declared that he was "offended that there is a threat from OCA." He asserted that in the past decade there have been two proposals to build a new building to house the court, the most recent being the one proposed by the Galvan Foundation, "Civic Hudson." He then took up Pierro's cant that the public has never seen a rendering that showed what the re-purposed building would look like. "The public has never been privy to any of this," he alleged.

It seems likely that in the next couple of weeks we'll be seeing a rendering--in full color--of something new that Galvan is proposing to solve the City's problem.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Remembrance of Things Past

Franklin Square was a public park, bordered by South Front Street, Fleet Street (the continuation of Partition Street), Ferry Street, and the railroad tracks. It ceased to exist during Urban Renewal. This morning, a reader sent me this picture of Franklin Square. The vantage point is roughly in front of what is now the Half Moon. Visible beyond the park are the tops of buildings on the other side of the railroad tracks and the buildings bordering the park along Fleet Street.

Will They or Won't They?

It is expected that the Common Council will vote tonight, at its regular meeting at 7 p.m., on two resolutions having to do with the acquisition and adaptive reuse of 701 Union Street, as the City's police and court building.

The first resolution authorizes the mayor to "execute any and all documents necessary to purchase" the property; the second resolution authorizes the issuance of serial bonds to pay for the purchase, renovation, and expansion of the building--not to exceed $2.53 million.

If the resolutions pass, the City will finally be on the way to solving a problem that has needed solving for twelve years. If the resolutions don't pass, the City is back to square one.

Moving forward with 701 Union Street seems the obvious and expedient thing to do, but at the informal Council meeting on Monday, October 7, Supervisor Bill Hughes (Fourth Ward), expressed a desire to "go back to building a new building." Since the only proposal put forward recently that involved building a new building was the Galvan Foundation's Civic Hudson scheme, which put the police department and the city court in the same building with 33 units of supportive housing and made the City Galvan's lessee, one wonders if that's the solution Hughes had in mind.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK   

The Mayor Will Not Debate

Although there was some misinformation floating about late last week that Mayor William Hallenbeck had agreed to debate his challenger, Victor Mendolia, the Register-Star reports today that he has declined to participate: "Hallenbeck nixes Hudson mayoral debate." Hallenbeck's principal reason for refusing is that he is too busy running the city to prepare for a debate, but he offers a few more excuses, among them: he never got a "formal invitation" to debate from Mendolia; since WGXC was involved and Mendolia did a radio show on WGXC (on hiatus now because of the election), the debate might not be handled fairly; nobody else in the county is doing a debate. 

Mendolia's response, entitled "No Vision, Empty Promises, No Debate About It" and accompanied by this image, can be read here.

Getting In Our Last Licks for the Season

We made it! (Even though we tarried along the way to check out who'd gone before us.)

Everyone else was being served ice cream in a cone, but Avery made William (possibly LICK's most frequent canine customer) his usual: Betsy's Bow Wow--a small scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cup with Blue Dog Bakery biscuits on top. Yum!

So long, LICK! Hope we'll see you again in the spring.

Important Workshop Coming Up

There's a nip in the air--a reminder that we're heading toward winter. It's time to think of buttoning up your house for the cold months ahead. For some, unfortunately, that means contemplating replacement windows. If you're thinking of replacing original pre-World War II wood windows with something new, think again.

Over and over, preservation architects have made the case that old wood windows are superior to anything available today and with proper maintenance and weather-stripping can be as energy efficient as the new thermopane windows claim to be. What's also becoming clear is that replacement don't last as long as the old growth wood windows that were originally installed in the houses of Hudson more than a hundred years ago. The Historic Preservation Commission regularly receives applications for certificates of appropriateness to replace windows that were installed just twenty or thirty years ago (probably replacing the original wood windows), proving the truth of what preservation architect Jill Gotthelf, coauthor with Walter Sedovic of "What Replacement Windows Can't Replace," once quipped: "They're called replacement windows because you have to replace them every twenty or thirty years."

One of the beauties of original wood windows--besides the fact that they are character defining elements of a building's design--is that they can be repaired. Every part of them can be replaced. This is not true for new windows. When they fail, the only option is to cart them off to a landfill and get new ones.

To educate Hudsonians in the care and keeping of old wood windows, architect member of the Historic Preservation Commission, Jack Alvarez will be conducting a window workshop on Saturday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at the Chamber of Commerce, 1 North Front Street. An advocate for preserving original wood windows, Alvarez is the coauthor of "Restoring Our Appreciation of Historic Wood Windows," with his wife and partner in the Albany firm Landmark Consulting, Kimberly Konrad Alvarez, and regularly conducts workshops on restoring and repairing wood windows. In June, he held such a workshop in Albany, which was reported on in the Times Union: "Clear favorites: Retaining old windows preserves architecture and dollars."

The workshop is presented by the Historic Preservation Commission in collaboration with Historic Hudson, Inc.       

Photo credits: Kimberly Konrad Alvarez and Matthew Hamilton/Times Union

Don't Be Disappointed . . .

as William was two years ago.

Today is the last day of the season for LICK. They will be opening at 1 p.m. and serving up ice cream at $1 a scoop until it's all gone. William and I plan to get there early. We may even skip lunch.