One Step Closer

Tonight a supplemental bond resolution, authorizing the city treasurer to seek an additional $1.7 million to finance the police and court building, came before the Common Council for a vote, and as usually happens when the subject is the police and court building, all hell broke loose.

Alderman Robert "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward) wanted to know why the authorization couldn't wait until the bids came in. Council president Don Moore explained that the municipal bidding process requires that the City has the authorization to borrow the money for the project when bids are solicited.

Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward) wanted to know if the money had to be used for 701 Union Street, claiming that "people wanted a different building--a different vacant building or starting from the ground up."

Aldermen Abdus Miah (Second Ward) fretted at length about the increased cost of the project. 

Donahue brought up once again the additional amount that had to be paid to the architect to analyze the cost estimates, do the value engineering, and redesign the building as a consequence of the initial bid--the only one received--coming in too high. Once again, Moore pointed out that the total amount that has been paid to the architect is still less than the next lowest bid the City received from architectural firms.

Clearly annoyed by the quibbling, Alderman Henry Haddad read aloud a letter received this morning from the Office of Court Administration. The entire letter can be read here, but the salient paragraph is this:

In light of the long history of delays in addressing the needs of the Hudson City Court, it is essential that this project move forward now, and any further delay would require that we consider our legal options under section 39 of the Judiciary Law.

Among OCA's legal options is building a new courthouse for Hudson--just a courthouse, not a police headquarters, too--and making the City pay for it. Moore pointed out that this happened in Newburgh, and the cost to the City of Newburgh was $8 or $10 million. To put things in perspective, Moore also told of a proposal from 1991, discovered in the city clerk's files, to construct a police, court, and city hall building for $8.5 million and made the point that, a quarter century later, $4.3 million for a police and court building seemed to be a good deal.

Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) called the city's current accommodation for the court and the police force "an abomination, an embarrassment." He charged that "every step of the way, this project has been befouled by members of the Council who bring no understanding or professional acumen" to the task, and he railed against "members of the Council who think they are adding to the conversation by questioning how much money is being spent." He declared $4.3 million was "a small amount of money for a city police and court building."

When the resolution finally came to a vote, it passed unanimously, although Miah prefaced his vote by saying he didn't want the project to go "one dime over $4.3 million." 

After the vote, Miah stood, gathered his belongings, and, after delivering an indignant tirade incomprehensible to this observer, left the room. He did not, however, leave the building. He was still in the lobby of City Hall when the meeting was adjourned.
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An Event for Pooh Purists

Coming up later this week, there's an event for all of us who knew and loved Winnie-the-Pooh before the character became the star of a Disney animated film. 

On Thursday, November 19, at 7 p.m., at Spotty Dog Books & Ale, author and landscape designer Kathryn Aalto will be talking about Ashdown Forest in Oxfordshire, the real woods where ninety years ago A. A. Milne watched his son play with his stuffed animals and was inspired to write stories about Pooh and Piglet and Tigger and Roo and Eeyore and, of course, Christopher Robin, who lived and had adventures in the Hundred Acre Wood.

On Thursday, Aalto, who is the author of The Natural World of Winne-the-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest that Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood, will be sharing her photos of Ashdown Forest along with her "map"of Pooh's world. The picture below shows the bridge where Pooh and Christopher Robin created the game of Poohsticks. 

Last month, Aalto was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered, in a feature entitled "'Natural World': In Which We Make an Expotition to the Hundred Acre Wood." To prepare yourself for Thursday's event--Aalton's only appearance in the Hudson Valley--you can listen to that interview here. 

Aalto will be signing copies of her book on Thursday evening, and a portion of the book sales will benefit the Campaign for the New Hudson Area Library.
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Anticipation . . .

The counting of the absentee ballots begins tomorrow, but the absentee ballots for Hudson will not be counted until Wednesday, November 18, beginning at 9 a.m.

The Scene Today at the Foster's Brownfield

A trip across town today led to the discovery that work has begun (or perhaps the better word is resumed) at the site of the former Foster's Refrigeration. 

Back in July, when the Common Council appropriated from the fund balance another $52,300 ($42,700 had been appropriated in October 2014) to make up the City's 10 percent match for the project which is expected to cost $950,600 (just shy of a $1 million), Gossips retold the history of the efforts to clean up the brownfield site. It's worthwhile going back to reread that account. 

More than three years ago, Mayor William Hallenbeck offered this site as a possible location for a dog park, but it seems now that it is being eyed as a potential parking lot for visitors to the yet to be developed North Bay Recreation and Natural Area.
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How the Money Will Be Spent

There is a public hearing on the proposed 2016 budget tomorrow night, Tuesday, November 17. The budget can be reviewed here. The hearing begins at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
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How It Came About

The display of American and French flags at City Hall was the brainchild of Common Council president Don Moore, who conceived of it as Hudson's expression of sorrow and support and a way to show that "a little city can stand with Paris and the cities attacked by these fanatics who don't share what city life means for its citizens." 

On Saturday morning, Moore made an appeal on Facebook for a French flag to hang with the American flag at City Hall. Katharine Umsted and Maria Manhattan responded to the appeal by volunteering to sew a French flag. 

Early this morning, Department of Public Works employees hung the flags on the columns flanking the entrance to City Hall.
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Hudson Responds

Remembering Albright

More News from Friday's HPC Meeting

Nature abhors a vacuum, and the principle seems to apply to liquor stores in Hudson. Last summer, Fine Wines & Spirits at 40 Green Street was shut down when the New York State Liquor Authority revoked its liquor licence. Now a new liquor store is set to open at 720 Columbia Street. The plans for altering the facade of the building and installing a new sign came before the Historic Preservation Commission on Friday.

Work on the facade had already begun, without a building permit or a certificate of appropriateness, and code enforcement officer Craig Haigh issued a stop work order. The HPC seemed disinclined to grant a certificate of appropriateness to the project. HPC chair Rick Rector spoke of the unauthorized changes that had already been made and called what was proposed "a complete new introduction of materials that are compatible with nothing."

On Friday, the Historic Preservation Commission decided that the application was incomplete because it did not include a historic photograph of the building. It was also noted that the proposed material--a kind of rough-hewn faux stone--was problematic. The applicant was invited to come back next Friday, with a completed application, at which time their proposal for signage would be discussed. 

This morning, it appeared that the idea of rough-hewn stone face had been abandoned. Workers were at the site reinstalling the vinyl siding that had been removed. (Haigh indicated on Friday that the vinyl siding that had been there could be put back without a certificate of appropriateness.)

It would seem all that remains for the HPC to consider next Friday is the sign: large individual illuminated red plastic letters spelling out M&M WINE & SPIRITS positioned across the width of the storefront. The sign maker, who accompanied the applicant on Friday, argued that there were other illuminated plastic signs in proximity to this location, citing in particular the gas station just to the west, the sign marking the entrance to the St. Charles Hotel parking lot across the street, the new Speedway signs around the corner, and the Beer World sign farther along on Green Street. HPC member Phil Forman countered, "The fact that there are already garish signs is not an argument for approving another garish sign." He also suggested that the type of signage being proposed "is used to attract people off the road," implying that it was inappropriate in a city setting.

Gossips sources indicate that M&M Wine & Spirits is an enterprise of the same people who recently opened the M&M Mart and Valero gas station on Fairview Avenue in Greenport.

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Of Interest

WAMC Photo by Pat Bradley

A few days ago, WAMC reported on a report released recently by Waterkeeper Alliance and ForestEthics on the condition of railway bridges that trains carrying volatile oil pass over regularly: "Deadly Crossing: Neglected Bridges & Exploding Oil Trains." If you didn't hear it when it originally aired, you can hear it now by clicking here.
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Don't Forget!

Today, Saturday, November 14, the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, Hudson's only National Historic Landmark, is open for visitation from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. 

Enter the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility from Worth Avenue and follow the signs to the house.
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Let There Be Trees!

In the past, the Galvan Foundation, or one of its principals, has been responsible for the destruction and mutilation of many mature trees in Hudson--most recently the pruning, beyond recognition, of the two pin oaks in front 364 and 366 Warren Street.

25 Union Street--July 2011

9 Union Street--September 2011

364-366 Warren--September 2015

At the same time, Galvan seems to want to cast itself as the giver of trees--trees the length of Second Street planted in 2006, only some of which survive; trees along State Street near the Armory planted last year; trees along Third Street in front of the Salvation Army building (now owned by Galvan) planted earlier this week.

Yesterday, the Galvan Foundation issued a press release announcing an expansion of their "tree planting initiative":

Galvan Foundation is pleased to announce its continued partnership with the City of Hudson and Pondside Nursery on another round of tree planting in Hudson, NY. Galvan Foundation planted 44 trees this fall and is establishing a permanent initiative to plant a sidewalk tree for any property owner in Hudson who requests one, beginning Spring 2016.

The tree planting initiative is a continued partnership between Galvan Foundation, The City of Hudson, and Pondside Nursery. The City of Hudson cuts openings in the sidewalks, and Galvan Foundation pays for the trees to be planted by Pondside Nursery, a local business. Pondside Nursery selects appropriate types of trees to ensure they thrive in an urban environment.

In prior years, Galvan Foundation, independently, and in collaboration with the City of Hudson, Operation Unite, and Pondside Nursery planted more than 100 trees. The Galvan Foundation Tree Planting Initiative is a permanent component of Galvan Foundation’s Environment Initiative.

Galvan Foundation invites every property owner to take part in making Hudson greener and healthier. Sidewalk tree requests should be sent to needatree@galvanfdn.org.

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First News from This Morning's HPC Meeting

The beloved Earth Foods served lunch for the last time on October 19. A week and a day later, I got a request, by way of Historic Hudson, for a historic photograph of 523 Warren Street, the building that had been the location of Earth Foods for twenty years. I found one among the photos Byrne Fone had assembled for his book Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait--a pretty remarkable one, showing the building head on, sometime in the early 1930s.

  
Comparing the historic picture with the picture below, taken in 2002, left no doubt that it was the same building. There's the same gap between it and the next building to the west, and you can even see the details of the unusual brickwork on 521 Warren Street. 

So, this morning, the plans to renovate the ground floor facade of 523 Warren Street came before the Historic Preservation Commission. The plans involve eliminating the entrance at the right and having a recessed entryway at the left that would provide access both to the ground floor space, which is meant to be another restaurant or cafe, and the stairway to the floors above.

When asked about a historic photograph (the application for a certificate of appropriateness requires a historic photograph, if one exists), the applicant asserted that there was no historic picture of the building. What?! From the audience, I explained that there was indeed a historic photograph. Someone had requested it, and I had provided it. The applicant then admitted that he had gotten a historic picture, but he had determined that it wasn't the same building. HPC member Peggy Polenberg was eager to opine that, if the applicant "who is an architect" didn't think it was the same building, it must not be the same building.

Craig Haigh, code enforcement officer, who had seen the historic photograph in question, attested that it was the same building and, addressing the applicant, said, "I told you to bring that picture with you." The applicant then, rather begrudgingly, produced from his briefcase a crumpled printout of the photograph and proffered it to the HPC.

The first to examine it was Phil Forman, who pronounced it "shockingly similar." HPC chair Rick Rector and HPC historian David Voorhees declared it the same building, and even Polenberg, who was previously eager to accept the applicant's determination, admitted that she thought it was the same building. To be absolutely sure, the HPC trooped out of 520 Warren Street to look at the building across the street and returned with the verdict the image was an "official historic photograph" of 523 Warren Street.

After much discussion, during which Forman suggested that the HPC should accommodate what the applicant was trying to do because "the damage had been done," and Polenberg called the building in its current state an "eyesore" and the proposal "a good solution," the HPC voted on whether or not to grant a certificate of appropriateness. Polenberg and Forman voted aye; the other four members of the HPC--Gini Casasco, Voorhees, Rector, and Miranda Barry--voted no.

When asked to explain why they would not approve the proposed alterations, Barry said that the renovation was "an opportunity to try to restore a building that has not been altered except for the storefront," Voorhees stressed the "tripartite division that was essential to the original design," Casasco spoke of the need to "embrace the original symmetry," and Rector urged the applicant to "bring it back to a semblance of what it was." 

Instead of issuing a formal denial of a certificate of appropriateness, the HPC agreed to allow the applicant to, in the words of HPC counsel Carl Whitbeck, "rethink what you're going to do" and present a revised design at the HPC's next meeting, which will take place on Friday, November 2o.
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A Book of Oral Histories

Billy Shannon, former Register-Star reporter, has in the past year been interviewing long-time residents of Hudson, Germantown, Red Hook, and other nearby towns and recording their oral histories. He has published some of these interviews on his blog Hudson River Zeitgeist, but all seventeen interviews will soon be available in a limited edition book, Hudson River Zeitgeist: Interviews from the Year Two Thousand Fifteen. 

The book will be available in late December, and the only way to get a copy is to purchase it in advance through an Indiegogo campaign. Your contribution will not only get you a copy of the book but will also fund the continuation of Shannon's oral history project. When you visit the Indiegogo page, be sure to watch the very nicely done video, edited by Travis Bleen.
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Save Our Ashes

For two years, Gossips has been talking about the imminent danger posed by the emerald ash borer to city trees. Now the Register-Star is catching up: "Ash borer threatens city trees." 

The City should be mounting an aggressive campaign to defend the ash trees in Hudson, most of which are planted along North Front Street, but it doesn't appear that any money for that purpose has been written into the 2016 budget.
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Public Comment Period Ends Today

On October 21, A. Colarusso & Son, the new owners of the land in South Bay and along the Hudson River that was formerly the property of Holcim, a.k.a. St. Lawrence Cement, submitted an application to the Department of Environmental Conservation "to stabilize approximately 170 feet of eroded Hudson River shoreline with large rock rip-rap" and "to replace approximately 75 feet of deteriorated concrete bulkhead within a lateral side berth with new steel bulkhead that will placed in the same location as the existing structure." 

The proposal seems like reasonable maintenance and repair, but the ever-vigilant South Bay Task Force took a closer look at the proposal and concluded that it is actually for two projects, both of which are problematic. The following is from a published statement by the South Bay Task Force.

The first proposal at the Hudson waterfront would "stabilize" a shore of the river, which sounds reasonable where erosion is a threat to business. But it turns out that the erosion at the dock isn't much of a threat, while the remedy for the specious threat is a gigantic stone revetment to stretch 170 feet down the shore. Such structures can be used for additional moorings, where barges can be stacked and at the ready for an intensification of aggregate shipping.

As for the erosion, our research shows very little erosion since the State mapped that stretch in 1934. Years of GoogleEarth images provide enough recent evidence to make the rest of that argument.

Frankly, we don't know what the company is doing in this instance, nor why it thinks it needs this giant structure. However, we do know that we have a right to know.

Our right to know makes a quantum leap at the next discovery (which is actually a century-old discovery), that 100 percent of the revetment project would take place on State-owned lands!

That's not why the State is sponsoring the comment period, though, because the DEC only knows what the company has claimed, that the land is privately owned.

Well, it is State land, which is easy enough to prove if we can just get the State to look into the matter. . . .

Courtesy South Bay Task Force

The second project also seems reasonable--at least on the face of it. 

At the north corner of the wharf, a steel bulkhead which mostly faces the river takes a turn down a little inlet, or slip. After about 40 feet, a failing concrete-and-wood wall continues for another 77 feet. Admittedly, that wall is in a sorry state. But where the sponsor's site plan is very specific about all the site features in and around the broken wall, the plan reports that the 77-foot span is 220 feet! How did an engineer make a mistake like that?

It's worth noting that 220 feet is the exact length of the entire slip from the end of the steel bulkhead, where the work would begin, to the high tide mark on the small beach at the furthest eastern end of the slip.

You have to wonder if this corporation is trying to fool the government by seeking permission for the measurement alone, anticipating that it can then dismiss the other details of the plan which contradict it.

We'd be fools not to be very skeptical, because a steel bulkhead all the way down the slip would be a very big deal. Plus, what would it portend? What is the corporation's long-term plan for all these changes?

Courtesy South Bay Task Force

The natural shore that's formed at the back end of the slip is directly opposite our waterfront park. If some future generation wishes to develop that area of parkland, they'll be looking at a massive steel wall instead of what it is now, a rustic shoreline.

And we still don't know the reason for any of it, nor the scale of operations the company is planning.

It's astounding to consider, but we're looking at the same confusing plans as the Army Corps of Engineers and the DEC, which means that the permitters themselves don't know the nature and the extent of this project. . . . 

There are so many things which only locals can know, which is why public comment periods are so necessary. They are also inherently just, considering the inordinate power of giant special interests which can afford teams of lawyers and engineers.

At the informal Common Council meeting on Monday, November 9, the question was asked if the Council intended to make a comment during the public comment period on behalf of the residents of Hudson. Council president Don Moore noted that the review of the proposed project was now taking place at the state level, with the DEC, and explained that, since an LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program) Consistency Review Board has never been established (our LWRP being in limbo for the past four years), the Planning Board would be the agency of city government that would have jurisdiction in the matter. When it was suggested that the City's Conservation Advisory Council investigate the project, Moore protested that the CAC is "very new, and time is very limited."

Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) contended that the ownership issue should be looked into. "Why not ask the CAC to help us?" he asked Moore. Friedman argued that the land use issue was secondary to the ownership issue and suggested that the city attorney and the CAC be asked to explore the issue, and the Common Council could compare their answers. City attorney Carl Whitbeck agreed to do this but cautioned that ownership would have to be settled by a court not by an opinion.

To make the situation and the City's role in the process so far even more puzzling, a letter from the Army Corps of Engineers, making reference to a permit application from A. Colarusso & Son filed with the ACE on August 4, 2015, was presented as a communication to the aldermen and the press on Monday. (A stamp on the letter indicated that the letter had been received by the city clerk on September 14, 2015.) The letter, which can be read in its entirety here, requests more information about the project, including "an assessment of the project's effects on the federal endangered Shortnose sturgeon and Atlantic sturgeon, and Essential Fish Habitat protected under the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act." It also notes:

A review of the GIS resources map on the N.Y.S. Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (SHPO) website shows that the project site is located within areas identified by the SHPO as "Archeo Sensitive Areas." Please indicate whether any sites eligible for listing the in the National Register of Historic Places exist in the vicinity of the proposed project site, and provide evidence of any coordination with the SHPO on the potential presence of historic sites.

The letter requests that the requested information be provided within thirty days, but it is not known if it was or not. The DEC application for the project, however, asserts: "Cultural resource lists and maps have been checked. The proposed activity is not in an area of identified archaeological sensitivity and no known registered, eligible, or inventoried archaeological sites or historic structures were identified or documented for the project location. No further review in accordance of SHPA (State Historic Preservation Act) is required."

The DEC public comment on this project ends today. Direct your comments to Patricia Gabriel at the Department of Environmental Conservation R4DEP@dec.ny.gov.  

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Significant Innovations

The J. M. Kaplan Fund announced today the first winners of the J.M.K. Innovation Prize. Ruth J. Abram, the creative force behind Behold! New Lebanon, was one of the winners. Click here to learn who the other nine were.
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CAC Gets Grant for Mapping Project

On October 14, the Hudson River Valley Greenway announced the recipients of its Greenway Communities Grants. The City of Hudson Conservation Advisory Council received $3,700 to purchase software and a computer to be used to create a GIS mapping database. 

The CAC is also applying for a grant from the Department of Environmental Conservation's Hudson River Estuary Program. The grant, if awarded, would fund hiring a consultant to manage the natural resources and open space inventory being undertaken by the CAC, to draft a conservation plan for the city which would be an amendment to the 2002 Comprehensive Plan, and to plan and implement a public participation process to inform the conservation plan.
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A House for Law & Order in Hudson

On Tuesday night, in between the special meeting at which the mayor presented the proposed 2016 budget and the informal Common Council meeting, there was another special meeting the subject of which was the police and court building. 

With the value engineering now completed, the "soft costs" analyzed and estimated, and the Hudson Police Department and the NYS Office of Court Administration giving their blessing to the modified design, the project is ready to go out for bid for a second time. The "all-in" cost of the project, which includes the purchase price and what has already been spent, has now been capped at $4.3 million.

At the special meeting on Monday, the Council voted unanimously to have Rapp Construction Management seek bids for four prime contracts: construction contractor, electrical contractor, HVAC contractor, and plumbing contractor. The bids are due on January 4, 2016, and will be opened at 10 a.m. the next day in the Council Chamber at City Hall.  

The future of the project is still not clear. When the bids come back at the beginning of the new year, there may be a new mayor, and there will certainly be a different Common Council president and three new aldermen. Nick Haddad, who was the point man for the project, and Bart Delaney, who served on the project subcommittee, will no longer be on the Council. William Kappel, the alderman candidate who made it clear in his campaign that he opposed the plans for the new police and court building just down the street from his house, was not elected. The opinions of the other new members of the Council about the project are not known (in fact, until the absentee ballots are counted, it's not absolutely clear who some of the new members will be), but it's possible that Lauren Scalera may join the chorus of one (Doc Donahue) in regularly asserting (with no clear basis in fact) that the City could build a beautiful new police and court building--a veritable palace of law and order--at the corner of Fourth and Columbia streets for less than what the adaptive reuse of 701 Union Street is costing.
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Still Time to Get There

Tonight, at 6 p.m., gallery owner Peter Jung is presenting a slide show of works by Hudson River School painters and talking about their lives and work. 

The event is sponsored by the Hudson River Exchange as part of a series of workshops for local makers and creative entrepreneurs, and it takes place at 612 Warren Street. Tickets were to be purchased in advance at the HRE website, but maybe if you just show up with a $20 bill in your hand, you can still get in.

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