The Gossips of Rivertown

Tuesday, July 13, 2021

Life in the Digital Age

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

I went to pay my phone bill today online. After I had dutifully typed on my user ID and password, a secret question was posed. I typed in what I thought was my answer and was told it was incorrect. I was then given the option of changing my password, which I accepted. After receiving and submitting a temporary password, I was back at the secret question--a different one this time--and again I got my answer wrong. This went on for a bit until I finally got to the point where I could create a new password. Annoyed, I typed in "IhateVerizon." I was told the password needed both a letter and a number, so I added "2much." My password was rejected with the message: "Do not use a password that can be easily guessed."

"Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined (by Gossips) because Hudson is a metropolis in microcosm.

A New Third Ward Alderman

Last night, at a special meeting, the Common Council appointed Ryan Wallace to replace Calvin Lewis as Third Ward alderman. Immediately following the vote, Wallace was sworn in by city clerk Tracy Delaney and took his place on the dais for the rest of the special meeting, most of which took place in executive session.

Wallace, who will be an uncontested candidate for Third Ward alderman in November, submitted a letter of interest to Council president Tom DePietro and the rest of the Council on July 4, two days after Lewis's resignation was made public. He was the only person to do so. In March, Wallace was appointed to the Zoning Board of Appeals, a position he will now have to resign.

Monday, July 12, 2021

The Story Behind a Tradition

Yesterday, someone on Facebook inquired about a procession going down Warren Street with a police escort. It was the annual celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, which has been a Hudson tradition since 1908. The tradition is now being carried on by Sacred Heart–Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Shrine, located at 442 Fairview Avenue in Greenport.

The question about the procession inspired me to tell the story of Hudson's Roman Catholic churches, which is extremely interesting and probably unfamiliar to most people now living in Hudson. Once upon a time, there were three Catholic churches in Hudson: St. Mary's, Mt. Carmel, and Sacred Heart. Back in the day, when such things were not considered politically incorrect, they were known by the ethnicity of the majority of their congregants. St. Mary's was the Irish Church; Mt. Carmel was the Italian Church; and Sacred Heart was the Polish Church.

Established in 1847, St. Mary's was the first Roman Catholic Church in Hudson, indeed the first in Columbia County. Its original church building, completed in 1848, stood at the corner of South Third and Montgomery streets.

In 1930, the church moved to its new building at the corner of East Court and East Allen streets.

Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, the "Italian Church," was founded in 1908. Its original place of worship was this building once located in the vicinity of the former Washington Hose firehouse, now the location of the Chamber of Commerce.

In 1928, the church moved to its new building at Union and Second streets, the building that is now St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church.

What was the "Polish Church" began in 1916 as the Church of Our Lady of Perpetual Hope. Its church building was located on North Second Street at the juncture with Robinson Street. In 1933, the church was replaced by Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, which constructed, on the same site, a new church building and a rectory, both designed by local architect Lucius Moore.

Hudson's three Roman Catholic churches coexisted until 1990, when Bishop Howard Hubbard of the Albany Diocese closed both Mt. Carmel and Sacred Heart. The intention was that both congregations would merge with St. Mary's Church, but a group of parishioners from both churches resisted the consolidation. In their effort to preserve their churches, they went so far as to petition Pope John Paul II to take action on their behalf. Their efforts were persistent but unsuccessful.

Finally, in 1997, this group of parishioners formed Sacred Heart–Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Traditional Catholic Shrine, located in a building on Fairview Avenue in Greenport that had started out as a chain restaurant. The Shrine's website explains that it is an independent shrine "not affiliated with any diocese or religious society." The website also explains that the traditional Latin mass is celebrated at the Shrine and "the unchanged Roman Catholic Faith" is embraced.

The procession to honor Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, one of the many titles of the Virgin Mary, that occurred yesterday was followed by a reception at the Shrine. Tom D'Onofrio recalls that when Our Lady of Mt. Carmel was located at Second and Union streets a carnival-like celebration followed the procession. Second Street would be closed between Warren and Union, and booths were set up offering food, including memorable Italian pastries, and games.

Today, the Catholic church in Hudson once known as the "Irish Church" is called Holy Trinity Parish/St. Mary's Church as a consequence of a further merger of Roman Catholic congregations.

Gratitude to Tom D'Onofrio for providing valuable information for this post.

Tomorrow's Planning Board Meeting

It has been confirmed that tomorrow's Planning Board meeting will take place at City Hall, starting at 6:00 p.m., and there is a full agenda, starting out with four public hearings. Two of the public hearings are likely to attract much interest. The public hearings are on the following proposals:

To raise chickens in the backyard at 13 Joslen Place
To open a retail store in the vacant ground floor commercial space at 25 North Fifth Street
To build two new apartment buildings at 75 North Seventh Street and 708 State Street

To restore the Pocketbook Factory and develop it for a mix of commercial uses including art, hospitality, and community space

The last two are continuations of public hearings begun earlier.

Also of interest in the agenda, as New Business, is a proposal to convert 258-260 State Street into eight residential units.

For many years, the building had five apartments. In 2016, it was converted from five apartments into eight short-term rental units and became a hostelry known as 3rd State. During the time it was 3rd State, a corner entrance was discovered under the vinyl siding and a commercial space was established in the building. In early 2018, there was a fire in the building, and since then it was stood vacant.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead

Last week, the Register-Star reported on the efforts to continue remote access to public meetings now that COVID restrictions have been lifted and in-person meetings are a must: "Hudson contemplates remote meeting access." The meetings taking place in the coming week, including two that have grown notoriously long, are sure to make those of us who attend public meetings long for the days when we could monitor and participate in public meetings from the comfort of home.

On Monday, July 12, at 3:00 p.m., the mayor will hold a public hearing on proposed Local Law No. C of 2021, which amends the city code to require repairs to sidewalks to be made in accordance with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards.

Also on Monday, July 12, the Common Council holds a special meeting at 5:00 p.m. The purpose of this meeting is to appoint a replacement for Third Ward alderman Calvin Lewis, who resigned his position on the Council on July 1. There has been no information about candidates being considered to replace him or the process by which they have been identified. At this meeting, the Council will also consider a "settlement in the police grievance matter," the details of which are not known, and "hiring a firm to provide professional services related to a recently filed Article 78," which may be the lawsuit filed by Verizon.

Update: Gossips has been advised that the "recently filed Article 78" referred to in the call to meeting for this special meeting could not be the Verizon lawsuit. Article 78 is a NYS statute; the Verizon suit was brought under federal law and filed in federal district court.

At 6:00 p.m. on Monday, July 12, the Common Council holds its informal meeting. This is the first time this marathon meeting, at which, as a consequence of eliminating all standing committees, every department head must report to the full Council, will be held in person rather than on Zoom. So far this year, since the change was initiated, this meeting has typically lasted for three or four hours. It will be interesting to see if meeting in person has any effect on the length of the meeting.
On Tuesday, July 13, the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) meets at noon. This meeting will take place at City Hall, 520 Warren Street. The agenda for the meeting can be viewed here. The discussion of whether or not parcels owned by HCDPA, including the one at the corner of Warren and Front streets, will be offered to the Hudson Housing Authority (HHA) for inclusion in its development plans, is certain to continue at this meeting.

Also on Tuesday, July 13, the Planning Board meets at 6:00 p.m. No agenda for the meeting has yet been published, but according to the city calendar, the meeting will take place at City Hall, where even before the suspension of in-person meetings the Planning Board was not holding its meetings. On June 22, members of the Planning Board suggested they should stop working if their secretary, Rebecca Borrer, was not adequately compensated. Borrer, who in addition to keeping meeting minutes for the Planning Board has accepted the responsibility of handling escrow payments and wishes, for that reason, to be recognized not as a secretary but the board's administrative assistant, delivered the ultimatum that she would quit unless she was paid at least $20 an hour. (In June, the Common Council passed a resolution to pay the part-time clerks assigned to the Common Council, Historic Preservation Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals, and Tourism Board $15 an hour instead of the $60 per meeting they had been receiving.) The Planning Board has suggested that Borrer be paid $30 an hour. Planning Board member Laura Margolis commented, "We all work for free, so the least we can do is have a fairly paid employee." Gossips has no information about how or if the situation has been resolved.

Update: Stephen Steim, chair of the Planning Board, has confirmed that the Planning Board meeting will take place at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday, July 13, at City Hall.

On Wednesday, July 14, the Hudson Housing Authority Board of Commissioners holds its regular monthly meeting at 6:00 p.m. The meeting will take place in the Community Room at Bliss Towers, 41 North Second Street. It was expected that the board would vote to approve the draft RFQ (request for qualifications), which would then be released the next day. This process seems to have been held up a bit because the board failed to get permission for its plans, in a timely manner, from HUD. The draft RFQ, which can be reviewed here, and public comments that have been received about it are likely to be topics of discussion at the meeting.

Also on Wednesday, July 14, Waterfront Wednesdays happens from 5:00 p.m. until sunset in Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. This week, the event features A-Y/Dancers at 7:00 p.m. and Band of Gold at 8:00 p.m.
On Thursday, July 15, the Tourism Board meets at 7:00 p.m. The meeting will take place at City Hall, 520 Warren Street.

More About the Verizon Lawsuit

Gossips still hasn't seen the actual complaint, but a reader tipped me off to an article about it that appeared on Friday in Law360: "Verizon Says NY Town Can't Block It from Using Tower for 5G." The first two sentences of the article summarize the basis of the lawsuit:

Verizon is going after a New York town that has refused to grant its application for a wireless tower without imposing a set of "unreasonable, unenforceable and arbitrary and capricious" conditions, like banning the telecom from using the infrastructure for 5G. The telecom behemoth filed suit in New York federal court Wednesday, accusing the town of dragging its feet on Verizon's application before finally agreeing to grant it as long as the company paid exorbitant fees and agreed to a slew of unreasonable conditions.

Although the actual resolution passed by the Planning Board on June 23 has not been made publicly available, one of the conditions of site plan approval, as Gossips reported, is that service provided at the site cannot be upgraded from 4G to 5G without Planning Board approval. The "exorbitant fees" refers to the money charged to Verizon to pay Michael Musso of HDR Engineering, who was the technical consultant to the Planning Board for the project.

Saturday, July 10, 2021

Good Things Don't Always Succeed

A comment on last Sunday's post about the new butcher shop and fishmonger at 333 Warren Street inspired a new comment today, asking about the status of Applestone Meat Co. The second comment inspired Gossips to find the answer, which was readily found on the Applestone Meat website. Applestone is closing its retail sites. In fact, yesterday was the last day. Here is the message that appears on the website:

Dear Applestone Customers:

As of this Friday, July 9, we will be closing the doors of all Applestone Meat Company retail locations.

We're so thankful to you for welcoming us into the communities of Stone Ridge, Hudson, and Eastchester, and for enjoying our meat on your grills, picnic blankets, and dinner tables.

This was not a decision we made lightly. We love what we do and we feel incredibly lucky to have been part of your lives in the last five years. Unfortunately, maintaining our principles regarding supply chain, processing methods, staff pay and benefits, and product pricing has proved to be too challenging.

Through the end of the month, Web site orders and curbside pick-up will continue to be available in Stone Ridge until inventory runs out. If you're looking to stock up or have a gift certificate to use, we invite you to order online during this time.

Thank you again for your patronage and friendship.

--The Applestone Meat Company

It's Always Something

A reader alerted Gossips to this information. On July 7, 2021, "Bell Atlantic Mobile Systems LLC d/b/a Verizon Wireless" filed a lawsuit against the "City of Hudson, New York, The Planning Board of the City of Hudson, New York, The Code Enforcement Department of the City of Hudson, Craig Haigh and Providence Hall Associates, L.P." The record of the filing can be found here. The cause of action cited is 47:332, that is, 47 U.S. Code § 332--Mobile Services.

The lawsuit obviously has to do with the controversial siting of wireless communication antennas on Providence Hall. What is puzzling is that the Planning Board granted site plan approval to that project on June 23, so the reason for the lawsuit is unclear, as is the remedy sought. This is, as they say, a developing story. When more information is available, Gossips will report it.

Friday, July 9, 2021

This Morning at the HPC

Phil Forman, chair of the Historic Preservation Commission, started this morning's meeting by asking how many people preferred Zoom meetings to in-person meetings. Everyone in the room, including the commissioners, who had slogged through the rain to get there, raised their hand. One enormous advantage of Zoom meetings, for the HPC in particular, is that screen sharing enables everyone, commissioners and observers alike, to see the drawings and plans submitted and to understand what is being proposed. Forman said he had sent a letter to the mayor's office, on behalf of the HPC, requesting that some form of live streaming of meetings be continued.

Some good news for everyone who has been disturbed by the narrow shutters on 542 Warren Street, formerly The Barlow now the Hudson Whaler. We learned this morning that the shutters now in place were installed "in error" and will be replaced with shutters of appropriate size. It is not clear if the new shutters will be attached to the wall, as these are, or installed with proper hardware.

The plans for 9 Willard Place have been modified. They still involve adding additional windows to the west side of the building and creating front stairs that are the full width of the facade of the building, but the New Orleans style wrought metal balustrade proposed for the upper balcony has been abandoned in favor of a wooden balustrade, and the plan to build new stairs down to a newly carved out offstreet parking space has been abandoned as well.

Instead there will be a new walkway from the front door to the existing stairs down to the street. The HPC approved the revised plan.

The Charles Alger House, 59 Allen Street, was back before the HPC this morning. In March, when the HPC gave a portion of the project a certificate of appropriateness, it was with the understanding that, as work on the house progressed and new discoveries were made, Walter Chatham, the architect for the project, would return to the HPC to report what was found. Today, Chatham appeared before the HPC to report the discovery of two openings in the west wall of the building, believed to be doorways, and the evidence of an earlier window in the east wall.

The evidence of a window opening in the tower on the east side of the building was particularly exciting for Chatham who has always maintained that a window had originally been there, or if there wasn't, there should have been. He has questioned the accuracy and downplayed the significance of an 1858 engraving of the house, which shows no windows in the tower except at the bottom and the very top. Today, he argued that his physical evidence should be accepted over an engraving that showed "a witch on a broomstick" in the sky and "giant gargoyle" on the roof of the veranda.

The detail below shows what appear to be the elements Chatham was talking about. The witch is in the upper left; the gargoyle, looking a little like an enormous cat, is in the lower right.

After much discussion and side conversations, it was decided that the HPC would pay a visit to the house to see the evidence for themselves. As Chip Bohl, the architect member of the HPC, said, "The reuse of material in the openings can be superinformative." The site visit has been scheduled for 9:15 a.m. on Friday, July 23, after which there will be a public hearing on the proposal to reinstate two doors in the west wall and a window in the tower on the east side of the house. The public hearing will take place, following the site visit, at 10:00 a.m. in City Hall.

The final project to come before the HPC this morning was 724-726 Columbia Street, the former Smith Tire building, originally part of the Gifford Foundry, which is to become another brewery.

Chatham was seeking and was granted a certificate of appropriateness to remove the painted metal siding on the building and to restore the brick underneath. Bohl expressed the hope that the details of the brick pilasters were still there. Considering how it appears the metal was installed around the pilasters, it is very likely that a couple of them at least have survived.

It will be interesting to watch this reveal.

Addendum to the COVID-19 Update

A press release just received from Matt Murell, chair of the Columbia County Board of Supervisors, contains this information from the Department of Health. Although the Delta variant has been confirmed in a number of cases in and around New York City, there have been no confirmed cases of the variant in Columbia County.

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been no new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is the same as yesterday, from which it can be inferred that no county residents have covered from the virus in the past 24 hours. There are two fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Thursday, June 24.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 1.7 percent and a seven-day average of 0.9 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 0.7 percent and the seven-day average is 0.4 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported no new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 456, and the number of active cases was 23. There were 11 county residents hospitalized with the virus, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Special Meetings of the IDA

The regular monthly meeting of the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA), which was to take place this past Tuesday, was canceled, but today two special meetings of the IDA were announced.

On Monday, July 19, the IDA will meet at 1:00 p.m. in Suite 301 at One City Centre. The purpose of the meeting is to discuss options for PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) review procedures. It should be remembered that the PILOT requests now being considered by the IDA are for 75 North Seventh Street and 708 State Street, the two buildings being proposed by the Galvan Foundation in the part of the city that has been dubbed, by Galvan, the "Depot District."

On Wednesday, July 21, the IDA will meet again--same time, same place--to discuss the two Galvan projects: 75 North Seventh Street and 708 State Street.

These are both public meetings, but neither is a public hearing. The IDA has yet to schedule a public hearing for these projects.

Thursday, July 8, 2021

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there have been two new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is two more than yesterday, from which it can be inferred no one in the county has recovered from the virus in the past 24 hours. There is one fewer county resident in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday. The number of county residents hospitalized with the virus remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Thursday, June 24.

Strangely, although the CCDOH reported one new case of COVID-19 yesterday and two today, the New York Forward dashboard is reporting, as it did yesterday, a daily positivity rate for Columbia County of 0.0 percent and a seven-day average of 0.6 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 0.6 percent and the seven-day average is 0.3 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported 3 new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 456, and the number of active cases was 24. There were 10 county residents hospitalized with the virus, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

The Rumor Is True

Gossips just reported the "rumor" that Gary Purnhagen was withdrawing as a candidate for alderman in the First Ward. It turns out it's not a rumor at all. Last week, Purnhagen posted this statement on his Facebook page.

Once again, I'm learning that life isn't predictable.

When I decided to run as the Democratic candidate for the 1st Ward Alderperson, I committed to showing up and doing the work. This week I accepted an employment opportunity that will prevent me from delivering on that commitment. I just will not have the time to properly represent the 1st Ward and, therefore, will not run or serve.

Unfortunately, it is too late for my name to be removed from the ballot in November. Therefore, I urge someone else to step up and declare yourself a write-in candidate. I would much rather decide who will represent us than the Common Council at large.

I thank everyone who supported me in this campaign.

Purnhagen's statement alludes to what will happen if he, in the First Ward, and Calvin Lewis, in the Third Ward, are elected--and they will be if no one steps up to run as a write-in candidate--and decline to serve: the Common Council will elect one of the representatives of the First Ward and one of the representatives of the Third Ward. The outcome will be that 20 percent of the aldermen on the next Council will not have been elected by the people they are supposed to represent.

This Morning at the BOE

It isn't over until it's over, and now it's over. This morning at the Board of Elections, Gossips witnessed the hand count of ballots from the Fifth Ward, carried out by the two commissioners of elections, Ken Dow (Democrat) and Kelly Miller-Simmons (Republican). The absentee ballots, the ballots from each of the nine days of early voting, and the ballots cast on Election Day were counted and tallied, and results remain the same.

Rebecca Borrer 53

Dominic Merante 56

Vicky Daskaloudi 75

Mark Bodnar 31

Daskaloudi and Merante will be the Democratic candidates for Fifth Ward aldermen. Borrer will appear on the ballot as the Working Families Party candidate.

While things now seem settled in the Fifth Ward, where, in the Democratic primary, four candidates vied for two slots, that is not the case in the Third Ward or the First Ward. After the designating petitions were submitted in March, each of those two wards had only two candidates, both Democrats: Calvin Lewis and Ryan Wallace in the Third Ward; and Art Frick and Gary Purnhagen in the First Ward. With no competition, their victories were assured.

Since then, Lewis has taken a job with the City as assistant director of the Youth Department and was persuaded to resign as alderman to avoid conflict of interest. Presumably, the same conflict of interest that moved him to resign will cause him to refuse to be sworn in for a new term if he is elected in November, and the only thing that would prevent him from being elected is if someone in the Third Ward launched a strong write-in campaign. A similar situation may be developing in the First Ward. There is a rumor that Purnhagen plans to withdraw from the race.

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

COVID-19 Update

The Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since yesterday, there has been one new case of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is three fewer than yesterday, from which it can be inferred that four more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are three fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than yesterday, but the number hospitalized remains the same. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Thursday, June 24.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 0.0 percent and a seven-day average of 0.6 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 0.3 percent and the seven-day average is 0.3 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported two new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 453, and the number of active cases was 21. There were 9 county residents hospitalized with the virus, and none was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

The Bullet We Dodged

The title of this post is taken from an article written by Sam Pratt, which appeared in the Winter 2010 issue of OurTown: "The Bullet We Dodged: How the Cement War Was Won."

Photo: The Valley Alliance

Many in Hudson today, including several in Hudson government, were not here for the seven-year-long battle against the plan to site what was touted at the time to be the world's largest coal-fired cement plant just across the border in Greenport. The remarkable struggle was documented in the 2006 film Two Square Miles, which can be viewed on YouTube.

Recently, Sam Pratt discussed the St. Lawrence Cement experience with Sandy Rosenthal on her new show, Beat the Big Guys. Rosenthal is the New Orleans activist who founded Levees.org in October 2005 to educate the American public about the cause of the levee failures and catastrophic flooding in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina.

The focus of their conversation is on the fundamental tools and strategies for citizens' groups--the "nuts and bolts of grassroots organizing"--learned during the St. Lawrence Cement battle. The show can be viewed on YouTube.

Tuesday, July 6, 2021

COVID-19 Update

After taking the long weekend off, the Columbia County Department of Health has released its numbers for today. Since Friday, July 2, there have been five new cases of COVID-19. The number of active cases being reported today is three more than on Friday, from which it can be inferred that two more county residents are now considered to be recovering from the virus. There are four fewer county residents in mandatory quarantine today than on Friday. One county resident is now hospitalized with the virus. There has not been a death from COVID-19 reported in Columbia County since Thursday, June 24.

The New York Forward dashboard is reporting a positivity rate for Columbia County yesterday of 0.0 percent and a seven-day average of 1.3 percent. By comparison, the daily positivity rate for the Capital Region is 0.5 percent and the seven-day average is 0.3 percent.

A year ago today, the CCDOH reported three new cases of COVID-19. The total number of cases was 451, and the number of active cases was 19. There were 7 county residents hospitalized with the virus, and 1 was in the ICU. The total number of deaths attributed to COVID-19 at this time last year was 37.

Considering Sidewalks

Sidewalks are a perennial topic of discussion in Hudson. On Monday, July 12, Mayor Kamal Johnson will be holding a public hearing on a proposed law requiring repairs to sidewalks to conform to ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) standards. The Common Council has been working for years to draft a law to ensure the replacement, uniformity, and ongoing repair of the sidewalks throughout the city.

Yesterday, I came upon an article in Strong Towns that gets to the heart of the issue of sidewalks and helps explain why some neighborhoods in Hudson have no sidewalks and where they do exist they are the responsibility of the property owner: "Doing the Math on Sidewalks." It is a short but interesting read.

Left Out of the List of Meetings and Events

Gossips' list of meetings and events for the week, published yesterday, omitted something: the hand count of all votes cast in the Fifth Ward, in particular those cast for the office of alderman. After the absentee ballots were counted on Wednesday, June 30, incumbent Dominic Merante led Rebecca Borrer by three votes: 56 to 53. A margin that close requires a hand count of all the ballots--those cast in early voting and on Election Day. That count will take place on Thursday, July 8, starting at 10:00 a.m., at 401 State Street.