Presidents in Hudson

On this Presidents' Day, Gossips recounts the Presidents who have paid visits to Hudson over the years.

MARTIN VAN BUREN
Martin Van Buren visited Hudson at midterm on July 19, 1839. Van Buren was a Democrat, the city leaders of the time were Whigs, and the President's reception--in the seat of his home county--was anything but enthusiastic. The following excerpts are from the Columbia Republican.

It was supposed that Mr. Van Buren's advent into his native State would be marked by peculiar demonstrations of joy and that as he approached his native county, where he was reared, and where in youth and in manhood, he laid his deep and dark scheme of ambition, that he would be greeted by a pageant, brilliant, glorious and unprecedented in the history of Presidential tours. Such were some of the bright anticipations of our "Democratic fellow citizens"--but alas! how far removed from reality.

After the Common Council had wisely refused to squander the people's money in defraying the expense of Mr. Van Buren's electioneering tour, and had indignantly refused to degrade their official stations, by doing personal homage, the Fire Department, (whose splendid appearance on gala days have won for them an enviable reputation) were requested to turn out--but they too by a vote of 10 to 3, refused to be used. Thus in effect, did the City of Hudson refuse to receive Mr. Van Buren; not because she is inhospitable--but because her people are too patriotic to give countenance to such gross departures from Republican usages as have disgraced every step of the President's progress. . . . 

 

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

In February 1861, Abraham Lincoln made his inaugural journey from Springfield, Illinois, to Washington, D.C. Hudson was one of the eighty-three stops on his route. An incident that occurred during Lincoln's brief stop in Hudson is mentioned in the second volume of Carl Sandburg's biography of Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln: The War Years. Soon after this volume was published, the following item appeared on the front page of the Hudson Daily Register, on February 9, 1940. 

 

Lincoln "Bussed" Girls Here in '61 and They Liked It

 

In Carl Sandburg's life of Abraham Lincoln recently published, he referred to the stop of Lincoln's train at Hudson on his way from Springfield, Ill., to Washington, on February 19th, 1861, and goes on to say: "A pleasing incident occurred at Hudson. Several young ladies came into the car and the President folded them rapturously to his throbbing bosom. They said: 'Don't,' which induced the President to believe that they liked it."

 

THEODORE ROOSEVELT
Theodore Roosevelt visited Hudson in 1914, five years after he left the White House. He was here to speak at the Hudson Opera House, and this story discovered in the Boston Globe for October 8, 1914, and often retold by HOH executive director Gary Schiro, tells what happened when Roosevelt was here.

Roosevelt Unwilling to Speak in Hudson Opera House Until Friends Get Food for Him

 

Hudson, N.Y., Oct. 7--Col. Roosevelt likes the soup they make in Hudson. He proved it yesterday when he called for a second bowl of vegetable soup as he stood in the wings of the Opera House. So the crowd waited 10 minutes while his nephew, Theodore Douglas Robinson and two local Progressives chased to a lunchroom across the street and returned with a big bowl of vegetable soup. One was not enough so the colonel had a second bowl. "Now that'll do til dinner time," he said as he climbed into the motor car to resume his tour, "I have to be fed. I want man-sized victuals from this time on or I'll strike."

 

FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT

Recently Lisa Durfee discovered this photograph of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and published it on her blog The Tainted Lady Lounge. A notation on the photograph gives the date 1932, the last year that FDR was governor of New York, and provides this identification: "Gov. Roosevelt at Dedication (Firemen's Home)." As Durfee points out, the Memorial Hospital at the Firemen's Home that was completed in 1932.

 

Of Interest for a Holiday Weekend

Gossips has been combing the newspapers at Fulton History for more information about our current interests: The Home for the Aged and Captain Warren Robinson. In the process, this curious feature, which appeared on the front page of the Chatham Courier for Tuesday, May 13, 1890, was discovered--containing some interesting facts about Hudson.

WITH THE NEWS GLEANERS

WHO TOIL IN COLUMBIA AND ADJOINING COUNTIES

Things Seen and Done in Villages and

Hamlets Around about Us

• Horses in Hudson are suffering from distemper.
• Hudson will have 11 polling places under the new ballot law. . . .
• The present population of the Hudson House of Refuge is 202 women and 12 infants. . . .
• Horseback riding is becoming quite popular among Hudson lawyers. It is a healthful exercise.
• Hon. Benj. Ray, of Hudson, has been appointed an assistant inspector of steamboats for the New York district. . . .
• It has been definitely arranged that the fair for the Hudson Home for the Aged will be held during the second week of next November.
• Two sharks were seen in the Hudson river near Cornwall a few days ago. They generally arrive about the same time small boys open the swimming season. . . .
• The Hudson Iron company last week elected the following trustees: Jacob W. Hoysradt, John E. Gillette, Frank B. Stott, Milton Martin, Augustus McKinstry, Samuel R. Rainey, Albert Hoysradt. At a subsequent meeting of the trustees, J. W. Hoysradt was re-elected president and Sydney Seymour secretary and treasurer.

No Farms, No Food

One of the best things about living in Hudson is being surrounded by working farms and having access to restaurants and markets committed to bringing locally produced food to our dinner plates. This a rare and ideal circumstance that needs to be preserved and nurtured. Next Saturday, February 23, there is a daylong event devoted to exactly that subject: Farming Our Future--Growing Food, Farms and Community. Intended for local and regional farmers, educators, farmers' market managers, agricultural students, providers of goods and services, and consumers, the event features keynote speaker Jim Slama, founder and president of FamilyFarmed.org. There will also be workshops and panel discussions on such topics as getting local food into the hands of chefs and consumers, how people have interacted with the farmscape over time, leasing land to farmers, making an ag business appealing to investors, and growing a farm-friendly municipality.

 

Farming Our Future 2013 takes place at Taconic Hills Central School, 73 County Route 11A, in Craryville. Registration is $20 online or $25 at the door. Morning refreshments, lunch, and an afternoon snack will be served. Doors open at 7:30 a.m. and the program runs from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Check the website for the complete schedule.

A Million Here, A Million There

Nathan Mayberg reports in today's Register-Star that the Hudson City School District may come up $2 million short in their next year's budget: "Hudson school budget has $2M shortfall." HCSD Superintendent Maria Suttmeier is quoted in the article as saying, "We cannot continue to stay in business the way that we have been." Although the meaning of her statement is not entirely clear, it's a sentiment many would share.

"I've Got a Bridge . . . "

Another noteworthy thing happened at City Hall last Monday night, although it was eclipsed by the Common Council decision that appears to commit the City to accommodating an industrial dock in the middle of a proposed recreational area for the next two generations and the dissension over the weighted vote. A resolution was introduced authorizing the mayor to (1) "execute any and all documents related to the transfer of an easement for the Ferry Street Bridge from CSX to the City, upon review of such documents by the City Corporation Counsel"; and (2) "to apply for a STEP [Strategic Transportation Enhancements Program] grant for up to two million dollars for the purpose of demolishing and replacing the Ferry Street Bridge in cooperation with the CSX Corporation and Amtrak."

 



The Council will be voting on this resolution at its regular meeting on Tuesday, February 19, at 7 p.m. At that meeting, the Council will also be voting on a resolution adopting one of the plans for the weighted vote and on an amended local law banning hydrofracking waste from entering in the city.      

More About the Robinson Homestead

The story of Frances Carolyn Robinson and the hidden treasure was new to me, but its novelty (to me) betrayed that I'm not from around here. The tale seems to have gained the status of local legend.

After I published Frances Robinson's story yesterday, I heard from a reader who had grown up in the house where Frances died and whose parents still live there. The "Robinson homestead" is not in Hudson but in Greenport, on the northern end of Joslen Boulevard. The house was built by Frances's father, Warren Robinson, the clipper ship captain. Like his daughter, Captain Robinson had a reputation for being an eccentric and a recluse. He had considerable wealth but loathed and distrusted banks, so he hoarded his money in his house, stashed away in various hiding places. It was Captain Robinson's cache of riches that was discovered after Frances's death.

The Gossips reader's family bought the house in the early 1970s, and no sooner had they settled in their new home than curious neighbors began knocking at the door. They had ventured up the long drive to ask two questions: Had the new owners found any money or gold hidden in the house? Had they seen Captain Robinson's ghost? According to the story, Captain Robinson died in the house, brokenhearted and alone, as his daughter seems also to have, and his ghost haunted the house.

Collateral Discovery

The word is out that, in four years, The Home for the Aged, at the corner of Union and Seventh streets, will close.

In the past, Gossips has reported that The Home was founded in 1883, the idea of twenty-eight Hudson women, one of whom was Anna Bradbury, the author of History of the City of Hudson, New York, who lived her last years at The Home, and that, at the beginning, from 1883 to 1895, The Home rented rooms in this building at Union and Fifth streets before purchasing the home of Robert and Sarah McKinstry, at the corner of Union and Seventh streets, which has been the location of The Home for the past 118 years.

A recent search of the newspapers on Fulton History for more information about The Home uncovered this bizarre story about one of Hudson's more eccentric residents of the past. The story appeared on October 2, 1906, in the New York Herald. It also appeared in the Utica Herald Dispatch, the Oswego Daily Palladium, the Binghamton Press, and the Syracuse Daily Journal, but strangely no mention of it has been discovered in the Hudson Evening Register.

$50,000 TREASURE FOUND IN HOUSE

HUDSON, N. Y., Monday--Pots of gold filled with coins dating back to the reign of George III, bearing the date of 1776 and bills tied in knots, stuffed into vases and cups, were found to-day in least expected places of the Robinson homestead here, where four weeks ago neighbors found the body of Miss Frances Carolyn Robinson. Until the hidden money was found it was supposed that Miss Robinson left not more than $6,000, but now with the finding of the concealed treasure the estate is brought up to more than half a hundred thousand dollars. It is estimated that $50,000 was found in the house to-day.

The finding of the hidden treasure will cause a contest of the will that Miss Robinson left. She was an aunt of Dr. Alexander Robinson of New York city, and he with the next of kin will take the matter into the Surrogate's Court on the ground that Miss Robinson was of unsound mind, although she was always regarded as alert in business transactions. The will divides the estate into four equal parts, one to the American Seaman's Friend Society, one to the American Bible Society, a third part to the American Tract Society and the fourth portion to the Hudson Home for the Aged. Already lawyers have been engaged by both sides for the will contest.

Miss Robinson was an odd character, sixty years old and a recluse, known to every one of prominence in the city. It was always supposed that in her early days she had had a romance. Her father was one of the old time clipper ship captains whose boast was the number of trips that he had made around the world. The curios that Captain Robinson picked up in his cruises were many. Among them were the George III coins that formed part of the treasures found to-day.

No one supposed that Miss Robinson has any money to speak of, so that when she was found dead there was no especial activity among the next of kin, outside of having an inventory taken. It was while this inventory was being made that the first jar of coins was discovered under a back staircase. These coins were all at the bottom of the jar and the rest of the space was stuffed with spools and loose thread.

A systematic search of the house was then made. Pitchers filled with coins were found behind doors covered with rags and sacking. Under carpets were found bills tied up and more coins. More money was found over the coping and in the garret. There was hardly a room in the house that did not conceal money. All the property has been turned over to the public administrator.

County Judge Mark Duntz will represent the next of kin when the will comes up for probate in the Surrogate's Court and Smith Thompson, president of the Farmers' National Bank of this city, the executor, has retained Brownell & Tilden who were Miss Robinson's attorneys during her life.

Gossips Note: A search of the Hudson city directories in the History Room at the Hudson Area Library failed to discover the location of "the Robinson homestead," Miss Robinson's home, and Ancestry.com has so far not yielded any information about Frances Carolyn Robinson or her next of kin.

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt offers scathing criticism of the Common Council's decision to make a fifty-year commitment to Holcim in a parody of covering a press conference: "BREAKING: Hudson Aldermen reveal new 'super powers.'"  

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

Joe Gentile reports in today's Register-Star about Nadia Steinzor's presentation to the Common Council on Monday night: "Fracking opponent makes case to Common Council." Unfortunately, Gentile reports some misinformation. Steinzor, who is the eastern program coordinator for the not-for-profit EARTHWORKS, was asked to address the Common Council not by city attorney Cheryl Roberts but by Fifth Ward resident Cheryl Stuart.

Claverack School Buyer Revealed

The Register-Star reports today what some knew yesterday: the name of the buyer of the Claverack School. Nathan Mayberg also explores the question of whether the HCSD Board of Education's handling of the decision to accept the offer renders it invalid: "Hudson BOE announces school buyer."  

The Latest Fracking Development

A decision on fracking in New York was postponed today because Nirav Shah, commissioner of the New York State Department of Health, asked for more time to study the impact of hydrofracturing on public health: "NY fracking decision faces further delay on health study."

Not to Be Missed

Attorney Ken Dow makes an interesting comment on the Register-Star article about the proposed sale of the Claverack School.

More Dissension Over the Weighted Vote

Last Thursday, the Legal Committee couldn't agree about which plan for the new weighted vote to recommend to the full Council,  and last night at the informal meeting the full Council couldn't come to an agreement either. Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward) continued to argue for Plan 433642, the one that had been Professor Lee Papayanopoulos's "primary recommendation," because it is, as he explained it, "the plan we use now." In support of his position, he began reading aloud the answer Papayanopoulos had provided when asked why he had recommended 443642 over 443626.

The plans in my "primary recommendation" have the common characteristic of full Egality, i.e., the votes allotted to the Aldermen in each Ward are equal. Plan 433626 is, indeed, an excellent plan but the votes given to Ward 4 are not equal (94 votes vs. 95).

Pierro stopped after reading the first paragraph, as if the first paragraph provided sufficient evidence that 433642 was the superior plan. Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), after pointing out that Pierro had misread egality as equality, urged Pierro to read the rest of Papayanopoulos's statement and then did so himself.

As I state in the report (pp. 8-9), all of the plans offered therein meet the requirement of constitutionality (which is paramount). If the aesthetics of slightly different votes in one Ward are of no consequence to the Council, then by all means, consider plan 433626. In fact this plan (with discrepancy 1.88%) is much closer to the one person–one vote ideal than plan 433642 (4.28%).

Council president Don Moore summarized the crux of the difference: 433642 (Pierro's choice) gives an equal number of votes to the two Fourth Ward aldermen--95 votes each; 433626 (Friedman's choice) reduces the discrepancy between population in each ward and voting power of the ward's aldermen, thus approaching more closely the goal of one person–one vote. Friedman argued, "We have an opportunity to create more democracy not less" by adopting Plan 433626. Pierro countered, "It's not more democracy" but didn't explain why he thought it wasn't.

Comparing the two plans side by side, in terms of the actual votes of each member of the Council, the differences--albeit minor--are with the votes of the Council president (who gets one fewer vote in Plan 433626), the Fourth Ward (whose votes would be different in Plan 433626), and the Fifth Ward (where each alderman would have one fewer vote in 433626), resulting in a two-vote difference in the total number of votes and the number of votes needed for a simple majority.

At one point, after making the point that egality "goes to this chamber being able to manage itself" (that is, not having to deal with one Fourth Ward alderman having one less vote than the other) and arguing again that Plan 433626 created "more democracy," Friedman said in frustration, referring to Pierro, "Let the gentleman from Taghkanic have his way," alluding to reports that Pierro now resides not in the Fifth Ward of Hudson but in the Town of Taghkanic. 

Alderman Robert Donahue (Fifth Ward) betrayed his lack of understanding of the issue when he turned in his seat and asked Friedman if the Third Ward's loss of the prison population and the consequent reduction in the weight of the Third Ward representatives' vote was the reason Friedman supported 433626. 

It was suggested that there be a straw poll to decide which numbers--those from Plan 433642 or Plan 433626--went into the resolution that would be voted on by the Council at their regular meeting on February 19. In the straw poll, Wanda Pertilla (Second Ward), Sheila Ramsey (Fourth Ward), and Donahue voted with Pierro in support of Plan 433642; Moore, Dave Marston (First Ward), Nick Haddad (First Ward), and Ohrine Stewart (Fourth Ward) voted with Friedman in support of Plan 433626. Gossips did not observe Abdus Miah (Second Ward) voting for either plan. Chris Wagoner (Third Ward) didn't vote either, commenting that he would have to study the issue.

City attorney Cheryl Roberts will prepare two resolutions: one with the numbers from Plan 433462; the other with the numbers from Plan 433626.

Claverack School Back in the News

Nathan Mayberg reports today in the Register-Star that the HCSD Board of Education voted unanimously to sell the Claverack School to an undisclosed buyer for an undisclosed amount, which one board member later said was $390,000: "Board votes to sell school to secret buyer." The identity of the buyer cannot remain secret forever. It's unlikely that the rules have changed since 2005 when the Hudson Area Library bought 400 State Street from the Hudson City School District. Back then we learned that a public referendum is required to approve the sale whenever the school district wants divest itself of real property. So we can expect this sale will be the subject of a referendum in May, and the buyer and the price will then have to be revealed.

Not in Our Lifetimes

Tonight at a special meeting, after a brief executive session, the Common Council voted on "A Resolution Authorizing the Transfer of Riverfront Land to the City of Hudson." 

The Mayor is hereby authorized and directed to enter into all documents and contracts necessary to effectuate transfer of the Parcel and related easements to the City of Hudson upon review of said documents by the Corporation Counsel, and to provide documentation for a tax credit to Holcim for transferring the Parcel as a gift to the City.

"The Parcel" is approximately nine acres "currently owned by Holcim US and situated south of Holcim's port in the City of Hudson."

Before the vote, city attorney Cheryl Roberts explained the four conditions for the transfer. The conditions must remain in effect for fifty years.

• The City will not attempt to take the port by eminent domain.
• The City will not change the zoning that is part of the LWRP and specifically applies to the port parcel.
• The parcel being transferred to the City will remain as park land.
• The parcel will not be sold or leased to a private not-for-profit.

As part of the resolution, the Council made a negative declaration, determining that the action of transferring ownership of the property would have no negative impact on the environment. 

When it came time to vote, Alderman David Marston (First Ward) abstained; all the other members of the Council voted aye.

A Tale of Two Cities . . . or a City and a Town

The building permit for the expansion and renovation of the Columbia County Courthouse carried a price tag of $38,728, which the county wanted the City of Hudson to waive. The building permit fee is meant to compensate the City for the time the code enforcement officer needs to spend making sure the work meets the requirements of the building code. The City didn't waive the fee, as the county requested, but it did reduce it to $12,000--less than a third of the original amount.

Now it seems that the county is facing more fees and expenses related to code enforcement--not in Hudson but in Claverack. To facilitate work on the courthouse here in Hudson, the courts have decamped to Claverack, where the county is leasing the old Claverack School, at significant expense, from the Hudson City School District. It seems, however, that camping out in Claverack may cost more than anticipated. The Town of Claverack Planning Board waived the need for a site plan review, but Claverack building inspector Stanley Koloski says that didn't exempt the county from having to get a building permit and a certificate of occupancy from him, and that process could cost as much as $9,000--although it's not clear much if any of that goes to the Town of Claverack. Nathan Mayberg has the story in today's Register-Star: "Temporary courthouse needs inspections."

Those Seven Acres

The seven acres of waterfront south of the dock, which the City of Hudson must possess before the Department of State will approve the LWRP, have been the topic of discussion by the Common Council in executive session on several occasions. Tonight it appears the acquisition will be considered in a special meeting of the Common Council at 6:30 p.m., preceding the informal meeting. 

Interesting Revelations

Not long ago, Quintin Cross gave Sam Pratt access to a collection of documents that his attorney Susan Tipograph had turned over to him. From that collection, Pratt has so far published on his blog the video of Cross's interview with HPD detectives on March 19, 2012, and the HPD interview with his alleged accomplice, Jamont McClendon, on April 3, after he was apprehended. Today, Pratt reveals more things discovered among those documents: "The Cross Drossier, Exhibit C."  

The State of the Weighted Vote

Listening to the discussion of weighted vote at the Common Council Legal Committee on Thursday night was a little like listening to people speaking in code. Even when you had a copy of the twenty-seven-page document from Professor Lee Papayanopoulos, with seventeen pages of alternative computation tables, the conversation seemed arcane. Each of the plans had a six-digit ID number, and it was those numbers that the committee members used when discussing the relative merits of each plan. 

After introducing the concept of the weighted vote and explaining the objectives, the Papayanopoulos document makes a "Primary Recommendation" and a "Valid Alternative Recommendation"--the difference between the two being the total number of votes and the number needed for each majority (simple, two-thirds, three-quarters). In the first scheme, the votes total slightly more than 2,000; in the second, the total number of votes is around 400.

Since most votes in the Common Council require only a simple majority, committee focused its attention on that. Discussion centered on two plans: 433642, which Papayanopoulos recommended, and 433626, which committee chair John Friedman (Third Ward) believed was more successful in achieving the objectives of maximizing egality, "the degree to which members of the Wards have equal votes," and minimizing discrepancy between the each ward's population and voting power. This chart compares the current weighted vote with the two schemes being considered.

For egality, the higher the number the better. For discrepancy, the closer to zero the better. Plan 433642, has an egality of 5 and a range of discrepancies from -4.28 percent to 2.49 percent. Plan 433626 has an egality of 4 and a range of discrepancies from -1.88 percent to 1.75 percent.

The intention was for the Legal Committee to make a recommendation to the full Council, but the Legal Committee could not come to unanimous agreement. When polled, Friedman, Common Council president Don Moore, and Alderman David Marston (First Ward) preferred 433626; Alderman Cappy Pierro (Fifth Ward), champion of the status quo, preferred 433642, because it was "closer to what we have now." The fifth member of the Legal Committee, Alderman Abdus Miah (Second Ward) was absent.

It was decided that Moore would ask Papayanopoulos to elaborate on why he had recommended 433642 instead of 433626 and that the full document be distributed to all members of the Common Council, so that the issue can be taken up by the full Council at the informal  meeting on Monday, February 11.

Just Say No

TCI wants to rebuild and expand its plant in Ghent, where electrical transformers, which contain PCBs and other toxins, are dismantled. Last August, the TCI plant burned to the ground in a spectacular fire that created a countywide emergency. If you think TCI has no place in our bucolic county, make your opinion known by signing this petition: STOP TCI FROM REBUILDING AND EXPANDING IN COLUMBIA COUNTY.