MAI Watch

With three days left, the Kickstarter campaign to fund phase one in the development of the Marina Abramovic Institute here in Hudson has reached its $600,000 goal. 

More Reading for the Curious

The Phase I Environmental Site Assessment for 701 Union Street, the proposed new location for the Hudson Police Department and city court, can now be viewed on the City of Hudson website.

Housing Study Goes Public

The Housing Needs Analysis, done for the City of Hudson by the New York State Rural Housing Coalition and dated May 14, 2012, has finally been made public and can be downloaded here.

New Site Plan Approval Law

Before its regular meeting last night, the Common Council held a public hearing on the new Site Plan Approval Law being fast-tracked through the adoption process by mayoral "letter of necessity." The hearing started out with city attorney Cheryl Roberts and Common Council president Don Moore making a couple of minor changes to the text of the law--multifamily properties was changed to residential uses containing at least four dwelling units; residential use containing at least three properties was changed to residential use containing at least four properties. Moore then explained that the county planning board, which needed to review and make a recommendation on the law, was meeting at that very moment, and he was expecting a call letting him know their decision.

Curious about the haste and extraordinary measures, Gossips asked, when the time came, why the law was being pushed through with such urgency. Moore explained that, since it was the construction season, they didn't want to hold up projects or inundate the Planning Commission with applications for site plan review for such things as porches and minor additions. Since the Planning Commission never seemed to get applications for porches and minor additions, that explanation seemed inadequate.

Later in the meeting, Roberts revealed the reason for the urgency. In June, right about the time it was being discovered that Peter Wurster, the code enforcement officer, had not required a site plan review by the Planning Commission for Fish & Game, the mayor decreed that the law must be followed. As it was then written, the law required that every project that needed a building permit also needed to be reviewed by the Planning Commission, but the code enforcement officer used his discretion to waive a Planning Commission review when he felt it unnecessary. If the code enforcement officer was now expected to follow the law, with no exceptions, the law needed to be changed to make following it practicable.

In the discussion preceding the vote, Alderman David Marston (First Ward) questioned using "at least 1,000 square feet" as the size of an addition that required a site plan review, saying that was too large in a city as small as Hudson, with buildings in such close proximity to one another. He also objected to the fact that the law had bypassed discussion in the legal committee.

Given the accelerated process--skipping committee and eliminating the requirement that it sit on the aldermen's desks for ten days--a two-thirds majority was needed to pass the law. When they were voting on the SEQR form required for this action, Alderman Robert "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward) had stated, prematurely but loyally, "If the mayor wants this, I want it, too." When they were voting on the actual law, Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), for comic effect, echoed Donahue's words. Marston and aldermen Nick Haddad (First Ward) and Chris Wagoner (Third Ward), however, voted against passing the law. Nevertheless, with Moore and all the other aldermen voting for it, the law achieved the two-thirds majority required.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Redefining "Move"

A call half an hour ago from a reader sent Gossips scurrying up to 900 Columbia Street to see what was going on. There is a dumpster in front of the building, window sash has been removed, and the roof is gone. Is this being done in preparation for moving the building?

A call to Daniel Kent, executive director of the Galvan Foundation, revealed that the house is being "disassembled"--taken apart down to its individual bricks, something some might call demolished--to be "reassembled" in the 200 block of Union Street. That's probably not what most people anticipated when Galvan announced its intention to save the historic house by moving it to another location.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK  

Council Still Not Ready to Commit

The original agreement with the owner of 701 Warren Street allowed three months for the City to do its due diligence before deciding whether or not to buy the property for use as a police and court building. Part of that due diligence was an environmental study. Late yesterday afternoon, only eight days before the time runs out on the City's purchase agreement, Morris Associates delivered the Phase I environmental study which recommended that there be a Phase II. 

That the site requires a Phase II environmental study probably should come as no surprise. It's right next to the railroad tracks, and apparently, in the distant past, ashes and old railroad ties had been dumped there. In the more recent past, the building was an auto parts store. What's surprising is that it could have been converted into a gym without undergoing any environmental review.

With time running out, the Common Council had the choice last night of walking away or extending the agreement to buy the building (which will now cost a nonrefundable $5,500 a month) in order to do a Phase II environmental study and complete the painstaking cost analysis being done to avoid another costly boondoggle like the ultimately scrapped plan to build a senior center. Last night the Council voted unanimously to extend the agreement for two months and to transfer another $4,000 from the General Fund to pay for further environmental testing. John Mason has the whole story in today's Register-Star: "City buys time to make police/court HQ decision."  

A Weird Turn of Events and a Tragic Fish Story

Nathan Mayberg reports in the Register-Star that Local Ocean was sold today to Michael Spielman, the man who held the mortgage on the property: "Local Ocean property sold back to original owner for $3M." Spielman promises that "the building will be utilized" but not for aquaculture. There are hundreds of thousands of fish--some say millions--left at the facility, and, according to the Register-Star, Spielman would be glad to sell them to anyone who wants them. 

Apologies and Platitudes

HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier said she wished she could "turn back the hands of time." Berkshire Union Free School superintendent Bruce Potter lamented that "you never get a second chance to make a first impression." Common Council president Don Moore opined that "it's not important if you make mistakes, it's how you respond to them" and went on to say, "Out of something wrong, something right can happen." Suttmeier called the plan to site an alternative learning program on Warren Street "a bold move," and said, "When there are bold moves, there is turbulence."

Arthur Cusano reports on last night's panel discussion about "The Bridge" in today's Register-Star: "Warren St. alternative ed forum draws heavy feedback." Sara Kendall was there recording the presentations and the discussion for WGXC, so chances are, in the fullness of time, those who were not there will be able to listen to the proceedings for themselves.

In her comments, Suttmeier recounted how the choice of 364 Warren Street had been made. She said they had first "looked to the home campuses" but found that (1) there was no space and (2) there were "union issues." It seems that union agreements prohibit faculty from other school districts from working in HCSD schools, and the teachers in this program will be Berkshire Union Free School faculty. She then explained that, when she "first became superintendent," Daniel Kent contacted her and offered to house the alternative learning program in the Armory. (Suttmeier took over as superintendent on July 1, 2012; Kent took over as executive director of the Galvan Foundation on September 19, 2012.) At the time, there was no ALP, but in April 2013, when she was seeking a site for the new program, Suttmeier called Kent to see if the Armory was still available. Just a month earlier, in March 2013, the Galvan Foundation had offered the space in the Armory not already committed to the Hudson Area Library to the City of Hudson for a senior center. Something else had to be chosen from the Galvan inventory of vacant buildings, and 364 Warren Street was it.

During last night's panel discussion, it seemed frustratingly impossible to separate the noble intentions of the program from the careless and wrongheaded decision to site it in the heart of Hudson's main street. Most people who expressed concern about with the location and dissatisfaction with the process by which it was chosen seemed compelled to preface their criticism with complimentary statements about program lest they be perceived as heartless malcontents. A refreshing exception was Bruce Porter, writer and professor at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia, now retired and living in Hudson. After Mayor William Hallenbeck's comments, in which he declared that "the bottom line is if one child is saved," Porter began by saying, "Enough of the violins." Porter's criticism was directed at the program: "I have not heard anything here that increases our confidence in this plan." He cited the HCSD administration's record of running "probably the worst high school in the state" and suggested that HCSD has a "record of disaster."

Criticism of the program also came from Linda Mussmann, co-director of Time & Space Limited, who observed that "the community is not included in your grand plan," and predicted that "if the community is not engaged, you will fail." She also spoke of the lack of minority faculty in the Hudson City School District and wanted to know how many of the teachers in the alternative program were minorities. She was told by Potter that three of the ten people who would be working with the students were minorities: the psychologist and two of the support staff. He stressed that the faculty for the program were selected because "they are excellent at what they do."

Joan E. Hunt, project manager for the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, also urged that the program include plans for involving the community. Suttmeier spoke to the intention to "invite students out into the community and invite the community into the school" and said she didn't know how the "myth" that kids will be "locked up in the building" got started. That seemed a rather disingenuous comment, since Suttmeier was present when Joe Catalano, attorney for the Galvan Foundation, tried to persuade the Planning Commission that the school would have no impact on the surrounding neighborhood by saying there would be "minimum use outside the building" and instruction would take place "behind closed doors."
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Grow Your Own Fish

If you've ever fantasized about having your own high-tech fish farm, today's your chance. Local Ocean is being auctioned off "in front of the steps" at the temporary Columbia County courthouse in Claverack. The bidding begins at 11 a.m. Arthur Cusano has the story in today's Register-Star: "Greenport's Local Ocean goes on the block today in Claverack." 

Defending the Viewshed

The Olana Partnership and Scenic Hudson have filed a legal challenge to overturn the approval granted by the Town of Livingston Planning Board for a 190-foot communications tower on Blue Hill, in the Olana viewshed. Joe Gentile has the story in today's Register-Star: "Environmental groups challenge Blue Hill ruling." 

In granting the approval, the Livingston Planning Board seems to have ignored letters of concern from the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) indicating that the tower would negatively impact views from Olana, which SHPO called a “preeminent historic landmark.” The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) granted a request from The Olana Partnership and Scenic Hudson for a review of the site under the provisions of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. In a letter issued on August 5, 2013, the FCC stated: "The proposed tower would be plainly and prominently visible from Olana, which is a National Historic Landmark. Moreover, as the home of a landscape artist and the site of many of his famous works, the view from Olana is not only a contributing characteristic to its historic integrity, but is uniquely important to understanding the life and experiences of its famous resident. In addition, the proposed lattice tower may present a significantly greater visual intrusion than the existing guyed towers on the Olana property and landscapes."

Olana attracts 130,000 visitors every year, who support 267 jobs and generate $7.9 million for the local economy. The views from Olana are integral to the experience of the historic site and represent the birthplace of America's first art movement. To protect the Olana viewshed, Scenic Hudson has worked directly with more than a dozen property owners and invested nearly $6 million to conserve more than 1,500 acres of their lands. Other conservation groups have partnered with landowners to preserve nearly another 1,000 acres.

Photo of Blue Hill courtesy Jonathan Simons

The Over Powerful Fifth Ward and How It Began

Last February, the Common Council adopted the new weighted vote, based on the 2010 census and impacted by the New York State law, passed in August 2010, requiring prisoners to be counted, for legislative purposes, in the communities where they were living prior to becoming prisoners instead of in the communities where they were incarcerated. The big winners in the new weighted vote were the aldermen from the Fifth Ward, whose weighted votes in a simple majority went from 278 to 364 each. Whereas before, the vote of an alderman from the Fifth Ward was 2.957 times more powerful than that of an alderman from the First Ward or the Fourth Ward, it is now 3.831 times more powerful. Put another way, an affirmative vote cast by an alderman representing the First Ward or the Fourth Ward represents a little more than 9 percent of the total votes needed for a simple majority, whereas an affirmative vote cast by one of the aldermen from the Fifth Ward represents 36 percent of the votes needed for a simple majority.

Various plans have been suggested to give more equity in representation. In 2003, there was a referendum on a proposal to eliminate the weighted vote by replacing the wards with election districts of equal population, whose boundaries would be redrawn after every decennial census. The referendum was defeated, probably in part because people feared microcosmic gerrymandering and also because there was, particularly with residents of the original part of the city, a reluctance to do away with the old ward boundaries that have existed for two centuries.

The Hudson Democrats have made eliminating or rebalancing the weighted vote a plank in their 2013 platform. Democratic mayoral candidate Victor Mendolia has suggested that an easy way to achieve better balance would be to create a Sixth Ward by dividing the Fifth Ward into two wards using the current election district boundaries.

This review of the weighted vote is by way of introducing another discovery made over the weekend: this item, which appeared in the Hudson Daily Evening Register for April 30, 1886, soon after the creation of the Fifth Ward. The text is transcribed below.

The Additional Ward for Hudson.

Now that the bill creating an additional Ward for this city has become law, there is much inquiry as to how and when the law goes into effect. The Act provides that--

"At the annual election for city and ward officers to be held in said city on the first Tuesday of December, eighteen hundred and eighty-six, there shall be elected in said Fifth Ward, one alderman to serve for the term of one year, from the first day of January next succeeding his election, and one alderman to serve for the term of two years from such first day of January, and thereafter the alderman annually elected in said ward shall serve for the term of two years from the first day of January next succeeding his election. * * * There shall be elected in said Fifth ward, at the annual election for city and ward officers, to be held in said city on the first Tuesday of December, eighteen hundred and eight-six, and annually thereafter, one supervisor, who shall serve for said ward." 

While it is not entirely clear, it seems that the Fifth Ward may have started out having only one alderman, who was elected first, in an even year, to a one-year term, so he could get on the same cycle as the rest of the aldermen, who were, as they still are today, elected at the end of an odd year to start their two-year terms at the beginning of an even year. One alderman from the Fifth Ward may have been a way of achieving representation proportionate to population, since in 1886, the Fifth Ward was definitely more sparsely populated than the other wards. This map of the Fifth Ward is from the 1888 Beers Atlas.

Meeting Reminder

The panel discussion and public forum about locating "The Bridge," an alternative learning program for students from the Hudson City School District and the Catskill Central School District, in the former Register-Star building at the corner of Warren and Fourth streets happens tonight at 6 p.m. at the Central Firehouse, 77 North Seventh Street. The agenda for the meeting can be viewed here.

How It Was Done in 1886

John Mason reports in today's Register-Star on the Common Council's confabulations about how to achieve uniform, walkable sidewalks throughout city: "City mulls sidewalk repair." Given that ongoing discussion among our current aldermen, the discovery today of this resolution, passed by the Common Council on April 29, 1886, and reported in the Hudson Daily Evening Register on April 30, 1886, seemed serendipitous.

Because the text of the resolution is hard to read, it is transcribed below. Alderman Barry represented the First Ward, but it seems he may also have been chair of the Street Committee. Most of the locations cited are in the First Ward, but the numbering of lots and houses did not change until 1888-1889, so it's possible one or two of the offending lots were in the Third Ward.

Resolved, The owner or owners, occupant or occupants of the respective lots hereinafter specified, are hereby required and directed to lay, relay, or repair, pave or repave, grade or regrade the sidewalk and gutter in front of said lots, respectively, and where required to pave or repave it shall be with four feet flag in the center and hard brick on the sides, and to set or reset the curb and lay or relay the gutter adjoining the sidewalk, as follows: The owner or owners, occupant or occupants, respectively, of lot on west side of South First street, between Union street and Cherry alley, and lots Nos. 51, 101, and 125 Union street, to repave walk and reset curb; lot on west side of Third street, between Union and Partition, to reset curb and relay gutter; lots Nos. 112, 110, 106, 104, 102, and 80 Allen street, to repave walk and reset curb, under the direction of the City Surveyor on lines and a grade to be given by him, within thirty days from the time of the service of a copy of this resolution upon said owners or occupants, respectively, in pursuance of sub-division 5, section 33 of the charter of the city of Hudson.

A Chance Discovery

The last private owners of the Dr. Oliver Bronson House, the National Historic Landmark on the grounds of the Hudson Correctional Facility, were Elizabeth and Matilda McIntyre. Their brother, John F. McIntyre, had purchased the house for his unmarried sisters in 1883.

I always imagined that the sisters were middle-aged spinsters when their brother bought them the house, which they called Glenwood, but I recently discovered--quite by accident--Matilda's obituary which appeared in the Register-Star on October 31, 1914.

   
Matilda, who was 53 when she died in 1914, would have been just 22 when her brother bought the house and she and her sister took up residence there. The year after Matilda's death, Elizabeth, who was 15 years older than Matilda, sold the house to the State of New York, to expand the Girls' Training School, with the understanding that she could continue living there during her lifetime. Elizabeth died in 1917, at the age of 71.

The photo of the house, from the period when it was the home of the McIntyre sisters (1883-1917), is from Historic Hudson's collection and appears on the blog Dr. Oliver Bronson House Day Book.

Does Hudson Need a Bomb-Sniffing Dog?

CBS News photo

According to a report on CBS News a couple weeks ago, there has been an increased demand for bomb-sniffing dogs since the Boston Marathon bombing in April. But does the City of Hudson need one?

At Thursday night's Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting, John "Duke" Duchessi, who handles grant writing and administration at the Hudson Development Corporation, spoke of applying for a grant to acquire a K-9 Unit for the Hudson Police Department--specifically, a bomb-sniffing dog. It was unclear if the perceived need for a bomb-sniffing dog originated with the HPD (Duchessi said something about a hazards assessment) or was inspired by there being federal money currently available for such things.

Fine Dining in Hudson 70 Years Ago

It was the middle of World War II. Food was being rationed. Forty percent of the vegetables consumed on the home front came from victory gardens. Still, in spite of it all, you could get a sumptuous meal at the General Worth Hotel. Here is the menu for October 24, 1943.

A whole broiled lobster for $1.75 seems like a really good deal until you consider that the average annual salary in 1943 was something like $1,300.

In the Courtyard

In the Register-Star article about the Planning Commission giving site plan approval for the new use of 364 Warren Street as an alternative learning school, John Mason reports that Daniel Kent, executive director for the Galvan Foundation, said the ALP program would have "access to the recently renovated courtyard on Warren Street." "Recently renovated" raised a question. Was stripping it of every bit of foliage--magnolias, holly bushes, and other shrubs--what was meant by "recently renovated"? It turns out it wasn't. The report suggests the renovation has already happened, but it hasn't happened yet. 

Today, a crew was pulling up the brick paving in the courtyard. What will replace is not known.

Intel from Thursday Night's Committee Meeting

Sometimes information can be gleaned at a committee meeting long before it gets on the radar of the general public. The Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting on Thursday night may have provided one of those opportunities.

In her report to the committee, Sheena Salvino, executive director of HDC (Hudson Development Corporation) and HCDPA (Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency), talked about site planning for the former Kaz warehouse at the junction of Cross Street and Tanners Lane. The immediate response came from committee member John Friedman (Third Ward), who pointed out that the warehouse was in a floodplain, and, given the expected effects of climate change on the Hudson River, there would be at least two inches of water there in twenty years.

When Salvino explained that the HDC board had asked her to start thinking about site planning, Don Moore, Common Council president and chair of the committee, suggested that she involve Omni Housing Development, since "we're working with them," and they have "experience doing this sort of thing"--"this sort of thing" being developing affordable housing not designing buildings that can accommodate the expected return of South Bay.

It has been more than two years since we've heard anything about Omni Development and the plan to demolish Bliss Towers and replace it with dozens of duplexes scattered throughout the Second and Fourth wards or perhaps throughout the whole city. In January 2011, we learned that Omni had hired Tim O'Byrne, a site selection specialist from BBL, to work on the Bliss Towers replacement project. At some point in the last two years, Moore commented that the project was having trouble finding enough potential building sites, but no more information has been forthcoming. Moore's mention of Omni on Thursday was a reminder that the plan has not been abandoned, although its current status is unknown.

Interestingly, 248 and 250 Columbia Street, which are soon to be demolished by their owner to make way for a new five-unit apartment building, were on Fourth Ward supervisor Bill Hughes' list of fourteen buildings he thought could be demolished to make way for Bliss Towers replacement units. That was in September 2010. According to tax records, the current owner bought 250 Columbia Street in June 2011 and 248 Columbia Street in July 2012.

If the plan, as presented in April 2010, for replacing the 132 units of Bliss Towers with two-household buildings scattered throughout the city is moving forward unchanged, it should be of enormous concern to the property owners of the city. It will affect the entire city, and it should not be moving toward implementation without the public being made aware of what is happening. The first plank in the Hudson Democrats' 2013 platform, which addresses the staggering property tax burden in Hudson, states: "We support initiatives to increase housing density to help drive down taxes." As originally presented, the plan to replace Bliss Towers, which seems to be an attempt to provide a semblance of the American dream of suburbia in a city with a land area of about two square miles, is the antithesis of increasing housing density to help drive down taxes.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

So Long, Old Houses

The owner of these two houses--248 and 250 Columbia Street--was at the Planning Commission meeting on Wednesday night to submit an application for site plan approval. He intends to demolish the two houses and build on their footprint one new building that will have five one-bedroom apartments. The applicant said that Peter Wurster, code enforcement officer, had reviewed and approved the plans for the new building, but, checking the bulk requirements in the city code, Cheryl Roberts, city attorney and counsel to the Planning Commission, raised a red flag. 

The site is zoned R-4, and the minimum required size for a "dwelling unit" in R-4 is 1,500 square feet. Roberts pointed out that an apartment is a "dwelling unit," and since the total square footage of the new building being proposed is 1,700 square feet, there is no way that each of the five apartments can be 1,500 square feet. It seems like it may be time to refine the code and clarify the terminology.
COPYRIGHT 2013 CAROLE OSTERINK

Of Interest: Hudson on YouTube

An incident that took place last night at the Half Moon, involving a Hudson police officer, was recorded and published on YouTube.
Gossips Note: At about 4:00 p.m. today, this video went "Private." The reason for this action is not known.