Of Interest

Here's news from the Kingston Daily Freeman that I don't recall seeing in our local newspaper: "Columbia Memorial Hospital, former Benedictine pay state more than $1.5 million to settle lawsuit."

Thanks to C. L. for bringing this to Gossips' attention

A Different Kind of Police Profiling

MICROPOLITAN DIARY

Dear Diary,

Last night at the Common Council Police Committee meeting, Commissioner Gary Graziano shared this story. He had stopped home briefly before the committee meeting, which started at 6, and while he was there, he heard a knock on the front door. Answering it, he was greeted by a woman who thanked him and the Hudson Police Department for all their good work and handed him a large manila envelope. The envelope contained thirty-five Dunkin' Donuts gift cards.

"Micropolitan Diary" is Gossips' homage to and blatant imitation of "Metropolitan Diary" in the New York Times. The term micropolitan was coined because Hudson is a metropolis in micorcosm.
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What the Chief and the Commissioner Said

Last Wednesday, HPD Chief Edward Moore and Police Commissioner Gary Graziano sent a press release to the Register-Star expressing their gratitude to the Richard & Terez Abatecola Foundation for the generous donation made to the Hudson Police Department. Instead of printing the press release as it had been submitted, the Register-Star folded it into an article that seemed more about the proposed police and court building going over budget than about acknowledging the contribution made by the Abatecolas: "Donation may be used for police/court complex." 

Gossips received that same press release from Graziano tonight and is happy to publish it exactly as it was written.

The Richard & Terez Abatecola Foundation Inc. was founded in 2005 as a charitable organization that generously gives back to the community. In the past 10 years the Abatecola's have provided vital funding to the Hudson City School District Food Bank/Backpack program, the Hudson Little League, the Columbia-Greene Humane Society, and flood victims in Greene County . . . to name a few.

The Hudson Common Council recently approved a resolution to accept a $10,000 donation earmarked for use by the Hudson City Police Department. Today [August 19, 2015], with gratitude, we accept the donation.

"It has been recognized for more than 20 years that the Hudson Police Station is inadequate and does not meet the needs of a modern police department. We have been working in concert with the city council for more than 2 years to create a new police station. The most recent stage in the development of this project was called 'value engineering.' The architect has taken our original plan and reduced the construction costs by removing many of the amenities and conveniences that would directly benefit our police officers. It is our intent to put the Abatecola gift into account, and apply the funding as we move through the construction process."--Chief Moore

"On behalf of the City of Hudson Police Department I am grateful and appreciative to Rich and Terez for their support of our department. I commend them for their generosity, not only to the HPD, but to the various organizations that they have helped over the last 10 years. It's satisfying that they choose to recognize our Department and for that we sincerely thank them for their vote of confidence."--Police Commissioner Gary Graziano

The State of the Schools

The results of the New York State Testing Program were released recently. The tests are based on the controversial Common Core Learning Standards. Here's how things look for the Hudson City School District. (Click on the image to enlarge it.)

What you need to know to interpret the numbers is that students performing at Level 4 excel in the standards for their grade: their knowledge and skills are considered more than sufficient; students performing at Level 3 are proficient: their knowledge and skills are considered sufficient; students performing at Level 2 are partially proficient: their knowledge and skills are insufficient to meet expectations for their grade, but they are still on track to meet current New York high school graduation requirements; students performing at Level 1 are well below proficient in the standards for their grade. 

Levels 3 and 4 is where you want students to be; Level 1 is where you don't want them to be. Sadly, in every test at every grade level, the percentage of HCSD students performing at Level 1 was greater--in some cases significantly greater--than the percentage of students performing at Levels 3 and 4 combined.

Even if you rail against Common Core Standards and don't believe in standardized testing, you have to admit that these figures are not without significance.
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The State of the Crosswalks

In June and again in August, Supervisor Ed Cross (Second Ward) has come to Common Council meetings to complain about crosswalks and the fact that drivers pay no mind to them. A week or so ago, I noticed that crosswalks at Union and Fourth streets, where my dog and I pass at least once a day, had been partially repainted. The parallel lines going from curb to curb had been done, but the diagonal lines in between those parallel lines had not. In my experience, drivers rarely stopped for those crosswalks in the first place. Now it seemed they were going totally unnoticed.

Someone told me that the diagonal lines in the crosswalks were not being painted because, according to Rob Perry, DPW superintendent, they had run out of paint, and there was no money in the budget to buy more. Could this be true? If so, what would that suggest about the mayor's celebrated fiscal thrift and his renown for keeping property taxes low. 

So I sent that above picture to Perry and asked about the crosswalks.

I was wondering why the diagonal stripes had not been painted in the crosswalks at Fourth and Union streets. Drivers rarely acknowledged these crosswalks before, and now, without the diagonal stripes, they don’t even slow down. Someone told me the diagonal stripes had been omitted because DPW had run out of paint and there was no money to buy more. Is this true? Or is there another explanation?

In response, Perry sent me this picture and the message that follows.

In contrast to the pedestrian view your email depicts, the view from approaching traffic shows the crosswalks visible and with supplemental signage in place to draw greater attention to their presence.

As for the cross-hash, there are a number of considerations regarding them, which will be discussed at DPW Committee on Wednesday.

The Common Council Public Works Committee meets at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, August 26, at City Hall.
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Coming Soon to Upper Warren Street

There's a sign on the former Warren Inn former Roylton Motel former Warren Theatre announcing that the building's newest iteration, the Rivertown Lodge, is opening next month. 

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The Scene on Sunday Morning

Next, the stained glass returns. Hallelujah!
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Sursum Corda

Gratitude to Lisa Durfee for the video.
Gratitude to Byrne Fone for the title.

Saturday Night in Hudson

At shortly after 10 o'clock tonight, the new tracery was lifted into place at the First Presbyterian Church, and Vince Mulford snapped this picture.

Photo: Vincent Mulford

Happening Now

It appears they are getting ready to install the new tracery at the First Presbyterian Church.

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What He Meant . . . Maybe

Since yesterday, I have been mulling the mayor's claim that Hudson is the "4th most visited City in America." How could this be? Hudson is not one of the cities on TripAdvisor's list of the 25 most popular destinations in the country--a list that begins with New York City and ends with Austin, Texas. Maybe "small" was the missing qualifier. But Hudson didn't make Smithsonian Magazine's list of "The 25 Best Small Towns to Visit" in 2015, 2014, 2013, or 2012. Where did this statistic come from?  

It occurred to me that this claim might somehow be based on Amtrak passenger statistics. The number of passengers that come and go from the train station in Hudson had been a topic of interest when Saratoga Associates presented the results of their feasibility study on the Dunn building, so maybe this was the basis of the mayor's claim.

The National Association of Railroad Passengers provides the chart below, which gives the number of passengers by station in New York. Predictably, the station with the most passengers is New York City, followed by Albany-Rensselaer. In 2012 and 2013, Rhinecliff was 3rd and Hudson was 4th, but in 2014, Hudson pulled ahead of Rhinecliff, to seize 3rd place, with 185,611 passengers as compared with Rhinecliff's 184,337.

Might this information be the basis for the mayor's claim that Hudson is the "4th most visited City in America"? We have the fourth busiest train station in the state?

Of course, questioning the mayor's statement puts Gossips firmly in the camp of those "local social media propaganda bloggers" who want to "ruin what we have worked so successfully to establish over the past three years." I think, however, that Hudson's vibrant return from the edge in a post-industrial era, which has been happening incrementally and inexorably since 1985, as a result of the vision and the work of many, is enough to celebrate without having to gild the lily with specious claims.
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All Is in Readiness

The new tracery for the stained glass window in the Warren Street facade of the First Presbyterian Church arrived this evening. Sarah Sterling sent Gossips this picture at 7:13 p.m.

Although this has not been confirmed, Gossips predicts that the tracery will be installed tomorrow morning. Very soon we can expect the window of the church will be back, restored and more beautiful than we remember it.

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Ear to the Ground

Gossips can finally report the news that has been roiling about since Monday. Victor Mendolia, Democratic candidate for Common Council president, is withdrawing from the race. Mendolia released this statement to Gossips and other media only minutes ago:

I recently found out that I will be needing surgery which could put me out of commission for some time at the peak of the upcoming campaign. So while I was looking forward to a robust airing of the issues facing the city, I have come to conclusion that my health must come first and I will not be campaigning for Common Council President. But what made my decision even easier is that I believe that Tom DePietro is committed to open government and a return to civility in the Common Council. Which is so desperately needed. So I will be throwing my support to electing Tom DePietro as Hudson’s next Common Council President. While it is too late to remove my name from the ballot, I hope that people will now unite around Tom and vote for him on the All-Hudson Party line. 

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How Long Have These Been Here?

Admittedly, focused always on what transpires in Hudson, Gossips rarely leaves the city, so if these signs have been in place for a really long time, I apologize. But this afternoon, returning from PetSmart with Joey, I noticed this sign on Fairview Avenue for the very first time.

Checking the other ways into the Hudson--Route 9, Route 9G, Route 23B--confirmed that these new green signs greet visitors arriving by car no matter which way they enter Hudson.
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Primary Prep

The primary election is now less than three weeks away. It takes place on Thursday, September 10, and the polls will be open from noon until 9 p.m. Not all wards and not all voters are involved, but here are the ones that are.

FIRST WARD
Registered Democrats in the First Ward will vote to determine who the two Democratic candidates for alderman will be. The candidates are Rick Rector, Michael O'Hara, and Nick Haddad. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here 

FOURTH WARD
Registered Democrats and registered Republicans will be voting in the primary. The Democrats will be choosing two candidates from a field of three who will run for alderman on the Democratic line in the November election. The three possibilities are Lauren Scalera, Rich Volo, and Alexis Keith. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

The Republicans will also be selecting two alderman candidates, but there is only one name on the ballot--that of Derrick Smart, a registered Republican endorsed by the Republican Committee. The committee also endorsed Lauren Scalera (yeah, right, she's also running in the Democratic primary), but the committee chair neglected to file the necessary Wilson Pakula forms to allow a Democrat to run as a Republican necessitating this step. The committee expects Republicans to write in Scalera's name, but in fact they can write in other name or names. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

FIFTH WARD
In the Fifth Ward, only registered Republicans vote in the primary, and they too vote to select who will be the Republican candidates for alderman in the November election. The Republican Committee endorsed two candidates, neither one of whom is a registered Republican: Robert "Doc" Donahue, a Democrat, and Priscilla Moore, an NOP (no official party). Once again, failure to file the Wilson Pakula forms makes it necessary for Fifth Ward Republicans to go to the polls on September 20 and write in the names of the people they want as their alderman candidates. The assumption is that they will write in the names of Donahue and Moore, but there are no names on the ballot, and they could write in anyone's name. The sample ballot reproduced below can also be viewed here.

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So Says the Mayor

This morning, the mayor, who seems to be conducting his reelection campaign on his Facebook page, posted the link, which Gossips posted two days ago, to the article in Bloomberg Business that identified Hudson as the 17th richest small town in America, and prefaced it with this comment:

4th most visited City in America, 3rd coolest City in America, and 17th Richest Small Town in America. Please do not let the local social media propaganda bloggers ruin what we have worked so successfully to establish over the past three years. There really isn't much more to say. The world is recognizing the City of Hudson, but a few people right in our own back yard refuse to because of politics. Including one running against me! Pretty sad don't you think.

I don't know what about this comment is more bizarre: the notion that "the local social media propaganda bloggers" (of whom I suspect I am one) are intent on ruining Hudson's current esteemed status, or the idea that Hudson's renaissance happened as a consequence of Bill Hallenbeck's three years as mayor.
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Of Thematic Concepts and Financial Planning

Last week, Gossips reported about the Upstate Revitalization Initiative, which pits the seven upstate regions of New York against each other in a competition only three of them can win. The stakes are seductively high. Each of the three winning regions will receive $500 million--$100 million a year for five years. A key element of the competition is coming up with a compelling and unifying theme for the region, to which all of the projects to be funded with the money relate. Yesterday morning, a meeting to solicit ideas from the most downstate part of the Capital Region took place at Columbia-Greene Community College. Katie Kocijanski reports on that meeting in today's Register-Star: "Twin County biz owners share thoughts for URI plan." 

Some of the suggestions made at the meeting reveal just how hard it will be to come up with a unifying theme. Attendees from Columbia County talked about such things as the region's agrarian economy, the cultural economy, and heritage tourism. In contrast, someone from Greene County spoke of the need for more manufacturing.

The Upstate Revitalization Initiative was a topic of discussion at last night's Common Council Ecomonic Development Committee meeting. Speaking of the URI, Sheena Salvino, executive director of HDC, told the members of the committee present (Don Moore, Rick Rector, and Nick Haddad) that the $500 million, should the Capital Region be one of the lucky winners, "still requires matches." She advised the committee, "We need to have the match thought about and set aside." 

In urging this financial preparedness, Salvino was recommending pretty much the same thing that the Council president and city treasurer proposed last November: a capital reserve fund. It will be remembered that the mayor was vehemently opposed to the concept, because it required a $70,000 contribution from property taxes, and the more myopically parsimonious members of the Council agreed, voting 1,383 to 645 to remove the $70,000 that would establish a capital reserve fund from the 2015 budget.
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One Last Post About Tuesday's Council Meeting

Two days have passed since Tuesday's two-hour Common Council meeting, but one more resolution passed in the marathon session merits mention: the resolution authorizing the mayor "to enter into an agreement with Ambient Environmental, Inc., for a sum not to exceed $11,262 to complete asbestos and lead-based paint testing services for the seventeen (17) dilapidated structures situate on the City's property adjacent to the Sewage Treatment Plant in the North Bay Area of the City"--in other words, the Furgary Boat Club.

When the resolution was first introduced at the July Common Council meeting, there was a great hue and cry from the aldermen. It was originally estimated that the testing would cost $4,500, but Ambient had advised the City that, because of the extent of the testing needed, it is going to cost $11,262. Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward) called it a waste of money. "We know it's dirty," he asserted, speaking of the entire Furgary site. At that meeting, it was decided to defer voting on the resolution until an estimate for the demolition, based on the assumption that everything to be knocked down and removed was hazardous waste, was obtained from Meyers Contracting. Alderman Nick Haddad (First Ward) volunteered to get that estimate.

Since the July meeting, a couple of things have happened. First, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) determined that the settlement of shacks now known as the Furgary Boat Club meets the eligibility criteria for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. Then, thanks to the persistence of Timothy O'Connor, the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) weighed in and made it clear that, because the shacks are located in a state-regulated wetland, a Freshwater Wetlands Permit would be required to remove them. At Tuesday's meeting, Council president Don Moore seemed to indicate that, if the City did not complete the appropriate testing, DEC would fine the City $2,000 per shack. The SHPO determination, however, was never mentioned, although Moore received the word of it on July 31, at the same time Gossips did.

When the Council voted on the resolution, Friedman, who had called it a waste of money, abstained, and Haddad, who had volunteered to get the estimate from Meyers, voted no. The rest of the members present voted yes, and the resolution passed.

So far, to Gossips knowledge anyway, the Common Council has not publicly acknowledged the SHPO determination or discussed its ramifications.
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Meeting Reminder

Whether you have children in school or not, the quality of the local school district affects you. The lion's share of our property taxes goes to the school district, and we are paying dearly for results that are less then mediocre. HCSD has an annual budget of about $45 million (by comparison, the City of Hudson's annual budget is just under $12.5 million) and an enrollment of about 1,800. Yet year after year, HCSD ranks at or near the bottom as compared with other school districts in the Capital Region.

Tonight, in the cafeteria of John L. Edwards Primary School, the Board of Education of the Hudson City School District is inviting community input. From 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., they will be conducting a "facilitated conversation" to hear suggestions from the community for how to meet "the board's current and/or proposed goals for the next five years." The press release issued by HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier reads in part:

For the upcoming forum, there will be opportunities for participants to answer the following questions. Each subtitle refers to one of the board’s current and/or proposed goals for the next five years.

Raising the Bar: The Hudson City School District is committed to improving the academic success of every child, pre-K through graduation. There are changes that must be made to meet these goals.

• What changes do you envision could create a more rigorous and challenging environment for all of our students?

Closing the Gap: Our district is locally unique; we serve a wide range of rural and urban families who are religiously, racially, socially, economically, and internationally diverse. Often, our achievement gaps fall along these lines.

• What can we do to support each other?
• What can we do to support each child, regardless of differences, in a more challenging and rigorous academic climate?

Aligning Curriculum: The district curriculum is our map to what students learn and how they learn it. The maps must be aligned to state and national requirements, and they must be effective (note: we test students to determine whether they understand what is being taught and then we use that data to revise what and how we teach). We also intend for our district curriculum to be relevant to our student body and to help set them on the path to career and college.

• How can we improve communication between the schools, caregivers, and students so that expectations and the student’s education are consistent and more easily understood?

Social Emotional Development: The social and emotional well-being of our students is fundamental to their success.

• From your perspective, what can the district provide for our students to feel safe, fulfilled, and empowered?

Once everyone has had an opportunity to provide input to these questions information will be reported out.

The Scandal of 1922: Part XII

In our previous installment, the trial of Chief John Cruise was adjourned at 11:30 p.m. on a Friday night, after the testimony of the officers serving under Cruise had been heard. When the trial reconvened on Saturday afternoon, acting chief Thomas Connors was called to the stand. Although, as usual, a large crowd of spectators had gathered to witness the hearing, the Columbia Republican reported: "The afternoon session . . . proved to be quite a peaceful session as compared with some of the others held in the past. There was not a tilt among counsel." Things picked up, however, when Chief Cruise himself took the stand. The following are excerpts from the report that appeared in the Columbia Republican on May 23, 1922.

The feature of Saturday's session was the examination and cross examination of the Chief who took the stand in his own defence [sic]. He was on the stand nearly four hours and his direct examination consumed over three. His cross examination by Mr Coffin was grilling and dealt at some length with the Chief's police record. When questioned about the various times he had been before the Commission for infractions of rules, the Chief failed to remember but said he would not dispute the record if the occasions were recorded in the minutes of the Commission. . . .

Chief Cruise detailed the method in vogue to find out and check up suspected places. He told of his being present at the first meeting of the Commission, when the Commissioners said the condition of the city was very bad and that they wanted results and that they would hold him responsible for conditions. In reply to the instructions of the Commission he said he would do the best he could and had regularly reported conditions to the Commission in writing and advised them of what he was doing to enforce the law and told them of the system he had in use. He said that in November, 1921, he had asked the Commission for outside assistance to aid in getting violations and also he had asked for a clerical man, but neither was ever granted. He did not have a full quota of men and was two and three men short and another man was under suspension. Two others were detailed to traffic duty which left five men for general patrol duty.

In 1921 the police made 32 arrests under the Mullen-Gage act and 16 indictments were had and 15 convictions obtained. . . . 

In 1921 the percentage of convictions obtained by his department was 60 per cent of the arrests made.

On the 6th of September, 1921, he was asked for his resignation and again later in that month, he refused it and then on the 9th of March, 1922, he was again asked to resign. He then detailed incidents of the raids of that night and told of his meeting Leigh, the detective, who told him that the town was rotten. The Chief asked him if he knew it to be so and he replied yes, to which the Chief replied, "Well, then you know more than I do." He told of the meeting held by the Commission at the conclusion of the raids on the night of March 9th and told of Commissioner Van Deusen asking him for his resignation which he refused to give following which Commissioner Van Deusen offered the resolution which suspended him. 

He was not told that night that he was to appear before a meeting of the Public Safety Commission, nor was he ever informed of his right to counsel or of his rights in the matter. He was not told that anything he might say might be used against him.

As to each place charged with sales of liquor he denied that he had ever neglected to do anything which would aid in getting evidence of violations.

The Chief then denied categorically each and every one of the charges which were made against him by the Commissioners. He said he did not know of any police rule requiring the drilling of policemen nor of any rule requiring revolver practice, nor had the Commission ever told him to hold such inspections. . . .

Despite the fact that the Chief had consistently advised the Commission of Public Safety that moral conditions in Hudson were fine, he finally admitted under a grilling cross examination by Mr Coffin that there were 11 places on Diamond street in 1921 which he himself suspected of being disorderly houses and he further admitted that he had so advised Mayor Galster in a letter.

In his cross examination of the Chief Mr Coffin brought out the fact that the record book, which the officers signed after making their supposed inspections of these suspected places, disclosed the fact that these suspected places were visited about five minutes apart. For instance, the book showed that one place was visited at 9:45 and the next one would be 9:50 and so on, which apparently would leave very little time for a search of the premises and a trip to the next place.

Mr Coffin asked the Chief whether he had ever noticed this peculiarity of the record, and he said he had and had spoken to the officers about it, but that he had never followed it up further. 

Mr Coffin's cross examination then took a turn toward the Chief's police record. When asked whether he had ever been fined five days' pay by the Police Commission for intoxication on a public street, the Chief could not remember, though he said he would not dispute the minutes of the Commission if it was there. He could not remember that on another occasion his resignation had been asked because of drunkenness and that he had given it and never recalled it, though again the Chief said he would not dispute the record if it was on the minutes.

He did not recall having been fined one day's pay for visiting a drinking saloon to wit the Hotel Lincoln [the Hotel Lincoln was located just down the street from police headquarters at 309-311 Warren Street] while he was on duty as Sergeant, nor could he recall having been before the Police Commission for failing to pay his bills, though again he stated that he would not dispute the record if it appeared there.

Mr Coffin then asked him about receiving $25 from a woman for looking up the whereabouts of her husband. He could not remember how much of this money he had spent for the purpose, nor whether he had ever made any accounting of it to the woman's attorney, no could he recall whether he had received permission from the Commission or from a Commissioner to absent himself from town.

Isn't it a fact, said Mr Coffin, that a majority of the arrests and convictions obtained by you under the Mullen-Gage act were foreigners? The Chief replied that he did not know what Mr Coffin meant by foreigners and he hadn't noticed whether they were or not. . . . 

The examination then turned to the famous confidential list of suspected places. This was the list which had been furnished by the District Attorney. When asked why he had not shown any particular activity about this list until the Commission had asked him about it the Chief said he was making investigations of the places, but admitted that it was not until the Commission had asked him about it that he began sending out the notices to the tenants and property owners.  

When the Commission asked about the list he thought he had mislaid it and asked the District Attorney for another copy of it, but later he found it up home.

The hour of midnight having been passed President Whitbeck announced after a conference with the attorneys that an adjournment would be taken until Friday afternoon, May 26th, at 4 p.m., at which time the Chief's cross examination will be continued.

And Gossips recounting of the trial of Chief Cruise will also be continued.
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