Of Hotels and Taxes

A week or so ago, the news broke that Redburn Development is seeking a PILOT for the hotel being proposed for 41 Cross Street. An email from a reader asking why a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) was being discussed instead of TIF (tax increment financing) suggests that the term PILOT doesn't really reflect what's being requested.

The PILOT schemes being discussed all involve incremental increases in property taxes, which bring the amount paid to 100 percent over the course of ten to twenty years. In one scenario, the amount paid in the first year is 5 percent of the total tax, increasing by 5 percent every year for twenty years until it reaches 100 percent. In another, the percentage of the tax paid is 0 percent in the first year and increases 10 percent each year until it reaches 100 percent in the eleventh year. In another, 50 percent of the tax is paid in the first year, and the percentage increases by 5 percent each year until it reaches 100 in the eleventh year. In each of these plans, the assessment on the property remains the same for twenty years.

The Hudson IDA's initial consideration of a PILOT for Redburn Development took place on Thursday, May 12. They will take up the topic again in a meeting that has been scheduled for Thursday, June 2, at 10 a.m.

On a different subject related to hotels (and B&Bs) and taxes, in September 2015, the Common Council adopted a law enacting a lodging tax in the City of Hudson. The law requires authorization by the New York State Legislature. In February--five months after the Common Council had adopted it--it was discovered that a formal home rule request had never been made, and bills authorizing the tax had not been introduced either in the Senate or the Assembly. 

With just ten days left in the current legislative session, bills have now been introduced in both the Senate (S07790) and the Assembly (A10302) and have been referred to committee. Those interested can track their progress here.
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Hudson Sunday Morning . . . and Afternoon

According to Gossips research, Oakdale Lake was created in the summer of 1915, but others have declared this year to be the artificial lake's 100th anniversary. Gossips won't quibble. Whether 100 or 101 years old, it needs some TLC. And this weekend, it will be getting it.

This Sunday, May 22, Hudson FORWARD, Village Dodge, and Columbia-Greene Media are sponsoring the Oakdale Lake Community Cleanup, to get the lake "spiffed up" for the summer, and volunteers are needed. Everyone willing to lend a hand is asked to meet at the beach house at 10 a.m. (Parking is available next to the beach house.) Bring work gloves and sturdy trash bags. Kids 8 years old and older are welcome to help, if they are accompanied by an adult. Click here to let folks know that you are ready and able to help out.

Later on Sunday, another of Hudson's open space resources will be getting some attention when Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton hosts a public conversation--an "outdoor open house"--about North Bay.  

This is the meeting that was supposed to take place on May 1 but had to be rescheduled because of rain. The plan for the meeting is to bring together various community groups for an exchange of ideas about North Bay and the surrounding area. The discussion will include how to utilize the former Furgary Boat Club, ways to open access to the river for kayaking and fishing, the Columbia Land Conservancy's plan for the North Bay Recreation and Natural Area, and other concerns and proposals for this part of the city.

The mayor is expected to make a brief presentation, after which those attending can circulate and speak informally with representatives of the Columbia Land Conservancy, the Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee, and other groups. 

The meeting takes place at 1 p.m., outdoors, at what was once the Furgary Boat Club, where North Front Street meets Dock Street.
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This Month's Common Council Meeting

Some people showed up at last Tuesday's Common Council meeting hoping to witness the chaos and dissension that characterized last month's meeting. They were disappointed. According to reports (Gossips wasn't there), the Council managed to discuss and vote on fourteen resolutions in under fifty minutes, without raised voices or finger pointing. In fact, everyone was so subdued and soft spoken, it is sometimes hard to hear what they are saying in Dan Udell's video, which was released this morning and can be viewed here. 

A moment of levity occurs at the end of the meeting, when Ellen Thurston rises to comment on a typo in one of the documents. Jonathan Lerner was referred to as the chair of the Conversation Advisory Council instead of the Conservation Advisory Council. Thurston says she wasn't aware that Hudson had a Conversation Advisory Council but is glad to learn of it and expresses her hope that it will help to improve the quality of discourse in Council Chambers.

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Election Withdrawal

Back in November, Tom DePietro, then running for Common Council president, lost the election because 286 people who might have voted for him voted instead for a candidate who had withdrawn from the race more than two months earlier. Withdrawal also played a part in DePietro's brief write-in candidacy for the HCSD Board of Education.

On Sunday, Gossips shared the news that DePietro would be willing to serve on the school board if he were elected as a write-in candidate. (There were three openings on the school board, and only two candidates.) On Tuesday morning—the day of the school board election—DePietro reportedly was informed that he could not serve on the school board and continue to hold the positions he has in city government. DePietro is the chair of the Planning Board, a position that also gives him a seat on the board of the Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA), the Industrial Development Agency (IDA), and the Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee (WASC). Unwilling to give up his positions in city government, DePietro sent out emails yesterday, shortly after the polls had opened, telling people he was withdrawing as a write-in candidate and urging people to write in Willette Jones.

The Register-Star reported today: "There were at least 93 write-in votes. The potential write-in candidate has to be checked to see if she is eligible. The name of the candidate is not available at this time." The pronoun used may be a tell. Gossips has learned unofficially that Jones received more write-in votes than DePietro.
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School District Elections Today

Today is your opportunity to approve (or not) the 2016-2017 Hudson City School District budget and to elect three members of the Board of Education. The polls will be open from noon to 9 p.m. Hudson residents vote at John L. Edwards Primary School, 360 State Street. Residents of Greenport, Stottville/Stockport, and Ghent vote at Greenport Pumper Company No. 1, 216 Green Street. Residents of Claverack, Livingston, and Taghkanic vote at A. B. Shaw Fire House, 67 NY-23 in Claverack. See you at the polls!
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Meeting Reminder

Today at 6 p.m., at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street, Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton will hold the first "open State of the City discussion." Members of the Hudson community are invited to bring to the meeting their questions, comments, and suggestions, with this caveat: "We respectfully request that any issues raised be presented along with at least one proposed solution--this will both provide an opportunity for positive dialogue and offer the city fresh perspectives on some long-standing issues." 
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News for Tuesday

As Gossips reported on Wednesday, there are three openings on the Hudson City School District Board of Education and only two candidates, which gives voters the opportunity to write in a candidate. 

This evening, Peter Meyer, who won as a write-in candidate with 92 votes back in 2007, shared the news that he had asked Tom DePietro if he would serve on the BOE if people wrote in his name, and DePietro indicated he would. To quote Meyer, "Tom is smart, knows his education business, and is vested in this community." Meyer goes on to say, "Many of you know Tom from his radio show on local WGXC or his work as the new Planning Board Chairman. I know him as an editor (Kirkus Reviews), writer, and book critic who studied with noted education historian E. D. Hirsch at the University of Virginia." What Meyer doesn't mention is that DePietro was a candidate for Common Council president last November, with the endorsement of the Hudson Democrats, and might have won had it not been for the confusion resulting from Victor Mendolia's name still being on the ballot even though he had withdrawn from the race months earlier. 

In this election, the school district is using the county's ballot-scanning machines for the first time, so the ballot will be similar to those used in political elections. The names of the BOE candidates will appear on the front of the ballot; the budget question on the back. The names of the two people who got a hundred signatures on petitions to become candidates--Sumayyah Shabazz and Linda Hopkins--will appear in the first two columns. The third column will be blank and provides the opportunity to write in a name.
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It's Really Going to Happen

Once again this year, there will an LGBTQ Pride Weekend in Hudson. The newly formed OutHudson announced yesterday the line up of events for the weekend of June 17 through June 19.

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The Wick Is the Topic, Morning and Evening

Two meetings happened on Thursday of which The Wick, the hotel proposed for 41 Cross Street, was the subject.

In the morning, the Hudson Industrial Development Agency (IDA) met to discuss a request for a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) from Redburn Development, the group seeking to turn an old industrial building, now owned by a not-for-profit and off the tax rolls, into a 55-room hotel. Tom Rossi, one of the partners in Redburn Development, told the members of the IDA, "We are not looking not to pay taxes; we are looking to know what our taxes will be."

There was concern among several at the meeting that this was the first anyone had heard about the PILOT for the project. The moribund state of Hudson's IDA, which seems not to have done anything since granting a PILOT to Evergreen Partners in 2009 for the redevelopment of Hudson Terrace, may be part of the reason why. Last year, the NYS Authorities Budget Office recommended that, because of its lack of activity, the Hudson IDA be absorbed by the Columbia County IDA. This has not happened, and Mike Tucker, the new president and CEO of the Columbia Economic Development Corporation (CEDC), advised against it, telling the members of the Hudson IDA that it is "important from a public policy standpoint that the city IDA stay in business, and the city and county IDAs work together." He cited the new development anticipated for the area adjacent to the proposed hotel and the possibility for further development on the waterfront as reasons why the Hudson IDA should "get back in the business of financing projects on their own."

There was considerable discussion during the meeting, which went on for almost two hours, and much of it is reported by John Mason in the Register-Star: "Hotel developer seeks tax break." Something that was not reported, however, is a comment made by Alderman Rick Rector (First Ward), who chairs the Common Council Economic Development Committee. He told the group, "We have to look at this project a bit differently. It's a hotel going into an area of future development. It's a catalyst for future development." He noted that the Sustainable Community Associates' project was attracted by the Redburn project. Tom DePietro, IDA member and Planning Board chair, commented, "What Rick said is basically our mission statement."

Another IDA meeting to discuss a PILOT for the project has been scheduled for Thursday, June 2, at 10 a.m.

Later on Thursday, the Planning Board held a public hearing on the hotel project. Five people made comments. Steve Dunn, who serves on the Zoning Board of Appeals and was the only member of the ZBA to vote to deny the project a needed use variance, expressed his continuing concern about parking. Beth Kanaga, who lives on Tanners Lane, praised Redburn Development for their proactive approach, working with the neighborhood and addressing their concerns, and expressed her support. Bob Rasner, who operates a B&B on Union Street, voiced his concern that the whole waterfront was being put on the line "with an untested hotel operator." Mike Tucker, president and CEO of CEDC, noted that the Regional Economic Development Council has made this project a priority and encouraged the Planning Board to approve it. Myron Polenberg, who also serves on the ZBA, observed, "I understand that there is going to be tax relief for the hotel."

Soon after the public hearing was closed, the Planning Board began its deliberation. Members of the board asked the applicants to explain their plans for potential flooding, for accommodating tour buses, and for parking. The code requires one parking space for each room with 300 feet of the hotel, and Rossi explained that they had 6 spaces behind the building, 26 in a large lot behind the building on Front Street where Relish is located, and 15 on the parcel next door to 41 Cross Street--all within 300 feet of the building--which put them only 8 spaces short of the required 55. He explained that there were 47 backup spots, in the Amtrak lot, where they would purchase permits from the City, and the parking lot at Basilica Hudson.

When it was observed that the hotel proposal was consistent with the larger vision for the waterfront outlined in the Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP), Rasner interjected, "I didn't say it wasn't consistent. I was saying it's gotta be good, it's gotta be really good."

After Planning Board chair Tom DePietro led the board through the SEQR short form, and a negative declaration was made, the four members of the board present and able to vote--Rob Bujan, Gene Shetsky, Cleveland Samuels, and DePietro--voted unanimously to approve the site plan for the hotel.
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LICK Is Coming Back

Since last September, when LICK scooped up its last ice cream at 253 Warren Street, we have lived with the promise that LICK would reopen somewhere on Warren Street, but it wasn't known where. 

The shocking pink paper that appeared in the past few days, on the door to the space recently vacated by McDaris Fine Art, might have been a clue, but this morning all was revealed when Rachel Sanzone appeared before the Historic Preservation Commission seeking a certificate of appropriateness to hang the LICK sign at 623 Warren Street.

Ice cream is returning to Warren Street, but it's not known exactly when the new LICK will open.
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The Fate of the Rest of the Community Garden

At the end of 2013, there was much contention about Habitat for Humanity's expectation, based on a promise allegedly made some years before that by longtime former mayor Rick Scalera, that they could have the land on the northeast corner of Columbia and Second streets to build their single family passive houses. The problem was the land in question was a community garden where forty families had plots and grew a significant amount of their food.

The compromise reached at the time, vaguely reminiscent of the Judgment of Solomon, was to divide the plot in half. Habitat for Humanity could have the two larger lots at the eastern half of the garden; Hudson Urban Garden could continue to cultivate the three smaller lots at the western end.

The decision had the same effect as the Judgment of Solomon, if what Solomon proposed had been carried out. The garden ceased to be. The families who had plots in the garden found other places to grow their vegetables--in the raised beds on the lawn beside the First Presbyterian Church or in the new River City Community Garden on North Front Street, and Habitat for Humanity built their two passive houses.

Last week, it was announced that "Hudson Community Development and Planning Agency (HCDPA) is accepting sealed bids for the sale of real property located at 202, 204, 206 Columbia Street for the purpose of construction of low to moderate income housing and/or uses compatible with the Urban Renewal Plan"--a plan incidentally that is now more than thirty years old. The bids are due by 1:30 p.m. on June 9, 2016, at which time the HCDPA board, made up of four ex officio members--the mayor (Tiffany Martin Hamilton), the Common Council majority and minority leaders (Tiffany Garriga and Abdus Miah), the chair of the Planning Board (Tom DePietro)--and one community member (Barbara Hall), will open the sealed bids and decide who gets to purchase what's left of the garden. The announcement and the invitation to bid can be viewed on the City of Hudson website.
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Awards Decided

The Common Council Arts, Entertainment & Tourism Committee held a special meeting last night to finalize their decisions about awarding $20,000 to various events and festivals seeking the City's support. Although there was some discussion of the three applications that were set aside at the first meeting--Hudson River Exchange, Historic Hudson, and Perfect Ten--the decisions not to fund the three proposed events held.

Katherine Moore, director of operations for Hudson River Exchange, argued persistently that it was unfair to eliminate their event from consideration on the basis that Hudson River Exchange is an LLC and not a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward), who sits on the committee, steadfastly maintained that with only $20,000 to award and grant requests totally $40,500, it was appropriate to eliminate applications from for-profit entities.

Friedman suggested, however, that the committee reconsider its decision to eliminate Historic Hudson and its request for support to exhibit The Warren Street Project for the month of October. "The Warren Street Project is very important," said Friedman. "Historic Hudson played an important part in saving Hudson architecture. It's a one-off, and it will bring people to the city." Committee chair Rick Rector (First Ward), while acknowledging that "Historic Hudson has done valuable things for the City of Hudson," maintained his position that the City could not support "sending people into one location where there are other things to buy" and expressed his fear that "other people will put art in their stores and want money from the City to advertise." The Warren Street Project, comprising photographs of every building on Warren Street taken in 1994 and 1995 by international photographer Lynn Davis, will be exhibited during the month of October, to celebrate Historic Hudson's 20th anniversary, at Vincent Mulford Antiques, 419 Warren Street. 

Perfect Ten was eliminated from consideration because the event being planned was described as being only for women and girls, and it was thought to be inappropriate for the City to provide financial support to an event that was gender exclusive.

After much discussion and several alternative proposals for divvying up the $20,000, the following awards were agreed upon:

• ArtsWalk--$1,000
• Bangladeshi Festival--$2,000
• Black Arts Festival--$3,000
• Promise Neighborhood Community Block Party--$1,000
• Flag Day Parade--$3,000
• Halloween Parade--$500
• Bindlestiff Summer Cirkus--$500
• Winter Walk (Hudson Opera House)--$4,000
• Hudson Bed Races--$1,000
• OutHudson LGBTQ Parade--$2,000
• Hudson Sloop Club Fish Fry--$750
• Summer Fest--$1,250

Let the parades and festivals begin!

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HCSD Election Less Than a Week Away

On Tuesday, May 17, voters in the Hudson City School District will go to their polling places--Hudson residents to John L. Edwards Primary School, 360 State Street; Greenport, Stockport, and Ghent residents to Greenport Pumper Company No. 1, 216 Green Street; and Claverack, Livingston, and Taghkanic residents to A. B. Shaw Firehouse, 67 NY-23 in Claverack--to approve the proposed 2016-2017 budget and to elect members of the Board of Education. 

There has been a fair amount of information available about the budget. Last week, a flier on the subject, with particulars about opportunities for students and student achievement, arrived in the mail. On Monday, HCSD superintendent Maria Suttmeier devoted her regular column in the Register-Star to explaining the budget: "Helping voters understand the district budget." 

Considerably less attention has been given to the candidates for the school board. There are three available seats on the board this election, and only two candidates--a situation that pretty much ensures both will be elected--but many voters may not know who those two candidates are. They are Sumayyah Shabazz, who currently serves on the school board after being appointed in August 2015 to fill the vacancy created when Peter Rice resigned, and Linda Hopkins. Information about the two candidates can be found on the HCSD website. Voters will have the opportunity to write in a third candidate of their choice. If you're interested in serving on the school board, there is still be time to mount a write-in campaign. You just need to get more votes than anyone else whose name is being written in.
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News from Tonight's WASC Meeting

At the Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee meeting on Tuesday, it was revealed that Hudson's LWRP (Local Waterfront Revitalization Program) was never officially submitted to the NYS Department of State for review. The implication of this is that, since the review of the document has not begun, revisions can be made before the document is formally submitted to the Department of State.

The work on the current LWRP (Hudson's second try; the first was rejected) began in 2006 and, after five years of moving in and out of public purview, it was adopted by the Common Council in 2011. Since then, the people of Hudson have been waiting for the LWRP to be approved at the state and federal levels. As it turns out, we could have waited forever. 

Many have been dissatisfied with the LWRP as it was adopted in 2011 because they believed it did not accurately reflect what the people of Hudson wanted for their waterfront. The WASC now has the opportunity to go back to the people, ten years later, to learn their vision for the waterfront and to suggest revisions to make the LWRP better reflect the community vision.
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Full Disclosure: The author of The Gossips of Rivertown is also the chair of the Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee.

It's Always Something

Work has begun on the new Hudson Police and Court Center at 701 Union Street, but the wrangling about it continues.

At the informal Common Council meeting last night, two resolutions were introduced having to do with the police and court project. The first "ratified and authorized" a change order amounting to $11,500; the second authorized the mayor, in future, to execute change orders. Both drew objections from Alderman John Friedman (Third Ward).

In the discussion of these two resolutions, it was revealed that the change order in question was the second needed by the project. The first was required when it was discovered that part of the building's foundation was crumbling and needed to be rebuilt. The second change order was necessitated by a discrepancy between the drawings for the addition to the building and the reality. The incline was greater than represented in the drawings and therefore the foundation wall needed to be higher and the interior stairs needed to be increased.

"Why did we pay the architect?" Friedman asked. "Let's split the difference. We're taking a haircut for somebody else's error." Friedman asserted that the change order was "directly related to [the architect's] shoddy work." "I can't believe I'm the only one who says these things," Friedman declared. "I'm the liberal Democrat in the room." A bit later in the discussion, First Ward aldermen Rick Rector and Michael O'Hara echoed Friedman's concern.

A contingency of $200,500 is built into the project budget, but Friedman contended, "The contingency is not for professionals making mistakes."

City attorney Ken Dow explained that "terrain and site-related stuff was not something they [the architects] were to do." Later, Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton explained, "There had never been a proper survey of the topography, and that's how we ended up where we are." 

Dow acknowledged, "If you want to get some recourse against the architect, that can be done. The question here is do they pour the concrete and build the wall?" To which Friedman replied, "We can't make that decision tonight." When Friedman suggested that the City initiate a suit in small claims court, the mayor advised that it is not known "if the problem originated with the City, with Joe Rapp, or the architect."

Friedman also objected to the resolution that would allow the mayor to execute change orders, "using the contingency money cavalierly and outside of this Council." Dow argued, "There needs to be something in place. These things come up, and everything cannot stop for weeks at a time while the Council meets." Friedman countered, "Then we have emergency meetings."

The Council is expected to vote on the two resolutions at their regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, May 17.
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A Meeting of Interest Tomorrow

The Waterfront Advisory Steering Committee holds its second meeting tomorrow night--Tuesday, May 10--at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Members of the public are invited to attend.
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Yes Farms! Yes Food!

Didi Barrett at the Hudson Farmers' Market

Gossips just received the following press release from the office of our representative to the New York State Assembly, explaining a new initiative: 

Assemblymember Didi Barrett (D-Columbia, Dutchess) announced she has sent a letter to New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio in support of an initiative spearheaded by fourteen City Council Members seeking to secure a long term food source for all city residents by investing in Hudson Valley farms and farmland. The proposal urges New York City to put $5 million in the city budget to protect regional farms that deliver food to underserved neighborhoods throughout NYC.

“The Hudson Valley is home to many small and mid-size family farms that regularly supply many of New York City’s farmers markets and community supported agriculture initiatives,” said Assemblymember Barrett. “The fact is many of these same farms are at risk to development and this--literally groundbreaking--initiative would ensure a source of local nutritious food to city families while supporting our local agricultural economy and preserving our world class farmland.”

Since women often are the ones making food decisions for families, Assemblymember Barrett reached out to her women colleagues from New York City to sign on in support. They all share the belief that ensuring safe, healthy and nutritious food is vital and that investing in a local food system is beneficial to New York City and the Hudson Valley.

"Conserving farmland in the Hudson Valley is critical to ensuring that New York City has a sustainable regional food system," said Council Member Dan Garodnick. "We have an innovative plan in place to protect our access to fresh, local food, and the investment we make today will pave the way for New York to be a stronger, more resilient city. I thank Assemblymember Barrett for her advocacy on this important issue."

Steve Rosenberg, Executive Vice President of Scenic Hudson, Executive Director of the Scenic Hudson Land Trust, and author of Scenic Hudson’s groundbreaking Foodshed Conservation Plan said, “Securing New York City’s Foodshed by conserving working farms in the Hudson Valley will ensure access to fresh and nutritious food for New York City residents who need it most and enhance the viability of the farms on which the city depends. The initiative will be the first of its kind in the nation to formally link urban communities in need with the farmers who provide the food through a strategic conservation plan. The program will also leverage federal, state and philanthropic funding and strengthen relationships between the city and the surrounding region.”

“We are not upstate and downstate, but one state of New York," said Barrett, "and this pioneering initiative underscores that fact."

Mark Your Calendars

Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton "and her team" will hold a City of Hudson Town Hall Meeting, described as "the first open State of the City discussion," on Monday, May 16, at 6 p.m., at the Hudson Area Library, 51 North Fifth Street. Members of the Hudson community are invited to bring to the meeting their questions, comments, and suggestions, with this caveat: "We respectfully request that any issues raised be presented along with at least one proposed solution--this will both provide an opportunity for positive dialogue and offer the city fresh perspectives on some long-standing issues."

The following Sunday, May 22, the mayor will hold another public discussion, this one with the focus on North Bay. The outdoor event, which was originally to take place on May 1, was rescheduled for May 22 because of rain. As before, the event is planned to take place at the Furgary Boat Club, at the corner of North Front and Dock streets, at 1 p.m.

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What Used to Be

Once upon a time, on the site of what is now Crosswinds, there was a Gothic Revival house. Twenty years ago, it was abandoned and apparently had been for a while. The word was there had been a fire. Although many remember the house, no pictures seemed to exist to document it. Then a few days ago, Thomas S. Murphy posted this picture of the house on the Facebook page You're Probably from Hudson, NY.

The house may have been built following a pattern from one of the architecture books of Andrew Jackson Downing, Alexander Jackson Davis, Oliver P. Smith, or Samuel Sloan, or its design may have been made up by a local builder inspired by those designs, but, either way, it certainly possessed all the characteristics of pointed Gothic cottage architecture--characteristics shared by a house that survives nearby on Fairview Avenue, next door to the McDonald's.

Photo: Paul Barrett

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About Promenade Hill

Recently, while perusing Common Council minutes from 1964 for an entirely different purpose, I discovered the following in the minutes for August 27, 1964.

This excerpt provides evidence that more the fifty years ago, when urban renewal was demolishing everything surrounding it, the people of Hudson were concerned about the survival and well-being of Promenade Hill, Hudson's oldest public park, which had been established in 1795.

People continue to be concerned about Promenade Hill and the integrity of its historic design, now approached by way of a hard surface "mall" of 1970s design. The current cause for concern is the ramp that has been proposed to enable people with disabilities and mothers with strollers to access Promenade Hill. While no one is opposed to the end, many are worried about the means: a ramp, constructed of wood and dubbed by Gossips "the ramp of least resistance," for which the Common Council has allocated $20,000.

Last month, based on a tip from a reader who avowed the information came from a DPW employee, Gossips reported in an "Ear to the Ground," that the materials for the ramp had been ordered. This turns out not to be true. No materials have been acquired. Gossips has this on the authority of Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton and Rob Perry, the superintendent of Public Works. This does not mean, however, that there has been no movement toward providing access to Promenade Hill for those unable to climb stairs. There is a plan afoot to design and build a ramp that will not only give universal access to Promenade Hill but will also be an enhancement to the park entrance. Gossips will provide more information as this plan moves forward.
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