Nothing New Under the Sun

In the 1880s, when Fred W. Jones was building his "mountain railroad" from the river to the quarry, one of the strongest arguments for an action that ushered in the degradation of South Bay was that the railroad would take the mule-drawn wagons hauling stone off the streets of Hudson.

South Bay painted by Sanford Gifford in 1861

Speaking of the progress of the railroad, the Columbia Republican observed in June 1887:

Mr. Jones' enterprise and untiring industry deserves to be encouraged by our citizens, and the city of Hudson could well afford to help him fill in the road across South Bay, if for no other reason than to get the stone teams out of the streets, which are already in very bad condition owing to the heavy loads continually passing over them from the quarries.

A hundred and thirty years later, the problem is the same, and the argument is the same.

Last night, the proposal to create a haul road from A. Colarusso's headquarters on Newman Road in Greenport to the dock on Hudson's waterfront came before the Hudson Planning Board. What's being proposed, in addition to using the road created earlier this year going east from Route 9G through a part of Hudson that is a conservation district, is moving and widening the roadway through South Bay so that it sits on the path of the former railroad tracks instead following of what was allegedly a service road, and paving the road connecting the "causeway" road and Broad Street to reduce the amount of fugitive dust.

Carmine Pierro, who has been on the Planning Board for years but no longer lives in Hudson, expressed enthusiasm for the proposed haul road. He called it "a great benefit to Hudson," dropped the term "environmental justice," and declared it a "win-win, especially for the residents of the lower wards." He wanted Greenport to be the lead agency in the review, because, as he explained, "for us it's an amendment; for them, it's all new." According to Pierro, "all the environmental studies were done years ago," and the Planning Board had already approved a different version of the same proposal. When asked later on by audience member Ellen Thurston when the previous application had been approved, Pierro said it was 2009.

Checking the minutes of the Planning Commission for 2009 this morning, Gossips found no reference to an application for site plan review from O&G Industries. The haul road proposed by O&G was being reviewed in the fall of 2010 by the Greenport Planning Board, but that review has halted in October 2010, when the Greenport Planning Board informed O&G that no further action would be taken on their application until they submitted and had an application pending with the City of Hudson Planning Commission. The Planning Commission minutes for September 8, 2010, are the only place where reference to this application could be found. The following is quoted from those minutes:

In the final item of business, Ms. Roberts discussed with the commission a non-action issue, regarding O & G Industries' plan to use a roadway across an existing causeway, and a letter from the Town of Greenport to the Planning Commission concerning it. Segmentation is illegal under SEQR, therefore Greenport's Planning Board and the Hudson Planning Commission must work together. The Greenport board is unable to take action until Hudson's LWRP is approved. The Columbia County Planning Board will also be involved. Ms. Roberts advised the commission members that the Hudson Planning Commission has no jurisdiction in the matter.

On the question of who should be lead agency, Pierro was eager to make a motion that Greenport be lead agency. "We're just doing an amendment," he insisted. "They're just moving a road." Mitch Khosrova, legal counsel to the Planning Board, advised against allowing Greenport to be lead agent, saying it was not true that Greenport "has a bigger look." He told the board that the attorney for the Greenport Planning Board had recommended that Hudson and Greenport be co-lead agents. Planning Board chair Tom Pietro called for a motion that the two bodies be co-lead agencies. Rob Bujan made that motion, which was unanimously approved. 

Khosrova said he would send a letter to the Greenport Planning Board saying the Hudson Planning Board "would want to be lead agency, but, in the interest of cooperation, will be co-lead agency." Someone on the board noted that was not what the motion had said. There was a question of whether or not to amend the motion. DePietro recommended they "stick with the motion that we want to be co-lead," commenting, "If they end up being lead, it doesn't take much away from us." Khosrova cautioned, "When it comes to SEQR, if the lead agency issues a negative declaration, all the agencies must accept it." Laura Margolis, the only woman on the Hudson Planning Board, moved to amend the original motion to reflect the language Khosrova had suggested, but no one seconded her motion.

We were assured that last night was only the beginning of the review of the proposed haul road. When DePietro said, "This is controversial, but we want everyone to be happy in the end," Pierro and Glenn Martin demanded to know why it was controversial. Pretending to speak for those who find the proposal problematic, Pierro said, "The hell with the people of Hudson, let's worry about a six-legged frog." Rick Scalera, Fifth Ward supervisor, who was present in the audience, called it "a most exciting proposal." "The Colarusso family doesn't have to do this," he said.
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Citizens' Police Advisory Committee

It was mentioned in Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton's very first press release, when as mayor-elect she announced that she was reappointing Gary Graziano as police commissioner. 

We will be establishing a citizens' advisory/review board. While there is research to be done and details to hash out, I feel confident in sharing that the overarching goals are:

• to provide full transparency on the department's activities, reviewed monthly by the board;

• to give citizens a way to provide input--suggestions, complaints, questions, etc.--with assurances that all will be heard and responded to;

• when issues do arise, to establish and facilitate respectful, two-way dialogue;

• to keep everyone in the community up to date on what's happening in the police department, including new initiatives, community events, departmental changes, etc.

It was reiterated on May 26, when the mayor held her first "State of the City" town hall meeting.

In today's Register-Star, John Mason reports on the status of the plans for a Citizens' Police Advistory Committee: "Civilian advisory board in development."
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More Talk of Race Relations

Last night, after the mayor's meeting that brought together the community and law enforcement, supervisors Bill Hughes (Fourth Ward) and Ed Cross (Second Ward) spoke on the subject of race relations in Hudson and Columbia County to the Board of Supervisors. Dan Udell was there to record it. That videotape can be viewed here.

Supervisor Don Moore (Third Ward) also appears in the videotape. He mentions, as he did earlier in the evening at the discussion with Chief Ed Moore and Captain Mike Jankowiak, the final report of President Obama's Task Force on 21st Century Policing. For those interested, that report can be read here.   
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Happening Tonight at City Hall

The Hudson Planning Board tonight begins its review of the haul road being proposed by A. Colarusso & Son from their facility on Newman Road to the waterfront. The road going east from Route 9G has already been transformed from the rutted path it was a year ago into a widened gravel road. The first 930 feet of that road are in the City of Hudson, in an area zoned R-C, Recreational Conservation.

The proposal also includes widening the road going west from Route 9G--the "causeway" that runs through South Bay--and moving it slightly to the south. There is some debate about whether causeway refers to the actual roadway or to the filled-in berm through South Bay on which the roadway is situated. According to one definition, the proposal is to move the causeway; according to the other, the proposal is to move the roadway on the causeway. The difference may have significant legal implications.

The Planning Board meets at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall.
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Languishing on the Waterfront

It's been almost a year since Saratoga Associates completed its feasibility study on the former Dunn building on the waterfront, in the mid-19th century part of the Hudson Gasification Works. That situation inspired John Mason to do an enterprise story about the building which appears in today's Register-Star: "Dunn plans unknown after a year."

Photo: Saratoga Associates

The building, which belongs to the City of Hudson and is one of the few remaining historic industrial buildings on our waterfront, will be a topic of discussion at the Common Council Economic Development Committee meeting on Thursday, July 21. Historic Hudson, which traditionally holds its annual meetings in historic buildings of interest throughout the city, will be holding its annual meeting this year on the lawn beside the Dunn building, to bring attention to the building and inspire thoughts about its future. Historic Hudson's annual meeting--open to members past, present, and future--will take place on Sunday, August 7, from 4 to 6 p.m.
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Talking About Law Enforcement

Last evening, Hudson Police Chief Edward Moore and Captain Michael Jankowiak of the New York State Police answered questions from the community in a meeting organized by Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton. The stated purpose of the meeting was to "open up the dialogue" between the police and the people they serve in the aftermath of the most recent deaths of African-American men at the hands of police officers and the sniper attack on police officers in Dallas during a demonstration protesting of those deaths. The people who came out to engage in the dialogue here in Hudson were predominantly white. John Mason and Roger Hannigan Gilson were both present at the meeting. Their report appears today in the Register-Star: "Questions about drugs, restorative justice predominate forum."
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Meeting Tonight

On Sunday morning, before the demonstration in front of police station on Monday and the vigil at the courthouse on Tuesday, Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton announced on social media a meeting to be held tonight--Wednesday, July 13--at 5 p.m.

Please join us this coming Wednesday at 5 p.m. at the Senior Center (2nd floor of the armory) to discuss the recent spate of devastating deaths we've witnessed around the country, and the effects we're suffering individually and as a community. Members of the Hudson Police Department, New York State Police, and Columbia County Sheriff's Department will be there to participate. Let's open up the dialogue and, together, begin to heal.

Watch It for Yourself

Dan Udell's video of Tuesday night's informal Common Council meeting is now available on YouTube. Click here is watch.

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Fair & Equal: The Response

After Kevin Hannan finished reading the prepared statement about the Fair & Equal initiative at last night's informal Common Council meeting, the question came from Alderman Robert "Doc" Donahue (Fifth Ward), who asked: "Won't this restructuring force supervisors to run against each other? . . . One of them would lose their seat." The supervisors he had in mind were Ed Cross (Second Ward) and Bill Hughes (Fourth Ward). The new ward boundaries would put Robinson Street, where Cross lives, in the Fourth Ward. He also mentioned Sarah Sterling (First Ward) and Don Moore (Third Ward), because the proposed boundaries would put Moore in the First Ward. Steve Dunn explained that the proposed map was "drawn to respect communities of interest. It did not consider incumbents."

Alderman Abdus Miah (Second Ward) asked about the percentage of minorities in the proposed new wards. Dunn told him that the percentage of the minority population would increase slightly in the Second, Third, and Fourth wards and decrease slightly in the First and Fifth wards. Avowing that he had no problem with the principle of one person, one vote, Miah said he had problems with the boundaries. He then launched into an emotional discourse about the different interests of different groups in Hudson. People in the First and Third wards, said Miah, "have money," and they are "looking for parks" and "worry about lights when some people have no food." By contrast, according to Miah, people in the Second and Fourth wards are looking for low income housing.

Miah said the proposed ward boundaries did not serve poor people and predicted that, were they to be adopted, minority representation on the Council would be diminished. He ended his statement by saying, "They will have no voice in the City, and it will be evil." Dunn pointed out that the Second Ward now elects representatives that are minorities and the proposed boundaries would not compromise the representative voice of minorities.

Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward) asked about the vote of the Council president in the proposed plan and was told it would be the eleventh vote. She then asked, "If two aldermen from the same ward vote differently, will they cancel each other out?" She was reminded that the same thing could happen now.

Garriga went on to say that she agreed with Miah and asserted that the people on Mill Street and Robinson Street want to remain in the Second Ward and "don't understand why they were not included in the conversation." 

Bill Hughes, supervisor for the Fourth, said he was "part of the discussion the last time around" and acknowledged that the redistricting scheme he had proposed--to create only three wards by combining the First and Third and Second and Fourth and leaving the Fifth Ward as it is--would also result in his having to run against Cross.

Hughes' main concern, however, was Crosswinds, the income-based development on Harry Howard Avenue where the residents now vote in the Fourth Ward but were counted for the purposes of the weighted vote in the Fifth Ward. Hughes argued for drawing ward boundaries "by demographics," creating wards that were homogeneous by residents' socioeconomic status. He said the Fourth Ward should not go below Third Street and Crosswinds should be part of the Fourth Ward. 

The most passionate and personal criticism of the proposed boundaries came from Ed Cross, supervisor for the Second Ward. He declared that he'd lived in Hudson all his life and represented his ward for twenty years. "Why are you trying to kick me out of my ward? Why wasn't I invited?" Speaking of the those representing the Fair & Equal initiative, he complained, "Some of you all I don't even know. Somebody should have said something to me. I didn't deserve that. I think the whole thing has been done wrong. . . . You locked the door on me. You're changing my life!" When Dunn reiterated that "the map was not drawn to accommodate incumbents," Cross protested, "You went about it like sneaks!"

Hannan defended the initiative saying, "This is as direct as democracy gets. We want to see a city where everyone is represented fairly."

At the end of the discussion, city attorney Ken Dow explained the process. The petition had been submitted; the city clerk was validating the signatures. The Council has two months to send it to referendum. If the Council fails to do that, with additional signatures, the petition can go directly to the Board of Elections and go on the ballot.

Sarah Sterling, supervisor for the First Ward, asked if the Council could change the boundaries. Dow told her that the Council could adopt the petition as is, with the map that accompanied it, or it could act entirely on its own to propose different boundaries.

Donahue took the opportunity to ask Sterling if she wanted to run against Moore, praising her and Moore both for being excellent supervisors and doing a wonderful job. Sterling answered simply, "I'll accept the will of the people." Moore then wryly expressed his gratitude to Donahue for the compliment but said, "I would be happy to give up my seat, because I think [doing away with the weighted vote] is that important."

Before the meeting was adjourned, Alderman Michael O'Hara (First Ward) observed that the Council could come up with its own proposal for eliminating the weighted vote which could go to referendum along with the one proposed by the Fair & Equal campaign.
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Fair & Equal: The Presentation

Last night, at the informal meeting of the Common Council, the petition generated by the Fair & Equal initiative was presented to the aldermen. Gossips will cover what transpired in two parts: the first part will recount the presentation; second part will report the response from members of the Council and the audience.

Enlargements of the two maps above, showing the ward boundaries as they are today and the ward boundaries as they are being proposed, were displayed in Council chambers. Kevin Hannan, after introducing himself and Steve Dunn, began by reading a prepared statement, speaking on behalf of all the people who were involved in the Fair & Equal initiative. That statement follows:

We speak tonight for the Fair & Equal campaign, with the goal of securing equal representation in our City government, for all Hudson residents. We speak for over 300 who have signed our petition calling for this, but our thoughts are with all of Hudson’s residents, who are denied this fundamental right.

Today, if you live in the 1st or 4th Wards, your aldermen are each assigned 95 votes to use in representing you. If you live in the 2nd or 3rd, they have twice that--180 and 185 votes apiece, respectively. If you live in the 5th Ward, your aldermen have twice that amount--364 votes apiece. This means that 60 percent of our population, who live in Wards 1 through 4, are assigned half, or just a quarter, of the voting power of others. When you consider that most of our minority population lives in these Wards, the skewed nature of this system becomes even more troubling.

There is simply no way to dance around it--for decades, we have used a form of government which values some residents more than others. A system where some neighborhoods matter more than others. Where some voices are weakened, and others amplified. A system that divides, in a city that can barely afford such division. A system so un-American that it is found in no other American city.

Now, each of you has a chance to right this wrong. Now, you are in a position to vote for equality. Now, you have an opportunity to bring the principle of One Person, One Vote to Hudson at long last, where Aldermen cast one equal vote on behalf of the same number of people. That is here and now. Today. The opportunity is present.

Behind it lies a lengthy past. It is worth revisiting its most recent months. Last October, a resolution to end the Weighted Vote came before the Council, initiated by Aldermen Friedman and Henry Haddad who, in addition to Alderman Rector, voted for it. Aldermen Garriga, Miah, Keith, and Donahue voted against it. It was passed, then vetoed, and sent back to the Council. Aldermen Garriga, Miah and Keith upheld the veto, and in so doing, upheld the weighted vote.

This January, it was suggested that the Council would form a "bipartisan committee to examine ward boundaries" and make a proposal. Several members of our campaign volunteered to serve. When the committee did not materialize, we pursued the last option available--a citizens' initiative--and began work in April.

No detail could be overlooked. Districting laws are complex and stringent; there are far more ways to get it wrong than right. Getting it right meant following 5 standards:

1. Get the population counts as equal as possible, or 1,281 people per Ward.
2. Protect minority representation.
3. Hew as closely as you can to existing ward lines.
4. Keep lines as straight as possible, to avoid gerrymandering or even the appearance of it.
5. Keep census blocks together--unite them where you can, avoid splitting any that are currently whole.

By June, we felt confident enough that we had met these standards and went public with a press conference, town hall meeting, and petition gathering. Going forward, we will be initiating community discussions on this, and of course will accept invitations to do the same.

We see no greater sign of respect to our community than to offer them a fair solution that holds up to scrutiny, and then invite them to vote on it directly, with months to form an opinion. We respect your roles, and have introduced this in a way that provides ample time to speak with your constituents, and do what you think is right.

We do strongly believe that if our plan is adopted, members seeking re-election will return to a stronger, fairer, and more effective Common Council. First, you will all come to the table with equal authority to speak for your constituents. You will be free to build majorities based on their common interests, without having to worry about who has the largest stack of votes.

You will be on record as supporting equal voting power, a fundamental constitutional right, striking down a system that fosters inequality and divisiveness. You will give the City confidence that the Council is equipped to do what you are elected to do--represent your people fairly, equally, and fully.

Tonight at City Hall

At 6:30 tonight, there is an obligatory public hearing about the City's 2016 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) application. It has already been revealed that the City will be seeking the maximum $400,000: $250,000 of which would be used for stabilizing and reconditioning the Youth Center and the rest for zoning revisions and updating the City's fourteen-year-old Comprehensive Plan.

At 7:00, the Common Council holds its informal meeting. The Fair & Equal initiative petition will be presented to the aldermen tonight for discussion. That should make for an interesting session.
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Sunday Blooming Sunday

This Sunday, July 17, is the Mrs. Greenthumbs Day Garden Tour, celebrating Hudson's most talented, most exuberant, and most famous gardener, Cassandra Danz.

Fifteen gardens in Hudson will be open to visitors from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. The map showing the locations of the fifteen gardens appears below. Click on it to enlarge and then print it out, or send an email to request a pdf of the map.

The map is all you need to chart your course around the city from garden to garden. Balloons will mark the entrance to each garden.

Printed maps will be available on Sunday, the day of the tour, at the following locations:

• Nolita Cafe, 454 Warren Street
• The Red Dot, 321 Warren Street
• The Secret Gardener, 250 Warren Street

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Thinking About Alexander Hamilton

Last evening on NPR's Weekend Edition, Michel Martin, in reporting that Lin-Manuel Miranda had the night before made his final performance in the hit musical Hamilton, reflected on "what Alexander Hamilton's story can teach us after a troubling week of news." Her thoughts are well worth listening to or reading, and both can be done here. 

This morning, a post on Facebook brought Alexander Hamilton to mind again. It was on this day, July 11, in 1804 that Aaron Burr shot Hamilton in a duel. Hamilton died the next day.

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A Benefit for Animalkind

The New York Times called them "a hot musical comedy duo specializing in unexpected arrangements, incongruous mashups, and, of course, highly toned displays of skin." The Wall Street Journal used these words highly original, smart, sophisticated, and ingenious to describe them. This Friday, July 15, The Skivvies are appearing at Helsinki Hudson in a show to benefit Animalkind, the not-for-profit dedicated to the compassionate care and humane population control of abandoned, feral, and stray cats in Hudson. The performance begins at 8 p.m.; doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased here.

If a Tree Falls in the Forest . . .

and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? That's an interesting philosophical question. But if a tree falls on Union Street on a Sunday afternoon, there are many who can attest that it does indeed make a sound.

Photo courtesy Sarah Sterling

Fortunately, there were no cars parked on that side of the street or people passing on the sidewalk when this happened.
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Hudson Trivia

The building where the Savoia is now located has been for sale for almost a year. Word is that the building has now been sold.

Before reopening at 214-216 Warren Street, the Savoia was for many years located at 255 Warren Street, which, in its renovated and restored form, is now the location of 2 Note Botanical Perfumery.

Gossips recently discovered that in the 1940s, a restaurant and bar named Savoia, owned by Nicola Marchionne, was located at 119 Warren Street, which until not too long ago was (p.m.) Wine Bar.

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Another $10 Million Awarded

Yesterday, July 7, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that Elmira was the city in the Southern Tier that would receive $10 million in the Downtown Revitalization Initiative. Two regions down, eight more to go.

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Flags on City Hall

Last November, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, the columns at City Hall were wrapped with an American flag and the flag of France. The flags were Hudson's expression of sorrow and support and, in the words of Council president Don Moore, a way to show that "a little city can stand with Paris and the cities attacked by these fanatics who don't share what city life means for its citizens."

Today, the columns of City Hall are wrapped with an American flag and the flag of Bangladesh. Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton posted a picture of the flags on several Facebook pages, along with this message: "To our Bangladeshi brothers and sisters here in Hudson and around the world, we grieve with you and stand with you in the wake of the horrible, hateful acts of terrorism in Dhaka and Kishoregani."

According to reports, the American flag, which is hanging incorrectly in this photograph, has since been rehung appropriately, with the field of stars at the left rather than the right.
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Waiting for Word of the $10 Million

It was expected that the communities to receive $10 million--one in each of the ten economic development regions--in the Downtown Revitalization Initiative would be announced last week. That did not happen. Instead it seems that Governor Andrew Cuomo is traveling to each of the regions, to the winning community in each region, to deliver the good news.

The first such announcement came yesterday, July 6, when he journeyed to the North Country to announce that Plattsburgh would be getting $10 million.
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Fair & Equal in the Register-Star

The Register-Star had an article today about the Fair & Equal initiative to do away with the weighted vote, written by Victoria Addison and John Mason: "Petition forces council to address weight vote."

In preparing the article, the reporters sought comments from three elected officials, two of whom are what might be considered career politicians in Hudson: Bill Hughes and Rick Scalera. If the new ward boundaries were to be adopted, Bill Hughes, who has been the Fourth Ward supervisor since 2008 and before that was a Fourth Ward alderman for two terms (from 2004 through 2007), would have to compete with Ed Cross, who has held the position of Second Ward supervisor since 2000, because the part of the Second Ward where Cross lives would become part of the Fourth Ward. Needless to say, Hughes is opposed to the way the ward boundaries have been redrawn, calling it "that gerrymandered map."

Rick Scalera, who first ran for office as a fresh-faced twentysomething in 1973 and was the mayor of Hudson for seven nonconsecutive terms between 1994 and 2012 (1994-1999, 2002-2005, 2008-2011) before becoming the Fifth Ward supervisor in 2012, also accused the Fair & Equal team of gerrymandering the wards. He remarkably attributes Hudson's renaissance to the wisdom of the weighted vote, reportedly claiming that "the city has risen from a crime-ridden community a quarter-century ago to an internationally recognized tourist destination today, all under the weighted vote system." He is quoted as saying, "It's because of the Fifth Ward the city has progressed so well--the success of the city is because of the weighted vote system." According to Scalera, "the only people who care about changing the weighted voted are members of a group who have been here for a relatively short period of time, too short to recognize how far the city has come."

As a counterpoint to Scalera's claim, Gossips moved to Hudson in the spring of 1993 and has been here and involved in the community for most of those twenty-five years Scalera talks about, and I can attest that Hudson's renaissance happened in spite of city government not because of it and certainly not because of anything the aldermen representing the Fifth Ward (one of whom has been, since 1994, Robert Donahue) did or did not do.

Scalera complains, as does Alderman Tiffany Garriga (Second Ward), whose comments were also sought, that there were no elected officials involved in drawing the proposed map. (In Garriga's case, the complaint was there were no elected officials of color involved.) We have seen in the past that it is impossible for our elected officials--in particular, the aldermen--to discuss rationally the possibility of doing away with the weighted vote. In 2011, soon after New York determined that prisoners, for legislative districting purposes, would be counted as residents in their home districts instead of where they were incarcerated, Ellen Thurston, then a Third Ward alderman, brought up the issue of the weighted voted system and its inequity. Her motives were questioned by Wanda Pertilla, then a Second Ward alderman, who accused Thurston of wanting to change the system because her vote in the Council was about to get less powerful. (The Hudson Correctional Facility is located in the Third Ward.) Pertilla made a similar accusation the next year, when Don Moore, then Common Council president (and incidentally a resident of the Third Ward), called for an investigation of the constitutionality of our imbalanced weighted vote system. Pertilla then protested, "If the Third Ward hadn't taken the hit, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

In response to the comments by Hughes, Scalera, and Garriga as reported in the Register-Star, it's useful to recall the actual meaning of gerrymander. Here's the definition, straight out of Merriam-Webster: "to divide (a state, school district, etc.) into political units that give one group an unfair advantage." It would seem that the current ward boundaries, established in 1886 when the Fifth Ward contained few dwellings and was mostly taken up by the fairgrounds, are the divisions that give one group an unfair advantage.

It should also be noted that there are two elected officials, granted neither of color, who are part of the Fair & Equal initiative: Third Ward supervisor and former Common Council president Don Moore and Third Ward alderman John Friedman. If the proposed new ward boundaries are adopted, Moore would be in the First Ward, having to compete, if he wished to remain on the Board of Supervisors, with Sarah Sterling, who has held the position of First Ward supervisor since 2012.
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