DRI Watch: LPC Meeting No. 3

The PowerPoint presentation from Monday night's DRI Local Planning Committee meeting is now online, and Dan Udell's video of the meeting can be viewed here. Gossips will focus on some of the highlights of the two-hour meeting.

Chief among the highlights is the timeline for the remainder of the process. Remarkable as it may seem, there are only two months left. Any new project proposals are due at noon on Wednesday, January 3, and January is when all projects will be assessed. At the LPC meeting on January 23, all the proposed projects will be prioritized. At the third and final public engagement meeting on February 8, the community will review and weigh in on the final projects.    

Steve Kearney, the planner from Stantec, reported the results of the prioritizing activity that took place at the public workshop on December 7. The project receiving the greatest number of green dots was North Bay Regeneration, a project proposed by Kite's Nest. Improving pedestrian and vehicular circulation was second on the list. Kearney reported that the adaptive reuse of the Dunn warehouse and enhancing the entrance to Promenade Hill were also strong.

LPC member Betsy Gramkow asked about the impact of CFA funding on DRI consideration. Matthew Nelson, who co-chairs the CFA, said that the CFA awards would "free up money that was initially directed to them"--them being Basilica Hudson, DigiFab, River House. He indicated that those proposing the projects had been asked to "reassess and reapply to identify gaps in funding." 

LPC member Sara Kendall asked about a timeline for the redevelopment of the Kaz site. In response, Sheena Salvino, executive director of Hudson Development Corporation (HDC) indicated that a review committee from the HDC board was interviewing the developers who had submitted proposals--Sustainable Community Associates, Redburn Development, Kearney Realty & Development Group, and Bonacio Construction, Inc. Two interviews have already been conducted; two remain to be done. The review process is expected to continue through January. Salvino indicated that the levels of residential and commercial are different in the four proposals and predicted that a "preferred partner" for the project would be identified by the end of January.
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Capturing the Light

Everyone who has been down by the river after dark in recent weeks knows that the lighthouse has once again been lavishly decorated with lights for the holiday season by the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society. This year, the lighthouse looks particularly spectacular. The photograph below, by Andy Milford, was taken a few years ago. To see the lighthouse as it appears this year, you'll have to go down to the river and look for yourself.

Photo: Andy Milford andymilford.com

Yesterday, Gossips received the following press release from Joe Kenneally of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society, which tells of the great efforts HALPS members make each year to illuminate the lighthouse and issues an invitation to photographers.  

For more than twenty years, members of the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse [Preservation Society] have decorated the lighthouse for the holiday season. Once again, this year the house is illuminated for the pleasure of the residents on both the Columbia County and Greene County sides of the Hudson River. The display is also enjoyed by the passing tugs and barges that ply the river during the winter months as a peaceful reminder of the holiday season on the river. Amtrak riders are treated to the site just before they arrive in Hudson or just after they leave the station on the way to NYC. Once you view the lighthouse you might wonder just how challenging and complicated this could be?

Before the river freezes volunteers travel by boat to the lighthouse and climb from the very top of the tower to the lower railings and around every corner of the lighthouse structure until it is completely outlined with white lights. When the decoration tradition began, members would boat out to the lighthouse the day after Thanksgiving. They would bring a few strings of lights and spend the afternoon putting up lights. Some years, the winter wind would blow, and it would be very cold, and some years it would snow, but that would not discourage the lighthouse members from their task of bringing joy to the twin counties. Every year more lights have been added to the display, this year is one of the best. Recognition to the brave and hearty volunteers who travel out to the lighthouse before the end of the boating season, we now do it in October. This year, Tom Hoffman, Michelle Tara, Bob Taylor, Carol Gans, and Lou Mossman did the lion’s share of the decorating. For the past several years, the Bank of Greene County has generously provided the more than 1000 feet of lights it takes. The approximately 100 hours of work is undertaken by the volunteers. The house is illuminated on the first weekend in December and remains lit until the last day in February. 

Every year when we turn on the lights there is the excitement of what will it look like. Will the work we did stand up to the weather? Will all of the lights work? Did we forget something? You never know, and because it is not possible to go back and fix it, we need to live with what we have.

It is known that the decorated lighthouse is a favorite subject for photographers during the winter season. If this is something you have done each year, or would like to do, this is the year to take your photograph of the holiday lights on the lighthouse. The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse [Preservation] Society is inviting people to submit a night time photograph of the 2017- 2018 decorated lighthouse. The selected photograph will be copied, matted, and sold at our gift shop to benefit the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society. The invitation is open to everyone, professional and amateur. All photographs will become property of the Hudson Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society. Credit will be given to the photographer of the selected photograph. Please send your photograph to Hudson Valley Ent. Lighthouse Photo, 191 Route 23B stop 10, Hudson NY 12534. If you prefer, email your photo to HVE12534@gmail.com. Photographs must be received by March 15, 2018.   

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News from the Housing Task Force

The Housing Task Force, which is "working in tandem" with the DRI process to encourage the creation of more housing in Hudson--low-income or at various levels of affordability, depending, it seems, on who is discussing the need--met yesterday afternoon, and Gossips was there. The meeting began with a presentation by representatives of Key Bank about the bank's National Community Benefits Plan, a commitment to investing $16 billion over the next five years in mortgage financing to low- to moderate-income individuals and communities ($5 billion), small business lending ($2.5 billion), and community development lending and investment ($8.8 million) in the region serviced by Key Bank, and continued on for two hours. Gossips will report some of the more interesting information learned at the meeting.

The Housing Task Force was created by Mayor Tiffany Martin Hamilton, but she was not present at yesterday's meeting, because she was ill. Rick Rector, mayor elect, told the group that Hamilton would not be participating in the task force anymore. Toward the end of the meeting, task force member Peter Meyer reminded everyone that this was a mayor's task force and wondered how it would be impacted by the change of administration. Rector said there would be "some form of housing task force" during his administration but suggested it might be reconfigured as a Common Council committee on housing. Joe Czajka, from Hudson Valley Pattern for Progress, who seemed to be the recognized leader of the task force, noted that his group had "a commitment to the state" and said the work of the task force would continue through the next few months, with the goal of producing an action plan by the middle of 2018.

When the DRI came up in discussion, it was noted that there were four projects proposed for DRI funding that involved housing:

• Pre-development for new housing at 6-14 State Street, 202-206 Columbia Street, and 213 Columbia Street
• Homeowner improvement grants
• Redevelopment of the Kaz site
• A forty-unit senior housing development across State Street from Bliss Towers

The first three projects are ones that have been mentioned before, but the fourth is a new project being proposed by the Hudson Housing Authority, the entity that owns and manages Bliss Towers. The proposed senior housing development is expected to be three or four stories high, with commercial and/or retail on the ground floor and apartments on the upper floors. Possible uses suggested for the ground floor included a clinic, a drugstore, a grocery store, and a community room. 

In describing the plan to build forty units of senior housing, Timothy Mattice, executive director of HHA, and Randall Martin, chair of the HHA Board, spoke of "de-densifying" Bliss Towers. A third of the 135 units in Bliss Towers--the high-rise and the low-rise--are currently occupied by senior citizens. Mattice also talked about transitioning Bliss Towers to the RAD (Rent Assistance Demonstration) program, which, according to the HUD (Housing & Urban Development) website, "allows public housing agencies to leverage public and private debt and equity in order to reinvest in the public housing stock." Mattice said HHA was looking for a co-developer to "rebuild new public housing or rehabilitate what is." He expected an RFP (request for proposals) would be ready by the end of this month, and proposals would be in by the end of January.
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DRI Reminder

Proposals for new projects to be considered for DRI funding can be submitted until January 3. The form for submitting a proposal can be found here. To assist in preparing a proposal, Steve Kearney, the DRI project manager from Stantec, will be at the Chamber of Commerce, 1 North Front Street, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. TODAY, December 19. 
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What's a Formula Business?

Tonight, at the final Common Council meeting of the year, it is expected that the aldermen will vote on enacting proposed Local Law No. 6 of 2017, the law meant to "preserve community character, local business ownership, and local wealth" by banning chain businesses from Hudson.

After the proposed law was placed on the aldermen's desks back on October, it was referred to the Columbia County Planning Board (CCPB) for a recommendation. The response from the CCPB was received at the informal meeting on December 11. The CCPB found "no significant county-wide or intercommunity impacts" associated with the proposed law but made a number of "informal comments." Several of the comments had to do with omissions in the version of the law submitted to the CCPB, but one of them related to the definition of the prohibited businesses: "A 'Formula Retail use' is hereby defined as a type of retail sales or service activity or retail sales or service establishment that has three or more other retail sales establishments in operation. . . ." The CCPB expressed concern about "the potential impact on locally owned and operated businesses . . . that have three or more locations" and cited the following examples: "Bagel Tyme (3 locations); Steiner's (3 locations); The Wick (Tribute Portfolio/Starwood Hotels and Resorts--numerous locations)."

The revised version of the proposed law raises the threshold for formula business from three locations to four. The CCPB's concern about The Wick being impacted by the proposed law is unfounded. The Wick has been designated a Tribute Portfolio hotel, but that designation, although it is a brand of Marriott, does not make The Wick a "chain hotel." Hotels with the Tribute Portfolio designation are by definition independent hotels with their own character and design and unique signage.
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In Defense of Dreamers

Five protesters, part of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, were arrested this evening for refusing to leave Congressman John Faso's office in Kinderhook, where they were staging a sit-in to demand that Faso sign on as a co-sponsor of the Clean DREAM Act. The Register-Star has a video of what happened: "Protesters arrested for refusing to leave Faso's office."  The image below, showing Bryan MacCormack, executive director of CCSM, being carried from the building, is a screen capture from that video.

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Happening Now

The Columbia County Sanctuary Movement staged a sit-in this morning at Congressman John Faso's office in Kinderhook to demand that Faso sign on as a co-sponsor of the Clean Dream Act. It is being reported that county sheriff's deputies are making arrests. You can follow what's happening on the CCSM Facebook page.

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Meetings Today

For those interested in following the developing plans for the future of Hudson, there are two meetings happening today, Monday, December 18.

• At 3 p.m., the Mayor's Housing Task Force will meet in the conference room at 1 North Front Street. The purpose of the Housing Task Force, which is working in tandem with the DRI (Downtown Revitalization Initiative), is (1) to understand Hudson's current housing needs; (2) to develop near-, mid-, and long-term actionable solutions; (3) build community consensus for solutions "via ongoing, transparent communication and inclusive outreach."
• At 6 p.m., the DRI Local Planning Committee will meet in the auditorium at John L. Edwards Primary School. This is the third of five meetings of the LPC. It is not a public meeting, although opportunity for public comment may be allowed at the end of the two-hour session. Among other things, the committee is expected to review the input from the public workshop that took place on December 7. 

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Ear to the Ground

In February, Business Insider reported that second-home buyers--especially those in the market for luxury homes--were turning their attention from the Hamptons to the Hudson Valley: "The future of the Hamptons is uncertain as prices plummet and luxury buyers head north." Now there's another link between the Hudson Valley--specifically Hudson--and the summer destinations on Long Island--in this case, not the Hamptons but Montauk. Gossips has heard that Montauk Mainstay has signed a lease for 437 Warren Street, the former location of Woodstock General.

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Hallelujah!

More than a year ago, the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church had to vacate the historic building at Warren and Fourth streets because of structural issues with the beams and trusses that support the roof. Now those problems have been corrected, and the church will reopen for its first service on Christmas Eve.

Yesterday the church issued the following invitation on its Facebook page:

Come all ye faithful! Joyful and triumphant! You and your friends, family, and guests are invited to join us for our re-opening Christmas Eve! Lessons and Carols service is at 5 p.m. in the sanctuary at First Presbyterian Church.

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Memories of Gifford-Wood

The post on Thursday about Gifford-Wood and its government contract during World War I to build "gas generating machines for aviation purposes" inspired Bob Tomaso to share this picture of the employees in the steel shop at Gifford-Wood. The date on the picture indicates that it was taken on October 10, 1957.

Tomaso's father, Marco, appears in the first row, the third from the left. Interestingly, there was one woman in the steel shop crew in 1957. There were probably more during the World War II years. Tomaso told Gossips that his father met his mother, Frances, at Gifford-Wood, in the 1940s, when they both worked at the plant. 

If any readers recognize other members of the crew shown in the picture (you can click on the picture to enlarge it), please indicate who they are in a comment.
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Connecticut Garbage in Upstate New York

I couldn't resist the title for its faint echo of Mark Twain, but in truth this post is not about garbage so much as it is about cement and the lingering impact of the multinational cement company that was prevented from building a behemoth coal-fired cement plant here back in 2005: Holcim, then known as St. Lawrence Cement. In 2015, Holcim merged with Lafarge, which operates a cement plant upriver in Ravena, to form LafargeHolcim, the world's largest cement maker. This post reports three items of news, speculation, and possibility involving LafargeHolcim.

Photo: The Concrete Producer

The first is news. Last Friday, the New York Times reported on something that happened before the Swiss corporation Holcim merged with the French corporation Lafarge: "France Investigates Lafarge Executives for Terrorist Financing."  It is alleged that the company helped finance the Islamic State militant group and other armed factions in an effort to keep its plant in northern Syria operating and profitable.

Then, there is speculation about LafargeHolcim and Colarusso. It seems that when Colarusso bought the quarry, South Bay, and the dock from Holcim in 2014, they agreed not to compete with Holcim in the cement industry. Now that Holcim and Lafarge are one company, there is nothing preventing Colarusso from supplying limestone to the LafargeHolcim plant just up the river and delivering it by barge, which could mean a huge increase in blasting activity in the quarry and a similarly huge increase in the number of trucks hauling stone to the river and the number of barges coming and going from the dock.

Now, here's the garbage part. It seems that the State of Connecticut is looking to replace an aging trash incinerator in Hartford that serves seventy Connecticut towns. There are three proposals for accomplishing this: one is to rebuild the incinerator in Hartford; another is to expand an existing incinerator in Bristol, Connecticut, and ship the trash there; and the third is to transport the trash to New York and burn it at the LafargeHolcim plant in Ravena, which is already one of the biggest polluters in the state. This proposal, which was submitted by a group called Mustang Renewable Power Ventures, can be found here. Reference to the LafargeHolcim cement plant in Ravena appears on pages 6, 7, and 15-16. The source of this information about this proposal is Energy Justice Network.
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Sticks and Stones and All That

Gossips has twice mentioned the ill-considered language in Hudson's DRI application--back in August and this past Tuesday. Earlier today, Enid Futterman published a link to the latter post on imby.com, with the title "The (fatal?) flaw in the DRI." This was followed up by a scathing criticism by Julie Metz, also published on imby.com, of both the language and the response of those responsible when its potential consequences were pointed out: "First Do No Harm: Words, the DRI, and Hudson's Future."

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There Should Be a Better Way . . .

Some have wondered why the drivers of eighteen-wheelers take the truck routes through Hudson in the first place. Unless the truck is making a delivery somewhere within the city limits of Hudson, it's possible to get to the destination without having to deal with city streets. It would be much easier both on our city and on the truck drivers.

Today, a Gossips reader witnessed and photographed a truck in Hudson that had strayed off the truck route. It made a right turn from North Third Street onto State Street, knocking down the street signs in the process, and then proceeded up State Street, where it turned left onto Green Street to rejoin the truck route. 

My source called the police to report what had been witnessed and was told that an off-duty police officer had also witnessed the incident and had taken pictures. Perhaps some action will be taken, and the word will spread among drivers of big rigs that you route yourself through Hudson at your own peril.

What likely happened was the driver of the truck missed the turn onto Columbia Street--the truck route--where the intersection is designed, as much as possible, for big trucks making right turns. If that was the case, there weren't any reasonable alternatives except to turn on the next parallel street and hope it led to the same destination, ripping down street signs in the process. But there should be a way to discourage long-haul truckers from entering Hudson in the first place. 

A few years ago--perhaps as many as ten--there was a problem with trucks barreling through the Village of Kinderhook along Route 9 in the middle of the night. Some investigation discovered that the truckers' GPS was routing them south from Interstate 90 on Route 9 instead of Route 9H, which by-passes the village. Once that was discovered, it was corrected. Wouldn't it be grand if long-haul trucking companies like CFI would start routing their drivers around Hudson instead of through it?
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Storytelling on a Winter Afternoon

Real People Real Stories, inspired by The Moth Radio Hour, has become an audience favorite and now opens and closes each season at the Ancram Opera House. In the final set of stories for 2017, told starting at 3 p.m. this Saturday, five storytellers confront crisis and calamity: a bungee jump adventure teeters on the precipice, a $3 parking ticket escalates to a contempt of court citation, an American college student is caught in the crosshairs of the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia, a woman suspects her spouse is a survivalist, and a corporate crisis counselor is ensnared by a client from hell. The storytellers are Chris Atkins (Hillsdale), Phil Halpern (Stockbridge, MA), Jan Hopkins-Trachtman (Gallatin), Brett LaFave (Albany), and Lauren Letellier (Hillsdale).

A reception with the storytellers follows the performance. Click here to purchase tickets.
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Be Part of a Hudson Holiday Tradition

This year, Classics on Hudson collaborates with Hudson Hall to present the annual Messiah Sing, led by conductor Gwen Gould, in the newly restored performance hall at the Hudson Opera House. Choose your part--soprano, alto, tenor, or bass--and sing Handel's beloved oratorio with soloists from the Bard Conservatory Graduate Vocal Arts Program and the Tecchler Quartet from the Bard Conservatory of Music. Scores are provided, but you if have your own from your college chorus days, bring it along, because the number of scores is limited. 

The Messiah Sing takes place on Sunday, December 17, at 4:00 p.m. Click here to purchase tickets. 
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The Great War: December 13, 1917

Our exploration of life in Hudson during the Great War has been on hiatus for a while, but a news item that appeared on the front page of the Hudson Evening Register for December 13, 1917, is bringing it back. It reveals the role one of Hudson's principal businesses of a century ago played in the war effort.

  

In 1917, the Gifford-Wood Company was located at the end of Hudson Avenue, in a facility constructed in 1907, soon after Gifford Brothers, the company created by Elihu Gifford in 1814, merged with William T. Wood & Company of Arlington, Massachusetts, in 1905. The picture below shows the Gifford-Wood plant as it appeared in 1915.

The building, which was most recently the location of W. B. McGuire Overhead Door, still stands and bears traces of its  original identity.

Photo credit: Virginia Martin

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Watch for Yourself

Dan Udell's video of Monday night's informal Common Council meeting, at which Linda Mussmann read the letter signed by the residents of Mill Street expressing their concern about the dog park proposed for Charles Williams Park, can now be viewed by clicking here. 

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E-Blasts Are Back!

Five days ago, on December 8, Gossips apologized to readers who had come to depend on email notification when a new post was published. Today, as some of you may have noticed, the email alerts are back. It is not because, through the magic of technology, my ability to send email from Outlook was restored. Rather it was because I re-created the Gossips distribution lists using a different email server, re-entering every one of your email addresses. If by chance you used to receive email notifications and did not receive the two sent earlier today, please let me know at carole@gossipsofrivertown.com. My primitive solution to the problem admits endless opportunities for errors and omissions.
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Who Got the Money

The information about how much of the $85 million in Regional Economic Development Council funds is coming to Hudson and Columbia County is now available. The most exciting award, in Gossips' opinion, is $120,000 in Empire State Development funds for the restoration of the historic Park Theater at 723 Warren Street.

Other awards for projects near and dear to us in Hudson are:

• $45,000 to Basilica Hudson to hire a new development manager and $75,000 to renovate and upgrade its gallery building
• A total of $500,000 to DigiFab for new machinery and equipment to expand its operation
• $45,ooo to the Hudson Opera House (a.k.a. Hudson Hall) for a workforce readiness program
• $225,000 for the restoration of the former Allen Street School, now known as River House, to create workspace for creative professionals and enterprises focusing of multi-media and film production.
• $420,000 to The Olana Partnership for farm landscape restoration

To see all of the awards for local projects, click here. Columbia County awards begin on page 88.

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