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| Photo: Will Waldron | Times Union |
Wednesday, May 8, 2024
Of Interest
A New Chapter for Ockawamick
Ockawamick, as some readers will remember, is an abandoned elementary school, once part of the Taconic Hills School District, located on Route 217 in the Town of Claverack.
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| Ockawamick School in 2008 |
In 2008, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors purchased the building for $1.5 million. The plan, which was lavishly researched and vigorously promoted, was to relocate the Department of Social Services to that location and make the building the centerpiece of a new county "campus" at the geographic center of the county . . . six miles from the county seat. The plan met with passionate protest, and eventually it was abandoned.
In 2014, the building was sold at auction for $502,500--about a third of what the Board of Supervisors had paid for it six years before. If memory serves, the purchaser of the building at that time was the late Eleanor Ambos.
Today, the New York Times reports on the latest development in the building's post-academic life: "An Abandoned School Becomes a Canvas for Art Galleries." Here is the lede from the article:
In a spirit of cooperation, six midsize art galleries are extending their reach beyond Manhattan with the purchase of a sprawling abandoned school in Columbia County, N.Y., that will be inaugurated as a new exhibition platform called the Campus on June 29.
This picture, showing the building today, accompanied the article.
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| Photo: Yael Eban and Matthew Gamber, via The Campus |
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Affordable Housing Elsewhere
The Albany Business Review reported today on the progress of two apartment buildings being proposed for Albany: "Two Albany apartment projects take major steps toward construction." The two buildings, being proposed by two different developers, are located on the same street--Colvin Avenue, just off Central Avenue.
This rendering of the 63-unit building, which accompanied the article in the Albany Business Review, is what inspired this post.
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| Photo: Dave Lucas | WAMC |
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
Sunday, May 5, 2024
Meetings and Events in the Week Ahead
A lot of rain is predicted for the week ahead, but despite the bleak forecast, here is what is happening.
- On Tuesday, May 7, the Conservation Advisory Council meets at 6:00 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Wednesday, May 8, the Housing Trust Fund Board meets at 5:30 p.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
- On Thursday, May 9, at 6:00 p.m., Susan Stessin-Cohn speaks about her more than twenty years of research into the history of slavery in the Hudson Valley and the second edition of her book In Defiance: Runaways from Slavery in New York's Hudson River Valley, 1735-1831. The event takes place in the Community Room at the Hudson Area Library, 501 North Fifth Street. Click here for more information.
- On Friday, May 10, the Historic Preservation Commission meets at 10:00 a.m. The meeting is a hybrid, taking place in person at City Hall and on Microsoft Teams. Click here for the link to join the meeting remotely.
This Week at the Library
On
Thursday, May 9, at 6:00 p.m., at the Hudson Area Library, Susan Stessin-Cohn, former professor of social studies
education at SUNY New Paltz and director of education at Historic Huguenot
Street, and current New Paltz historian, will speak on her more than twenty years of research into the history of slavery in the Hudson River Valley, with a
particular focus on the plight of the “runaways”—enslaved persons who sought
freedom by escaping from their enslavers.
Continuing their research, Stessin-Cohn and Hurlburt-Biagini
discovered more than 250 additional runaway notices that prompted them to
rewrite and greatly expand In Defiance
in a newly released second edition. This primary source material offers
fleeting glimpses of hundreds of lives caught up in the cruelty of
slavery—right here in our own Hudson Valley.
New York State passed its first emancipation act, “An Act for the Gradual
Abolition of Slavery,” in 1799, giving hope to thousands of enslaved persons held on
farms and in villages in the Hudson River Valley from Westchester and Orange counties north to Albany, Schenectady, and Troy. But many held in slavery were not willing to wait for what turned out to be a
very gradual emancipation, as evidenced by the hundreds of newspaper notices
posted by Hudson Valley enslavers promising rewards for runaway enslaved
persons throughout the early 19th century all the way up to 1831.
The stories these newspaper notices tell, together with the stories of hundreds
of other enslaved persons who ran for their freedom earlier in the 18th century, shed revealing light on the life of enslaved persons held in the
Hudson Valley.
Most
enslaved persons held in the Hudson River Valley lived, worked, and died, leaving behind no historical record—no birth certificates, no marriage records, no
death certificates, unmarked graves. In
Defiance rescues more than 900 of those individuals from obscurity because they
decided to free themselves. When their enslavers placed notices in local and
New York City newspapers offering rewards for their return, they not only gave
identity to some of the enslaved people, but also unwittingly indicted themselves
before the bar of historical judgment. Surnames synonymous with Hudson Valley
history—names like Schuyler, Van Rensselaer, Beekman, Rockefeller, Van
Cortlandt, Van Buren, Livingston—appear throughout the book as the authors of
the notices advertising rewards for the return of their enslaved “property.”
Had
these freedom seekers not run away, they too, like the tens of thousands of
enslaved persons who did not run, would have been lost to history, but by
running they prompted reward notices for their return—notices that often
provide at least their first names, sometimes a surname as well, and detailed
descriptions of their age, color, gender, origin, language proficiency, and
skills.
In
addition to the reproduction and transcription of 774 archival newspaper
notices for runaways from Hudson Valley enslavers, In Defiance also includes
notices advertising runaways captured and enslaved persons for
sale, notices offering to purchase enslaved persons, and selected runaway
notices from outside the Hudson River Valley region. Nine tables analyze the
data in the 774 notices for runaways from Hudson Valley enslavers. The book also includes a glossary, indexes of names, locations, and subjects, thirty-six illustrations, and five maps from the 18th and 19th centuries.
Following the presentation on Thursday, Stessin-Cohn will be on hand to meet and answer questions and to autograph copies of In Defiance. Books will be available for sale courtesy of Spotty Dog Books & Ale.
Friday, May 3, 2024
A Tale of Two Municipalities
The Town of Stuyvesant and the City of Hudson are both currently working on updating their comprehensive plans. Stuyvesant's comprehensive plan was adopted in 1996; Hudson's in 2002. Earlier this week, Stuyvesant kicked off the work of revising its comprehensive plan with a joint workshop with the town's Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals. The workshop was an open meeting, and the public was urged to participate. The following is quoted from a message from Stuyvesant supervisor Ron Knott, which appeared on the Town of Stuyvesant website:
As much as we need a professional firm, they cannot do their job effectively without input from local residents. Our town planning and zoning boards know best what issues are challenging our town.
We have planned a joint workshop for April 30th at 6 pm at our town hall. This is an open meeting where I look to gather ideas from all involved. Those ideas can become goals for either a grant application or direction for a professional firm to guide us through this process. Please come and discuss your perceived challenges that could help guide Stuyvesant for years to come!
By comparison, here in Hudson, work on a new comprehensive plan has been going on for several months now in "internal meetings" with Public Works Partners, the consultants that have been hired for the project. Involved in those internal meetings were Mayor Kamal Johnson, Council president Tom DePietro, former mayor's aide Michael Hofmann, and housing justice mananger Michelle Tullo.
Yesterday, the first effort to involve the public came with the launch of the Community Preference Survey. The press release announcing the launch also reveals the names of the people chosen to serve on the steering committee (there are thirteen rather than twelve as originally announced). It seems the steering committee was formed two months ago, but the members of the committee were never announced until now. Speaking of the steering committee at the Common Council meeting in March, DePietro said it was made up of people "who are not involved in politics at all," explaining, "The idea was to reach out to a demographic that doesn't normally show up to these kinds of meetings." It appears they succeeded in their goal, although it may be the case that a few of the names of the people involved are misspelled in the press release, which is reproduced, unedited, below.
Residents of Hudson are asked to complete a Community Preference Survey to provide their input for the City’s Comprehensive Plan.
The City of Hudson is actively developing an updated Comprehensive plan to guide its future land use and legislative priorities. The Plan will focus on all aspects of the City's future, including housing transportation, parks, economic development, and urban design, among other areas.
To ensure the Plan accurately reflects the community's priorities, Hudson residents will be engaged throughout 2024 and early 2025 through community meetings, surveys, and visioning sessions. Public Works Partners and SLR Consulting will assist the City of Hudson throughout the planning process.
The survey can be accessed at https://tinyurl.com/hudson2035.
PURPOSE of the COMPREHENSIVE PLAN
The City's existing Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2002, is no longer reflective of the challenges and opportunities faced by the City. From the rise of short-term rentals to the expanded possibility of remote work for many jobs, the context that guides Hudson's land use priorities changed in the years since the previous plan's adoption. As a result of these changes, the City's demographics, key industries, and cost of living have affected residents--some benefitting, but others facing housing and employment challenges. An updated Comprehensive Plan, led by a community driven process, will ensure that land use decisions are aligned with the City's current needs and priorities.
COMPREHENSIVE PLANNING PROCESS
The Comprehensive Planning Process is an iterative process that begins with an analysis of existing conditions in Hudson, then seeks community input and feedback based on this analysis to craft a vision and goals for the future. Over the next year, the recommendations of the Comprehensive Plan will be shaped by the public engagement process, input from City boards and stakeholders, and insight and feedback from the Steering Committee.
The general timeline looks like:
- Jan-Mar 2024: Existing Conditions analysis and Steering Committee development
- May 2024: Community preference Survey Launches
- Late May/Early June 2024: Community Vision Workshop I
- Summer 2024: Community Vision Workshop II
- December 2024: Community Vision Workshop III
- February 2025: Draft Recommendation
- April 2025: Final Comprehensive Plan
STEERING COMMITTEE
A Comprehensive Plan Steering Committee of Hudson residents will volunteer their local expertise and vision throughout the planning process. Committee members will help ensure that engagement activities reach a diverse array of Hudson residents, provide feedback on early iterations of the Draft Comprehensive Plan, and contribute input at every stage of the project. Steering Committee members include:
- Alex Elmasri
- Alex Petraglia
- Javed Iqbal
- Jayden Cross
- Jess Wallen
- Joshua Cohen
- Kali Michael
- Kim Hunt
- Liza Dolan
- Pat Molly
- Piper Olf
- Shaina Marron
- Sonja Okun
HOW TO STAY ENGAGED
The project seeks to develop a consensus-based vision and goals for Hudson’s future through a robust and accessible engagement process. Opportunities for residents to contribute to the City’s future will include:
- In-person Community Visioning Workshops
- Virtual Focus Group Sessions
- Community Preference Survey
We will be hosting the first Community Visioning Workshop later this spring, so stay tuned for the event details. You can also sign up for updates regarding events related to the Comprehensive Plan here:
https://www.hudsonny.gov/business/comprehensive_plan/index.php
Thursday, May 2, 2024
May Is Historic Preservation Month
For the month of May, Historic Hudson is celebrating the historic architecture of Hudson and its preservation and restoration over the past thirty years, with an exhibition of a portion of Lynn Davis's Warren Street Project, the monumental work that documents Hudson's main street in the mid-1990s.
Hudson Historic and The Warren Street Project grew out of a grassroots citizens' effort launched in 1994 to vision Hudson's future. Creating an inventory of the buildings on Warren Street was part of that initiative. It is Hudson's good fortune that internationally known photographer Lynn Davis volunteered to provide the pictures for the inventory.
Over the next two years--1994 and 1995--Davis photographed every one of the more than 300 buildings on Warren Street. The resulting collection was exhibited for the first time at the Carrie Haddad Gallery for Historic Hudson's inaugural event in October 1996--an appropriate launch for an organization dedicated to the appreciation and preservation of Hudson's architectural heritage.
The entire collection was exhibited again in 2016 at Vincent Mulford Antiques to mark Historic Hudson's 20th anniversary.
For the month of May, one volume of this extraordinary six-volume collection will be exhibited at 243 Warren Street. The volume to be displayed includes photographs of the buildings on the north side of Warren Street, from Front Street to the PARC Park in the middle of the 300 block. Visitors to the exhibit can view the photographs that show the buildings as they were thirty years ago and then step outside to see the buildings today--preserved, restored, and revitalized.
The exhibition opens tomorrow, Friday, May 3, with a members' preview from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. If you are not already a member of Historic Hudson, you can become one here, or you can join at the door tomorrow evening. After the opening preview, the exhibition will be open from noon to 5:00 p.m. every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in May or by appointment. Call 518 828-1785 to schedule a viewing.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
Wednesday, May 1, 2024
On the First Day of May
May is Historic Preservation Month, and early on this first day of May, the National Trust for Historic Preservation announced its list of 11 Most Endangered Historic Places for 2024.
On the list this year is a historic place near and dear to us here in Hudson: the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. Here's what the announcement had to say about our lighthouse:
Opened in 1874, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse used to be one of several "middle-of-the-river" lighthouses on the Hudson River. Now it's one of only two left standing. The lighthouse was built to guide vessels around a shallow area in the river near Athens and Hudson, New York, and continues to serve as a navigation aid today, helping commercial and leisure mariners safely navigate this portion of the Hudson River. It is also open to the public as a museum, welcoming visitors and schoolchildren to learn about the lightkeepers and their families who lived in the building up until the 1940s.
However, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse may not stand for much longer. Erosion caused by ever larger and deeper commercial ships traveling the Hudson River, as well as ice floes, tides, and currents, has significantly damaged the 200 underwater wood pilings that support the lighthouse, and engineering reports indicate the building is at risk of collapse within three years if no action is taken. Preservation challenges only compound as roof leaks cause plaster damage, shifting causes facade cracks, metal gutters and railings rust, and timbers supporting the fog bell are weakened by rot. An estimated $7.5 million in funding is needed to stabilize the pilings and address preservation needs.
Since 1982, the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse Preservation Society has worked to preserve the lighthouse and operate its museum. They have begun a campaign to raise funding to restore the lighthouse and install an underwater steel curtain which would keep it from collapsing into the river. Significant additional funding and partnerships will be needed to protect this iconic beacon on one of America's great rivers.
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| Photo: David Oliver |
This recognition is a huge achievement for the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse. Being named one of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in its 150th anniversary year brings national attention to our beloved lighthouse and the challenges that threaten its survival.
Tuesday, April 30, 2024
The Outcome of Last Night's Meeting
Last night's special meeting of the Common Council ended, perhaps predictably, with the approval of the resolution supporting Hudson Housing Authority's application for a Restore New York grant. The vote was 9 to 2, with only councilmembers Margaret Morris (First Ward) and Rich Volo (Fourth Ward) voting against it.
The resolution had been amended since the previous meeting to add this statement:
WHEREAS, the Hudson Housing Authority agrees to hold future public meetings concerning the design of this project and will remain in communication with the Common Council by appearing regularly with updates at Council meetings.
The resolution was further amended last night to add this clause to what was already a run-on sentence: "and will not take this resolution as an approval of the draft plan."
Although the outcome seemed predictable, it took two hours to get to the point of voting. After opening comments from Council president Tom DePietro, in which he assured the councilmembers that the resolution does not imply "anything beyond what's in the resolution," and the project will be "subject to much discussion" in the future, Morris read a statement that summarized her concerns about the proposed project. The statement follows:
The resolution we are voting on is to approve an application for Restore NY grant money for the demolition of Bliss towers. This is part of a larger project to build replacement housing for Bliss Towers, and then to demolish Bliss Towers and build additional housing on the site. The project as presented to us at the regular meeting of the Common Council expands the public housing capacity from 135 units--104 of which are currently occupied--to 315. Placing this volume of public housing in one location is not consistent with the Strategic Housing Action Plan, which specifically speaks to locating affordable housing in multiple locations within the city, rather then concentrating them in one location.
Restore NY guidelines state:
Projects should be architecturally consistent with nearby and adjacent properties or in a manner consistent with the municipality’s local revitalization or urban development plan.
It is further anticipated that the improved community and business climate will result in an increased tax and resource base thereby improving the municipal finances.
What was presented to us at the Common Council does not meet these criteria.
Additionally, the building categories listed by Restore NY are vacant, abandoned, surplus, and condemned.
Currently Bliss Towers does not fit into any of those categories.
Priority is given to projects based on feasibility and readiness. To quote: "Applicants that can demonstrate that plans are in place, project financing has been committed, and that the project is expected to start within a year of a Restore NY award will be considered more competitive”
The demolition of Bliss Towers will not begin within one year. We have been told that this application is only for demolition, so the demolition of Bliss IS the project.
Further, the application requires submission of a Project Proposal which we have not seen. Nor have we seen any analysis of the financial impact on the municipality as a whole.
The application also requires evidence of public hearings which have not yet occurred.
Given the dearth of information provided to the Common Council, I do not believe that voting to approve an unseen application for a component of a project that has not undergone input from the community at large is responsible or in the best interest of the city.
Finally, given how this demolition project appears to meet few of the criteria for Restore NY, what is the urgency? It is my belief that a vote in favor of this resolution will be used as a signal to future investors and to the State that the residents of Hudson are in favor of the overall project--a project, mind you, that has not been presented to them. Almost all of the comments I have received have urged me to vote no on this resolution. That is how I will be voting this evening.
Councilmember Dominic Merante brought up the Strategic Housing Action Plan (SHAP), wondering why it was not mentioned in the resolution. (The 2002 Comprehensive Plan and the 2017 Downtown Revitalization Initiative Plan are cited as justification for the proposed project.) Nick Zachos, who sits on the HHA Board of Commissioners and whose company, Build Hudson, is rehabbing houses for HudsonDots, maintained that SHAP tasked specific agencies with specific things, and HHA was exempt from having to have "scattered site" housing as its goal. He argued that the plan being pursued by Kearney Realty & Development, to build on three City-owned parcels, was taking on the "scattered site" component.
John Madeo of Mountco, HHA's development partner, claimed that including the three parcels now owned by Hudson Community Development & Planning Agency made the proposed HHA plan "scattered site," overlooking the fact that all of the parcels are adjacent to existing subsidized housing or, in one case, houses built by Habitat for Humanity.
Eu Ting-Zambuto, also of Mountco, maintained there would be an "income mix" within the proposed project. Bliss Towers currently has extremely low income tenants. The new development would combine extremely low income tenants with "working families," households with incomes between 50 and 80 percent of the AMI (area median income). For this reason, she argued, the project would not be concentrating poverty.
The question of the appropriateness of seeking Restore New York funds for the project brought forward some interesting information. DePietro alleged "the State" had already determined the project to be eligible based on the letter of intent submitted in March. It was also revealed that NYS Homes and Community Renewal (HCR), which apparently is expected to be an important source of funding for the $220 million project, suggested they should go to Restore NY, a program of Empire State Development, for money to demolish Bliss Towers. When it was suggested that they might be seeking Restore NY funding prematurely, since Bliss Towers cannot be demolished until a new building has been constructed to house the tenants currently residing there, Madeo told the Council, "This city is competing with housing authorities all over the state. We want to get on the state's radar." Later, when asked what would happen if the Council did not support the grant application, Madeo said, "We have to go back to the State, and that's not going to look good," confirming what Morris had predicted, that the Council's support of the application "will be used as a signal to future investors and to the State that the residents of Hudson are in favor of the overall project."
At one point, Mayor Kamal Johnson chided councilmembers who complained they had inadequate information about the project, telling them there was an opportunity every month to learn about the project, referring to the monthly meetings of the HHA Board of Commissioners. As regular readers know, Gossips attends all of those meetings, virtually or in person, and I can attest that very little information was made public at those meetings (and what was has always been reported here). Plans were once handed out to commissioners during the meeting, never shown to the audience, and collected at the end of the meeting, lest they fall into the wrong hands. At another meeting, a presenter from Mountco hid a drawing she was holding up when I tried to take a picture. A councilmember who requested digital copies of the master plans received them but was asked not to share them with anyone. Despite Jeffrey Dodson's protestation that they weren't trying to "hoodwink" anybody, this group has hardly been forthcoming, and there is good reason to be skeptical that anything will change, no matter what amendments were made to the resolution.
One concession that has been made to the concerns of the greater community is this. Typically, a housing authority project can circumvent review by a municipality's regulatory boards. It was announced last night, however, that HHA and Mountco have agreed "voluntarily" to subject the project to site plan review by the Planning Board.
COPYRIGHT 2024 CAROLE OSTERINK
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