Planning Board - public_hearing

The City of Hudson Planning Board will come to order.

Linda, please come up.

Ms. Favreau, here. Mr. Spears, here. Mr. Coyle, here. Mr. Michael, here. Mr. Black, here. Mr. Boyle, here. Mr. Sheffield is excused.

So Jean is recovering from oral surgery. If you called today, we know they wouldn't be here tonight. But we do have a quorum, so we are underway. We have some regular meeting business that we need to deal with first. Linda, do we have invoices to approve?

I do engineering. Three invoices totaling $927.30. Excuse me, a question.

Is that the 10 of irons?

And I had seven from that year, Ryan Henry, for $3,757.50.

Based on your observation, those irons seem reasonable, don't you think?

So we get the motion to approve the invoices as presented by the interviewee.

Motion to approve. Who's that? Okay. Second. Second. Okay. Ms. Woodhull. Ms. Woodhull. Mr. Woodhull.

Ms. Speer.

Yes.

Mr. Woodhull.

Yes.

Ms. Michael.

Yes.

Ms. Lange.

Yes.

Ms. Woodhull.

Yes.

Mr. Gonzaga.

It's time to approve the minutes from July 14th and July 21st as distributed. First, are there any edits or corrections to the minutes that were sent? Carrying on, a motion to approve would be in order.

I'll make that motion.

I'll second that. Who's second? Nathan?

It's Taka. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes.

Michael.

Yes.

Black. Yes, yes.

Moving back for one moment on improvement, approving the bills. President Morris, president, has been reviewing and approving our bills, and she has requested that we begin formally reviewing our invoices through Linda and me. And so I'd like that because it gives us an opportunity to go a little better hands on where our expenses are. And our primary expenses are not left and right. The rest of us, as you all may not know, do this at no compensation whatsoever, except the reward of being able to serve our community. So I did want to announce that to the board that we'll be instituting that practice immediately. Do we have any updates, Peter, on our liaison relationships? We're going to convene our public hearing now. The next item on the agenda is the public hearing regarding 41 North 2nd Street. I now declare this public hearing open at 6 of 6 p.m. Do we have people here tonight that are expecting to speak? Great. So have all of you signed the sign-up sheet? It's being circulated. Be sure that you do. Linda will call your name. And we invite you to come stand in between the balusters there. And our colleague on the board is going to be our timekeeper. Each citizen is allowed three minutes. And really, that's not the limit, as much as it is to provide sort of equity so that everybody gets the same amount of time at the podium. The public hearing is an essential part of our process. On a major project like this, it takes months to work through all of the details, maybe years sometimes. And we conclude with public comments to help us identify any issues that we may have missed or not fully understood. A public brings lived experiences, shared information. Your perspectives are essential to our understanding of the project. The public comments is also an important part of how we build civic infrastructure, not just bricks and mortar, but how do we learn to communicate with each other? How do we share opposing points of view in a civil and respectful way? And so we are excited you're here tonight and pleased that you want to participate in this essential part of our civic life. So some of the guidelines are three minutes each. We ask you to provide your name, address, or ward or town. Let us know where you live. We ask that you address the planning board and not the applicant or other members of the audience. We ask that you stay on the agenda. Now we're talking about the blissful power replacement. So, you know, we don't want to talk about the waterfront or anything else. This is not a question and answer session, which may not be intuitive. This is really for the board to listen. So it's not a debate. We don't ask questions. We just listen and you know, take part what you're bringing into this conversation. If you have documents that you bring with you that you want to share with the board, just present those to Linda and we will post them on our portal.

So the planning board doesn't deal with everything.

We don't deal with how much a project costs or whether or not we think it's a good idea or you know, our focus and our remit is pretty narrow. I look at the culture, not the culture, but the quality of the neighborhood, traffic, safety, environmental issues, and other matters that you believe are important to us. We certainly want you to share, but those are the issues that are at the heart of our deliberation. So we will, Whether you speak tonight or it's written comments, all comments are treated equally and will be posted. And what you'll hear if you stay a little bit later in our meeting tonight is how we're processing public comments. We're not just asking you to speak and then your comments vanish into the air. We are studying the comments. We're creating documents for the applicant to respond to some of the themes and some of the issues that you've sent. Your comments do become a vital part of the community discussion. So thanks for being here. Thanks for participating. And unless we have other comments from the board, then we're ready to begin. So none of you have been silenced.

Mary Depper.

Did I mention that you were doing a programming program?

Hi, my name is Mary Depper, and I'm the vice chairman of Dotson-Algreens Board. I have lived there for 47 years, and I really think that you guys should have taken to consideration of how bad the building that we live in right now. There's many of us in this room had lived or grew up near the highlands, and I really think that you guys have taken the consideration of how us residents feel. The floors are really bad. The walls are really bad. But I really think that you need to think about us for once. I mean, I get everybody's house pay mortgage. I get it. We pay when? I mean, my rent's almost $1,000. And where am I going to go out there in the city paying what I can get? Nowhere. Thank you.

Thank you. We'll figure it out.

Jay Sheff. My name is Jason.

I am a young person living in Hudson. I came to Hudson in around like 2020, and I have been living here since then. In the program that I have been in, like high school community, I'm actually learning a lot of like just like just how the community is and I definitely have seen that the residents in West Towers have a good community and they have so much memories with each other. But with the issues in the building, there's something to move out and just continue having memories. I feel like if we have a new building and we restart, for like everyone to have and just have a break. I'm not like always thinking, oh, when is this building going to collapse on me? Or when is like all the mold going to like, yeah. But this, like all the stuff that happens around in the building, there's still like less community events where I know that kids have like birthday parties and just, Yeah, they had like birthday parties, just a whole lot of memories that can't really like get built out because of the fact that everything's just moving out because they can't live in those conditions anymore. Many generations will continue staying in Hudson if like the building gets rebuilt and another building gets added. Yeah.

we're part of the uh friends of uh friends of second street so i support affordable housing in putson we need it we need more housing

Definitely. As for list hours coming down, it has to go, right? It has all that stuff in it. But I oppose this particular plan because, among other things, right? So it's going to be built on a ground field. Do you guys know what a ground field is? So it has contaminants, pollutants, hazardous substances, all sorts of, because Hudson used to be a, we have a lot of industry here, right? So you're being asked, I don't understand why the site has to be on a brownfield. And do you want to raise and rear your kids on a brownfield, right? Even if it's remediated, right? Why would you have your kids be living on the brownfield when you have many other sites here in Hudson? Secondly, there is the, there's a piece about the, the Hudson Housing Authority, right? So it managed the list hours and Columbia apartments. If they were not able to manage and repair and take care of these units, what makes anyone think that they're going to be able to take care of a complex that is twice as big but sitting on a brownfield? The resident should know how everything is going to get prepared. Is the brownfield going to be cleared properly? And is the housing, housing, housing authority going to budget to pay for the various repairs? And none of that is in the public record. Thirdly, right, phase one of the plan isn't for the, for this resident. But do you guys know that phase two is open up to the entire country, right? So it may not be. Very few of us in Hudson here may actually get to be part of that second phase two development, and that is not clear from the record at all. So a couple of other things, right? Most of the units may go to first powers, but not Hudson. Okay, great. So, and then, The whole brownfield piece, though, I think is the most important one. Why do you want to raise your kids on an environmentally polluted site? Thank you. Thank you for your comments, Emily.

Hi, my name is Karin Bramman, and I live on State Street just a few blocks away from Bliss Towers. And from this job, you said, very much in favor of having affordable, livable, safe, healthy environment for all our residents. Being affordable housing, Bliss Towers must come down in a safe way that will not affect the health and well-being, particularly of the local neighbors, but especially of the current residents, all in favor of getting better housing. However, the plan that is before us is not conducive to the well-being of all of us at all. As he had just said, nobody has looked into the toxicity of really post-hour living. Nobody has done a real plan about how many people will be living here, who will be living here, who will be coming in, and who will have an opportunity to live here. we did an original plan in 2018 to disperse nice communities i mean all around us to still have community housing but in a non-toxic site and no one has done surveys about the population about infrastructure parking anything we don't know how long this will take how far the pilots have to go down how many hundreds of feet the construction process the dust the asbestos nothing has been stated to any of us i think we all All of us need to know and should know. So where's the transparency about what's gonna go forward? How is this gonna be done? Where's the safety issues? What is the environmental impact? How are we gonna remediate that? And I don't even care about, it's not even about the cost. It's about the safety and the wellbeing and the health of all of us. And so I am with him on this, that to build on a site that's considered a brown site, a toxic site, is just unbelievable and unconscionable. Not in favor of this proposed plan at all, but we definitely need better housing, bliss must rule.

Thank you for your comments. Let me pause for a second. We've got a crowd gathering in the outer office out there. Can you all hear okay? I don't know that there's any more room. There were a few seats maybe in the main room that are open. And while I'm interrupting the comments, If anyone has come in since we began and wants to make public comments, you need to sign up with the London sign-in sheet.

So are there any other guests that want to make public comments tonight that haven't signed up? All right. Very good.

Sign up. Okay.

Jonathan Meyer.

Hi, I'm Jonathan Meyer. I live on 2nd Ward. I one of my biggest concerns is the lack of transparency as far as the time frame of all this goes. Everyone keeps talking about construction for phase one in 12 months for building, but it could be 24 months. I think the big concern is OK, you have a brownfield that's going to have to be mediated. So how long is that going to take? No one has ever said that. Nothing can be done until that is done. And once that is done, then you have to make this bad soil. You're going to put pilings or whatever that may be. How long is that going to take? And once that is done, and God knows what the cost is of both of those spaces, once that is done, then they can actually start a student building project. So what is the actual building time on that? Then once they finish building it, all the tenants are able to move into phase one, then I assume that at that point, then they tear down this town. Another huge concern I have, and this whole thing is with time frame, because we all live in this community. We're all going to be dealing with noise and dust and construction and trucks barreling down state and Columbia with maybe asbestos flying around and everything else. So then they tear down, they tear down Bliss, then they then start on phase two. So what is the timeframe for all of this construction to happen to our community and how it's going to affect everyone, especially the people that live right near it. And also, I think it's really frightening that you're having all these people move into phase one before bliss is torn down. And then bliss is torn down. They're 50 feet across the street from the demolition of a nine story asbestos filled building is kind of frightening health wise to these people. So I would love a little transparency from the developers, the architects, and speaking of the architects, why is there no real plan that we can see what the final product is going to look like? I was looking at Alexander Gorlin's site just today. There are five different versions on his site alone of what this could look like. So when are we as a community going to see what this thing is going to look like? And that's all I understand.

Thank you, John. Thank you. You use.

I thank you. What I would like to say a lot of what I was going to say, I think, was eloquently addressed by the mayor in the newspaper article, so I won't repeat that. What I will address is the history of Hudson and now all the talk that we hear about the Brownfield, because I served quite a few years on the Brownfield Remediation Committee in the city of Hudson. I'm a lifelong resident of Hudson. Born here in 1965. And at that time, we have a ton of housing downtown in Hudson that was plowed under by HUD during that remediation in the 70s. So when I hear talk about people saying, this is a large project, and this will grow our population, at that time, we had 12,000 to 13,000 people in this city, or more. And a good portion of them were living down there, downtown. We're moving at 12 Warren Street. But when we talk about remediation, the process in doing that now, we are so far advanced in the technology of doing that. I served on the City Council in 2003 and was part of a Brownfield Remediation Committee. And at that time, we were going around here. So when you look at the mental health building, a Brownfield project, right? When you start looking at by the Little Leaf Hill, a Brownfield project. When you look down by Mill Street, a Brownfield project. We have tons of Brownfield projects in this city. And this, matter of fact, where this house is sitting now was an old junkyard. So it's not like we're creating the new wheel here, right? We are using advanced new technology to build on an area of footprint that is already under hub control. All they're trying to do is take down a nine-story building and build four-story buildings in its place. Now, what those buildings look like, yeah, I do think they should provide the place so people can see it. But when we looking at that downtown, I think people who live in Bliss Towers now and the people who had the lead list hours, who I thought should have got a voucher when they left, should be able to return back here and actually enjoy Hudson just like everybody else that lives here.

Thank you for the comment, Joey.

Stephanie Monceau.

Hi, good afternoon. I'm Stephanie Monceau. I've lived in Hudson for 20, 21 years on Tanner's Lane, which was a brownfield and has been purchased by a billionaire to redevelop into a luxury hotel and other luxury developments. So we can live with brownfields.

And I'm fine.

Don't have anything to say about the technical aspects of the plan because I'm not familiar with those things. But what I am familiar with as a neighbor in the city of Hudson is the list towers being the site of community, culture, loving families, stories, history, and as Mr. Hughes referenced, a long history of erasure which began with that plowing under and seizing of personal property and the erasure of generational roots and wealth in Hudson for black and brown families, which we have to stop. Hudson is bleeding out. And for folks who came here attracted by the culture of Hudson, This is part of the culture of Hudson. We live together. We're a community. So one of the beautiful things about the plan is the plentiness of green space and trees. And there's a beautiful camp that's called Kite's Nest at the lower end of State Street. There can be a beautiful corridor of trees and water remediation because as our climate changes and as environmental threats change and as all those trucks run up and down Columbia Street and pollute the air, we need a way to keep our asthma prone children and elders breathing clean air. We need to address the collection of water that comes running down these hills. And we need to create green, dignified living space so people can have quality of life. The entire quarter of that part of State Street, now on Front Street, to our beautiful Waterfront Park, should be seen as the jewel of Hudson. Not the retail stores on Warren Street, but the place where the families live, where the culture grows, where the traditions are held, where the history is held. So I am strongly in favor of redeveloping Bliss Towers. I'm strongly in favor of my neighbors living mold-free, Adam Mowbray.

30 seconds.

Thank you very much. I'm going to wrap it up right there. Thank you for being here.

So if I could impose a little bit of restriction on the room, remind the speakers that they're addressing the board, and probably we'll take out the applause at this point. I did mention earlier on, also, there'll be no tomato throwing at the chin. It's one of the rules of the room.

Gabrielle Xavier. Hello, good afternoon. My name is Gabrielle Xavier.

I have lived here in the Hampton area for all 21 years of my life. And throughout those 21 years of my life, I have got to experience the displacement of my own family from the same area. due to the lack of affordable housing that already does reside here in Hudson. Yes, but to follow up with that, I have also grown up in the school district where I was raised alongside kids who have grown up in this building. I have family who have grown up in this building and the issues that those towns have been facing has been an ongoing issue, has been an ongoing issue for years. Since my niece, she's now 14, she was living there ever since birth. So, yeah, seeing their living conditions, seeing the water leaks, the busted base floors, the railings in the hallways rusted over, the uneven floors, down to the malfunctioning elevator that happens every, so it happens more often than not. But, Yes, I am strongly in favor of this redevelopment plan because I do believe that working class individuals in our city, no matter what the class or status or rank, deserve safe, healthy, affordable, comfortable housing. And growing up here, that's just something that I've seen undermined time and time again from Native generations of people who have raised families here for years. The neglect of our Hudson and our Hudson natives is something that is very depressing to see, especially when you grow up in community with these people and there's really nothing you can do as one individual to help their struggle. But, yes. To touch a little bit based on some of the opposing arguments to this plan, one of them, which already has kind of a little bit of a run brought up, is the space of where the redevelopment plan would happen. And to answer some questions to that, the space that Bliss Towers is on right now is federal and granted space for affordable housing units. And there is no other way.

Sorry, 30 seconds.

There is no other way to work around that. But yes, and to the Avestos concerns, which are very, very valid, there are ways, safe ways to mediate a best dose before having to start this redevelopment plan. So yeah, but that's what everybody's talking about.

Thank you.

Thank you for your time.

There's two comments.

um 12 year old youth leader organizer 13 oh my god Youth Leader and Organizing Songs, would you like to join us?

You should be here too. Well, I'm a leader.

Young people deserve

this housing. The future of the city depends on this level of investment in affordable, healthy, densely built housing. We have failed generations of young people and we have lost so many families and anyone who is a youth worker such as myself, who works through the schools, work with young people, knows that we are seeing families and generational networks of care be torn apart because they cannot stay at the same level. In the last 25 years, we've lost 2,000 members from our population. That is 24% of our population gone in the last 20 years. And I appreciate Bill Hughes saying that it's even double that or more since 1965. We have a population of 5,700 people. That's not enough people to even sustain the businesses and the schools and the economy of this town. There's no business that can stay open all weekdays. We have created an unsustainable city that does not take care of its young people, its elders, its neighbors, its working families, or its working class people. That is a shame. And this board has the ability to right that historical wrong, and to right the historical wrong that was done when this building was built for needs at a time when asbestos was not fully understood, when poor materials were used. And what we have before us is a proposal for a well-built design plan that centers green space, place space, and shared community space. Densely built housing characterizes the city It's what makes a city a city. If you do not like living in a city, there are plenty of other suburban towns and rural areas in the area that you can move to and still get to come here and go out to dinner. This is Hudson. There are people who are waiting to come home. And yes, there are people who might move here from other parts of the country. Imagine that. That would be great. We would welcome that. And I want to add that we are among the most impacted. My organization is a neighboring property to this property. We will deal with the construction traffic, the dust and the noise and impact because this benefits our city. And sometimes it is inconvenient to do something that matters. Sometimes we have to compromise or make a small sacrifice or feel a little bit uncomfortable or have to take a longer route to work or close our windows on the day that the demolition is happening. that is part of the city life. And remediation is absolutely possible. It happens all the time. HHA sought brownfield status intentionally so that they could clean this up the right way.

Thank you so much, Clare.

Lloyd, Alvin, Kevin.

Thank you.

Your voice for reason. Right light. recently Savior of the Tree of Peace. And recent five years only in Hudson, but I have so much love and regard for the incredible creativity and the population here and the diversity. And there's so much love. I've recently come to, some of you may be familiar with my housing situation. So I've come up with my own creative solution, You know my own personal but there's been some detractors and i've dealt with that and just saying i've learned about the wonderful and delightful nature of these people stuff I to the with that background, I am a support. unequivocal support of this project, two years ago, when they were looking at the demolition grant the $2 million that didn't the CV TV grant I said. Does anyone think this building is coming down? It's not coming down, because it's coming down, whether it's done proactively by some engineering firm or construction firm or management firm, or it crumbles. So this is a no-brainer. It's coming down. Now, it's actually being monitored by the state in terms of brownfields. They cannot move forward. I've been going to the meetings. I've watched the work the developers put into this. There's no schlock operation, Marco. If I said that correctly. But anyway, they really worked it and they've been on the job and we're lucky to have a developer that is demonstrating this much care and attention and basically love for the city. So the remediation will happen. The state will not give them money. unless the remediation plans. So I do not see the remediation. Wherever you go, practically in Hudson, unless you go to a virgin park, you're going to have remediation of some form or sort. The question is, how effective is it? So I don't think that is something. Now, in terms of not knowing what the project is going to be or how it's going to be, don't let the perfect get in the way of the good enough. And if it's just good enough, to provide housing for these people and get them out of, excuse 30 seconds, in the situation that they're in, then just by all means, go ahead, let them have their housing and write a dinner briefing to me.

Thank you, Larry.

Thank you, Tom. Levi, do the next. Hi, Levi. I have definitely in support of this project. Just the other night, I was sitting out in front of some of my neighbors getting eaten alive by mosquitoes, and listening to some of their stories from my neighbor, Young, growing up in the Towers, and running the hallways at any time, or sneaking out of their grandmother's apartment to go to the Third Street snack bar to meet up with their friends. And during my time in the military, that wasn't really very conducive to putting down roots. So anytime I hear these kinds of stories, it feels really precious, you know? It feels priceless. There's like a value in a long-established tie between people, the community, and also the place that they live. And I think the people in West right now have that. And when I hear words like dispersing, dispersing to me just kind of is another word for breaking, right? Breaking up, breaking up our community. And I don't think that breaking apart this strong community is in any of our best interest, you know? I do think replacing a derelict building and encouraging growth feeds our community at large over and over. It's an overdue investment . I just want to speak briefly on the comment I heard earlier on who will be coming in. Who will be coming in? Who in that big bristle? You know, nobody vetted me when I moved here, and I would venture to say that the people in the room here weren't vetted by anyone upon moving here either, you know, and because implication that people moving into this new housing would need any different seemed like a racist opposite to me.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. 51 years old, as of a couple Tuesdays ago.

Dear members of the Hudson Planning Board, before Bliss Towers became the subject of redevelopment plans, public hearings, and architectural renderings, it was simply home. My connection to Bliss Towers began before I was even born. My mother, along our first resident of Bliss, while five months pregnant with me, moved into Bliss. We were the first family in Gate 14. I was born into that community, raised there, built life over friendship there, and later received my first apartment here as a young adult. Even after leaving Hudson for a period of time, I returned to Bliss once again before beginning the next chapter of my life. My relationship with Bliss Tower spans nearly every stage of my life. The relationship eventually came full circle in 2017. I became the first person of color to work in administration. It was a milestone I carried with great pride and responsibility. More importantly, it gave the opportunity to serve the very community that helped shape me. Residents were not simply walking into an office. They were greeted by someone who understood their neighborhood, their history, and the importance of having a safe, and stable place to call home. Today, I have the privilege of serving our community as the founder and director of 411 Advocacy and Resources, an organization committed to helping individuals and families navigate housing challenges through information, advocacy, and resource connection. It is through each of these experiences as a child, a resident, a housing professional, and now a housing advocate that I write in this unwavering support of the proposed redevelopment of Bliss Towers. After more than 50 years, replacing these towers is no longer a practice. It is a necessity. Over the years, I have witnessed the building's rising deterioration firsthand. I have seen the increasing challenges in maintaining aging infrastructure, the limitations of our care systems.

Sorry to interrupt, 30 seconds.

Okay. I think I've said enough. We need to stop blaming those people of Bliss for destroying a building that the community outside of Bliss has done. There's only 84 residents there because the building needs to be put together so somebody else can live there. And our tenants, those tenants, our community, they deserve it. Stop letting fear of national disaster prevent us from getting this project up and going.

Thank you for your comment.

Hi, thank you.

I thought it was a sign-in sheet, but I feel compelled to speak. My name is Zuhaira Khaldun Yara. I moved here six years ago, so I am a resident, a recent resident, but one of the things that attracted me to The city of Hudson was the beautiful community and diversity of thought of people and of community and this community have embraced us and I am in full support of the renovation and redevelopment of bliss towers so that our community members and friends can live in a beautiful, sustainable building that they deserve and I am assured and i've seen the models they're beautiful they were on display at waterfront wednesday on wednesday they're beautiful and i'm sure that it will be done responsibly and in a sustainable way thank you very much

I have lived in Austin for the past six years.

And I may have lived close to the West House, but

But I have seen it a while and I haven't seen it. I have seen the community surrounding it and the community and the Hudson in general. And I also thought about the not good state that was Talibah Colonial. And when I heard that, all I wanted to do was help it be settled. So when I heard about the redevelopment project. I really just wanted to help and that's why I ran the stand of the window lighting on Wednesday because I believe that once again, some people should have a chance to have good housing. That's all I wanted to say.

My name is Sabdas Meena.

I live in Columbia State in the second ward. I was an 11-year-old councilman in the second ward, nine years in the county tour wizard. Over 20 years, I was a defense minister in that ward. Look at this. I know the whole history of this. 12,000 people, they count the 5,000. If you have no people, what are you looking for quality like? You have no people. The question was, you're looking at quality like all issue. We can improve it. So I say, I give a thank you to the planning board. That was the second one. I was thinking, of the only state level and and she was making the committee so they moved a lot of truck because that road is a is a big issue the health was a second order so question was a i fully support it our people know it this is for diverse community this is not a one color community i know that what is the problem Problem is a lot of gentrification, all kinds of problems. But still, we need to support this project. We have to be. You look at how many people. We cannot afford it. Low-income housing needs a hustle. I was a fighter, but before it was a low-income housing, like a full-time state corner, making it, it does not happen. While the 7th Street corner was a low-income housing, it is, before it was a council, it does not happen. Every time we try to build something for the lower people, lower income people, we have a problem. We looking for this problem, that problem. We can solve the problem, no matter what. We are work together. Let's go work together, solve the problem. I'm 100% support with this project. I hope it will be for the people of the, our people, our community, Brotherly together. Thank you. Thank you for your time.

Pastor Singletary.

Good evening.

So I did submit a two-page kind of lengthy letter to the board, and it's going to be available to the public, so I won't go over that letter. but I did wanna speak to some of the things that I was listening to in the room and some of the things that I brought with me into the room that I remember hearing conversations in this room as the century turned. I remember hearing people talking about making Hudson the Hampton on the Hudson. So when I hear people concerned about who's gonna be moving here, it brings that to my memory. When I hear people talking about their investments in the property here, they came with an idea of what the community would be, and they worked to make it that community. And so we have luxury hotels, and we have boutiques that people here can't shop in. Pursuing that dream, the displacement of black and brown people who built this community, we are dealing with that. And the decision that we need to make is what kind of community do we want to be? People came here because they wanted to make it to Hampton on Hudson. We have to decide what kind of community do we want to be. The issue of people moving here from other places is a great opportunity for those who were displaced to come and rejoin their family members. It's an opportunity for those who, like myself, moved out of Hudson because I couldn't afford to live in Hudson. So as a housing advocate from 20 years ago, continuing that work in the county, knowing that there are people who are living in Philmont and in Chadwick because they can't live in Hudson, I said, let's bring them back home. You all have the ability to make decisions that will affect this generation and the generations behind us. This can't be delayed. We don't know if money will be siphoned out of the government. We don't know if money is going to be redirected. We don't know what supply chain pricing and supply chain availability, how prices might skyrocket if we postpone the delay and find all manner of reason and excuses until people stop showing up at the meetings and people stop believing it can happen.

Sorry to interrupt. 30 seconds.

Well, that's what I got to say.

Meet my learners.

I'm also going to stay over here so I don't have to climb over if you want. Dear members of the Hudson Planning Board, I'd like to start by saying the families in Bliss have lived for 40 plus years without consideration of remediation. As quoted on the state website, the goal of the brownfield cleanup program is to encourage private sector cleanups of brownfields and to promote their redevelopment as a means to revitalize economically blighted communities. The BCP is an alternative to greenfield development and is intended to remove some of the barriers and provide tax incentives for the redevelopment of urban areas. I'm running in strong support of the Hudson Housing Authority Redevelopment Project. I love hearing I'm a supporter of affordable housing and but not this project in the same sentence. What solution do you see on the horizon? There are very few places in the city of Hudson where we can actually build housing at scale at this moment, that this moment demands. We are in a housing crisis and we have to be honest about what that means. We cannot say we want more housing, more affordable housing and better housing for the people who already live here and then reject one of the few projects that can actually deliver it at scale we need. I've heard some of the comments opposing this project because it's too big for Hudson. I simply do not agree. This project is one story shorter than Providence Hall, and two stories taller than Columbia Apartments as they currently exist. When we talk about scale, I think we have to ask ourselves, too big compared to what? And more importantly, too big for who? The first phase of this project is necessary to replace substandard housing for current tenants. But I want to emphasize that the second phase is just as important. Following the first phase, the second phase allows for the demolition and continued redevelopment of properties. We cannot only think about what is immediately in front of us, we have to think about what this project makes possible for the future of public housing in Hudson. I also cannot separate this project from my own experience growing up in the city. Some of my favorite memories happened in those public housing apartments. I remember holidays captured on camcorder videos full of love, laughter, food, kids running around, and people being together, people that I no longer have in my life. I remember community. It was on this property that the Hudson Housing Authority that I learned what community actually meant. And that has shaped how I understand community to work to this day. For me, it's not just about policy. It's not just about sitting in a room and making decisions or holding an elected office. The crux of community work is people being able to live full lives. It is about people having the opportunity to make memories, raise families, build relationships, celebrate holidays, laugh at their neighbors, and leave an impact simply because they were here. If we have the power to provide the infrastructure that allows us to live the lives that we want, then we should absolutely do that. I want to address the concerns that have been raised about the soil study and the environmental conditions on the property. I understand the importance of making sure that redevelopment is safe and that the environmental concerns are properly addressed. That should never be dismissed. But at this point, I believe using the soil study as an argument against this project is an excuse to avoid moving forward with a problem that we already know needs to be remedied again. This project was awarded the Brownfield Grant specifically to help address the immediate environmental issues identified on the site, and we're not pretending those issues do not exist.

Hold that time. Thank you very much.

Carlos, stand up.

I'm all in favor of rebuilding

this town, but I'm not in favor of answers not being out loud. People have talked about the soil remediation. I've worked on multimillion dollar, billion dollar construction projects, and I know that anything can get built anywhere. How much is it going to cost? That's just one known issue that is affecting this towers. And anytime there's been, we've asked, or people have asked about it, there's been pushback or dismissal. That's just one unanswered question in a series of them. I'm all for that these buildings get built well, that it affects the legacy, not just the five years. If it's done well, if it's done transparently, if answers are being gotten, then it may affect and support everybody who may in fact be not supported because of their concerns. But there are very specific known issues on this project that haven't been, from my experience, sufficiently addressed. Or if they are addressed and strategized, they're not being publicly presented. If they're publicly presented, then maybe Certainly my concerns about some of them would be lessened. But there are real known issues on any project anywhere, whether it's a personal project or a building that's getting built. There are known issues and unknown. And there's a contingency. Soil remediation, just that, will far surpass Any contingency that what I've seen on this project? Is the vendor who's going to do that soil remediation? Are they aware of that this particular project? Is there sufficient knowledge? That's what I'm asking for. Knowledge to then build right. Thank you.

Thank you for coming. Don't hunt.

Good evening, my name is Joan Hunt. I've worked in this community with youth and families for over 20 years. I lead a local organization, the Greater Hudson Promise Neighborhood, and we see firsthand how displacement has impacted the families that we've worked with over the years. We also receive dozens of inquiries a month from people who live here or about to lose their housing that want to stay here, that are looking for places that are affordable in this community. We see our families that are in the Taconic Hill School District, in the Chatham School District, in Kebab, up in Shore, in places in Albany, and all they wanted to do was come home. And so the fact that there are so many new faces here that are speaking out against this project, I don't know how many of you have met the families of Bliss, spent time in that building, I get that there are concerns, but there needs to be a sense of urgency here. There are people that are fighting to stay here. There are people that are fighting to come back. There are people living in motels that could be housed in a safe building right here in our community, close to resources, close to community, close to a school district where they know other students, they know their teachers. And so everything to me that is opposing this project feels very much like a stall tactic. Like, let's look at other options. Let's worry about this study when there just needs to be urgency to get this done and get this moving forward. And I guarantee that whatever we do in this redevelopment, it is better than what is currently at this Congress today. So please move this forward. I'm in full support of this project. Thank you. Jamal Jackson. Good evening.

Good evening. I want to say that first,

I'm an advocate for affordable housing. And being an advocate for affordable housing and being for affordable housing means that we should build affordable housing. It doesn't mean that we should continue to wait and we continue to have excuses. When we talk about the fabric of the community, the fabric of the community isn't just the buildings and the infrastructure. The fabric of the community is the people. So when you moved in, when you moved in, when you moved in, when you moved in, The fabric of the community changed. And in order for people to be able to be a part of the community that they helped build, we have to build Fort Gloucester. We can't blame the former administration of HHA for what's happening now. This is our time to actually make a change. The building has so much water damage, and right now it's, you know, it's cosmetic. But in a few months, in a year, it's going to be mold. It's going to hurt the air quality. Everyone in here, in every letter that I've read, has admitted that the building is hazardous. And we're going to tell people, you should continue to live there because we're not, we don't like the plan. We don't like the way it looks. That's not right. When everybody moved here, it was okay, but like, We have to look at the bigger picture. We have a hospital that has over 100 open positions. We have all of these places on Wall Street that you love going, all the restaurants. Guess what? They can't afford, they can't find workers. This is affordable housing that we have to build now. We can't keep kicking this down the road. We're one emergency away from this being a planned relocation to it being an emergency relocation. I just implore the board to make the right decision to think about the tenants who actually live in the building and do what's right. And if you're for affordable housing, build affordable housing.

Thank you, John.

Are there any citizens here that would like to speak that have not spoken? And you can sign up with Linda.

Can I finish my comment? It's not time to finish my public comment if nobody else wants to.

Let's see if anybody else first.

Randall Martin.

As a former member of this board, we've seen this project come up and through the stages, and I think it's a well-reasoned, proportionate, well-designed project designed to meet the needs and not just the present needs, but some of the expanding needs of the community. This is a valuable place for affordable housing. There's absolutely no reason why, in my belief and in my opinion, having thoroughly studied it for many, many months, this project should not be approved. And I think that it's appropriate, it's necessary, and it's the kind of project that keeps and sustains the neighborhoods that Hudson has historically has. So that's that's my comment.

Thank you for your guide. And we're leaving this glance. Smart masses over graphic up your phone. It's three more minutes.

The project is awarded a brownfield grant specifically to help address and remediate the environmental issues identified on the site. We're not pretending those issues do not exist. We are sorry. We are identifying them, putting resources towards addressing them. That distinction matters. If we know there are environmental problems on this property, the answer cannot be to leave the existing conditions in place indefinitely. The answer should be to use the resources available to remediate the site and build safer, healthier housing for the people who live there. I'm asking the Planning Board to listen closely to the people who are most immediately impacted by this project. This is deeper than aesthetics. It is deeper than whether a building feels too large from a particular vantage point. Those things matter, but they cannot be the only things I consider when you're talking about the future of public housing and the people who depend on it. I also want to say something about the tenants whose voices you may not hear. Many residents may not stand up at a meeting and passionately advocate for this redevelopment. That does not mean they don't support it. Many have been through redevelopment conversations before, they have heard promises before, and they have waited before. Some have understandably lost faith that anything will actually change. I believe that the team leading this project has earned the opportunity to rebuild that trust. The executive director, the board of commissioners, and the development team have been transparent, accommodating, and steadfast in their vision for the tenants. They have continued to show up and work towards something better. At this point, I believe it is our responsibility as a city to show up for them too. As public servants, you have an opportunity to tell the tenants of the Hudson Housing Authority that they are valued, that their homes matter, that their future matters, that the memories and community that have existed there for generations are worth investing in, not preserving in place at the expense of better housing. I love the city of Hudson, and I believe one of the strongest and tallest fosters of culture in the city is the Hudson Housing Authority. Its value cannot be measured only by the buildings that exist there today. It is measured by the people who have lived there, the families who have grown there, the friendships that have been formed there, and the community that has been built there. We have an opportunity to build on that legacy rather than allow it to disappear. We have an opportunity to take a property with no challenges, bring the resources necessary to address those challenges, replace substandard housing, preserve and strengthen public housing, and create more homes for people in a city that desperately needs them. That's not too much for Hudson. That's exactly what this moment calls for. I urge the planning board to support the Hudson Housing Authority Redevelopment Project and to recognize it for what it is, an investment in housing, in people, in community, and in the future of Hudson. Thank you.

Thank you all for your comments tonight. My name is Edwin Cross. I've lived here for 78 years.

I probably saw it first virtually at high rise. Okay, now it looks like I go in there every day. It looks like a sick brain. And I look in there, and it scares me. It scares me how we let things go like this. And we need to step up. It's not just a brick and mortar. I think you said something about brick and mortars. It's not just brick and mortars. It's people. And we need to do something right now. I need to see some of your faces down there right now. I want you to think back, when was the last time you actually were down there? No, you don't have to answer me. We need to be about the business of getting this thing right. We need to stop moving our feet. We need to take some walks. We need to get together and talk about where we're going. Thank you for your comment.

Yes. I'm Gloria.

I'm Gloria Coleman. Thank you. I'm speaking up because of things that I'm hearing. I spoke before in public.

But I hear a roller coaster. Literally, a roller coaster.

And you know how the roller coaster runs. It goes round and round and round and round and round. Okay, I understand how you said talk about the ground, but I was in a couple of meetings and they were talking about the environment. They were talking about the soil. They were talking about how they were going to protect it. I didn't mean, I'm sorry, Ms. Debbie. I was here when they were in the meeting when they showed the designs of the project itself, the landscaping and what's going to take place. I'm sorry, Ms. Debbie. Okay, however, I'm tired of the roller coaster. It's been going on for years. This project has been in your face Maybe not you, because you may not have been the ones that was on board all the time. But it's time for it to stop. It's time for that roller coaster to say, stop right here. Let's do what needs to be done. The question that you all asked, they have actually been answered. And I'm sorry we missed that meeting. I was there. And even though I wasn't those who were not there, they'll be more than happy. They'll be more than happy to show you all the information that you're required of. Okay, but the roller coaster needs to stop. This needs to happen because to be honest with you, everything that I went into that building has nothing to do with tenants damaging it, not at all. To be honest with you, every tenant today and in the past can sue the city of us because of the condition of that building. And like I said, You can see it has nothing to do with tennis destroying. It's demolished. It's dying. It is truly dying. So take it off the roller coaster. Stop it. Let's get this started and move forward. Thank you. One last opportunity for speakers. Could you introduce yourself, please?

Of course. My name is Tiffany.

And I'm from New York City originally, and I'm following behind this town. I'm a little emotional because of the negativity and comments that I've been hearing. When I moved to Hudson, Hudson is a community of people. Now it's a community of tourists. which is trying to exclude the people in this community. We're talking about this town, this is generations of people in Florence. Now I'm hearing people trying to blame residents for the conditions of the building. The people in that building were dealing with the conditions of that building and they were still finding happiness in life, still celebrating their children's birthdays, still celebrating their grandparents, their anniversaries. while enduring those conditions. You all are in charge to give people a better opportunity. Make it happen. I don't even understand why we even have this discussion, why we have people here begging to pass this. You know, people that I'm hearing using scare tactics, talking about asbestos in the grounds. This entire city is filled with asbestos. i mean you know the actual history seriously we have buildings in new york city project building that are in worse conditions this is one building you all have the opportunity to continue to give people that feeling the hope inside of protection no one should be treated in any special, any sort of way because they're living in low-income houses. No one should be having their nose up in the air because people are living in low-income houses. God forbid you're in that position where you have to live in low-income houses. You would want someone to represent for you as well. I'm going to ask you, because I don't know if you've ever been to this house, but have you had this type of meeting with those titles. Do not just hear from people from the community, but from the actual residents.

I'm sorry to interrupt.

Yes or no. Then do that. We have a few residents here that are representing the building. We have people that aren't able to come out of the apartments, but they are able to come downstairs in that community room. Do you know what that means? Community room where elected officials can come speak to the residents. where people with non-for-profit organizations can come give benefits to those people. People in bliss towers have the opportunity to give jobs. Young ladies and people out there, an administrative assistant, other young men have the opportunity to work as maintenance. Don't take these opportunities when I don't care about them.

Well, we do. We have to respect that everyone was on limited time.

Thank you for your comment.

And thank you all for being a part of this discussion. It's a valuable part of the process. And I want to assure you that we are engaged in a process that is progressing through the steps that we're required to undertake by state law. And we're doing so with intentionality and with purpose. And from the time that four of the board members joined the board till now, which has been six months, I think we've made really substantial progress in moving through the necessary steps. We've stayed in close contact, I have, with Jeff and and keeping communications open so that we are, well, communicating, so that we're communicating with each other, so we understand how we move forward through this process. When I first joined the board, I didn't quite know how this worked and it's confusing and it's sometimes feels very calcified and bureaucratic, but we are required that the state to do certain kinds of activities. So that's what we're doing. So have confidence. You are a part of this. Denying your comments and your voice was an important contribution to helping us become informed properly so that we can deliver a sound decision in support of the community in support of the residents and for the future of our city together so thank you i think we'll take a 10-minute break and then we'll come back and return to the agenda thank you all