Today, Friday, October 28, The Register-Star printed its election-year profile of all candidates running for city-wide offices: Mayor, Common Council President and Treasurer.  Reporter Tom Casey's interview with me is printed below.  What is also of note is that Bart Delaney, the Republican candidate of whom virtually nothing has been heard, emerges with an interview where it appears he is actively campaigning for the position.

http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2011/10/28/news/doc4eaa35ede6199826428608.txt

Supervisor challenges sitting council prez
Moore: City needs strong council, government

By Tom Casey
Hudson-Catskill Newspapers

Published:

Friday, October 28, 2011 2:09 AM EDT

HUDSON — For Common Council President Don Moore, the past two years have been an investment.

“I’ve spent the last two years turning a part-time job into a full-time job,” said Moore. “The challenges facing the city deserved that much attention.”

Moore is seeking re-election to his position on the Common Council, and thinks the time spent there has been productive.

Citing the progress that the council had made under his tenure, Moore said he has worked to expand the responsibilities of the council with the progress made on the LWRP, the strengthening of agencies like the Hudson Development Corporation, and the completion of a re-evaluation of tax assessments by the middle of next year.

“Insofar as the goal has been to improve the economy, the tax base, and the quality of life in the city,” said Moore, “I think the council has done a good deal of work in the face of considerable challenges.”

Moore said what the city needs is strength in its government.

“What the city continues to need is a stronger administration and a stronger ability to carry out the responsibilities of the city and to meet the responsibilities of the city,” said Moore. “ I think knowing more now than I did two years ago only reinforces the fact that the office of the mayor, the office of the treasurer, and clerk can utilize the efforts of a stronger common council to assist ... that can streamline the ability of the city to carry out its duties to try and meet the needs of the city population.”

The Common Council president said his top issue for the city was to increase economic development, including attracting new businesses to bring in jobs to the city. The waterfront is one of those places, and Moore has suggested bringing in a committee of citizens and council members to address what  could be brought there.

“The LWRP is only one step on a very long road,” said Moore. “The subsequent work of developing the waterfront, the properties that are there, finding the grants, organizing the evaluation of how the South Bay can be used and restored —  these are projects that will take a great deal of time by both the people who work for the city and the people who can be brought in as volunteers.”

 Moore also wants to make property taxes fair in the city, by replacing the sole assessor.

“This city has had a series of sole assessors who have frankly not lived up to their responsibilities as public servants and have left a trail of miscalculation of erratic assessments and behavior,” said Moore. “I’d very much like to see this city be confident citywide that its assessments are as close to accurate as possible.”

Moore said the city also needs to be smart about how it spends and taxes. He pointed to last year’s property taxes saying the city was able to keep tax increases to only 1.76 percent and should look to maintain that restraint for 2012. However, he said cutting spending should not be done by undercutting services.

“Too severe a reduction means a jurisdiction might end up thoughtlessly cutting jobs,” said Moore. “That will not happen as long as I am here.”

Hudson’s Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP)

Two posts today.  Both are about the LWRP. 

The first is an editorial by Parry Teasdale in The Independent of October 7, 2011: “Hudson makes progress on waterfront” which can be read at: http://www.columbiapaper.com/index.php/editor/2284-by-parry-teasdale. 

“…last week the Hudson Common Council took one of the most significant steps in decades aimed at changing both the zoning of South Bay and opening up the  overall waterfront of the city to new uses that should give the public more access than ever before to the waterfront along the Hudson River.

“The council adopted a document called a generic environmental impact statement for the city's long-delayed Local Waterfront Revitalization Plan. That clears a  major hurdle toward adoption of both the waterfront plan and changes to city zoning designed to make a revitalized waterfront possible.”

The second is a My View I authored that appears in The Hudson Register-Star today, Friday, October 14, 2011: “Hudson’s Future Protected by the LWRP.”  http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2011/10/14/opinion/letters/doc4e97cadddaca7336068848.txt

The full text follows:

One of the biggest questions about the LWRP: Does passing it open up the waterfront to industrialization?  In fact, no, the opposite is true. The new zoning prohibits manufacturing and processing at the port (and in the entire Core-Riverfront zone). The LWRP explicitly states that the “City’s support to encourage the use of the port for the shipment of raw materials, processed and/or finished goods should in no way be construed to support a return to cement manufacturing. The City does not support cement manufacturing in or near its boundaries.

Another question: what would rejecting or just not voting on the LWRP mean? The City would lose the LWRP’s new zoning, leaving the entire waterfront industrially zoned. Developers will wait for the new zoning before making commitments. If we leave the current zoning in place, we’ll have industrial zones that exist virtually with no restrictions. The port or the causeway could be developed without any restraints.

Here is why. If we adopt the LWRP now, the changes to the City zoning code would restrict the causeway and the port to shipping only. O&G already has the permits to truck across the causeway. The NYSDEC granted that permit in October 2009. Both the permit and the resurfacing were challenged by Scenic Hudson but upheld.

If the Council adopts the LWRP with the new Core-Riverfront zoning, the current use at that time, whatever that is, is “grandfathered,” it is allowed to continue. Under the new zoning it becomes what is called a “non-conforming” use. Changes to non-conforming uses – like altering buildings, repaving roads — that require approval by the City would then be considered “changes of use” and the Hudson Planning Commission would impose conditions spelled out in the zoning code. If the City grants a conditional use permit, the owner must abide by conditions that would include: site plan approval, restrictions on hours of operation, noise, dust, light, and screening and viewshed concerns.

What about Holcim’s ownership of the Hudson port and wetland, including the causeway? To answer that, two fundamental questions need to be addressed: one of law and the other of finances. First, property rights are a legal principle that protects us all. The City cannot simply take over the South Bay and port. It could only do that through a successful eminent domain action. Second, the City could not afford to pay anything like what it would take to buy those properties even if we were to win an eminent domain decision. Would it benefit the City to own the port?  Absolutely. Must we find another way to own it? Yes. Do we hold up the LWRP while we figure how to do that? No.

Passing the LWRP is only the first step. Then, the City must determine which of the many projects and land parcels (some city- and state-owned, some privately held) on our waterfront we want to develop, in what order of priority, and then pursue the private finances and public grant money to make each a reality.

As we know, Hudson has a very limited amount of land.  Many of our potentially most attractive properties are along the waterfront. But right now our waterfront is a patchwork of well-developed park and revitalized older buildings, alongside exhausted and underutilized industrial buildings and land. The LWRP spells out policies and proposes new laws — zoning codes, consistency law — that refresh the possibilities for new business investment and jobs, housing, a more robust tax base.  It also offers a path to recovery of the South and North Bays that give us confidence we can preserve and enjoy the natural beauty right at our doorsteps. The LWRP protects against decisions that aren’t right for Hudson. It is a roadmap to smart choices for our future.