News
Council discusses Terrace’s low income designation
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| Hudson Terrace Apartments in the city of Hudson was the topic of discussion as a recent Common Council meeting. (Robert Ragaini/Hudson-Catskill Newspapers) |
Some feel riverfront property should not be Section 8
By Jamie Larson
A heated debate that raged in Hudson a year ago, about the future of the riverfront property that holds the Hudson Terrace low income housing complex, was revisited at the recent regular meeting of the city’s Common Council.
In the winter of 2008-2009 some in the city felt that the Terrace should be restored from its quickly deteriorating state to provide affordable as well as livable Section 8 subsidized housing. Other voices, both on the council and from some of the city’s building owners, argued that the prime river view real estate should be used for market value housing and low income citizens should be moved elsewhere.
Low income housing redevelopment specialists Evergreen Partners took an interest in purchasing the Terraces from its current owners, AIMCO, and now plan to completely renovate the entire apartment complex.
Evergreen desires to keep the Terrace 100 percent Section 8 subsidized, keeping the rent for tenants flat at one third of their income.
In January the Common Council authorized the Industrial Development Agency to work out a Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement (PILOT) with Evergreen, for the development of the project. In City Hall Tuesday a resolution was put before the council members to release AIMCO from its PILOT to make way for Evergreen’s.
Upon the resolution’s introduction there was confusion, with First Ward Alderman Carrie Haddad saying she had no recollection of voting on the issue in January.
Half of the Terrace rests in the First ward. Haddad said that she owns rental property in Hudson and didn’t think it was fair for a large group like Evergreen to only be paying as little as $250 a year per unit on the Terrace, which has more than 150 apartments, when she and others are paying taxes in full.
“I think these people should have been held accountable and pay for what they owe,” said Haddad, who did not run for re-election and will be replaced on the council in January, as will her fellow First Ward Alderman Carole Osterink, who was knocked out of her seat in the Democratic primary in September.
City Treasurer Eileen Halloran said Haddad should understand that whether or not the city gave Evergreen a PILOT, they were only going to take over the property under the condition that it remain Section 8 subsidized. Halloran said that the state does not allow Section 8 housing to be fully taxed anyway. Under New York’s formula for low income provider taxation, Halloran explained, Evergreen’s payment to the city would be comparable to what they will pay under a PILOT.
Local property owner Richard Cohen addressed the council from the audience. He said he felt that keeping the Terrace low income was bad for the city and shuts Hudson off from creating revenue on the most valuable piece of developable real estate in the city. Cohen continued that it put an added burden on people like him to pay for the large infrastructure projects facing the city.
“I’m not talking about displacing people,” Cohen said after apologizing for not participating in the discussions of the issue when they were actually taking place, “but it’s important to imagine how the city is going to be. If I build a hotel or not, people are not going to come if there aren’t things to come here for.”
After some further discussion Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera stood up in the back of the audience saying, “let’s relive a little history.”
Scalera said when he was 21 he worked construction as part of a crew that tore down the dilapidated buildings that were replaced by the Terrace during the Urban Renewal project of the 70s.
At the time the view from the property was not the orderly park and clean Hudson River that exists today, he said.
The mayor said that those who lived at the Terrace in the early days were surrounded by an industrial area full of garbage, oil drums, and railroad tracks, next to a dangerously polluted river.
Scalera asked why, now that the area has been cleaned up, poor people shouldn’t live there anymore. “It was okay for them to live there in the worst of times,” Scalera said. “Let them live there in the best of times.”
Alderman Christopher Wagoner said the discussion represented what he felt is the most frustrating thing about the council.
He said no one ever stays consistent with the decisions they made in the past. He said they decided on the Terrace a year ago and now it seemed like the discussion was back to square one. “We need to talk about it while it’s happening,” Wagoner said. “I wish we could stay with the program.”
Everyone then voted to pass the resolution, except Haddad and Osterink.
To reach reporter Jamie Larson, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or e-mail jlarson@registerstar.com.
In the winter of 2008-2009 some in the city felt that the Terrace should be restored from its quickly deteriorating state to provide affordable as well as livable Section 8 subsidized housing. Other voices, both on the council and from some of the city’s building owners, argued that the prime river view real estate should be used for market value housing and low income citizens should be moved elsewhere.
Low income housing redevelopment specialists Evergreen Partners took an interest in purchasing the Terraces from its current owners, AIMCO, and now plan to completely renovate the entire apartment complex.
Evergreen desires to keep the Terrace 100 percent Section 8 subsidized, keeping the rent for tenants flat at one third of their income.
In January the Common Council authorized the Industrial Development Agency to work out a Payment in Lieu of Taxes agreement (PILOT) with Evergreen, for the development of the project. In City Hall Tuesday a resolution was put before the council members to release AIMCO from its PILOT to make way for Evergreen’s.
Upon the resolution’s introduction there was confusion, with First Ward Alderman Carrie Haddad saying she had no recollection of voting on the issue in January.
Half of the Terrace rests in the First ward. Haddad said that she owns rental property in Hudson and didn’t think it was fair for a large group like Evergreen to only be paying as little as $250 a year per unit on the Terrace, which has more than 150 apartments, when she and others are paying taxes in full.
“I think these people should have been held accountable and pay for what they owe,” said Haddad, who did not run for re-election and will be replaced on the council in January, as will her fellow First Ward Alderman Carole Osterink, who was knocked out of her seat in the Democratic primary in September.
City Treasurer Eileen Halloran said Haddad should understand that whether or not the city gave Evergreen a PILOT, they were only going to take over the property under the condition that it remain Section 8 subsidized. Halloran said that the state does not allow Section 8 housing to be fully taxed anyway. Under New York’s formula for low income provider taxation, Halloran explained, Evergreen’s payment to the city would be comparable to what they will pay under a PILOT.
Local property owner Richard Cohen addressed the council from the audience. He said he felt that keeping the Terrace low income was bad for the city and shuts Hudson off from creating revenue on the most valuable piece of developable real estate in the city. Cohen continued that it put an added burden on people like him to pay for the large infrastructure projects facing the city.
“I’m not talking about displacing people,” Cohen said after apologizing for not participating in the discussions of the issue when they were actually taking place, “but it’s important to imagine how the city is going to be. If I build a hotel or not, people are not going to come if there aren’t things to come here for.”
After some further discussion Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera stood up in the back of the audience saying, “let’s relive a little history.”
Scalera said when he was 21 he worked construction as part of a crew that tore down the dilapidated buildings that were replaced by the Terrace during the Urban Renewal project of the 70s.
At the time the view from the property was not the orderly park and clean Hudson River that exists today, he said.
The mayor said that those who lived at the Terrace in the early days were surrounded by an industrial area full of garbage, oil drums, and railroad tracks, next to a dangerously polluted river.
Scalera asked why, now that the area has been cleaned up, poor people shouldn’t live there anymore. “It was okay for them to live there in the worst of times,” Scalera said. “Let them live there in the best of times.”
Alderman Christopher Wagoner said the discussion represented what he felt is the most frustrating thing about the council.
He said no one ever stays consistent with the decisions they made in the past. He said they decided on the Terrace a year ago and now it seemed like the discussion was back to square one. “We need to talk about it while it’s happening,” Wagoner said. “I wish we could stay with the program.”
Everyone then voted to pass the resolution, except Haddad and Osterink.
To reach reporter Jamie Larson, call 518-828-1616, ext. 2269, or e-mail jlarson@registerstar.com.
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