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Philmont: 1987 photos of Oliver North Day

For several years, I’ve been badgering my grade school friend Noah Elkin—who grew up in East Chatham—to find the photographs he took of Larry (“Ollie”) North Day, which took place in Philmont in 1987. 

Lo and behold, Noah has managed to find ’em... A gallery of a dozen or so images, depicting both pro-Ollie marchers and anti-U.S.-imperialism protesters on August 15th, 1987 can be found here. 

The gallery includes a short essay of Elkin’s memory of the day, the mood of the crowds, and how people reacted to the sudden national media attention.

North had grown up in Philmont, but no longer lived there, and declined to attend. Since then, he has been a FOX News commentator, and now heads the National Rifle Association. To this writer’s knowledge, he has not visited Philmont in the past few decades.

The march took place shortly after the conclusion of the Iran-Contra hearings, and just a few days after President Ronald Reagan made his first public statement on the scandal, in which his administration ignored the specific prohibition of Congress not to arm the anti-Communist Nicaraguan CONTRAs. Reagan offered a tepid apology, sloughing most of the blame off on National Security Adviser John Poindexter.

North had been instrumental in enacting the plan, likely devised by then-CIA director Bill Casey, and had been caught among other things shredding evidence of the illegal plot. George H.W. Bush infamously pardoned five of the convicted conspirators during his first year in office, including Eliot Abrams (who is back in the news as Trump’s point man in the effort to foment a coup in oil-rich Venezuela).

The Ollie rally was big local news, but happened to coincide with another potentially-explosive local event, the start of the Wyley Gates trial. Gates was a Canaan teenager who confessed roughly six months earlier to “shooting his father, his father's girlfriend, his brother and a 3-year-old cousin,” according to The New York Times. However, the local jury eventually “acquitted the youth of murder charges, citing shoddy police work and a coerced confession,” and Gates was only convicted of felony conspiracy.

As a result, the Philmont rally became only the second most important story of the day in local papers. A look at the stories of the day adds some additional details to the North Day festivities (or outrage, depending on how you look at it). Reports in the Register-Star stated that:

— North’s mother “called the village hall and said upon the advice of counsel, her son will not attend.”

— Catholic Reverend Charles Gaffigan declined to participate in an “ecumenical church service” planned for the occasion, saying it was “an inappropriate occaison for a religious service,” and it was scrapped.

— Copake resident Paul Marcel said he bought a commemorative t-shirt because “someday this thing will be a collector’s item.” (Is it someday yet?)

— The parade was organized by Sharon Johnson “to support [North] in his time of trouble, with the indulgence of Mayor “Po” Mossman, who was eager to boost flagging attendance at Philmont’s annual community day. Johnson claimed it would be Philmont’s “biggest celebration since servicemen returned home at the end of World War II.”

– 20 State troopers, County sheriffs, and Philmont's own “constabulary” monitored the event; Mayor Mossman “denied reports that he had alerted the National Guard” about it.

— North proponents “warned the crowd that Communist-backed forces are coming dangerously close to the southern borders of the United States,” a sentiment which seems to have recrudesced decades later among Trump supporters.

— There were some “heated arguments,” but mostly prior to the start of the parade. These included a controversy about the intention of a longstanding activist group, Columbia County Citizens for the Prevention of Nuclear War, to hold a press conference. Kathy Stumph of the group said that “I feel the responsibility and obligation to my children and to other young Americans to stand up and take issue with a celebration that mocks the very concept of true heroism.”

— The protesters declined to be a part of the parade, preferring to line the parade route. A teenaged Eddie Coons of Mellenville stated that protesters “have no right coming here and ruining it for everyone.”

— Millerton resident James Brandt held a $15 clambake fundraiser at the Rod & Gun Club to raise funds for a North Defense Fund.

— Then-Senator Al D’Amato and Congressman Jerry Soloman “sent letters of support” but begged off attending.

 

Claverack’s Kangaroo Court

One kept expecting the Monty Python crew to break into last night’s hearing in Philmont, held to consider removal of Planning Board member and Churchtown volunteer firefighter Nathan Chess.

The proceeding, instigated by a tendentious complaint from Claverack Supervisor Robin Andrews, appeared to serve little purpose except to give certain residents and officials a chance to vent their spleen against Chess. Having badly lost her attempt to become a State Senator last year to a Tea Party candidate—despite pandering to the far right on guns and the minimum wage—Andrews’ complaint looks an awful lot like another clumsy attempt to curry favor with Republican insiders.

In over 15 years of watchdogging local meetings, this observer has never seen such a proceeding initiated, let alone actually held; and nothing that Chess is accused of seems that unusual by local standards. The airing of several hampers worth of dirty laundry—consisting mainly of petty personality disputes—reflected poorly on the entire Town and Planning Board, several of whose members appeared mortified to have to testify on one side or the other.

If the Board really felt the need to take some action against Chess, it would have been better served by passing a toothlessly symbolic reprimand, rather than dragging their constituents, Town employees, and volunteer agency members along this five-hour slog through the Philmont mud. This audience member began to suspect that the attorney’s fees devoted by Andrews and her colleagues would be better spent on group therapy, rather than litigation.

Even the Town’s handpicked special counsel, Dionne Wheatley, seemed to grow embarrassed by the thinness of the case handed to her by Andrews and her colleagues on the Town Board, with Wheatley’s once-confident tone becoming less and less audible as she sank lower and lower in her chair.

Commanded by the Town Board—which serves in this case as both accuser and jury—to appear in this Star Chamber, Chess hewed closely to self-researched legal arguments and lawyerly cross-examination. He managed, in Perry Mason style, to get Planning Board chair Steven Hook to admit he had incorrectly testified about the words used during their parking lot argument. Chess also pointed out that the Town had filed the complaint under an outdated portion of its code, and had failed to identify an adequate cause for removal, which needs to be factual, not subjective. Likewise, he poked legal holes in his accusers’ argument that he improperly raised safety concerns reviews by citing the Planning Board mission to ensure public safety.

Later, Chess provided a detailed illustration of the type of expert input he brings to the task of reviewing applications, explaining the importance for First Responders to have a turnaround on any long driveway to ensure that emergency vehicles can pass each other.

Several members of the Planning Board testified, with obvious reluctance, that while they might not always approve of Chess’s attitude, his continued presence had not altered the workings or effectiveness of the Board. (One took this to mean that it had been dysfunctional before, and remains dysfunctional after.)

Meanwhile attorney Wheatley refused to allow Chess to question his accuser, Supervisor Andrews—and Ms. Andrews did not insist on standing behind her accusations. Instead, the Supervisor attempted to paper over the ugly nature of the process that she’d put in motion. During the second break at hour three, Andews put on grinning Den Mother act, serving by-now cold pizza to the 30-plus attendees.

Meanwhile Wheatley wisely denied Big Up concert host Sam Wright’s request to be put on the witness stand, likely calculating that the belligerent and intensely personal nature of Wright’s various outbursts from the audience were not aiding the Town’s attempt to paint Chess as rude and intimidating. (Later, during the public comment portion of the meeting, a member of the audience who is friends with both men accused Wright of attempting to pick a boozy fight with Chess at a local pub.)

As the meeting’s fifth hour came to a close, Chess’s real offense came into focus: his steadfast refusal to just Go Along to Get Along. Two fellow members of the Planning Board complained that meeting were “no fun any more” and “not enjoyable,” to which Chess countered that reviewing an application is “not supposed to be fun. It’s work.”

Whether elected or appointed, local agencies are infamous for favoring the appearance of harmony over the more challenging process of weighing facts and regulations. When a lone Board member insists on a proper debate and review, this means his or her colleagues may have to actually read the materials, think for themselves, defend their reasoning and (worst of all) remain at the meeting long enough to miss the first hour of Prime Time TV.

The only bright spot of the evening was the impartial and good-humored moderation by Ancram Supervisor Art Bassin, who managed to dial down several potentially-explosive moments.

NOTE: In an amusing irony, one of the charges against Chess was that he had used expletives during a “man-to-man” discussion with Hook in the aftermath of a contentious meeting. An article in The Register-Star the morning just before the hearing, Bassin himself was reported to have used the word “bull----” in response to evasions by County Development czar Kenneth Flood—during the meeting, not “man to man.” This prompted this attendee to wonder out loud whether Ms. Andrews planned to file a similar complaint against her colleague. Don’t hold your breath; the obvious point here was not integrity or consistency, but the selective politicization of the Planning Board.

FEMA camps! Tyranny! Tea Partiers ignore Ollie’s real-world plan to suspend Constitution

Lost in the endless AM radio ranting by Glenn Beck and lesser Tea Party fanatics about “tyranny” and “protecting the Constitution” is an uncomfortable bit of 1980s history.

Wingnut hero—and most famous Philmonter—Oliver North was credibly alleged to have co-authored a 1982 plan to suspend their beloved Constitution.

While researching yet another TCI explosion in a microfilm archive, I stumbled upon the July 1987 United Press International report pictured above, and excerpted here.

Described as a “contingency plan” to be enacted “in the event of a national crisis,” a June 1982 memorandum “called for the suspension of the Constitution and imposition of martial law,” according to UPI.

The news agency obtained the memo authored by FEMA official John Brinkerhoff with the assistance of North, acting as the agency’s liaison to the National Security Council. Under the right conditions, “control of the United States” would be turned over to FEMA, which would appoint “military commanders to run state and local governments.”

Brinkerhoff denied the allegation, claiming the plan’s purpose was “emergency preparedness” and the maintenance of “civil rule.”

The ironies here would be hilarious, if Beck and his peers were not so deadly serious about banging the whole “we need more guns to defend Amerikka against Goblin King Barack Hussain Obama’s tyranny” drum.

Their endless-but-empty invocations of The Constitution and fear-mongering about FEMA camps are absurdly hypocritical, considering their elevation of North to near-saintly status.

Bits & bites

Image from Star Chefs

It’s been a light week for posting here, due to other obligations, and also the fact that I don’t like to post just for the sake of posting... That said, here are a few regional tidbits worth reporting:

• Chef/author Zak Pelaccio’s much-anticipated upstate restaurant with Jori Jayne Emde on South 3rd Street in Hudson reportedly will be called Fish & Game, with renovations continuing at a fever pace in hopes of opening this winter.


• HUMP, a/k/a the Hudson Museum of Photography, opens this Saturday with a solo show by Stephen Johnson entitled Moonman. HUMP is located at 552 Warren Street.


• After a hiatus following the death of Don Blasko, his wife Mady has reopened the Turnpike Inn.


• In other Town of Ghent drinking news, longtime Kozel’s bartender Ned has stepped down to enjoy some well-deserved leisuretime after many years of solid service. It’s rare to find a real oldschool barkeep of Ned’s caliber around here.


• Laetitia Hussain’s recent three-story installation at John Davis Gallery, Sycamorphology has sold and is said to be headed to a publicly-accessible space in New York City.


• According to several sources the Laskin family is no longer involved with the operation of TCI of NY, the PCB waste company David Laskin moved to Ghent from Newburgh after a fire there in the 1980s. It thus presumably was just a coincidence that (as several other sources have pointed out) the 165-acre Laskin family compound in Old Chatham went on the market for $3,200,000 on August 3rd—just two days after the most recent and most catastrophic TCI fire.


• Also regarding TCI, Albany TV stations and other print outlets are reporting that the August 1st fire has been cleared of any suspicion of arson by the New York State Police, though their official report on the cause of the fire is not complete. The August conflagration was TCI’s second fire of 2012, and occurred in the context of a series of other fires in the Route 9H corridor—one of which was affirmatively deemed an arson. (Since the time of this site’s post on that topic, residents have noted several additional fires on roads just slightly off 9H.)


• It’s come to this site’s attention that several Hudson elected officials are unaware that the City has an adopted Comprehensive Plan, which can be downloaded in two parts via this link. The plan straddled the Cranna and Scalera administrations, being developed in 2000-2001 and passed in 2002. Due to the then-raging St. Lawrence Cement controversy, and the City’s decision to hire SLC’s own planning firm as its consultant, the final plan was greatly watered down, but it does include a few useful nuggets; more on that next week, probably.


• This Sunday will feature the last farmer’s market of the season in Philmont, according to Sally Baker of PB, Inc. The market’s hours are 10 am to 1 pm.

The editor snipes back

A daily newspaper imposes its own unique lens on the life of a community every day. The tone and selection of its articles, along with the views overtly expressed by its editorial board, obviously have a lot of power to shape public opinion. This can occur whether or not the paper is consciously trying to sway its audience, and whether or not the community happens to share its viewpoint.

The letters and opinion (“op-ed”) pages, by contrast, are normally reserved for readers and citizens to express their own views, in their own way.

For this reason, it’s rare for most serious newspapers to respond directly to the letters and op-ed pieces it publishes. Even highly ideological editorial boards, such as The Wall Street Journal’s, tend to refrain from engaging in back-and-forth debate with letter- or opinion writers. (To the Journal’s credit, one not infrequently finds stiff critiques of its own position in the letters column, published without backtalk from the paper itself.)

Most mature papers understand that their own credibility is only enhanced when they offer a platform for diverse and even contrary opinions to be heard. Doing so implies that its editors and publishers are unafraid to expose their readers to other viewpoints, willing to keep their own minds open, and not grinding just one side of the axe-blade.  (If a serious dispute arises about the paper’s accuracy or fairness, that is usually handled by an independent ombudsman, who is paid by the paper but does not answer to its publisher or editor.)

Of course, everyone knows that editors and publishers do have opinions, often strong or even irrational ones. But most try to at least maintain the appearance of being level-headed, neutral brokers of cold, hard facts. Barking back at readers publicly is generally considered undignified among people who buy ink by the barrel.

A glaring exception to this unspoken news industry rule, especially during the years of the long-running cement plant controversy, was the editorial board of The Register-Star.

Contrary to standard media ethics, then-publisher Jules Molenda penned rafts of editorials cheerleading for his largest advertiser, St. Lawrence Cement,  sometimes several times a month. During this dark period, the paper also began appending argumentative notes to readers’ letters and op-eds.

In the media business, this is considered bad form to say the least. It seemed all the more undignified because Molenda (who was fired the same week that the plant got stopped) only bickered with readers who did not share his views. Pro-cement letters, no matter how ridiculously illogical, incoherent or illiterate, were never subjected to a sarcastic Editor’s Notes or tendentious corrections.

Now, it has seemed like the Register pretty much abandoned Molenda’s unusual practice once the cement battle ended, and he got canned. Since that time, the paper has taken an additional step back from courting controversy, generally sticking to safe, boosterish editorial topics like honoring fallen veterans on Memorial Day, or celebrating volunteer organizations which feed the needy at Christmastime.

But in this weekend’s edition, a long and argumentative editorial note was appended by the paper to a My View submitted by Philmont Beautification, Inc. The group’s director, Sally Baker, sought in her submission to clarify what she and her board deemed confusing or even mistaken information contained in an anonymously-sourced attack piece printed by a Register reporter the previous week.

The Register is of course free to cast a suspicious eye on PB Inc. (For this outside observer, it has yet to seriously dent the group’s integrity, and one wonders what prompted them to do so.) And it’s understandable that editors may feel protective toward cub reporters.

But even supposing that the Register were correct to be suspicious of PB’s finances, the more usual way that a serious newspaper reacts to pushback like Baker’s is by researching the matter further, fleshing out the story with more objective analysis. Eventually, it might issue a factual, follow-up news article, and maybe even add its own editorial revisiting the story. But this normally and preferably happens only after allowing some time to pass to show that the paper has thoroughly considered its allegations and position.

Instead, the sniping tone, odd format and hasty timetable of the Register’s retort, tacked on the back of PB’s op-ed like a juvenile “KICK ME” sign,  conveys a thin-skinnedness which is all-too common among the media when people dare to question its accuracy. (For more on that topic, see my series on the regional media published in Our Town last year.)

As a result, a meeting between PB Inc. representatives and editor Theresa Hyland of the Register has reportedly been scotched, presumably because the paper’s overt hostility caused the group to realize the exercise would be pointless. This just further highlights how much a media outlet loses when it fails to exercise restraint, and bares its more partisan fangs: Its public becomes reluctant to speak with them, believing that a fair hearing is impossible. Over time, such a paper’s readers will get less news and opinion from fewer and fewer sources.

PB Inc. responds

Philmont Beautification, the grassroots organization responsible to date for some $2.25 million in public/private investment in the Village, has released the following statement to its supporters regarding a recent article (and a subsequent letter) in The Register-Star questioning its finances.

---

 

Dear Supporters,

As many of you already know through email and phone calls this week, PB Inc. received bad press last Friday in the Register Star. It has taken us most of the week to unravel the misleading information and innuendoes implied in the reporting.

We are very grateful to be able to say that due to a close handful of supporters PB Inc. has managed to rally to this assault launched from an unknown source. When the reporter called our office last week he referred to the unknown source as a “tipster.”

We wanted you, as our true supporters, to have the opportunity to read the PB Inc. response before it is published in the Register Star on the Opinion Page in the weekend edition.

As many of you know, the time involved for PB Inc. to address this challenge is way beyond our small capacity, putting incredible strain on the organization, when our time would be best put to use in pro-active activities of grant writing, and raising funds to support the organization’s programs and projects committed to the revitalization of Philmont.

Before printing the PB Inc response to the Register Star below, we would like to thank all of you for your incredible support experienced this week.  Thank you.

Here’s the PB Inc response to be printed on the Opinion Page / Register Star / weekend edition:

Issued 6/21/12

Philmont Beautification, Inc. is issuing this statement to clarify the facts relating to a front page article published by the Register Star on 6/15/12.

The article reports that PB Inc. is late in paying property taxes for 113 Main St. in the amount of $3,000.  We have taken pro-active fiscal management measures to address this issue and will meet these obligations to the County and the Village of Philmont as soon as possible. We apologize to the community for the delay.

Why is our organization late in paying the property taxes for 113 Main St.?  One of the reasons is that the organization has experienced significant cash flow problems in relation to the development of the 116 Main St project to house a food co-op.  This project has experienced delays beyond our control over a period of 18 months while at the same time incurring expenses. This, in turn, has created temporary cash flow problems affecting our ability to pay the taxes on 113 Main St.  We have regularly addressed this delay with both the Philmont Village Board and County Tax Office, and both are aware the payments will be complete by the end of summer, 2012.

The article goes on to suggest that PB Inc. received $36,000 in donations which were used to pay expenses associated with development of the 116 Main St. property to house the co-op. This is completely incorrect. We have at no time in our 11-year history received this level of financial support in the form of donations from individuals. 

The total amount of cash donations to Philmont Beautification, Inc. within the past 18 months is $998.  The donations, generously made by individuals in support of four program areas dedicated to revitalization in the Village of Philmont, ranged in amount from $20 to a maximum of $200.  The reporting of donations is contained in the annual 990 tax filing required of all non-profit organizations by the Internal Revenue Service.

The confused reporting by the Register Star leads directly back to a community presentation of March 6, 2012, attended by the same reporter who misrepresented the facts in the Register Star on March 8.  Notes taken at that meeting can be viewed on the PB Inc. Web site posted on March 11, fully documenting the costs incurred for the 116 Main St project.  $21,000 of expenses were incurred, combined with $15,000 attributed to the administrative time provided by PB Inc.  To cover these costs PB Inc.’s co-founder and Executive Director, Sally Baker, took a reduction in compensation dating back to 2010.  The reduction of Ms. Baker’s compensation will continue until the organization has covered every expense, including the property taxes owed on 113 Main St. which houses the PB Inc. Resource Center. 

PB Inc.’s programs and revitalization projects have been, and continue to be, supported primarily through grants from funding organizations and New York State government grant programs awarded through a competitive grant application process.

The portion of grant money allotted for program expenses and administrative fees is the primary source of PB Inc.’s operating income.  Contrary to what was reported in the Register Star, donations represent less than 1% of PB Inc.’s annual income.  Over 90% of grant funds are applied directly to programs and projects, with the balance of 7.5% to 10% applied to operational expenses, according to specific grant guidelines.

As with donations, all grants and their sources are reported in the organization’s annual 990 tax filings.  Copies are available for public inspection through the Charities Bureau at the NYS State Attorney General’s Office.

All grant-funded projects are listed on our web site at www.pbinc.org.  Twenty major public-private revitalization projects have been successfully completed within the past five years.  Among these projects are six storefront restorations, a Village public park, assistance for five new businesses, renovation of 7 affordable housing units, a farmers’ market, now in its 4th season, streetscape improvements, educational workshops, arts and trades exhibitions, newsletters and a community garden.  These projects are considered by most people to be significant accomplishments for a grass roots organization operating on a shoestring budget. 

SALLY BAKER
On behalf of the Philmont
Beautification, Inc. Board of Directors

(Parenthetical remarks)

For your Monday morning, here’s an applecartload of local bits, pieces, odds, ends, fact, rumor and surmise... (I probably could get way more hits by doling these out one-by-one over the next two weeks instead, but why tease?) 

• Rural Intelligence is rumored to be going on a hiatus (and if so, will be much missed);

• Über-restaurateur Jean-Georges Vongerichten and mega-hotelier Ian Schrager are each said to sniffing around Hudson real estate (in particular waterfront real estate); 

• In other food-and-hospitality news, the Fillis recently opened a spacious lounge/seating area in the back of their Claverack market to complement their growing pizza business (but I’ll be taking advantage of it mostly for morning coffee);

• Meanwhile, Café Le Perche in the 200 block of Hudson has obtained its liquor license, and will start to stay open until 8 pm weekdays, 10 pm or later on weekends (and is looking for some good evening help);

• Back in Claverack, the Won Dharma meditation/retreat center is holding an open house on September 4th from 3:30-5:30 pm for local residents (and curiosity-seekers);

• Over to Chatham... Former Charleston owner/chef Carole Clark will have an opening of her new “totems and vessels” at Solaqua on August 27th from 1-5 pm (in a raw industrial space which she says most will love, but some will find alarming);

• In Taghkanic, Moyra Botta is hosting the 2nd annual Columbia County garden party to benefit the AIDS Council of Northeastern New York, with tickets starting at $75-per-head (which is worth it just to gawk at her Phifer-designed house, pictured above, while also supporting a worthy cause);

• The Sunday Farmer’s Market in Philmont is a hidden gem which will remain open through mid-October (hidden, at least, if you don’t normally pass through Philmont on a Sunday morning);

• A fourth Bourne sequel, The Bourne Legacy, is said to be coming to shoot scenes in Columbia County, allegedly in “an old mansion close to Hudson” (but it may not star Matt Damon, so don’t rush off to look for him eating pastry on Warren Street);

• Work has resumed on the old Schroeder's site on Green Street (evidently to make way for yet another beer store);

• Tuesday is the deadline for independent nominating petitions for candidates running on their own lines (and it will be telling whether Linda Mussmann actually files Bottom Line petitions for Mayor, as was done for Geeta Cheddie and John Musall last week);

• The only two Hallenbeck for Mayor signs spotted thus far are on (A) the candidate's own house and (B) an old car parked in front of a defunct store on Fairview Avenue... in Greenport;

• Peter Jung’s Gifford’s Grave project to restore the family gravesite of one of the Hudson River School’s leading lights, is now complete (but will wait to hold a celebratory ceremony in 2012);

• MarthaStewart.com has a link to a visitor’s Tumblr post about their “dreamy weekend getaway to Hudson” (at the new Hudson Merchant House on Front Street);

• More photos of the Hudson Merchant House can be found at Laura Murphy’s SmugMug site, (which also features some fun pics of starlings and pigeons bathing in a large puddle on the roof of her 600 block building);

• Some ATMs in Hudson reportedly ran out of cash during the weekend of the NADA art fair at the Basilica Hudson (but as best as anyone can tell, most of it went to food, not art).

Ends & Odds

1. A Claverack firefighter brought the above image to this site’s attention: a satellite view of the Mohawk and Hudson Valleys. (The Mohawk runs vertically, the Hudson horizontally, with Albany near the top center of the image about 1/3 of the way down.)


2. Alan Chartock bids farewell to the glossy regional lifestyle magazine Berkshire Living, which is closing, and offers some thoughts on the state of the publishing industry at his blog.


3. Hudson Democratic alderman nominee Tim Rodgers is rumored to be withdrawing from the 1st Ward race, and considering other options, with ward resident David Marston likely to enter it.


4. Tortillaville, the popular tacqueria and gathering spot in Hudson’s 300 block will be reopening for the season on Memorial Day weekend.


5. Photographer Peter Donohoe is exhibiting his photographs of barns and farmsteads at the new Vanderbilt House in Philmont, and holding a reception on Thursday the 26th from 4–6 pm.


6. In anticipation of their upcoming Media issue, the Columbia County quarterly Our Town held an afternoon-long photoshoot last Sunday with Johannes Courtens and area media figures (media defined very broadly here) from author Bill Kennedy to comic Tom Davis. The issue is being guest edited by former Esquire scribe and noted songwriter Jake Brackman; Harper’s/GQ writer Dave Gargill is tackling the state of NYC publishing; and Yours Truly will have a long piece about the state of local media.

Time on his hands

In a Register-Star opinion piece last Winter, Hudson Mayor Rick Scalera dodged questions about the Waterfront by saying he does “not have the time” to discuss such issues in detail.

A more recent article in the same paper sheds some light on what Scalera does have time for... Namely, going out to Philmont to make special pleadings on behalf of a local property owner.

According to this June 18th report by Francesca Olsen, Philmont officials recently discussed alleged problems with The Mill on Summit Street, which is owned by Eleanor Ambos and subject to a stop work order from the Village:

“According to Philmont Mayor Clarence ‘Skip’ Speed, the building is more than 100 years old and has three floors and no sprinkler system. There’s only one entrance, with no fire exit or additional way out, which presents a fire hazard.

“The stop-work order, he said, actually prevents Ambos from having work done on the building. ‘We’re trying to figure out a way she can legally work on that building without getting in trouble,’ he said.”

But despite building inspector stating Dennis Callahan stating that “Nobody can be in this building. It’s just unsafe,” a member of the audience at the Village board meeting variously claimed that people are “staying at,” “going into” and “running a business in there.”

(Olsen cited as an example a blog post about a “Dance Meditation Summer Movement Monastery” scheduled to take place in part at the Mill in June. Similarly, this announcement appears to be for a wedding which took place there in 2008.)

Enter Scalera—the Mayor without enough time on his hands.

Speed was asked by the audience “why Hudson Mayor Richard Scalera had visited Philmont to discuss the building.” The article elaborates:

Scalera told the Register-Star he went to Philmont on behalf of Ambos to meet with Callahan, Speed and representatives from the engineering firm Crawford and Associates, who are involved in the building’s remediation.

“(Ambos) is having a difficult time understanding the code process on what she can do to turn that into a place for public assembly,” he said.

Scalera said he met with the Philmont officials to ask if they can help Ambos along with the permit process “so she can have public assembly out there.” [...] “This is just to benefit Philmont and Elanor [sic] Ambos to put the mill to good use,” Scalera said.

In 1998-1999, Scalera as Mayor pushed for (and obtained) a large HUD grant to assist Ambos with the purchase and renovation of the Pocketbook Factory in Hudson.  Ambos did in fact work to stabilize the building, but stopped far short of the grant’s purposes to create artist loft space, affordable housing and a HeadStart office. When Scalera’s hand-picked successor Cappy Pierro lost his bid for Mayor to Kenny Cranna, Hudson development officials became more serious about enforcing the terms of the grant—at which point Ambos returned the funds rather than follow the plan.

During another of Scalera’s off-terms in the political wilderness, it was often rumored that he was managing property for Ambos, who also owns the former Allen Street School and Elks Club buildings in Hudson, both of them seemingly unused.

Now, unless Ambos has some business before the City of Hudson or one of its agencies controlled by the Mayor, it may not be an issue if Scalera wants to moonlight for her or anyone else. But it does beg the question: How much of Scalera’s time is consumed by work outside City Hall? And for whom?