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Publication Date: 6th of August, 2026
A companion piece to our most recent “Hudson Has Seen This Episode Before,” that outlines how Hudson has two settings for a bad idea: greenlight and gaslight.
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Bliss Towers is Hudson’s ageing public-housing complex, operated by the Hudson Housing Authority, or HHA. In April 2024, HHA and its Westchester based development partner, Mountco, asked the City of Hudson to support an application for a $2 million Restore New York demolition grant. The money would have helped demolish the towers as part of a much larger redevelopment.
The first Common Council vote, on the 24th of April, received 5 votes in favor and 2 against. Four members did not vote. Because the City Charter requires 6 affirmative votes for passage, the resolution failed.
Then five days later, the Council considered an amended resolution, driven by then CC President DePietro. This time all 11 members voted, and it passed 9 to 2. The amendment made clear that the Council was authorising the City to submit a grant application, not approving HHA’s wider redevelopment plan.
The required, but after the fact, public hearing was held on the 16th of May, after both Council votes. The 2nd Council vote and the public hearing were charged and disorderly. Two months later HHA admitted that they never submitted the now “endorsed” grant application. HHA later said it had concluded that Bliss probably would not qualify because RestoreNY was intended for vacant, abandoned, condemned or surplus property, while Bliss remained occupied. The exact point that then 1st Ward Common Council member Morris made, even reading aloud the document.
That is the central fact of this story: Hudson held two votes, reversed the first result and generated a powerful public endorsement for the redevelopment, all the while pitting residents against one another, and then the grant application itself was never filed. The whole fiasco revealed a lot about past, current, and future elected officials.
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Special meeting of the Common Council, City Hall, 520 Warren Street, April 29th, 2024. Five days earlier the same request had failed, 1 vote short of the 6 the Charter requires. Now, moments before voting yes, Councilmember Vicky Daskaloudi urged her colleagues to "relax about this and let them get the 2 million." All 11 members voted. The resolution passed 9 to 2.
The application was never submitted. Two months later the Hudson Housing Authority concluded that Bliss Towers, which remained occupied, probably would not qualify for a program built for vacant, abandoned, condemned or surplus property. Hudson reversed a failed vote, generated a public endorsement, held the required hearing after both votes, and filed nothing.
The 3 Restore New York sessions are Hudson's Rosetta Stone: compress the city's operating logic into the failed vote of April 24th, the reversed vote of April 29th and the hearing of May 16th, and 5 recurring moves become legible. The people in the room supplied the script. Read them first.
“If at first you don’t succeed . . . schedule another meeting and vote again.”
“The completeness of the project details is not the issue.”
Caitie Hilverman, in an April 26th letter urging the Common Council to support the application.
The Councillors Voting Yes:
“I support this resolution. I support this initiative. I support the project and I support HHA [and] what you guys are doing. Thank you.”
Councilmember Gary Purnhagen on April 29th, 2024.
“I just want to say we can’t expect other people to live somewhere that we wouldn’t, we cannot live, and we won’t even visit. At this point the towers must come down, we have to replace them, the size is up to us, all of us, we all have an input and I really feel we have to relax about this and let them get the 2 million so that we can get going so Aye.”
Councilmember Vicky Daskaloudi, immediately before voting yes on April 29th.
The application was never submitted.
The Developer Paid to be There:
“Get on the State’s radar.”
John Madeo of Mountco, explaining why an early application mattered. He later said that an unsuccessful Council vote “would not look good for the community” or “for the application.”
The vote had signaling value before it had any value as funding.
The Dissenting Councillor:
“NO, that’s bad process.”
Councilmember Rich Volo, after asking why the public had not been approached before the Council was asked to vote.
The then Hudson Housing Authority Vice Chair and “Silent Work”
“There’s just silent work happening.”
Claire Cousin, vice-chair of the HHA Board of Commissioners, explaining that the mayor and city staff were already involved in discussions.
The statement establishes that internal work was under way. It does not establish a secret agreement.
The Procedural Indictment
“Asking us now, after you have voted, for our thoughts on this matter is simply unacceptable.”
Robert Rasner, at the May 16th public hearing. Rasner would soon form a Charter Change Petition group with other former City leaders.
The Principled Thinker Seeking Consistency:
“I am for affordable housing, and against this proposal. This is not a contradiction.”
Peter Spear, in an April 26th letter to the Common Council. Spear would later go on to run for Mayor as an independent, be nominated to the Planning Board by Mayor Ferris, and create the FUTURE HUDSON Weekly Digest, an automated “Wednesday morning civic digest for residents of The Friendly City.”
The Hearing at its Most Combustible:
At the May 16th hearing, Bliss resident Ifetayo Cobbins described years of meetings as endless talking and accused critics of throwing rocks at residents.
Ms. Beckles said the testimony about conditions had supplied a reason to:
“Tear that God damn bitch down.”
Jeffrey Dodson closed by declaring that nobody in the room was more qualified than he was to make the decision:
“Period. Nobody.”
Excerpt the public hearing Meeting Minutes
The language captured both the genuine desperation inside Bliss Towers and the atmosphere in which scrutiny of the application became difficult to separate from indifference to its residents.
The Competing Applicant Who Withdrew:
Lil’ Deb’s Oasis withdrew from the Restore New York round because competing against HHA felt:
“Spiritually and culturally misaligned with our core values.”
The withdrawal was reported by Gossips of Rivertown on April 17. Separately, Lil’ Deb’s announced on June 3rd, 2026, that its final service will be October 12th, after 10 years in Hudson.
From the Gossips Comment Section:
The following were contemporaneous opinions posted by named commenters. They are not independent findings of fact.
John K. Friedman called the process a:
“Bum’s rush for the public.”
He praised Morris and Volo for refusing to rubber-stamp a proposal while the Council and public remained poorly informed.
Jeremy Finkel, describing what he said he witnessed at City Hall after the April 29th meeting, characterized Mayor Johnson’s behavior as a:
“Tantrum verging on a fit of rage.”
Both comments appear beneath Gossips of Rivertown’s account of the April 29th meeting.
Gossips itself supplied the episode’s simplest headline:
“If at first you don’t succeed . . . schedule another meeting and vote again.”
That was the title and opening line of its April 25th report announcing the second special meeting.
The record contains cheaper insults, including comments calling officials buffoons or amateurs. They add heat but no evidence, and prove why most residents skip City Hall and public meetings altogether.
The official words are more revealing. Hudson’s Council was told to relax, endorse first and resolve the details later. It did. The application never followed. Lil’ Deb’s, a nationally recognized restaurant with multiple James Beard nominations and national press attention, is closing after 10 years in Hudson.
The sequence belonged to Council President Thomas DePietro. On April 24th, he described the resolution as support for a small part of the project’s funding. It failed, 1 vote short of the 6 the Charter requires. 5 days later, DePietro exercised his authority under the City Charter to call another special meeting and return the request to the floor. He then told the Council that the project qualified and that the State had already determined as much. The State had made no final eligibility determination.
