The Briefing Box:

There is no municipal City Hall newsletter.
Joe Ferris promised it himself. His campaign site pledged "a weekly newsletter"; he told WAMC he would send "a twice a month email newsletter that lets people know what's going on". The town halls and office hours happen. The newsletter does not.
Ferris built his entire career in communications, in business improvement districts and in Albany. Writing newsletters was, almost literally, the job.
His first six months found a microphone for the Governor's housing tour, a national political rally, and a “tax businesses more” campaign. The promised newsletter was not a priority.
The fix is cheap, nonpartisan, already staffed, and would outlast any mayor. This is a choice, not a budgetary concern.

To learn what your government is doing in Hudson, you first have to win a small game of chance. The city website scatters it across separate pages, one for the Planning Board, one for Zoning, one for Historic Preservation, each a different vintage. Find tonight's Zoom link, or is it Teams? Maybe it was cancelled. Then find the agenda, but VPN in if you are in Montreal for work. Most residents give up first. It is a black box. And the one place that should fill, your inbox, stays empty. Asked plainly this June, the Mayor's Office confirmed: there is no city newsletter yet. We should not be surprised that the same dozen characters dominate City Hall.

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"What we've got here is failure to communicate.”

~ Reference to Cool Hand Luke

What He Promised

The expectation was set by Mayor Ferris. It need not be this way, and the mayor knows it better than anyone. He said so, in writing, on the website that elected him.

"The mayor works for us. Staying connected with the community (your neighbors) is one of the job's most important responsibilities. When we don't know what City Hall is doing or how it's working for us, leadership is failing. Relying on Facebook and Instagram for important city updates isn't enough, we must do better. As mayor, I'll make transparency a priority. With a weekly newsletter and monthly town halls in every ward, I'll ensure you always know what's happening and have direct access to ask questions and share concerns."

Screenshot taken on June 15th, 2026 directly from the “Ferris for Mayor” campaign website

Two of three, kept. Ferris delivered on two of his three communication promises. The ward town halls (Ward Halls?) happen. So do the open office hours, the hardest of the three, since they put him in a room to answer questions in person. Keep the town halls quarterly, with his experienced aide beside him. Praise from Hudson Common Sense is rare and earned. This earns it.

The third promise is the missing one. It is the easy one. But also the one that amplifies nonpartisan actors (Department Heads), and the checks and balances on the mayor, like the BEA (Board of Estimate and Apportionment), and the Common Council.

The missing newsletter and broken campaign promise? Six months in, there is no municipal newsletter. Not a late one, not a thin one. The timing tells. Through the fall and winter last year, candidate Ferris was not shy with his campaign email newsletter. Since January, the channel has gone quiet when he became mayor, as it should. But no municipal newsletter emerged. Hudson heard more from the man who wanted the job than from the man who holds it, at least judging by newsletters. To be fair, the mayor has sent emails to attendees of his most recent Town Halls… and he is responsive to individual emails. But that prioritizes residents who show up in person or are squeaky wheels.

Isn’t the whole idea of asynchronous digital communications… to be asynchronous and digital?

Did The Mayor Find Time for Albany Matters, but Not Hudson’s Municipal Basics?

The talent is not in doubt. Ferris built his career in communications. He wrote for a Lower Manhattan business improvement district (BID), then handled government relations in Albany. A communications professional who cannot ship a newsletter is an accountant who cannot read a budget.

Neither is the voice. In six months he found the microphone often, just rarely for Hudson's nuts and bolts. He toured with Governor Hochul to promote the state's "Let Them Build" housing and SEQRA-reform agenda. He spoke at Hudson's "No Kings" rally on March 28, a national political event, beside Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado and Malcolm Nance. On April 3 he headlined a small "speak out" run by the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement and the Hudson Catskill Housing Coalition (which featured an equal number of speakers to attendees), urging Albany to tax the wealthy and pass the New York For All Act against, the governor’s compromise solution. Statewide and national causes get the mayor's time. The municipal basics, the “blocking and tackling”, he promised Hudson, does not.