Caitie, thanks for the update on the Colarusso matters.
I was struck by your comments about the gentrification of Hudson (my word, but hopefully encompassing your concerns). This resonates very much with me. In the forty years I lived in Cambridge, MA I watched our neighborhood transformed. In 1977 we bought a house that cost us about three times our family income. A doable stretch. When we left in 2009 for Hudson, the same house sold for 19 times what we bought it for. We could not have afforded to buy or rent in Cambridge at that point. Today our "worker's cottage" (that's the descriptor in the city's housing census) is listed for over $2 million and the owner makes $70,000 a year from renting out (AirBandB) a 450 sq.ft. one-bedroom apartment we had created after the kids left on their own adventures.
Then to Hudson in 2009. We could afford to buy a house right on Warren. Other things like a photography gallery ensued. When we left in 2024, again the housing costs had gentrified us out if we were moving in anew.
Now, in West Palm Beach, gentrification writ large is at our door again. With the surge of rich people and their attendings in the area, now referred to in the local press as Wall Street South, real estate developers are rushing to put up condo towers with units priced from $2 - 9 million. Recently a developer offered $150 million to buy our condo building (10 stories – 125 units built in 1969 – old by FL standards) as a tear-down! This isn't going forward, but that's another story. Just ten blocks north of us along the Intracoastal a developer bought up around forty small post-WWII bungaloos as tear downs so that they can build 30 story condo towers with untis priced in the same $2-9 million range.
Thanks for sharing this, Mark! Yes, I consider this gentrification in its highest form. But also, I'm hoping folks read this and consider these issues, so I've been trying not to use language that people might be dismissive of (and talking about gentrification is a quick way to lose some folks).
Thanks for sharing the link -- and for staying the course in writing and talking about capitalism, gentrification, etc. Looking forward to crossing paths with you this summer!
Caitie, thanks for the update on the Colarusso matters.
I was struck by your comments about the gentrification of Hudson (my word, but hopefully encompassing your concerns). This resonates very much with me. In the forty years I lived in Cambridge, MA I watched our neighborhood transformed. In 1977 we bought a house that cost us about three times our family income. A doable stretch. When we left in 2009 for Hudson, the same house sold for 19 times what we bought it for. We could not have afforded to buy or rent in Cambridge at that point. Today our "worker's cottage" (that's the descriptor in the city's housing census) is listed for over $2 million and the owner makes $70,000 a year from renting out (AirBandB) a 450 sq.ft. one-bedroom apartment we had created after the kids left on their own adventures.
Then to Hudson in 2009. We could afford to buy a house right on Warren. Other things like a photography gallery ensued. When we left in 2024, again the housing costs had gentrified us out if we were moving in anew.
Now, in West Palm Beach, gentrification writ large is at our door again. With the surge of rich people and their attendings in the area, now referred to in the local press as Wall Street South, real estate developers are rushing to put up condo towers with units priced from $2 - 9 million. Recently a developer offered $150 million to buy our condo building (10 stories – 125 units built in 1969 – old by FL standards) as a tear-down! This isn't going forward, but that's another story. Just ten blocks north of us along the Intracoastal a developer bought up around forty small post-WWII bungaloos as tear downs so that they can build 30 story condo towers with untis priced in the same $2-9 million range.
Just in case you missed this: COLARUSSO FAMILY & ARMORY FIRE HUDSON NY 1928 https://youtu.be/TPsKEiyd5L0
Mark
Thanks for sharing this, Mark! Yes, I consider this gentrification in its highest form. But also, I'm hoping folks read this and consider these issues, so I've been trying not to use language that people might be dismissive of (and talking about gentrification is a quick way to lose some folks).
Thanks for sharing the link -- and for staying the course in writing and talking about capitalism, gentrification, etc. Looking forward to crossing paths with you this summer!
Good point about vocabulary. In my writing on capitalism, I avoid "neoliberalism" for example. What a useless word. Mark
I believe that more research and questions concerning our beautiful River waterfront are necessary before we invest in expanding the recreation.
The Hudson waterfront was a place for shipping goods and industrial sites.
Look up Wagon Way.
Since 1785 North and South Bays became landfill sites.
Hudson Iron Works was located on the Riverbank. Can’t imagine the soil pollution.
A glue factory was located near Basiica.
The smell from it was beyond description. Have to site of the Antique Warehouse.
Hundreds and maybe thousands of vehicles were crushed there.
And on and on with water and soil contamination.
Similar situation with the North Bay area.
Let’s include the Hudson dump on the North side too with no limits as to what was dumped in the ground.
Now add Hudson’s raw household and commercial sewage flushed into the river for decades.
And remember that for five days a week sewage trucks bring raw sewage to our water treatment plant. As if we don’t have enough of our own.
Let’s not forget that the same thing was occurring up and down the River from us too.
Would you drink Hudson River water? Or swim in it? Eat fish caught in it?
I’m sure that I missed additional issues with our beautiful waterfront.
So I believe that it’s best to let Colarusso have the brown fields and polluted Hudson all to himself.
And that we find a safer place for outdoor recreation and all to enjoy.
Stay safe.
best regards
Thomas D’Onofrio
Thank you for this fair and nuanced assessment. It is much needed.