It Took About Two Years, But Galvan and Kamal Johnson Finally Got What They Wanted Where Three Houses Once Stood and Children Once Played!

HALLELULIAYAY, IT'S A PARKING LOT!  5 VEHICLES TODAY, 75 BY THE SPRING, AND 150 BY NEXT FALL!

The huge "vacant" lot at the northwest corner of 7th & Rope Alley is open for business. Anybody's business and anybody's vehicle! Just don't expect City Hall to care what's going on there! Want to park there overnight? Sure, go ahead; why the hell not! HPD can't do anything about it, and Galvan doesn't care!

Cars began parking at the edge of the lot almost immediately after the Hudson Roastery recently announced that Galvan's garage on the southwest corner (61-63 North 7th) would be the location of their bean roasting operation, where work seems to have begun inside.  This is infamously known as parking lot creep (okay, I just made that up).  Pretty soon the entire parcel will be a de facto parking lot, and years from now someone, possibly the real estate minister from Bard College, will make a defense motion to the common council. "BUT IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A PARKING LOT, AND THERE IS NO DENYING THAT IT IS A PARKING LOT!  WE DON'T NEED PERMISSION TO ALLOW VEHICLES TO PARK ON OUR PROPERTY, EVEN IF THEY PARK OVERNIGHT!  WE CAN CHARGE OUR TENANTS TO PARK THERE!  IT'S OUR PARKING LOT, AND IT NEEDS TO BE PAVED."  And, at the behest of the council's attorney, every council member will keep quiet.

This past Friday.

The van seen above was in the act of backing into a parking space where the front yard of a house had been until 4 years ago, where children once likely played, made snowmen and filled the air with the sounds of life and joy.  The other four cars were parked precisely where the south wall of the perfectly good house once stood.  The conclusion is clear:  That house -- and any life inside or outside it -- had to make way for a coffee bean roasting business.  But that was not always the story.

Galvan demolished their three houses, displacing their tenants, in December of 2022.  As I recall, at least one of the houses was officially considered historic by the State of New York, and it was demolished without permission (which likely wouldn't have been granted anyway).  This brazen, stupid and disrespectful act prevented Galvan from acquiring the state funding they claimed to need for the apartment building they planned to replace their three houses with.  (Of course, it's entirely possible that Galvan had always intended to create just one apartment building.)  So, it was only a matter of time before the vacant lot where three perfectly good, occupied houses once stood would quietly become a parking lot.  It just took a few years' wait and the ideal conditions to make it happen... with the help of a Hudson City Hall afflicted with amnesia, attention deficit disorder and, of course, mayoral backroom deals with the city's largest property owner and developer to get the ball rolling.  

As a noteworthy aside, the Hudson Code Enforcement Department's DEMOLITION PERMIT application does not require applicants to provide a reason for the demolition of a house or any other building they hope to get rid of.  Pay, sign, demolish. No questions asked.