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Hey there,
I was considering moving up to Hudson New York, and have heard mixed stories
a) that it is an isolated rapidly gentrifying town which has still not lost its crack problem...
b) that it is nice, and a thirty something artistically inclined outdoor inclined single straight gal could conceivably fit in alright there...
If I had to live in either the Hudson or Kingston areas, I'd prefer to live out in the suburbs. Actually, I do live in the Kingston area, out in the suburbs (sort of), over in Rhinebeck.
Hudson is the absolute pits and that's putting it in polite terms.
I've never seen a town mired in such hard core poverty where over 80% of the homes (if you can call them that) are wrecks......crumbling wrecks.
the gentrification effort in one isolated section of town looks to me like a dismal failure,
with For Sale signs to be found on any number of abandoned store fronts. quite a few people will tell you quite frankly, it was a big mistake.....a very big mistake.
no corporate entity will even open even a motel or convenience store or even a supermarket there, and I'm told the supermarket miles away, such as it is, is pretty horrible. No Rite Aid, no Duane Reade, no Pathmark, no Whole Foods, not even a crummy motel chain.
The locals are hideous, small minded so n so's, like characters out of a Stephen King novel.
doing some more research on my own, Hudson was apparently in the middle of the whole John Mansville asbestos/arsenic in the water debacle many years ago....not pretty and it explains a lot.
the town is dominated by government social services agencies which cater to the immense welfare dependent population there.
It looks to me like Columbia County decided to make Hudson the center for social services for that area, and that is what defines Hudson.
I lived in Hudson from 1996-2002 before I moved to Albany. Worked for Hudson River Bank & Trust before their demise.
From 1996 till about 1999-2000 the rents where nice. You could get alot for your $$. And then, it happened! All the NYC people started buying buildings and then started a slightly reduced NYC rent. In a town that most of the people do moderate to low hourly work when you start jockying rents from an ok $325 up to $600 that's hard! I started out on the 3rd floor paying a modest $325 for a 1-2 bd flat. I had ROOM .. lots of ROOM. That build had passed hands 2 or 3 times in the 6 years there. I know the unit was up for rent before I left for Albany I know the rent was in the $700's.
Not sure why you're moving that way but Hudson/Catskill .. just drug pipline and a lay low home to a few well known street gangs. I'd opt for areas outside of Hudson like Livinston, Ancram, Chatham & Ghent. Kingston area .. like mom2gurl said .. Rhinebeck is nice, you have Saugerties and a few other. Not to sure about Kingston either only went to the mall there on occassion.
I posted a pisitive note on Hudson a few months ago here on City Data ... before you consider any of the negative posts above do your own math.
The thing I find most people complaining about in Hudson is that one time or another it was cheap, local and quiet. Its still that way ... however I always hear about the Gang problem and the African-American community being characterized as a deal break for the town ... Well as an African-American professional with a French Canadian family I had no idea what Hudson was until I moved to a small village two miles away. Like my previous post states, I like it allot. Its something different and improving rapidly. It is a small town with Tractor Supply, diners, small garages, poor black and white people (why people have a problem with poor peope living in small towns is beyond me!), cheap chinese resturants, and the houses there are old, but historic (if you intend to buy one and renovate it) and relatively inexpensive (avoid the flipped houses owned by NYC residents and you can find real gems) ... it really is a small town but with big city touches ... several Cafes, art studios, an Opera house, A new performing arts center under reconstruction, a community arts center that plays the Met opera on HD sattilite, a laundry with Internet & coffee cafe, some great resturants and a train station that gets you into NY Penn in exactly 2 hours.
I did not know any of this when I moved nearby but I know it now and after living there in deep snow and the warm spring I REALLY like it ... trust me I came from DC and Philadelphia. Its near to all of those other places listed (Red Hook, Rheinbeck, Kingston, Ghent, Chatham, etc).
The local bitching over subsidized housing for the poor community, the closing furniture factory and the strip mall wasteland that is Greenport is balanced by very friendly locals and all the services you need to set up shop and enjoy it.
The assertion that nothing is near by and its crumbling sinkhole is just wrong, there are supermarkets, Rite aides, Wall Marts , etc just one mile out of town.
If anything has hurt the town its the Real Estate bubble bursting ... which helped me find a GREAT house for PEANUTS ... however I was buying my retirement home and had the money to buy cash. That goes along way here in Columbia county.
Rents are generally about $600-800 and nice places in renovated houses are readily available.
So to answer your question, both A and B are correct but you will notice some of A while living the life of B. Just like anywhere else. Yeesh
I think all of the cool, funky dissimilar parts of it are great. Its unique, thats for sure. I looked all around that region and chose this place because of that; Yes, Hudson is the county seat and social services are there ... you might even need them sometime, but I preferred Hudson because it is both rural and urban, good transportation, nice people and NOT Duchess, Ulster or West Chester counties!
Poshaccent how far is Hudson from Poughkeepsie and Hyde Park? What can you tell me about the places available in the $600-800 range? Are the schools good? Do you see kids playing outside much? Lots of snow in the winter! My son would love that. Thanks for any info.
Hyde Park and Pougkipsie are about 40 mins south if you go down Route 9 or 30 mins on Highway 87. They are not close to Hudson. Kingston is much closer. The schools are good. Kids play outside ALL of the time. Yes they even walk on the roads to get to the mall ... Gasp!
The high school is in Greenport (about 1 mile from downtown) and has pretty nice surroundings. They REALLY enforce the 20 MPH on that road also because of the Firefighters home. Hudson elementary is behind the Library and looks fine, but I don't have litte kids. They have lots of elderly services in town.
Snow is plentiful. The normal HEAVY snow band generally misses the Hudson area and is concentrated to the North ... the river valley gets snow but much lighter and burns off faster than the North and west of the sate ... we stil got it in spades though. Hudson is the county seat so clean up begins from there and they are good at clearing and salting.
The best place to find rental information are the realtors on Warren st. and the inside doorway of the Muddycup cafe on Warren St are postings all the time ... come summer that may change as there is an arts colony near Stockport and summer and fall are nice here. People are renting because of the housing downturn.... especially NY second home owners.
If you have a car Chatham, Ghent, Kinderhook, Stottville/Stockport have rentals also of houses and some apartments. Hope that helped.
I lived in Hudson from birth to the early 90's. In the 60's, Hudson was just plain cool, lots of hippies, middle class folks and kids growing up, including teenagers galore everywhere. The down street was a real down street, with shops, boutiques, you name it--plus 2 parks where alot of kids hung out. It was still clean and affordable.
In the 70's, it was still okay, although alot of the shops downtown started closing. By the 80's, alot of its' charm was gone, antique stores opening from people owning them in NYC. It seems it's just gone downhill.
There was a time, however, that this was a cool town. Good access to Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont. You could go to any of these states within a few hours or less.
It's a real shame to see that it's deteriorated so much.
You'd probably be better off in the Rhinebeck/Dutchess county area or even Albany, and its' suburbs, north of Hudson.
By the 80's, alot of its' charm was gone, antique stores opening from people owning them in NYC. It seems it's just gone downhill.
The downtown is amost all antique shops and that IS the charm the town has now. All of the small mom and pop stores have been displaced by Walmart ... however they have been replaced by arty shops and resturants ... the antique market and arts scene is the heart of that town now. I can't see whay thats bad ... considering their prices.
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Hmmm ...
My son would love that. Thanks for any info.
