Hudson Block Boundary Suggestion Project (BBSP)

[jimrtex]

This is intended to be a more focused discussion of the suggested block boundary changes for Hudson. Part of it will consist of a narrative explaining the rationale for the changes, that would be submitted to the Census Bureau as support documentation.

[jimrtex]

Edit: Deletion of foot trail to Middle School.

Narrative Part I



Streets (MTFCC = 'Snnnn') With No Changes

Most of the linear features in Hudson are streets, and will not have any suggestions made. In effect, we are content with the Census Bureau classification.

The streets in green will be used for block boundaries. Note that in some cases, the block boundary includes non-street features. This is the case for N 2nd Street, Harry Howard Avenue, Fairview Avenue, Newman Road, Ten Broeck Lane, Worth Avenue, and S 3rd Street.

There are a few small gaps in block boundaries that will be addressed with other changes.

The streets in brown will not be used for block boundaries. In general, they form dead ends. They will appear as lines on census maps, and may be used by the census bureau for locating street addresses.

[Torie]

There is (or might be) a foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Blvd to the Middle School. It may be just a shortcut to the school. In 2010 it was used as a block boundary, splitting a block that ranged from Washington Street and Harry Howard Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard and Paddock Place. The census bureau is recommending that it not be used as a block boundary for 2020. I would consider deleting it unless it can be confirmed that it really exists.

It doesn't exist. If you really want to help me, we need just a few key cuts to suggest. I will post the ones that I really want. I need to email something out no later than Monday.

[Torie]

Here are the few cuts that would be really helpful where I know there are geographic features to support the cuts, with the possible exception of the Hudson Terrace Apts cut.

[jimrtex]

There is (or might be) a foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Blvd to the Middle School. It may be just a shortcut to the school. In 2010 it was used as a block boundary, splitting a block that ranged from Washington Street and Harry Howard Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard and Paddock Place. The census bureau is recommending that it not be used as a block boundary for 2020. I would consider deleting it unless it can be confirmed that it really exists.

It doesn't exist. If you really want to help me, we need just a few key cuts to suggest. I will post the ones that I really want. I need to email something out no later than Monday.

Why not just send the shapefile?

[Torie]

There is (or might be) a foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Blvd to the Middle School. It may be just a shortcut to the school. In 2010 it was used as a block boundary, splitting a block that ranged from Washington Street and Harry Howard Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard and Paddock Place. The census bureau is recommending that it not be used as a block boundary for 2020. I would consider deleting it unless it can be confirmed that it really exists.

It doesn't exist. If you really want to help me, we need just a few key cuts to suggest. I will post the ones that I really want. I need to email something out no later than Monday.

Why not just send the shapefile?

The one that I need to download and figure out how to use?

[Torie]

I'm not doing very well.

[jimrtex]

Here are the few cuts that would be really helpful where I know there are geographic features to support the cuts, with the possible exception of the Hudson Terrace Apts cut.

The Census Bureau already intends to use the RR tracks in those areas as block boundaries (plus between S 3rd Street and E Court St (it creates a zero population block down to Power Ave, but I think it is better to have a consistent definition than not).


I can only add bikeways and not foot trails. As you drive east on Mill Street, past the entrance to the parking area just before you get to where 3rd Street would be, there is a sign that says

"Bike Road"
"Dead End"
Then an orange sign (pipeline warning?)

Off in the direct of 3rd Street there is either a bit of pavement, or crushed asphalt. The bike trail is a continuation of the eastbound portion of Mill Street.



Mill Street does not exist at the east end. The bike trail starts at Lucille Drive. If you are coming north on Harry Howard Ave and turn left on Lucille Drive, the bike trail starts immediately on your left.



There is a bike route that includes Front Street, Dock Street, Mill Street, the bike trail up the Dugway, and then the zebra-striped area along the west side of Harry Howard Ave.

So you have extend Mill Street to 3rd St, add the bike trail, and delete the non-existent Mill St on the east end.


You can't do an extension off a T. You can either delineate Promenade Hill Park, and use the escarpment as a visible feature, or wait until the VTD phase.

[jimrtex]

There is (or might be) a foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Blvd to the Middle School. It may be just a shortcut to the school. In 2010 it was used as a block boundary, splitting a block that ranged from Washington Street and Harry Howard Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard and Paddock Place. The census bureau is recommending that it not be used as a block boundary for 2020. I would consider deleting it unless it can be confirmed that it really exists.

It doesn't exist. If you really want to help me, we need just a few key cuts to suggest. I will post the ones that I really want. I need to email something out no later than Monday.

Why not just send the shapefile?

The one that I need to download and figure out how to use?

The one I would send you.

[Torie]

There is (or might be) a foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Blvd to the Middle School. It may be just a shortcut to the school. In 2010 it was used as a block boundary, splitting a block that ranged from Washington Street and Harry Howard Avenue to Oakwood Boulevard and Paddock Place. The census bureau is recommending that it not be used as a block boundary for 2020. I would consider deleting it unless it can be confirmed that it really exists.

It doesn't exist. If you really want to help me, we need just a few key cuts to suggest. I will post the ones that I really want. I need to email something out no later than Monday.

Why not just send the shapefile?

The one that I need to download and figure out how to use?

The one I would send you.

OK, but send me something simple, with the basic changes. The footpath is really more of a closed road, and it's gravel.

[jimrtex]

I'm not doing very well.

X the Browser Panel. The Layers Panel is the only one I ever use. You can get the others back if you ever need them.

Right click on the three zip files and Remove them. You will get a warning message, Click OK. This doesn't do anything to the data, it just gets it out of the project.

Check the box next to the edges shapefile. This makes it visible. You can drag the layers around to control how they are rendered, the one on top is rendered last. Layers can be partially transparent, in case they overlap.

Make sure that the edges shapefile is selected (left click on the name). This makes it the current layer, the one you are currently working with.

On the menu at top, click on the looking glass to the right of the looking glass with the yellow. This is "Zoom to Layer". It will zoom to the extent of current layer, which covers Columbia County.

You can use the looking glass with + and - to zoom in or zoom out.

Click on the + looking glass, then left click-hold on the upper left corner of where you want to zoom to, hold as you move the cursor to the lower right corner of the area you want to zoom to. When you release the map will zoom.

You can do this several times (you are in Zoom In mode). Zoom in a few times until you can find Robinson Street.

If you zoom in too much, click on the minus looking glass, and select the area you want to zoom out around. The smaller the area, the faster you will zoom out. If you just want to expand the area shown a bit, do a rectangle to almost the extent of  the visible area.

Click on the hand icon (Pan Map). Now you can drag the map about. You can also use the keyboard arrow keys, but that is hard.

We are now going to select Robinson Street and look at its attributes.

There are 3 icons over towards the right that are used for selection. The first is for graphical selection. Click on the little black arrow to the right, and choose "Select Feature by Freehand", this will remain the graphical selection mode until you change it. If you click on the yellow part of the icon you are starting the selection process.

Click on the yellow part of the icon. Then go down to Robinson Street, hold-click and draw a selection area that crosses the street. When you release, Robinson Street will be in yellow indicating it is the selected feature. You can select multiple features by drawing a bigger area.

Selection is in the current layer, the one highlighted in the Layers Panel on the left. Sometimes you will forget, and it will be like selection is not working. Click on the 3rd yellow icon (that is a red international do not indicator) to clear all selections. Go select the layer you want to be current, select the Select Feature by Freehand, select Robinson Street again.

Now click on the icon that looks like the Monopoly card for Oriental, Vermont, and Connecticut (light blue). A table will appear. In the middle of the icons at the top you will see an icon with a yellow bar and blue arrow pointing down. Clicking on that will bring the selected features to the top of the table (and highlighted in blue). You should now see Robinson Street.

Important fields are:

(Don't try to type changes yet, we're still learning to navigate)

STATEFP: 36 is New York
COUNTYFP 021 is Columbia County
TLID: is a USA-wide unique ID for the line.

MTFCC: MAF/TIGER Feature Code.  S1400 is neighborhood street.
FULLNAME:

These could be changed, but usually won't, unless there is a mistake.

BBSPFLG: 4 indicates it was a hold as block boundary suggestion for 2010.
CBBFLG: 4 indicates that the census bureau will use it as a block boundary for 2020.
BBSP_2020: Is our suggestion for 2020. If we didn't want Robinson St to be a block boundary in 2020, we make this a 2. If we wanted to emphasize that it should be a block boundary we make this a 1.
CHNG_TYPE: 'AL' for add line; 'DL for delete line'; 'CA for change attributes.
JUSTIFY: Our justification to the census bureau why we are suggesting the change.

You can click on the X in the upper right corner of the  table to get rid of it. Otherwise you will get many different versions.

Under the Project Menu on the upper left corner, you can select "Save as Image" which will save a .png file of the current map version. This will also create a .pngw file which basically gives map locations of the rectangle in the png file, but just ignore these. You may know that .png files can be edited in Paint, so you could draw on the image, just like you did with the census map files. This is more efficient that doing print screens (unless you want me to show the menus, etc.)

Right click on the Edges shapefile in the Layer Panel, and select Save As.

Use the Browse button to get to the correct directory, and enter a name of your choosing. Leave the Add Saved File to Map checked, and click on OK.

This will add a copy of the shapefile to your project. You can uncheck the original, and even remove it from the project. This avoids the risk of making changes to the original.

Also click on the diskette icons "Save" or "Save As" file, and you will get a dialogue about where to save a project file. A project file (.qgs) contains all your current layers, and settings. If you exit QGIS or have a system crash, you will be able to get back to where you were at, and you can also have multiple projects, so you could work on Hudson, then go gerrymander another state.

I'll have to remember how to install the option to add Google satellite images. You only have to it once, and then can forget how you did it.

[jimrtex]

Open Google Earth or Bing as a Layer in QGIS (Youtube Video)

[jimrtex]

OK, but send me something simple, with the basic changes. The footpath is really more of a closed road, and it's gravel.

This is (an image of) what I sent you (to your gmail account)



Regard it as a prototype. I am carefully reviewing everything.

Red are deletions.
Green are additions.
Blue is change in attributes.

I regard removal of erroneous or non-existent features as very basic.

[jimrtex]

Edit: Change Classification of Dock Street west of N Front Street.

Narrative Part II



Streets to be Deleted

These can be classified in three groups:

(NE) Non-existent.
(DR) Driveways and other extraneous roads.
(RE) Realigned streets. To move a street, you have to delete the old line, and add a new line.

These codes will be used below.

In the map above, the streets in brown are currently block boundaries. If they were left in place, we not only would have useless black lines, we would have useless zero population census block.

I will go through the entire set, beginning at the eastern edge of the city, working westward through the central and southern portions of the city, north along the river, and then back eastward and northward.

(1) Spurious extension of Faxon Avenue through driveway to Fairview Avenue. Real Faxon Avenue, stub north of Storm Avenue retained (NE)

(2) Non-existent "Columbia Turnpike". This is a north-south fiction to the east of the point where Prospect Avenue enters Columbia Street. The real Columbia Turnpike continues to be used (NE)

(3) Driveway or alley north of about 900 Columbia Street. There are couple of houses fronting on the unnamed street, but they have Columbia Street addresses. In effect, they are houses in the interior of the block between Green Street and Columbia Street, but locatable as being north of Columbia Street. In addition, the street is in the wrong place (DR/NE)

(4) Badly aligned streets on Prospect Hill: Van Winkle Road, Van Winkle Road Ext, and Academy Hill Drive. This area is currently being built out. In addition, some of the streets are misnamed. To replace these streets with the correct version, the old version has to be deleted (RE)

(5) Road west of Columbia Memorial Hospital between Prospect Avenue and Columbia Street. The "street" runs through a medical building (NE)

(6) Non-existent street to the west of, and parallel to N 7th Street north of State Street. Possibly was associated with 6th Street School (the road would have been east of the building. (NE)

(7) Non-existent streets running between State Street and Long Alley, in the block bounded by N 6th Street and N 7th Street (NE)

(8) Cherry Alley between City Hall Place and S 5th Street. Currently, the census bureau omits the middle section crossing S 4th Street. These changes delete the current erroneous stubs, so that the correct alignment can be added (RE)

(9) Hudson Avenue long tail in current version is not part of street. Deleted so new version can be added. (RE)

(10) Driveway to Bronson House is in wrong location. (DR)

(11) Internal roads in Hudson Correctional Institution. These roads are badly misaligned, and if the prison actually bothered to determine which part of the prison a particular inmate was incarcerated, it would be bureaucratic busywork. The Census Bureau plans to treat the entire prison as a whole as separate census block, eliminated the past census problem of mixing inmates with residents along Union St (DR).

(12) Deer Alley west of Cross Lane, removed so correct alignment can be added (RE)

(13) South Alley (northwest end of Tanners Lane) is non-existent (NE)

(14) Driveway to (former) Holcim deep water port. Badly aligned, and is just a driveway. (DR)

(15) Non-existent road west of RR tracks, north of Ferry St. (NE)

(16) Ferry St depicted as running through parking lot. Will be replaced with Ferry Street running directly west to old ferry landing. (RE)

(17) Non-existent remnant of Warren Street west of Front Street. (NE)

(18) Non-existent remnant of State Street west of Front Street. Aligned with parking lot. Items 15, 17, and 18 are digital detritus from when streets did exist west of Front Street. They were eliminated when Hudson Terrace Apartments were built as part of an urban renewal project in 1973. (NE)

(19) N Front Street north of Dock Street. (NE)

(20) Dock Street west of N Front Street. Currently this is in two edges: TLID 41520300 and TLID 41520969. This is because there is an erroneous extension of N Front Street north of Dock Street (item 19 above), but offset to the west of N Front Street south of Dock Street. TLID 41520300 represents the segment of Dock Street between the true N Front Street and the false N Front Street. TLID 41520969 represents the segment of Dock Street west of the false N Front Street. Both current segments are being deleted, and will be replaced by a new TLID 41520969 representing Dock Street from N Front St, extending further west (RE)

(21) "Lombard St" south of Dock Street. More of a driveway, and there is no public right-of-way (DR)

(22) Mill Street east of N 2nd Street. Deleted so that it can be extended further east to connect with bike trail up the Dugway. (RE)

(23) Washington Street west of Harry Howard Avenue. Current version is complete fiction, running through John L. Edwards school and almost reaching N 3rd Street, will be replaced with short stub that actually exists (RE)

(24) Mill Street west of Lucille Drive and Harry Howard Avenue. This is now part of Dugway bike trail. The bike trail was built after 2010, so part of a road may have existed in 2010. (NE)

(25) Foot trail from N 6th Street and Glenwood Boulevard to back of school grounds of Middle School on Paddock Place. This is more a shortcut from the playground at the school than a formal foot path. Treated as equivalent to driveway (DR/NE).

(26, 27, 28) Driveways around Middle School, Firemen's Home, and High School. Many don't align with present or run through buildings, and don't serve a census purpose (DR).

[Torie]

OK, but keep it as limited as possible. I don't want to freak them out. And I need it by Monday morning at the latest. Otherwise, I will have to go with something else. We are out of time.

Oh, and send me screen shots of everything that are easy to read visually (your shots are zoomed too far out), in case this incompetent old man never figures out how to get the software going.

[jimrtex]

OK, but keep it as limited as possible. I don't want to freak them out. And I need it by Monday morning at the latest. Otherwise, I will have to go with something else. We are out of time.

Oh, and send me screen shots of everything that are easy to read visually (your shots are zoomed too far out), in case this incompetent old man never figures out how to get the software going.

I'll finish the citywide summary, and then go back and cover the individual areas of the city.

Do you have a copy of this? BBSP Using Your Own Software Participant Guide [PDF] 2.6MB

[jimrtex]

Narrative Part III



Modified Streets

None of these change the alignment of the streets.

These fall into 4 Categories.

(NM) Correction to name of street.

(1) Van Winkle Road east of Rossman Avenue.

(HO) Hold street as block boundary. This is done in conjunction with other changes to form a new block boundary.

(2) Clinton Street west of N 6th Street. Along with an extension will create a block bounded by: Harry Howard Avenue, Washington Street, N 6th Street, Clinton Street (and extension). This was a census block in 1990, and is readily recognizable as such.

(3) N 3rd Street north of Robinson Street. Along with an extension will create a connection to Mill Street and the Old Dugway Road bike way. This has been a ward boundary for the past 201 years.

(4) Dock Street west of N Front Street. This is a small segment (edge) which in conjunction with
(DH) Don't hold street as block boundary. This is part of an elimination of extraneous blocks.

(NH) Don't Hold as Street Boundary. The streets continue to exist, but should not form a block boundary.

(5) Faxon Avenue north of Storm Avenue. The deletion of an erroneous connection through a parking lot, makes this an ordinary dead end street.

(6) E Court Street south of Power Avenue is inside boundary of Hudson Correctional Institution (HCF). It is the intent of the Census Bureau to enumerate prisons as a separate census block. As such it is suggested that the internal roads within HCF not be used as census block boundaries. They are poorly aligned with actual visible features, and serve no obvious census or redistricting purpose.

Currently E Court Street is a census block boundary. While it should not be used for that purpose, it does serve as public access to HCF, and HCF has an address of 50 E Court St. So the road should be kept as a linear feature for reference purposes, but not used as a block boundary.

(TR) Change Holds of Small Triangular Blocks. The Census Bureau proposes to eliminate small unpopulated blocks. As can be seen in this image most of the area of the census block is part of the streets that purportedly surround the block. the census bureau would eliminate one street's use as a block boundary, permitting the micro block to be merged into an adjoining populated block.

These suggestions do not quarrel with the overall policy, but provide a preferred choice of which block the comination is with.



(7) Carroll Street-Short Street-Prospect Street.

Hold Carroll Street (no change)
Hold Short Street
Don't Hold Prospect Street

Short Street is a block boundary both north and south of the triangle, and this is the extreme west end of Prospect Street. The merged census block would be bounded by Carroll Street, Short Street, and Rope Alley.

(8) Green Street-Columbia Street-State Street

Hold Green Street (no change)
Hold Columbia Street
Don't Hold State Street

Columbia Street is Hudson's longest continuous street, and this would create a gap in its use as block boundary. This has also been a ward boundary since 1855. This is the extreme eastern end of State Street. The merged census block would be bounded by Green Street, Frederick Street, and Columbia Street.

(9) Columbia Street-Columbia Turnpike-Prospect Avenue

Hold Columbia Street (no change)
Hold Columbia Turnpike
Don't Hold Prospect Avenue
Delete bogus "Columbia Turnpike" (TLID 41489724)

Columbia Turnpike is the original road from Hudson to the east, eventually connecting to the Massachusetts turnpike system. The portion of Columbia Street east of the junction with Columbia Turnpike was known as Union Turnpike. Columbia Street was simply a connection from the junction of the two turnpikes to the developed part of the city to the west. Prospect Avenue is simply a minor connector street. Columbia Turnpike has been used as a ward boundary since 1855. The Census Bureau is also depending on a bogus "Columbia Turnpike" as a block boundary. Since it doesn't exist, it should be deleted. The merged census block would be bounded by Columbia Street, Columbia Turnpike, Paul Avenue.

(CL) Misaligned City Limit.

(10) For the 2010 Census internal roads within the Cedar Park Cemetery were delineated and used to form 12 Census Blocks. There are very few people living at the cemetery (there were three housing units and 9 persons in the 2010 census). For 2020, the Census Bureau recognized their mistake and reclassified the MTFCC from S1400 (neighborhood street) to P0001 (non-visible statistical line). This recognizes that they had been used as block boundaries, but would not be used as such for the future. It is recommended that these features be deleted.

This causes a slight problem at the northern entrance to the cemetery on Columbia Turnpike.



The two "streets" on the south sides of the triangle apparently correspond to the driveway just to the east. Unfortunately, they were recognized as part of the boundary between Hudson city, and Greenport town. The northern side of the triangle on Columbia Turnpike is about 100 feet long.

To the east and west of this area Columbia Turnpike is recognized as the city limits for census  purposes. To avoid a sliver block, in 2010, the triangle was enumerated as part of Census Tract 11, Block 1026, and part of the town of Greenport.

The suggestion is to move the city limit to the northern side of the triangle - so that it is consistently on Columbia Turnpike, and would become a block boundary. This will permit the deletion of the two "streets".

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part IV



Added (or Replaced) Streets

(1) Realignment of Van Winkle Road, Van Winkle Road Ext, and Academy Hill Drive on Prospect Hill. These streets are currently horridly aligned. These are replacement alignments. They do not form block boundaries.

(2) Rope Alley between N 6th Street and N 7th Street. This is missing in current census information. It will split the block bounded by N 6th Street, Washington Street, N 7th Street, and State Street.

(3) Cherry Alley between City Hall Place and S 5th Street. Inexplicably, Cherry Alley is not delineated across S 4th Street, instead leaving stubs east at the east and west ends. This will split the census blocks bounded by Warren Street, S 4th Street, Union Street, and City Hall Place; and Warren Street, S 5th Street, Union Street, and S 4th Street.

Note on use of alleys as block boundaries: The alleys have traditionally been used as block boundaries in Hudson. Perhaps this is because they are named. Functionally, they would be better classified as S1730. While the census classification says they are usually unnamed, that implies that they some times are named. The census bureau should be able to verify whether there are any street addresses associated with any of the alleys, and if not, reclassify the line as S1730, and make it a do not hold for 2020. Such a change would eliminated about 1/4 of the census blocks in Hudson.

I have set the BBSP_2020 flag as 1 for the above two alleys, only to be consistent with current practice.

(4) Hudson Avenue south of Union Street. The current version has a long tail that is a driveway, and was apparently part of an attempt to create a block connection. Use of the railroad as a block boundary obviates any need to do this. The revised version is limited to the actual dedicated right-of-way.

(5) The Hudson Correctional Facility (HCF) will be treated as a separate census block in 2020. This revision provides a single path used for public access from E Court Street, through the prison and on out to Worth Avenue. It is for reference purposes only, and should not form a block boundary.

(6) The South Bay Causeway Truck Route is built on the former bed of a railroad that has been removed. It performs the same function as the railroad, connecting a quarry to a deep water port on the Hudson River. It is a private road, though there is public access, and it connects to S Front Street. So it is a significant feature for reference purposes, but need not be used as block boundary.

(7) Deer Alley west of Cross Lane. Correction of alignment.

(8) Ferry Street west of Water Street.  Eliminates tale through parking lot.

(9) Dock Street west of N Front St. Extended further west, and replaces unneeded segment on east end. Will be used as a block boundary for northern part of Hudson Terrace block.

(10) Mill Street east of N Second St. Extended to connect with Old Dugway Road bike trail (Mill Street is part of a bike route that utilizes city streets and the bike trail.

(11) Old Dugway Road bike trail. This is built on the right-of-way up the Dugway, which dates from the 18th Century, and was formerly a ward boundary prior to the detachment of Greenport.

(12) Corrected gross-bogosity of Washington Street west of Harry Howard Avenue.

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part V



Hydrology Features and Shorelines, Status Quo or Deletions

Continue to Use as Block Boundaries (green)

(1) Hudson River shoreline, including open water in North Bay estuary.
(2) Stream east from North Bay to Mill Street and N 2nd Street (this is not very well aligned, but has no effect on census).

Continue to Use for Reference Purposes, but not as Block Boundaries (brown)

(1) Stream in former South Bay.
(2) Residual lake in South Bay.
(3) Centerline of channel of North Bay immediately east of RR tracks.
(4) Island in open water in North Bay estuary (was block in 2010).

Deleted

(1) Former reservoirs on Reservoir Hill which have been replaced by covered storage.
(2) Badly misaligned stream from near Mill Street to N 3rd Street (appears to be fake attempt to create a block boundary).

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative VI



Added Hydrology Features

Currently, Hudson has some large census blocks that combine disparate areas that have no demographic relationship with each other. This has caused gross errors to be made when calculating the weighted vote used by the Common Council.

The downtown gridded-street portion of Hudson is built on a plateau stretching eastward from the Hudson River. On the north side of the plateau the ground drops precipitously to streams flowing to the Hudson River, and including Underhill Pond and Oakdale Pond. The reason that there are few streets to form block boundaries, is that the terrain and streams prevent their use.

The streams are included as part of the National Hydrology Database, and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation inventory of streams flowing into the Hudson River, and are shown on USGS Topo Sheets. Recently, Underhill Pond and Oakdale Pond (and implicitly the connecting streams) were included in the study area for Hudson's Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP). The streams are visible features suitable for use as census blocks and will help facilitate local redistricting or reapportionment of voting weights.

In addition to the streams extending from North Bay to nearly the eastern city limits, Underhill Pond and Oakdale Pond would be used for block boundaries, in one of three ways:

(1) As standalone census blocks. The north and south shorelines would connect the inlet and outlet streams.
(2) As part of a census block on the north or south shoreline. If they were part of a census block on the south shore, the northern shoreline would connect the streams.
(3) Define statistical lines through main channels of the ponds connecting the streams.

Conceptual Block Delineation

Red lines are current block boundaries for 2020. Orange lines are new blocks boundaries: Mill Street east of N 2nd Street; Old Dugway Road bike trail; N 3rd Street extended; Clinton Street west of N 5th Street. Green lines are streams; Blue lines are ponds.



Census Tract and Block Numbers are from 2015 prototype:

Census Tract 12, Block 1000: This is a large block extending to the northern city limits (not shown). A, B, C, and D would be sliced off. C contains most of the population. An alternative would be to not use the stream in this area as a block boundary, combining A and B; and C and D. Note that the 3rd Street extension has been a ward boundary since 1815, when Martin Van Buren was a state senator for the area (at that time, the legislature controlled the city charter). Van Buren, who would become the 8th president 22 years later, would have been familiar with the route traveling between Kinderhook and Hudson. When the Census Bureau enumerated ward populations it was used as a statistical boundary. See for example 1940 Census Map.

Census Tract 12, Block 1007: This is a large unwieldy block created because it is impractical to build streets. Use of the streams along with the Clinton Street extension would create E, F, G, and H. K is Census Tract 12, Block 1006. It contains the inner units of the Crosswind Apartments. From a statistical point of view, it would make sense to merge this area with area G which contains the outer units of the Crosswind Apartments.

Census Tract 13, Block 5000: This is a large block that would be divided into I and J, separating the populations on the extreme opposite corners of the current block.

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part VII



Statistical Lines to be Deleted

Over the decades, streets have been erroneously delineated, and sometimes used as block boundaries. When it was discovered that these streets do not physically or visibly exist they were downgraded to statistical lines, though not actively used by the Census Bureau. This digital detritus should be deleted because they serve no current or future census purpose.

(1) Lines in Cedar Park Cemetery and Hudson Burial Ground. These were badly conforming streets for the 2010 Census, creating about a dozen census blocks with no one living in them. Since they formed block boundaries for the 2010 and American Community Survey(?), they may have been retained. They should be deleted for the 2020 Census.

Of particular note are two lines highlighted in cyan at the northeast corner of the Cedar Park Cemetery. These apparently (badly) represent entry driveways to the cemetery.

Nonetheless, they are currently used as part of the Hudson city limit, MCD boundary, census tract boundary, and block boundary. Immediately to the north (15 feet), Columbia Turnpike is delineated as a street but is not used a block boundary.

On the portions of Columbia Turnpike to the immediate east and west, the block, census tract, and MCD boundary do follow the road. This conforms to Census Bureau preference that visual features be used for statistical purposes (eg making sure persons are correctly enumerated in Hudson and Greenport).

The boundaries should be moved to Columbia Turnpike, relieving the two phantom streets from being used as block boundaries and permit them to be deleted.

(2) Extraneous extension of Joe Alley. Not used in recent censuses.

(3) Extraneous "street" south of State Street east of RR tracks to Green Street. Formed an erroneous splinter block in 2010.

(4) 2010 alignment of Long Alley into Columbia Street-Green Street intersection. The census bureau has realigned Long Alley to turn south into Columbia Street. The current alignment represents the 2010 census block boundary, but should be deleted going forward.

(5) Erroneous Prison Alley crossing Public Square between N 7th Street and Park Place. Was used as ablock boundary in 2010.

(6) Extraneous "street" southeast of Warren Street and Worth Avenue intersection. Was a block boundary in 2010, and may have caused enumeration error in 2000.

(7) Extension of Hudson Avenue. Has not been used in recent censuses.

(8) Former segment of Power Avenue east of S 3rd Street. The correct connection of S 3rd Street to Power Avenue is via the spike to the south. The cut through was used as a block boundary in 2010.

(9) Extraneous "street" east of S 3rd Street near southern city limit, and parallel to former RR tracks. The bed of the RR is now used for the South Bay Causeway Truck Route. The "street" may be a duplicated representation of the former railroad. In any event it does correspond to any visible feature and should be deleted. It was used as a block boundary in 2010.

(10) Statistical line in Hudson River at southern city limits. Not used in recent censuses, and its purpose is unknown.

(11) Statistical lines in North Bay area, neither of which are currently used. One is immediately west of the RR trestle bridges. The RR tracks can be used to separate the Hudson River from North Bay (they are now). The second crosses the open water of the North Bay estuary. It is of unknown purpose.

(12) Statistical line connecting Harry Howard Avenue to N 3rd Street. Has not been used in recent censuses. It is preferable to use actual visible features for delineating census blocks.

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part VIII



Non-Visible Lines to be Kept

The Census Bureau uses non-visible lines when there are not suitable visible features that can be substituted. The census is primarily interested in counting people - determining how many people live in Hudson, and how many people live in particular areas, that might be used for congressional, legislative, and local government districts. If a street is roughly coincident with a boundary, the census bureau prefers to use the street. They can easily determine whether a street address is on one side of the street or the other, and therefore whether the residents live in a particular city, even if legally part of the lawn or driveway might be in another city. But where no other visible feature is available, they must create artificial lines.

In Hudson the following artificial lines are used:

(1) City limits, not approximately coincident with streets. Ten Broeck Lane, Newman Road, Columbia Turnpike, Paul Avenue, Union Turnpike, Graham Avenue, and Fairview Avenue delineate parts of the eastern city limits. The western city limit (in the Hudson River) is coincident with the Columbia County-Greene County line.

Part of the southern boundary has a MTFCC code of L4140 (parcel boundary). It is not clear what the parcel is. If the Hudson Correctional Facility (HCF) is coincident with the city limits, it is because there was an intent to place HCF within the city limits. A classification of P0001 might be more accurate.

(2) Hudson Correctional Facility. For 2020, the Census Bureau intends to enumerate the HCF separately. In the past, census blocks have included portions of the HCF and ordinary residences on Union Boulevard and Worth Avenue. To that end, they have defined the limits of the area where prisoners are housed, and will use that as a block boundary.

(3) Western limit of Columbia Memorial Hospital, delineated as an areal landmark. Not used as a block boundary.

(4) Western and northern boundary of Hudson Burial Ground, and boundary of Cedar Park Cemetery, used to delimit areal landmark. Not used as block boundary.

(5) Statistical boundary marking boundary between Census Tracts 12 and 13. Hudson has two census tracts with Warren Street as the primary division line. Because no streets actually reach the Hudson River, and certainly none to the middle of the river, the Census Bureau has defined as series of statistical lines from Dock Street and N Front Street, to the open water estuary in North Bay, out through the trestle railroad bridge, to the county line in the middle of the river. Since census blocks nest with census tracts, this will be continued as block boundary.

Non-Visible Lines to be Changed or Added

(6) N 3rd Street Extension north of Robinson Street.



N 3rd Street (in green) currently dead ends north of Robinson Street (or rather the pavement ends). The extension north of that point has been used as a ward boundary continuously since 1815, and at that time was comprehended as a part of a road that continued up the Dugway to the east.

Mill Street in (in green) east of 2nd Street has physically been extended east to the alignment of 3rd Street, to provide access to newly built houses on the north side of the street, and Charles Williams Park which is under current development. Mill Street runs into the bike way on the Old Dugway Road right-of-way (together, they form links of a bike route from S Front St and Ferry St, to the High School). Historically, Mill Street has extended further east to the grist mill below Underhill Pond (ie Mill Street was the road to the mill).

The Dugway (in blue) is an 18th-century road that provided access to North Bay from areas to the north prior to the founding of Hudson. It continued on what is now known as Harry Howard Avenue. After alternative roads were developed, it was never paved. But it has been recently had the Old Dugway Road bike road built on its right-of-way. (Dugway Avenue continues to be on New York State's inventory of local roads).

On property records, the location of the playground on the southeast corner of Mill Street and the 3rd Street right-of-way is given as Mill Street and N 3rd Street, and was the playground for Charles Williams School at the top of the hill (no longer in school use). Charles Williams Park is named for Charles Williams School.

In essence, the extension of 3rd Street is 3rd Street, except for the lack of asphalt.

(7) Clinton Street Extension



The Clinton Street extension from the west end of Clinton Street, west of N 5th Street to Harry Howard Avenue already exists (TLID 624853735) and was used to form a census block boundary for the 1990 Census. The block bounded by Harry Howard Avenue, Washington Street, N 6th Street, and Clinton Street is indistinguishable from its neighbors, except for the lack of asphalt on part of one side. The extension is in the right-of-way for Clinton Street. The lack of this census block has caused confusion for voters, election officials, and city officials apportioning voting weights among the wards of Hudson.  The suggestion is that it along with Clinton Street west of N 5th Street be used as a block boundary, as was the case in 1990.

(8) Promenade Hill Park



Hudson was established in 1785, two years before the Constitutional Convention, and five years before the first US Census. On a promontory above the Hudson River, the proprietors laid out a street grid, stretching away from the river. They named the main street, 'Main Street'. Main Street was later renamed 'Warren Street', and remains the backbone of the street grid and the dividing line between North and South.

At the head of Warren Street, 60 to 70 feet above the river, they created Promenade Hill Park, which is the first public park in the United States. Warren Street and other streets at one time continued west of Front Street, but that ended in the 1970's when urban renewal produced the Hudson Terrace Apartments. But a walkway provides continued visibility and pedestrian access to the park from Warren Street. Treating the boundaries of the park as block boundaries maintains the traditional division of Hudson into North and South.

The escarpment at western side of the park provides a quite visible and literal edge to residential and commercial Hudson. Front Street marks the base of the T-shaped park.

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part IX



The promontory rising above the Hudson River is the defining physical feature of Hudson.  50 to 70 feet high in the center it slopes down to North Bay and South Bay, which provide access to the river and beyond (Hudson was founded as a whaling port).

The promontory is given a MAF/TIGER Feature Classification Code (MTFCC) of L4125 - "Cliff/Escarpment, A very steep or vertical slope. [including bluff, crag, head, headland, nose, palisades, precipice, promontory, rim and rimrock]". It is literally the edge of residential and commercial development in Hudson and quite visible. It is fenced to keep toddlers, infirm seniors, drunks, and errant census enumerators from falling off. It is quite suitable for use as a block boundary.



This view from the west (right click to see in full grandeur) shows the highest point in the center at Promenade Hill Park (marked in gold). To the south (right) the escarpment slopes down to the Ferry Street (marked in red). Ferry Street crosses over the railroad tracks on a bridge, which has a greater rise on the west, as you are also climbing over the cliff. Ferry Street provided access to the ferry to Athens, Greene County. South Bay is further south. To the north (extreme left) the cliff slopes down to Dock Street (also marked in red). Dock Street was the location of the docks and wharves in North Bay. The buildings just to the south of Dock Street have been torn down since this image was captured (they were old brick factory buildings which had collapsed roofs, and were too far gone to be rehabilitated).

Front Street (marked in green), both North and South, runs parallel to the cliff and the river. Warren Street (marked in blue) at one time continued west of Front Street. Promenade Hill Park and its walkway and stairs continues this North/South division of Hudson.

The park creates a 300-foot gap between the apartment buildings to the north and south, which have street addresses on N Front Street and S Front Street, respectively.

[jimrtex]

Hudson Narrative Part X



Railroad Classification

East-West Railroad

(1) Fairview Avenue to State Street. The Census Bureau plans to use the railroad track as a block boundary. This was the case in 2000, but not 2010. I strongly agree with this since it provides a separation between the houses along Glenwood Boulevard and those along Green Street.

(2) State Street to Union Street. The Census Bureau plans to continue to not use the railroad track as a block boundary. I agree. The tracks chop up these small blocks, and would tend to create zero population slivers.

(3) Union Street to S Front Street. The Census Bureau plans to use the railroad track as a block boundary. This was the case in 2000, but not 2010. I strongly agree with this since it provides a hard boundary to the residential areas on the southern part of the city.

The track switches to two tracks west of S Third Street. The south track is not a block boundary (no change). The wye at the western end does not tie into the north-south mainline. While visually disconcerting, it has no effect on block boundaries.

(4) Deletion of siding east of E Court Street that no longer exists.

Former Railroad to Cement Plant (tracks and ties pulled)

(5) Railroad to the cement plant across South Bay causeway, including wye, no longer exists and should be deleted. Part of the wye is currently used for a block boundary. This did not make sense before, and makes even less now. The block boundary should be moved to the north-south mainline.

North-South Mainline

It is the intent that where the railroad tracks are used as a block boundary that the west track be used. It makes no sense to jump back and forth.

(6) Southern City Limit to south branch of wye to railroad to former cement plant. Block boundary remains on west track.

(7) South branch of wye to north branch of wye. Block boundary switches to west track.

(8) North branch of wye to Broad Street. Block boundary remains on west track.

(9) Broad Street to Front Street. Block boundary switched from east track to west track. There is a 30-foot gap in the west track south of Ferry Street that is misclassified as a statistical line (circled in red). It's MTFCC is corrected to R1011 (railroad).



(10) Ferry Street to Dock Street. The block boundary switches to to the escarpment. Neither track is used as block boundary.

(11) Dock Street to Trestle Bridge. Neither track is used as block boundary.

(12) Trestle Bridge across opening to North Bay. West track is used as block boundary to separate Hudson River main channel from North Bay.

(13) Trestle Bridge to northern city limits, neither track is used as block boundary, as the tracks are quite close to the river.

Summary:

Southern City Limits to Ferry Street - use west track.
Ferry Street to Trestle Bridge - use neither.
Trestle Bridge - use west track.
Trestle Bridge to Northern City Limits - use neither.

North of Ferry Street, the tracks are quite close to the river, and would only serve to define an extremely narrow block.

[jimrtex]

OK, but keep it as limited as possible. I don't want to freak them out. And I need it by Monday morning at the latest. Otherwise, I will have to go with something else. We are out of time.

Oh, and send me screen shots of everything that are easy to read visually (your shots are zoomed too far out), in case this incompetent old man never figures out how to get the software going.

I've sent you an updated version.