A day after someone leaked the public document to The Gossips of Rivertown blog that Hudson Common Council President Don Moore had refused to release to the public Tue. May 17, Moore this morning thought it was time to release the document to the public. The Hudson Local Waterfront Revitalization Program (LWRP) has been discussed and debated for years, and a large crowd showed up Tuesday night to see it. But at the Common Council meeting Tuesday Moore only released four copies of LWRP to Common Council members who won a lottery: Geeta Cheddie (First Ward), Chris Wagoner (Third Ward), Abdus Miah (Second Ward), and Sheila Ramsey (Fourth Ward). Now Moore says the document will be available Monday, May 23, instead of June 2, the date he originally promised the public document would become public. He released a statement to three particular media outlets, but not the public in general, announcing his backpedaling. Here is the statement Moore sent to Carole Osterink at The Gossips blog, Debora Gilbert of The Columbia Paper (who have ignored it so far) and John Mason of the Register-Star (who printed it without context or explanation, followed by a fuller story a few days later by Jamie Larson here), via the Gossips site:

"I have reflected on my decision to hold the LWRP for release later in the week. I have consulted with Aldermen, listened to questions raised by the public and the press, obtained additional information on public access to our LWRP and GEIS (Generic Environmental Impact Statement) and concluded that my decision to not immediately release the documents, however well-intentioned, was wrong. So, the LWRP in its entirety will be released and available on-line at the City of Hudson website on Monday morning at 10 a.m. I do hope that everyone will respect that just like the public, the Aldermen must devote a good deal of their time to reviewing and absorbing these documents. Also, scheduling conflicts have delayed the date of the Special Common Council meeting. As soon as I have a firm date, I will let everyone know."

Since so few people could be the leaker of the LWRP, Moore can probably figure out where it came from, so it seems a particular slap in his face for not releasing a public document to the public sooner. From the New York State Division of Coastal Resources website:

"A Local Waterfront Revitalization Program is both a plan and a program. The term refers to both a planning document prepared by a community, as well as the program established to implement the plan. The Program may be comprehensive and address all issues that affect a community's entire waterfront or it may address the most critical issues facing a significant portion of its waterfront."

CORRECTION: Initially this story said another writer the story linked to in The Daily Mail, but John Mason wrote that story. Jamie Larson has since written a longer story examining the LWRP here.