Amanda Purcell at Columbia-Greene Media reports that former Hudson Mayor Tiffany Martin says the phrase "city officials and neighboring business owners support the expansion of Colarusso" in the city's $10 million grant application with the state was untrue. For one, Colarusso officials deny they have current plans to expand its gravel-moving operations south of Henry Hudson Riverfront Park. And there is little enthusiasm for that expansion too. “To the extent this statement suggests that the city and neighboring business owners support the expansion of Colarusso’s business operations at the waterfront was in error,” Martin said. “Rather, the statement should have made it clear that, while it has been a challenge to the city of Hudson to balance the competing needs of those involved in the business operations at the waterfront with environmental concerns, city officials and neighboring business owners recognize Colarusso’s legal right to continue existing operations in compliance with local laws.” The $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative was awarded to Hudson last August. Peter Jung, a Hudson activist who worked to shut down a local music venue several years ago, said, "It was completely inappropriate for the city to take pro-Colarusso positions in the DRI grant application given that the truck route and gravel dump scheme was under review by two local Planning Boards — Hudson and Greenport,” Jung said. “In addition, there are two pending lawsuits involving the Colarusso application, thus the city of Hudson was out of bounds in taking an advocacy role that supports the applicant. This might put the city at some legal jeopardy in future legal proceedings.” Read the full story at HudsonValley360.com.