Hello? Does Anyone Know What They're Talking About? And Why Does It Look As Though The Police Chief Didn't Know What She Was Getting Herself Into?

 

Friday's Times Union article on the first page of the REGION section, titled "Hudson's overhauled parking system draws complaints," was interesting (and concerning) for a number of reasons.  At the top of the list is that no one from the public nor the Police Department and its Parking Bureau was quoted in the article.  It's a little odd that the article's author, Nora Mishanec, either didn't reach out to anyone at HPD -- Chief Mishanda Franklin, Clerk and Parking Clerk (Supervisor?) Doreen Danforth or Captain David Miller (who was quoted in a recent Register-Star article about parking) -- or they weren't interested in talking to her on the record.  Instead, three Common Council members were the spokespeople for HPD and all things regarding paid parking.  

Did They Consider Anything Else Besides All The Zeroes?

The mountain of snow that DPW created on December 29th and 30th in the dirt lot on Washington Street across from the Firestation (hereafter referred to as "the city's lot") didn't shrink much at all before several more inches of snow were added to it yesterday.  While DPW can't make that mountain any taller with all the tons of snow they will be collecting today and for the next several days, the mountain will certainly widen, and by quite a bit. Count on it: the impressive mountain of snow that has been in the lot for the past month will likely more than double in size by the end of this week.  We got 9 inches of snow in late December; 12 or more inches arrived yesterday. (Early yesterday, while at its base, I estimated the wide mountain of collected snow to be at least 12 feet tall at its highest points.  Today it is probably closer to 13 or 14 feet.)

The Wrong Department For The Wrong Job!

All the recent talk and delay updates from the Hudson Police Department (!) regarding the city's wonderful new parking payment program is focused on on-street parking payment issues, absolutely none of it having to do with parking lots.  Since I haven't heard a peep about the city's five downtown parking lots in months, I guess everything is taken care of with them and there's no need to worry about them anymore.  Surely, by now all the necessary scannable signs (the same signs as seen along Warren Street) are up so that people parking in the lots can easily and quickly pay for a parking space with their phone or be directed to the kiosks, right?  Surely, HPD doesn't have any more work to do in any parking lots, do they?  Heck, the kiosks for the lots were installed 7 months ago!  Surely, the HPD parking gurus have done all they can do in our parking lots so they can concentrate on on-street parking matters and signs exclusively, right?  Surely, they've crossed parking lots off of their TO DO list, right?

The Pocketbook Hudson Hotel and Baths: The Gift That Keeps On Giving To The Neighborhood!

I'll try to make this quick.  (It won't be easy!)

A few weeks ago, I noticed a wonderful and unexpected development in my neighborhood that we should all be happy about.  Of course, this could happen in your neighborhood (if it hasn't already).   

Who Might The Keeper of the $10,000 Kiosks Be? Anyone?

Yesterday afternoon, I noticed a few interesting things about each of the $10,000 parking kiosks in front of the two parking lots on Warren Street.  One wonders if the person in charge of the kiosks had noticed the same things as I did.  (Is it safe to say that there is someone at HPD in charge of looking after our expensive new parking kiosks?)

The Fun Has Begun!

Make no doubt about it, while DPW workers have installed the new scannable parking signs on city-owned streetlight poles along all 9 blocks of Warren, they were getting their orders (or should have been) from the Hudson Police Department as to where those signs were to be installed.  The primary concerns with signs are which streetlight poles (if not all) get them and how many signs are put on those poles (1 or 2).  You don't want too many signs (where they're not needed) nor too few of them (missing where they are needed).  6 weeks ago, the stated plan from HPD Captain David Miller was to have all the signs installed on the tops of parking meter poles.  Then it wasn't the plan. 

WTF HPD & DPW?

 

On Thursday morning at 10:00, I noticed two parked cars that had been ticketed for remaining overnight on the so-called wrong side of the street, one on Warren and the other on North 6th.  As you can see, the cars had not been in the way of any DPW snowplows.  And because DPW's street sweeper does not operate in cold temperatures, the cars were not in the way of the sweeper, either. But HPD ticketed them each $15 anyway, all for doing nothing wrong in the early morning hours while all DPW personnel, including Rob Perry, were fast asleep. Common sense and logic dictate that there can be no "wrong" side of the street to park on if parked cars are not in DPW's way.  If neither the DPW street sweeper nor the DPW snowplows are out, HPD should not be issuing overnight WRONG SIDE PARKING tickets!  How can you argue otherwise?