How Much More Incompetency Can Hudson Survive?

 

This is the second broken plastic scannable paid parking sign in the 700 block of Columbia Street that I have come across since several were installed in the block less than two weeks ago on meter poles.  The pictured sign -- near 8th Street -- will need to be sent to a landfill and replaced with a new one, just like the broken, bent and useless plastic sign near Lucky's gas station that HUDseen featured five days ago and which was recently replaced with a new plastic sign.  There will come a time, possibly very soon, where someone with some common sense, basic awareness and smarts will sound the alarm at a Comon Council or so-called SAFETY COMMITTEE meeting to call out HPD on yet another of their embarrassing and bush league errors:  The scannable signs, regardless of the material they are made of, never should have been allowed to be attached to meter poles. NEVER!  It was an absolutely dumb idea, and it never should have even been entertained.  If you did this to save money, you should be shown the door.  What embarrassing, ridiculous problems and wasting of money and resources will we be dealing with next that we don't need to be dealing with thanks to decisions of yours that are obviously not properly considered ahead of time or with any sort of common sense and competency?  How is any of this acceptable in the year 2026 in a city that is constantly facing financial shortcomings?

A One Year Anniversary Of Sorts, But With Nothing To Celebrate (and No Parking Revenue)!

 

As I recall, it was last February or March during a Parking Study Committee meeting that parking guru master and parking studier extraordinaire, Jen Belton, announced that the 16 parking kiosks had arrived to the DPW garage on Dock Street on February 4th.  Let's call it a year ago, shall we? 

When One Sign Is Obviously A Joke! Thanks, Rob Perry, You're Doing A Hell Of A Job!

 

The clue that tipped me off about this semi-trailer waiting at the red light at the turn in the truck route that I came across yesterday was that neither blinker was on.  And sure enough, when the green light appeared the truck did not turn.

Save The Planet! Litter The City!

 

Somewhere in our code it is written that all residential recycling must be placed securely in a container or it won't be picked up.  All boxes are supposed to be flattened, too.  DPW stopped selling blue recycling bins years ago.  Now anything goes because no one cares and Rob Perry isn't paying attention. Think our DPW Superintendent cares how much litter is produced by recycling, much of it produced by cardboard boxes full of recycling that easily get blown over in the wind?  HA!

Our Police Chief Actually Said This! Then Our Police Captain Did His Best To Outdo Her!

During public comment time following the Hudson Police Department report to the Comon Council's new 4-member Safety Committee last Monday night, the answer to my one allowed question was telling.

My question for Chief Mishanda Franklin and Captain David C. Miller was a fair and simple one that I didn't think had anything to do with safety, but somehow the answer did.  I was just trying to get at the core of the never-ending and confusing issues related to the city's inconsistent overnight odd/even parking rules (depending on the street and the month, there are actually two distinct rules out there).  I'm not the first person to bring this issue to the attention of the Common Council and HPD, but it had been a while since anyone spoke of it.  The fact that the issue continues to surface (and annoy residents) is evidence that something is not right with the rules.

A City Seemingly Hitting The Skids!

For the nearly 2 years that the offices of our Code Enforcement Department have been located on Washington Street, there has never been any indication on site what their hours of business are.   No signs on the doors, no helpful info on the sign by the street.  

On the Code Enforcement Department's page of the city's website, however, the hours of operation have always been clear:  8:30 - 5:00.  That's what the page indicates even today.  

FALSE INFORMATION!

Two Months? How About Just Two Days!!!! (Things Are "Going Great!")

 

Confirming Captain David Miller's recent claim that the city's new paid parking "change" is "going great," it appears that the two parking experts at HPD ordered the wrong scannable paid parking signs.  They are made of plastic, not metal.  Pictured here is one of two signs installed by DPW last week on Columbia Street that are no longer properly secured and are going to have to be thrown away and replaced.  Make no doubt about it, more are on the way soon.  I took the pictures yesterday.