HUDseen

Friday, April 24, 2026

Can Dysfunction Be Measured With A Short Portion Of A Yard Stick?

If HPD and/or DPW are able and willing to install scannable paid parking signs on South 7th Street at the reasonable height of 5 feet off the ground, when will all the other hundreds of previously installed signs on light poles all over downtown -- including on 7th Street -- be dropped from their 8-foot height to 5 feet? Wouldn't the kids with the spray paint cans not be the only ones to appreciate such a respectful gesture?

That scannable plastic paid parking sign appeared in the last week or two. Notice the meter pole in the background without a sign (or two) on it. And further on, the streetlight pole with a sign high upon it.

We Can Only "Hope" Something "Happens"!

Following the SAFETY Committee update portion of Monday night's informal council meeting, 3rd ward council member, Lola Roberts, asked SAFETY Committee chair Henry Haddad the following poorly worded question (taken straight from the archived video of the meeting): Have you had any discussions about maybe with the one-way streets? I understand like probably not much and you talked about any discussions about making the one way signs bigger or larger or more, like...

Finally! Beer, Wine and Booze Delivered To Washington Street! NOW WHAT DO WE DO? Form A Committee, Of Course!

Where there had been just one until recently, there are now two of the small professionally printed RESIDENT PARKING ONLY signs along the curb on Washington Street across from the Pocketbook business complex. Who cares that the signs are meaningless? Residents feel they have no choice. City Hall is no f'n help.

How bad is the parking situation surrounding the Pocketbook? The most recent of the two small signs to appear on Washington is in front of a property that includes a parking area that looks like it could fit two cars!

Isn't Door Dash Wonderful? Don't We Need More Home Deliveries?

This morning, on a very busy-with-speedy-traffic 500 block of State Street,* I watched the most astounding thing. Was I shocked? Yes, but only because I witnessed it. Was I at all surprised it occurred? No, not one bit! We live a new, scary and more dangerous world, where certain societal norms and long-standing unwritten rules designed to help us all live happily, safely and coexist are either optional or non-existent. Vehicles are a huge contributor to the fraying of societal norms, communities and neighborliness, especially the obscene amount of delivery vehicles we must now all live and contend with. Anyone, it seems, with a car and not one bit of training, can become a delivery driver. That much was evident this morning on State Street.

What's More Money Down The Drain?

It takes a uniquely special kind of DPW -- and DPW Superintendent --to allow a storm drain and street to reach this level of damage. I've heard of benign neglect. Is there such a thing as blind neglect?

As long as one person is expected to supervise all of DPW -- as Rob Perry is expected to -- all sorts of things will fall by the wayside. And when you come across an area around a storm drain so damaged as there has been for months on Glenwood Boulevard, you can't help but wonder where else our DPW is neglecting our fragile and worn infrastructure, both above and below our streets. You can't help but wonder how much DPW's lack of preventive maintenance (and lack of general maintenance) is costing us in dollars. You can't (or at least I can't) help but wonder if DPW is run by a careless, wasteful slob. You can't help but wonder: How much more damage is DPW willing to allow, and how much more money will we be forced to pay to repair the neglected damage?