There are now eleven $10,000 parking kiosks on Warren Street. 3 of them are in the 700 block.
Meanwhile, there is not one speed limit sign along all of Warren Street. NOT ONE! Yet the issue of speeding vehicles on Warren Street -- and elsewhere, to a lesser degree -- has cropped up at the two most recent meetings of the so-called Safety Committee. If you follow closely what is said about the issue, you can only come to one conclusion, though: it's all a waste of time and HPD is no help!
NO PROBLEMO!
(The lead picture was taken on Saturday morning during the farmers market. With no stop line to abide by, that's where the driver of the car decided to stop for the red light. It happens all the time! A signalized intersection without stop lines is a huge WE DON'T CARE ABOUT YOU to all pedestrians. Even our new "safety" mayor would agree with me.)
Yesterday afternoon, as HUDseen pointed out, all of the downtown parking kiosks were unable to accept money when they should have been. But today, just as last Sunday, those same kiosks were misleading visitors by accepting money when they should not have been accepting money or printing receipts/permits to give the impression that parking is not free on Sundays. Such is the upside-down world of parking in Hudson.
This afternoon at 2:00, I came across three $10,000 parking kiosks on Warren Street that were out of service -- the two in the 500 block and the one in the 600 block. They had all been installed ten or eleven days ago, and they were all showing the same message on their screens.
The new paid parking system that the Hudson Police Department, the mayor's office and the common council have fully embraced has forced parking enforcers off of the sidewalks and into the streets. With parking meters gone, there is little reason for enforcers to spend most of their time on the sidewalk, as they used to do until recently. They can't spend a majority of their time on the sidewalk because there's nothing there anymore to assist them in issuing parking tickets. This is beyond stupid and dangerous. This is no improvement; this is a dangerous step or two backwards.
This is the parking "receipt" I received yesterday after dropping a quarter into one of Warren Street's recently installed "new" $10,000 parking kiosks, all of which were delivered to the city 17 months ago. The piece of paper measures 5 inches by 2.25 inches, with print on both sides. The kiosks refer to each of their own printed "receipts" as a "permit." "Permit" on the screen; "receipt" on the permit. Every single one of the receipts/permits that our kiosks print out will eventually be driven to a landfill somewhere far, far away, right where they belong for eternity. Unless, of course, they get tossed to the ground and wind up in our sewer system. Maybe, if we're lucky, a bunch of them will make their way into the Hudson River!
Is it any wonder that two people were hit by turning vehicles in this crosswalk last December? Within 40 hours of one another, no less!
After waiting for about 20 seconds until it was "safe" to cross the southern end of Park Place this morning, the father and mother holding her infant child made it across alive. The crossing itself took about 15 seconds (mother walking slowly while holding baby).
There are now eleven $10,000 parking kiosks on Warren Street. 3 of them are in the 700 block. Meanwhile, there is not one speed limit sign ...
