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?

So, This Is What It's Come To? "Classic" Parking?

I don't know which part of this recent post on our Hudson Police Department's Fakebook page is worthy of the most criticism.  But I'll try.

My Suggestion:

Steer clear of the 7th Street Park this year. 

While Our New Mayor Is Taking Time To Hang Out With The Governor in Albany...

... On Monday morning while traveling eastbound in the right lane on I-90 nearing the bridge to Albany, I noticed a familiar dark vehicle pass me in the far left lane doing at least the speed limit of 65 mph.  It was a Hudson Police Department vehicle in a tear to get somewhere far from Hudson.  And, presumably, then back to Hudson to take care of some local law enforcement.  You know, to keep us all safe and secure, get the bad guys and dangerous drivers and all that!

Untitled Spring Photo (with caption)

 

According to a few different sources on the internet, garbage dumps/landfills are the third largest source of anthropogenic methane.  Food waste is the main source of landfill gas, which is primarily made up of equal parts of the planet warming gases C02 and methane.

Down On The Corner of State & JUNK!

 

The plastic JUNK sign -- a fine symbol of America's downfall -- appeared sometime in the last week.  Below it, the plastic sign for a roofing company -- not holding up well in the incessant wind -- has been there since I first noticed it six weeks ago.  

Anyone can lawfully remove signs from utility poles, including Hudson Mayor Joe Ferris, anyone from HPD or DPW (including Rob Perry) and, of course, anyone from National Grid, the owner of the city's wooden utility poles.  National Grid obviously doesn't care.

Such Classiness! Such Taste! Such Respect! Such Attention To Detail! Such Governance! This New Mayor Of Ours Is Really Killin' It, Isn't He?

 

Rather than replacing the recently broken $19 one-sided plastic scannable paid parking sign in front of Lightforms on Columbia Street with another one (or, as has been done elsewhere recently, with a new $29 two-sided sign), the damaged portion at the bottom was cut off, removing the blank space below the text, and the sign was replaced.  This approach to "replacing" broken $19 signs (that don't go missing!) -- obviously at the hands of a slob at DPW and likely okayed by Captain Parking David Miller, perhaps a slob himself -- allows the bracket secured to the old meter pole to obscure text at the bottom of the shortened sign. Add shim made from a ruler, some on the front which obscure additional important information on the sign, and voila, you've got several plastic signs along a sidewalk that might as well have the words WE DON'T CARE written on them with magic marker!  Along with FU!  (The sign that went missing in front of the Hereafter was replaced with a $29 two-sided sign!)