HUDseen

Wednesday, April 1, 2026

Perk Of The Parking Enforcement Job: Interacting With The Public!

During the few months in 2014 when I was a proud Hudson Parking Enforcer, I'm almost certain that I never once had to explain to anyone how to pay for their parking space. No one who had just gotten out of their car parked in a metered space ever approached me with a puzzled look to ask me how to put a quarter in the parking meter next to their car. No one ever asked me why it was so difficult to pay for their parking space or if they needed a mobile phone to pay for it. (Yes, I did get the occasional, "Do you have four quarters for a dollar?")

What New Idling Law? What Climate Disaster? What Budget Woes? What Public Trash Can That's Looked Like Crap For Years? DPW's Got A Road To Rebuild!

As DPW Superintendent Rob Perry promised us last week via an announcement on the city's website, excavation began yesterday on Harry Howard Avenue to fix the problem below that caused the road to fracture and be shut down to vehicle traffic two weeks ago. There is now a rather large hole in the street, though it is not where I expected it to be.

Hudson, NY: The Small City With A Big (Coffee) Drinking Problem. And A Bigger Pocketbook Problem!

The story goes that when Hudson was a bustling industrial town (with a population of like twice what we have now), there was a tavern on every corner. (And a bordello on every block.) Here in the 21st century, though, alcohol seems to be down (but not out), while coffee is the new king.

Just today or yesterday, a new fancy coffee joint opened up in the 500 block of Warren nearly directly across the street from the popular Supernatural Coffee & Bakery shop. I, for one, am glad to see that the window and door of the long vacant storefront that once held the 5-Star bodega are no longer coved in paper. But another coffee place? Will Rev even bother to reopen?

Welcome to The Little City That Can Do Without You

It was about two years ago that the dead tree protruding through the hole in the middle of the metal tree grate in front of 414 Warren disappeared. It was ugly, insulting, leaning and long dead. Very dead, just like you might be if you step in the 12-inch diameter hole that is still in the middle of the tree grate on the sidewalk after two years, inches from a regularly occupied parking space in the heart of downtown and inches from the center of an often-bustling sidewalk. The message from Hudson City Hall - particularly from HPD, whose captain and chief are part of Margaret Morris's new so-called SAFETY Committee and whose parking enforcers walk past that gaping hole multiple times 6 days a week - is clear: We don't give a damn about any of you, whether you are a resident, a visitor, disabled or a child. Or one of our parking enforcers, for that matter!