America, Including Hudson, In Denial! What "Climate Smart Community"?

 

To those willing to accept it, it is now abundantly clear that the fate of our planet -- and all living things on it -- is looking grim.  Quite grim.  Flooding after unprecedented rainfall, forest fires all over (adding more carbon to the atmosphere in a doom loop), heat domes that kill and force Europeans to consider air conditioning, unpredictable and unusual weather (with lots of wind), invasive species spreading to once inhospitable regions, warming oceans, endless wars over oil.  It seems like we have passed the tipping point.  We (primarily the US and other industrial countries) have simply added too much carbon to the atmosphere for planet earth to function properly.  Mankind's disposable infrastructure -- built for our survival -- is completely untenable and in contradiction to the laws of nature.  Treating our planet like a toxic dumping ground seems to have finally caught up to us.

"How Does This Thing Work?" Now That's Progress, Particularly For Visitors From New Jersey!

Typically, when I test our new $10,000 parking kiosks to make sure they are paying for themselves, one of two things happens.  Via the digital screen, after a few taps on keys, they either respond that they are ready to take money for parking spaces or there is a printer error keeping them from taking money.  On Thursday, I had to add another result to the list:  No response at all.   No surprise there!

Barely Room For One At A Time. Business Must Be Booming!

One Pedestrian Crosswalk, $600. (Or Is It $1,200?) "Thanks For Nothin', Perry and Ferris" Say The Locals.

Sometime this week or last, DPW renewed the pedestrian crosswalk across Front Street at the Amtrak station.  That crosswalk -- perhaps the city's longest -- first appeared 4 or 5 years ago, as I recall. (It can be seen on Google maps from 2022 but not from 2018).  White paint was originally used, so it's difficult to say who installed those lines years ago.

The Last Thing 6th & Columbia Needs...

 

... are any crosswalks or stop lines at all!  Everything is fine there!  Don't waste the money and effort!  Stick to Warren!

Caught At His Own Game On His Own Street While The Common Council Twiddles Its Thumbs!

Anyone who contends with overnight on-street parking (and plenty who don't) knows that you risk a $15 WRONG SIDE parking ticket from HPD if you fail to adhere to whatever overnight parking rule exists on your street (odd/even is not the only rule), regardless of signage or no signage.  Additionally, just about everyone on the planet knows that the reason for the overnight parking rules is twofold: to allow the Hudson DPW street sweeper to do its thing outside of winter, and for DPW to be able to plow streets of snow to the curbs within two nights.  That's it; it's not complicated: Stay out of the way of the sweeper and the plows or you will be ticketed.   All streets need to be swept; all streets have an overnight parking rule of one sort or another.

Insightful Information That Our Police Chief and The So-Called SAFETY Committee Apparently Don't Want Any Of Us To Be Aware Of!

Listed below is what just about anyone would regard as important Hudson Police Department activity data covering the month of May 2026.  Except, it seems, for our own police chief. In her (yet again) ridiculously brief so-called HPD report at last month's meeting of the so-called SAFETY Committee, Mishanda Franklin didn't mention any data related to crime and quality of life issues, what her department is doing to prevent crime, what her department is spending time doing, nor if there are any concerning crime and quality of life issue trends in Hudson.  Apparently, everything is fine in town and there is nothing to worry about.  Hooray for us!