At Least It's Still Green! Oh, If City Hall Were So Fortunate!

Do you remember a time not too long ago when someone had the great idea to transform the former church at 241 Columbia into a museum for Hudson's glorious religious past?  It seems to me the idea must have been in the news and on everyone's mind around 2020, which is the year on the still very readable and secure Code Enforcement Building Permit taped to the basement door.  The project likely died about 5 years ago, the same year the permit expired.  Oh, well!  But what next?  Is Code Enforcement making any attempts to get the owner of 241 Columbia to get their renovation project finished so that something might be done with the building other than it continuing to rot, perhaps -- and don't think I'm crazy here, please -- allowing it to be inhabited by human beings who can call Hudson home and maybe keep the sidewalk in walkable condition so that no one gets hurt or killed and sues the city for stupidity, disrespect, an inability to pay attention, laziness, dysfunction, and negligence?  Am I missing something that "sidewalk" represents?  (2nd ward council member Mohammed Rony apparently lives directly across the street.  His partner in crime, Dewan The Fraud Sarowar, lives in Greenport on Green Acres Road.  It's the place to be, they say.) 

One Week Later...

 

... and still no sign of mayor Ferris' "permanent" stop sign number 3!  Welcome to Hudson, we're a work in constant progress.  Get used to it!

YOU MUST OBEY! YOU MUST CARRY A WORKING CELL PHONE AT ALL TIMES! YOU MUST OBEY! (Hello, George Orwell and the Nerd Reich!)

It only took about 4 months, but the tag team duo at HPD (not the Parking Bureau, mind you!) of Police Clerk Doreen Danforth and Parking Captain (PC) David Miller finally found the time, will, motivation, money, paper, ink, tape, plastic laminate, gasoline, and decency to adhere an OUT OF SERVICE sign to the $10,000 parking kiosk for the 700 block of Warren that was one of 16 purchased by the city in late 2024, delivered to the DPW garage on Dock Street 21 months ago in early February of 2025, installed about 7 months ago, and became useless within three months due to an inoperable (and apparently unfixable) solar panel on its top.  None of the kiosks are warrantied, and PC Miller has never mentioned anything about this out of service kiosk during any of his recent monthly so-called parking reports to the so-called SAFETY Committee.   What else are he and his boss "forgetting" to tell the public and the council about that they should be revealing? 

Now that the OUT OF SERVICE sign is on the DEAD kiosk, let's see how long it takes for it to fall off, be removed by a passerby, or be removed by PC Miller when, if ever, the kiosk is working again after city taxpayer funds cover the cost to have a technician from Connecticut install a new solar panel.  6 months for the latter, anyone?  Do I hear 12 months?  Do I hear $2,000?  $3,000?  More?

Welcome To Hudson. Don't Even Think Of Parking Here.

 

What, if anything, do you suppose a police officer or parking enforcer is expected to do when they come across a situation such as above? (Picture taken yesterday afternoon.)  How about nothing, if only because there is no code violation to be had?  How many parking enforcers passed by the cans, do you suppose?  Did they see or ticket any cars parked in the space alongside the trash cans and pole on the ground? Was it all that shit at the curb on Monday as well?  (The 9-foot metal pole was heavy!)

Did The Owner of 458 Union Request A New Taxpayer-Funded Sidewalk AND DRIVEWAY? Or Did She Demand Them Both?

It was suspicious enough that the Public Works Board determined months ago that the relatively decent, not-at-all dangerous 120 feet of sidewalk along the South 5th side of 458 Union was in need of replacement as part of the taxpayer-funded Sidewalk Improvement District project (which began in earnest last week).  Add to that the fact that, according to public records, our Common Council "president," Margaret Morris, owns 458 Union Street.  And now that Morris's lengthy sidewalk has been replaced with taxpayer funds, not solely her own, we can plant another red flag into what only points to an elected city official who continues to confound with her bizarre behavior, bad optics, and questionable motives.  It never seems to end with her.

Rejoice, For Our Prodigal Son Hath Returned. Again! And Just In Time For Helloween!

Do Our New Sidewalks Come With A Warranty? Does The Public Works Board Know What It Is Doing?

In case you haven't noticed it over the past few days, the first of the Public Works Board's six sidewalks of varying lengths "slated for replacement" was completed this past week.  Hoorah! The SID project is off and running!  South 5th from Warren to Union got new concrete on Wednesday and was reopened on Friday thanks to the low bidder for this year's portion of the slow-going, taxpayer funded Sidewalk Improvement District (SID) project, Frank Vosburgh & Sons, Inc., an excavating contractor based in Rhinebeck.  Vosburgh outbid 4 other contractors vying for the project, and by quite a bit.  Their bid of $349,000 was $207,000 lower than the next highest bidder, Luizzi (!!!!) and $500,000 (half a mil!) lower than the highest bidder, a contractor by the name of RAJ Contractors that appears to be based a few miles away in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.  As HUDseen pointed out last summer when Vosburgh was hired to replace several corner curb ramps as part of the ADA-compliance settlement agreement brought to us several years ago by the Federal Department of Justice, nowhere on Vosburgh's website or on the sides of their trucks does it mention anything about concrete work or sidewalks.  First and foremost, they are an excavation company.  RAJ's website claims that one of the several services they provide is concrete work.