Is Our New Mayor The Same As Former Mayors, Including A Former Mayor Who Is Now The New Mayor's Aide and ADA Coordinator?

 

I had my first opportunity to speak with Mayor Joe Ferris and his Aide and ADA Coordinator, Tiffany Martin, when I visited 520 Warren last Tuesday to ask them a question about a sidewalk that had been completely blocked by snow for over two weeks.  Let's just say that I was not impressed with the results.

Hey, Buddy, Can You Direct Me To Columbia Street? And Where Is 7th Street?

 

"... But I Sure Miss Them Now!"

Yesterday afternoon, I watched a parking enforcer doing his best to issue so-called meter violation tickets in the upper portion of the 500 block of Warren Street.  Of the 5 vehicles parked on the north side between The Whaler and 6th Street, he issued 3 of them (consecutively!) ten-dollar tickets after scanning the registration sticker and taking 3 pictures of each vehicle.  All the while dressed in a dark uniform and mostly while standing or walking along the driver's side of the parked vehicles while traffic rolled by a foot or two away.  One of these enforcers is bound to get struck sooner or later, a hazard that has increased dramatically since the parking meters were removed from the sidewalks.

Here's A Story That Should Have Made It On The Front Pages of the Register-Star and Times-Union

Inside a recent HPD Monthly Incidents report I received as part of a Freedom of Information Law request, one thing stood out from all the typical incidents HPD responds to (and that Chief Franklin never mentions during her monthly reports to the council).  It was titled "Internal Investigation."  No other information was offered. But because there is no outside oversight of cases involving corruption, misconduct and shenanigans at the Hudson Police Department -- a department with an extremely long history of misconduct and corruption -- we may never know what that recent internal investigation was about or what its outcome might have been or will be.  How many internal investigations has HPD conducted recently, say, under Mishanda Franklin's watch?  Who is conducting the investigations, particularly when the Chief of Police is away on maternity leave for months?  Does dealing with parking matters interfere with Chief Mishanda Franklin's and Captain David Miller's ability to investigate their own officers properly, thoroughly and in a timely fashion?  How would the residents of Hudson know if Mishanda Franklin or David Miller were being investigated for misconduct, let alone a patrol cop or two?  What Hudson Police Department cop or investigator was the focus of that recent internal investigation by the Hudson Police Department, and what were the results?  Good luck getting answers to any of these questions. 

I Don't Understand How It's Even Possible For Someone To Do This!

 

Did the driver think they were on a one-way street when they arrived to park, regardless of how many cars were parked facing their way alongside the Pocketbook?  Would the driver really respond, "I didn't know," if asked why they parked headed in the wrong direction?  No one would knowingly park their car facing the wrong direction and leave it there for hours or overnight, would they?  Are there really people who drive and park so foolishly and dangerously?

Is Hudson The Most Deliberately Unsafe City in New York State?

It doesn't really matter if DPW deliberately didn't clear the shoulder of snow south of the entrance to Oakdale Park three weeks ago or if they just forget to do it, does it?  Either way, it can't be acceptable, can it?

How Much More Incompetency Can Hudson Survive?

 

This is the second broken plastic scannable paid parking sign in the 700 block of Columbia Street that I have come across since several were installed in the block less than two weeks ago on meter poles.  The pictured sign -- near 8th Street -- will need to be sent to a landfill and replaced with a new one, just like the broken, bent and useless plastic sign near Lucky's gas station that HUDseen featured five days ago and which was recently replaced with a new plastic sign.  There will come a time, possibly very soon, where someone with some common sense, basic awareness and smarts will sound the alarm at a Comon Council or so-called SAFETY COMMITTEE meeting to call out HPD on yet another of their embarrassing and bush league errors:  The scannable signs, regardless of the material they are made of, never should have been allowed to be attached to meter poles. NEVER!  It was an absolutely dumb idea, and it never should have even been entertained.  If you did this to save money, you should be shown the door.  What embarrassing, ridiculous problems and wasting of money and resources will we be dealing with next that we don't need to be dealing with thanks to decisions of yours that are obviously not properly considered ahead of time or with any sort of common sense and competency?  How is any of this acceptable in the year 2026 in a city that is constantly facing financial shortcomings?