Say Hello To Your New $700 Pedestrian Crosswalk. You Paid For It, Now Go Walk It! That Is, If You Dare! *

Sometime this past week, DPW installed fourteen and a half white decal lines at 7th & Columbia to create a long crosswalk where one never existed.  Ain't it pretty?  If we're lucky, the lines that take the most beating will last all of two, maybe three, years.  Each line (the one at the far curb is just a half) measures 18 inches by 6 feet, and they are all melted into the pavement with a propane gas heat gun.  The cost of each line, including installation labor, gas, and whatever else is necessary (like four DPW pickup trucks idling nearby), is about $50, though it very possibly could be $60 or more.  We'll stick with $50 until further notice.  

Look What The Demolished 309 Union Revealed!

If the city's speed limit was "20 miles" 100 years ago, why shouldn't it be the same now?  Who decided that 20 miles per hour was too slow and that the limit had to be increased to 30 (and recently dropped to 25)?

Would It Kill You, Rob and Frank?

I took the lead picture on Wednesday, March 11th of this year, a few days or weeks after DPW replaced a portion of the wood bench that is popular with a certain clientele of the 7th Street Park.  (By the way, neither Michael Madison nor evidence of his presence have been spotted there this year.)

Rob The Slob, At His Best Again!

Two weeks ago, on July 31st, the day after all that rain, DPW dug a hole near the middle of the 200 block of Columbia to repair a water main break (oddly, it was not a sewer main break).  There was a lot of water and mud on the street, more than I expected to see (though not as bad as what came out of the ground on South 4th Street at Cherry Alley a few years ago when valves failed to stop the flow of water following a break).  It came to my attention that DPW had trouble with the valves that control the flow of drinking water under Columbia Street.  (Hmmm.... this seems to be an ongoing issue.)  In other words, it took DPW longer than usual to shut off the water that was pouring out of a broken water main.  Water and dirt equals mud.  And mud there was.  And GRIT, Rob Perry's nemesis!

When "THIS SUCKS" Says It All!

This past Saturday morning at 10:00, I observed the fellow in the picture for at least 4 minutes as he tried his best to pay for his parking space in front of the DMV building on Warren at 6th.  It was great theater, and I even had a free front row seat on one of the building's marble blocks. After about one minute, I was hoping that Parking Captain David Miller would walk by so that I could invite him to attend the show with me.  (Alas, the chances of seeing Miller, an apparent Hudson resident, walking on a downtown sidewalk out of uniform are slim to zero.  12 years and I've never seen him once.  Too bad for me.)

The Power Of A Box Cutter, A One-Step Ladder, And Some Common Sense! (And A Little Story About Our mayor And His aide)

 

It has been three months since our new and very green head Code Enforcement Officer was introduced to the issue of business signs on National Grid's utility poles, an issue that never should have been brought his way. NEVER!  As in EVER!  The Code Enforcement Department is underfunded and understaffed, and Nick Fox has got way too many other critical matters to attend to and get up to speed on. Henry Haddad (or the mayor) should have instead brought the issue regarding the signs to DPW Superintendent Rob Perry's attention, telling him:  WITH THE AID OF A 10-FOOT LADDER AND MAYBE YOUR BUCKET LIFT TRUCK, HAVE YOUR MAINTENANCE CREW REMOVE ALL OF THE SIGNS ON NATIONAL GRID'S POLES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, THEN REPORT BACK TO US WHEN THEY ARE ALL REMOVED.  KEEP THE SIGNS SO THAT SOMEONE -- PERHAPS THE MAYOR BUT CERTAINLY NOT NICK FOX -- CAN CALL THE NUMBERS ON THE SIGNS AND INFORM THE BUSINESSES THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS NOT ALLOWED IN HUDSON.

The Power Of The BLOG!