Too Many Tractor Trailers On Our Streets! Too Many Big Rig Drivers Completely Lost! Who Will Stop The Insanity?

All drivers of tractor trailers entering the city should be required to pass a checkpoint by answering the following questions asked by a human being (hey, it's job creation too!):  IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME IN HUDSON? ARE YOU USING GPS?  WHAT IS YOUR DESTINATION?  WHAT STREETS WILL YOU BE USING TO GET THERE?  IF YOU ARE IN MAKING A DELIVERY IN HUDSON, WHAT STREETS WILL YOU USE TO LEAVE THE CITY?  Signature required.

A Different Perspective Of mayor Ferris' "Improved" Intersection at 7th & Columbia.

The picture above was taken at 3:10 yesterday afternoon, just over one minute after I took the picture below.  It only took about 6 minutes of waiting patiently for the moments to unfold.  In that time, I also saw two cars heading east on Columbia blow through the mayor's new stop sign, like no brakes applied at all.  

"I'll Just Be A Minute, Officer! I Promise! I'm Just Getting A Cup Of Coffee. Parking On The Sidewalk Isn't A Problem, Is It, Officer?"

The woman who parked her car directly in the middle of the sidewalk along Park Place yesterday morning didn't get inside her destination for at least two minutes.  Moments before I took the picture of her "improperly parked" car, I saw her inside the coffee shop waiting in line with at least three people ahead of her.

Oakdale Lake: The Beauty And The Stupidity!

While walking this morning in Oakdale Park, I was not only treated to the sight of a large grey heron wading in the lake not too far away, but also in the act of plunging for a meal or snack, only the second such sighting in my life.  His or her effort to nab a fish appeared to be unsuccessful, though.  When I was a child, in North Tarrytown, NY, my father and I watched a great blue heron at the edge of a pond grab a large snake and gobble that thing right down in about 30 seconds, stretching its neck out as far as it could to force the thrashing meal out of its beak and mouth, down its long neck and into its stomach.  Many naturalists would pay good money to witness such a sight (and take photos of it!).  While they do get spooked easily, herons are not an uncommon sight at Oakdale Park, even perching in trees at the east end of the lake.   It's quite a sight to see a pair of them, with their enormous wingspans, glide slowly and quietly in over the lake and land so gracefully on old tree branches to rest safely or consider their feeding possibilities, as I witnessed a few months ago.  Herons are the closest thing we have to pterodactyls around here, and they do make a wonderfully loud squawk occasionally.

How's That Budget Process Treating You, Mr. Joe? Are You Looking Forward To The Same Thing Next Year, Perhaps Worse?

Over the course of the next few weeks while City Hall's 2027 budget process struggles to wrap up, HUDseen will point out a few properties owned by our friends at Galvan (and one or two others) that readers may not be aware are 100% tax-exempt. *   Let's call them strangely and unjustifiably tax-exempt.  Let's call them a strain on the city's housing, livability and affordability crisis.  Let's call them unwelcome in the 21st century.  Let's call them budget killers and a source of the perennial question: "Why are we so god damn short on revenue every f'ng year!!?". 

No Posted Building Permit (Code), No Posted Sidewalk Permit (DPW), No Posted Parking Permit (HPD)! We All Pay The Price For No One Paying Attention!

City Hall is supposed to protect us from this bullshit.

Will We Soon Have Sunflowers Blooming Year Round?

It's a lovely and welcome sight, no doubt, but something must be wrong.  We may get snow this weekend!  (Picture taken on Saturday in the upper 500 block of State.)