The Word PERMIT Is Both A Noun And A Verb. They Work Best Hand In Hand.

 

No permit?  Then you are
not permitted to have the 
scaffolding out!

According to the DPW Sidewalk Permit in the window of the CVS store on Warren Street, CVS's contractor (Lothrop Company LLC) paid for the $25 permit on December 9th to be permitted to block a portion of the sidewalk with scaffolding.  2 weeks later, on the 23rd, the permit expired.  The scaffolding remained and is still in place.

Last Friday, I asked the DPW Clerk if 617 Warren Street/CVS had a current DPW Sidewalk Permit for their scaffolding.  She immediately said, without searching for one, "No, they haven't gotten one recently."  CVS and its contractor have been without a DPW Sidewalk Permit for, it appears, close to 11 weeks for their scaffolding which continues to block a portion of the sidewalk.

Long-expired permit

If you read the permit, you will see it states that "the applicant assume all liability and defend and save harmless, the city of Hudson from any action or claim arising from the granting of this permit."  For 11 weeks this has not been the case.  Someone, for whatever reason, trips and hits their head on the metal scaffolding?  Sue the city!  An attorney's dream!  You issued the contractor a permit to block the sidewalk, you let the permit expire and then never issued another one for the scaffolding still in the sidewalk.  Guilty!  

11 weeks equates to 6 missing 2-week permits.  At $25 each, that's $150 in revenue the city is missing.  All someone from DPW had to do was knock on CVS's door and ask to speak to the contractor, or call them on the phone, telling them to "apply for another permit or remove the scaffolding right now."  Presumably, DPW got the contractor's phone number and address when they applied for the permit in December, right?  (By the way, the contractor hasn't been working on the CVS building for "a long time," a claim recently confirmed by a CVS employee.)

Just like HPD, DPW does not enforce the rule for their important and revenue-producing permits.  They issue permits if someone enters the office seeking a permit.  But, after that?  Ignore it!  Not important!  We don't have time and do not care!  If they want to return to renew their permit, fine.  We aren't going keep track of all these permits and try to track these people down!

Would DPW still be unconcerned with the unpermitted sidewalk obstruction if the ENTIRE sidewalk had been blocked, forcing pedestrians into the street?  For more than 2 months without a permit?