The public trash receptacle in front of the Whaler Hotel appears to have been hit first, then the meter pole and meters about 25 feet further west were crushed. The final impact seems to have slowed the vehicle down enough to prevent it from slamming into the street light pole (I'm thinking the vehicle came to a rest against the pole). There was auto fluid on the pavement, as well as plastic car body debris. Yet another out of control vehicle on Warren Street -- how fast was it travelling and why did it leave the street?
Who will pay for the replacement of the meters, the pole, the trash receptacle (it's toast) and anything else that was in the vehicle's way, you ask? I have no idea, but I'm glad you asked.
At last Monday's Informal Common Council Meeting following Robert Perry's DPW report, Council member Mohammed Rony told Mr. Perry that 20 minutes before the meeting he had witnessed a vehicle knock over the street sign pole at the corner of Washinton and 7th, outside the temporary City Hall. Rony said to Mr. Perry, "I do have a picture of the vehicle. I don't know if you want to pursue that for the damages."
The DPW Superintendent's response was odd and a bit concerning. He said, and I accurately quote, "We don't really mess around with the street signs because the street signs all have breakaways in the concrete... They literally break 2 bolts. It's literally like a couple hundred dollars' worth of expenses, so it's not that big of a deal." The sign in question was not installed in concrete, as you can see in the picture, which was probably a good thing in terms of replacement. But what on earth did Mr. Perry mean by "not messing around with street signs"? What else does DPW "not mess around with"?
One wonders, then, at what level destroyed city property goes beyond being considered "not a big deal." Is it when $300 dollars of equipment needs to be replaced that the city charges the driver with the expenses? Will the city cover $600 or $800 of destroyed meters, a pole, a trash receptacle and the cost to reinstall of it? Or is the minimum amount $1,000 or more when a driver can't keep their car off of the sidewalk?
I don't know about you, but if I were to lose control of my car, drive on a sidewalk and destroy even one piece of city property, I would absolutely expect to pay for it, no matter the cost to replace it. A $50 sign? I screwed up, of course I will pay for it! A pair of parking meters, their pole, and a trash can that might cost a total of $800 to replace? Again, of course! How can anyone argue with having to pay for something they destroyed because of their actions, whether deliberate or not?
This is how a world saturated with, addicted to and dependent on automobiles has altered us. A vehicle that careens out of control and knocks over a $200 street sign is "not a big deal." If that street sign were a human being it would still be an "accident," and the driver might serve a miniscule penalty, even if the driver didn't mean to injure or kill someone. It is as if automobile drivers are not responsible for their actions.
If I took a sledgehammer to any street sign in town and destroyed it, what do you think would happen next? First of all, I would be arrested for destroying public property. Judge Connor would probably serve me a Disorderly Conduct ticket and make me pay for the value of the sign (in fact, he did this to me once, though no hammer of any kind was involved!!!). But for the driver of a car or truck that is not paying attention to where they are going, makes a dumb mistake, or is deliberately driving too fast, destroying a sign is "not a big deal." It's just a "couple hundred dollars," as if the expense were the only issue. There are no consequences for the driver who knocked that sign over (or the driver who forced that car off the street, if that was the case), and the reckless driving is normalized.
Every two months or so someone drives off of Warren Street onto the sidewalk and it's "not a big deal." Drivers regularly parking on the sidewalk, even shop owners? "It happens!" Reckless driving (and parking) is normalized, and 4-wheeled hunks of metal capable of absurd speeds, careening out of control, hitting signs and human beings walking or bicycling is also "no big deal." A constant stream of trucks through the city destroying the streets and the infrastructure below? "We'll pay to repair it, it's no big deal!" This is the price we pay for a world with far too many automobiles which also happen to be destroying the only planet we have available to us. The monster we have created (including Hudson's wonderful truck route, of course) is nearly impossible to tame. "A couple hundred dollars" is well worth the price to maintain the status quo and continue to feed that monster.
One wonders if, at least to Robert Perry, the cost to replace the pair of meters, the pole, and the trash receptacle now missing on the 600 block of Warren Street, whatever it might cost us, is "not a big deal," too.
(Yesterday morning, HPD Officer Randy Strattman respond a half hour after my call to HPD about a car parked on the sidewalk on Park Place. When I asked him why he hadn't issued the car a ticket for Improper Parking (he had just informed the owner to move his car instead), Strattman explained to me that the car was not parked on the sidewalk, "only in the curb cut." Nonetheless, the owner of the car then moved the car off of the sidewalk and parked it in the alley in a private space. Walking back to his business, he used the same portion of sidewalk that his car had been occupying.)
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