Evidence Of How DPW Is Part Of The Sidewalk Problem, Not The Solution

Ugly! Disrespectful! Lame!

The issue of our horrendous sidewalks seems to be intractable -- an embarrassment and absurdity with no end in sight.  You can only wonder how the situation got to be as bad as it is and how Hudson City Hall can't seem to keep the issue in its crosshairs.  They talk and talk, even form a committee, yet year after year little to nothing is accomplished.  It is as if the rot is inside City Hall, debilitating any efforts that may come along; as if the city can't get out of its own way, even years after a DOJ intervention.

For evidence of this, one needs only to stand at either end of the 400 block of Cherry Alley, where DPW recently applied a new coat of asphalt to the entire block of the alley.  Instead of paving the entire area where pedestrians must cross the ends of the alley to get from one section of sidewalk to the the other along 4th and 5th Streets, though, DPW left an uneven, unsmooth, partially raised end to their pavement, directly in the middle of the walking/crossing areas!  It's beyond pedestrian-unfriendly.  Rather, the work was done without any regard whatsoever for pedestrians, as if they don't exist at all, especially older folks and the disabled.  DPW did their best to make the alley as smooth as possible for their snowplow blades and for drivers of automobiles, but left pedestrians a jagged, ugly, partially raised portion of asphalt to walk across.  They might as wall have spray painted each end with HEY PEDESTRIANS, GUESS WHAT?  WE DO NOT CARE ABOUT YOU!  STILL!  HA HA!

You couldn't have paved 5 feet further,
 and ended in a straight line?

It's often mentioned that the issue of our deplorable sidewalks could be solved if Code Enforcement simply enforced the code.  But, you see, the problem has deeper roots than that.  You can't just point the finger at Code.  The Department of Public Works, with an annual budget of close to $5,000,000 and a superintendent who makes over $115,000 annually, doesn't give a crap, either.   

There can be no solution to the sidewalk problem until there is a huge mind shift in every department at City Hall to rid the rot there.  Good luck making that happen, all you members of the Ad Hoc Sidewalk Committee.