"What $25 Ticket That Is Now $50? I Never Saw A Ticket!"

There's no shortage of head scratching ideas and activity coming out of Hudson City Hall these days (thus Hudseen!), and today's article continues in that vein.  I've offered a lot of insights this year, this one being the final effort for the year 2023.  

Not To Worry, We Are In Good Hands! Really Good Hands!

Last week, about one week after National Grid's contractor finished up their street and sidewalk asphalt patching work on Warren Street, I came across a wide and deep hole in the sidewalk of the 400 block next to a National Grid gas valve.  Today, the hole was still waiting to put someone on their chin and destroy an ankle, so I grabbed a cone perched on a fire hydrant across the street and placed it over the hole.

3 Days After Christmas and 75 Feet From The Alley

 

"Plans That Neighbors Value And Embrace"? (Is That True In New Paltz, Too?)

Having recently tired of all the trash and unmaintained vegetation that has been accumulating all year on the property and along the sidewalks surrounding 620 Union Street, today I went online to find out who owns the building.  Tax records eventually led me to the website of a company by the name of Sandstone Real Estate.  As readers may know, a developer by the name of David Kessler, owner of Sandstone, has grand plans to turn the building into a 55-room boutique hotel with spa, event space, bar, library, restaurant, etc.  I sent the company an email request to clean up their messes along their sidewalks, something our Code Enforcment Office apparently has no interest in doing.  

Season's Greetings!

Have a SAFE and Happy Holiday Season, y'all!

Do They Not See The Sign And The Yellow Curb? What More Do They Need?

It is not at all unusual to see illegally parked cars at the busy intersection of 3rd & Columbia, where the largest of trucks and tractor trailers make the turn in the truck route and where patrons of the Hudson Bazaar bodega often park illegally due to the lack of available legal spaces.  Another group of people regularly park illegally at the intersection, but not just for a few minutes or just to grab a snack.

An Important Committee That Has Trouble Getting Together For One Hour Every Month

The last time the Parking Study Committee held one of their monthly meetings was on October 24th.  Their November 28th meeting was cancelled, and now the scheduled December 26th meeting has been cancelled as well.  5 of the 6 committee members are returning council members for the next two years.

What Intersection Is This Anyway?

A week or so ago, DPW finally replaced the street sign at the intersection of Washington & N. 7th that was driven into by a car on June 12th.  Actually, replaced is not so accurate.  Apparently for DPW, letting drivers and others know that they are on or approaching Washington Street is no longer important at that intersection.  The same Washington Street where City Hall is temporarily located and, for some, difficult to find.

6 months later and this is what we get?

This is the street sign that our DPW Superintendent, when notified of it being hit, had no interest in making the driver pay for the damages and cost to "replace" the sign.

Help With One Tap Water Pipe Repair, One Day: Just $18,900!

Readers may recall the dramatic water main break under South 4th Street that took our DPW Water Department 4 months to permanently repair this past summer and fall, a situation Hudseen reported on.  Not only did it take DPW, with some assistance, a long time to fix that pipe, but it also cost the city quite a bit of money to finally get it done.

How Oakdale Lake Handles Lots Of Rain And Runoff

It's not unusual for Oakdale Lake's single narrow outlet pipe to become clogged with debris or overwhelmed by rain water (or both!), at times pretty severely, like today after a few inches of rain overnight.  

Look Familiar?

In one block on Saturday I counted 176 cones,
almost all of them on one side of the street.

The paving contractor that National Grid hired to tidy things up in the street and on the sidewalks of the 200 block of State Street goes by the name of Bob Talham, Inc., of Troy. They began work late last week, digging at least 20 holes along the 2 sidewalks, essentially closing down the entire southern sidewalk, as well as doing some concrete paving work in the street by filling in the trench that National Grid dug 6 or 7 months ago.  5 days later, a casual look shows really shoddy work, half of the street still unfinished and nothing along the sidewalk started yet besides the holes having been dug and blocked with cones and tape. There is no work today amid the rain.

Sound Familiar?

Watch your step for the next 5 months!

Because our DPW Superintendent allowed National Grid's gas line replacement project in Hudson to begin so late in the year, we are stuck with ugly and bumpy sidewalks along 3 blocks of Warren Street and some side streets for at least the next 4, possibly 5, months. Some sections of the lovely lumpy black asphalt sidewalks are not just unsmooth, they are often raised AND some have depressions in them requiring cones to keep people from stepping in them and winding up losing a few teeth. When the snow and ice finally arrive, it will be even more challenging for residents and visitors to walk safely along our downtown business district sidewalks.

Is Hudson The Unsafest Small City In The Entire Country To Drive In?

Chapter 359-22 (H) of the City of Albany Code states the following:  The following restrictions apply - no person shall park a trailer, including boat trailers, utility trailers and truck trailers, without being attached to a vehicle, on any city street.

Recycling Isn't "Free" Anymore, But You Wouldn't Know It!

If there's one thing that a city can count on it is for department heads to spend money unwisely when there is little or no oversight of expenditures.   To guard against wastefulness and inefficiencies where mayors are no help, there are such positions as city managers and administrators, neither of which Hudson City Hall employs.  But the past and present situation at the Hudson DPW regarding their handling of recycling is a case in point of why it is high time to seriously consider ditching the Mayor's Office for a competent City Manager. 

We Reap What They Sow

It seems to me like a no-brainer that if a city is going to make the effort to paint a fire hydrant, then the equally old, rusty and unattractive stanchions surrounding the hydrant ought to get painted at the same time.  That is, of course, if you want to create respectable looking sidewalks and a generally pleasant urban landscape where residents are proud of their surroundings, their neighbors, passers-by and their city.  Alas, this is not the case in Hudson, and not at a DPW with Robert Perry as Superintendent, where ugliness, sloppiness and little to no attention to detail seem to be the modus operandi.

Is the $450 Crosswalk Soon To Be The $1,000 Crosswalk?

It turns out that the 11-line crosswalk on Prospect Avene at Rossman is more expensive than the $450 I originally estimated last week.  DPW also installed two pedestrian crossing signs for the crosswalk, so let's add another $200 to the total.  With labor and installation costs, we are approaching, or possibly exceeding, $800 for one crosswalk, I think.  Money still well spent to save a life or two, no doubt. (The signs and crosswalk haven't slowed traffic one bit, though, I guarantee that!)

How Serious Is City Hall About Keeping Trucks On The Truck Route?

Fresh from State Street, trying to get back on the route!

Probably the most common intersection in town that allows trucks to stray off of the truck route is at State and Green, where trucks headed into town on Green Street make a wrong turn. GPS often has a lot do with this decision by the drivers.  Here is what the city feels is sufficient to battle GPS and prevent the common occurrence of errant trucks at that intersection:

Even The Earthworms Are Confused

It's difficult to know why an  earthworm would want to travel so far from soil in mid-December in upstate New York, but it sure is odd and a bit concerning to see a live one now. (This fella was the third I've seen in the past few days.) 

I know it's not officially winter yet, but isn't this normally the time of year when earthworms are dormant and snow falls rather than rain?

You Gotta Wonder Why!

Let's examine something that makes absolutely no sense. 

Here is a list of 7 downtown ONE WAY streets where parking is allowed on both sides during the day. 

8th Street, Columbia to Warren, 30 feet wide.

7th Street, State to Columbia, 30 feet wide.

6th Street, Union to State, 30 feet wide.

5th Street, State to Union, 30 feet wide.

4th Street, Union to State, 30 feet wide.

Prospect Street and Washington Street -- 30 feet wide.

What about 2nd Street?

It Only Took 5 Years, And It's Already Falling Apart!

In late May, Hudseen reported on our DPW installing a set of 4 crosswalks at the intersection of Warren & 7th Streets which cost the city over $2,000.  The article also mentioned how, years ago and to no avail, 3rd ward council member Shershah Mizan had pleaded with Robert Perry to get a crosswalk across Prospect Avenue at the bottom of Rossman Avenue.  It took 4 or 5 years, but that crosswalk was installed by DPW sometime in the past two or three months, just in time for Shershah's return to the council next month.  He still might have to try to get our DPW Superintendent's ear about the new crosswalk, though.

Whose Park Is It Anyway?

My issue with the sauna operation on the beach at Oakdale has to do with aesthetics more than anything else.  I think the 2 saunas and the changing room (all still on wheels), the tarp-covered wood piles and associated stuff is all ugly and unwelcome, and takes up too much space on the beach.   The beach, after all, is part of the hiking loop around the lake.

Ugly! Ugly! Ugliness!

I believe that the sign in the picture is known as a blade sign, though I could be wrong.  I do know that, regardless of content, this type of sign is totally inappropriate for downtown Hudson, or downtown anywhere, especially in a residential area and regardless of the district or zone.  

This obscene sign on Union Street is a stone's throw from the Hudson Code Enforcement office.  One wonders if Code Enforcement finds it to be acceptable.  If the sign is not a code violation, it certainly should be.

Once again, the question I often return to: Would this be acceptable on Warren Street for one day?  Would Code Enforcement still ignore it?

(Chapter 244-27 of our Code, Signs - Use of Moving Devices Prohibited, seems to render any signs that flutter in the breeze a violation, no matter where they are located.  This would likely include blade signs, though the word blade is not mentioned in the section.)

It's Kinda Funny, Right? (Until Someone Falls!)

As regular Hudseen readers likely know, there is now a special handicap parking space in front of Hudson City Hall on Warren Street, one that is not in line with the parking spaces in front of or behind it.  Columbia County also has one similar special handicap space in front a downtown buildings of theirs, allowing for an interesting and telling comparison between the two spaces and, more importantly, the adjacent sidewalks.

Our Pedestrian Friendly City

This Is Acceptable? After 7 Months And For The Next Several Months? [with update]

It appears that National Grid recently packed up and moved on after finally completing their gas line replacement work in the 200 block of State Street, a project that began in May.  What a lovely mess they left behind for us that a contractor of theirs might clean up in the spring.  There is substantial professional repaving to be done if the street and the entire southern sidewalk are to resemble respectability and be returned to how National Grid found the surfaces 6 or 7 months ago.

And At Least One Month Later...

Have they given up?

... our neighbors at the Islamic Center still haven't touched the broken marble that unglued itself from the outside wall of their building "work in progress."