HUDseen: Hudson, We Have A Serious Problem! And For Far Too Long! (with apologies!)

(Apologies to anyone who read the sloppy, unedited version of this article that I did not mean to publish. This is the final draft, and some pictures have been added.)

Unless otherwise noted, all pictures were taken 4 days after last Tuesday's 2 inches of snow fell.

It seems to me that if the city were serious about enforcing codes meant to keep our sidewalks clear of snow and ice after -- and often well after -- snowfall, our Code Enforcment Office would focus on the property owners who make up the majority of property owners who fail to keep their sidewalks maintained properly. These properties are easy to identify after -- and often well after -- snowfall, because it's the same thing year after year and snowfall after snowfall: without exception, snow and ice always remains uncleared on the sidewalk. Repeat offenders. The low hanging fruit. Consistent, perennial code violators making things dangerous for others. The city/the Code Enforcement Office should be well of these properties and who the owners are, and their phone numbers should be available on speed dial. If they are aware, they are doing little to nothing to stop the consistent problem we are all forced to try to walk on and try not fall on our chins. Year after year and snowfall after snowfall, even if just 2 inches of the white stuff falls.

One wonders if the Code Enforcement Office has done anything this year about the following long-time repeat violators, where snow and ice were present 4 days after Tuesday's meager two inches. If it hasn't, when will it, if ever?

The sidewalks adjacent to the CSX rail crossings on State Street NEVER get cleared of snow, not in the past 7 years at least (other than a neighbor occasionally helping them with one section). As I understand it, CSX is responsible for 10 feet of property on each side of their tracks, and they own the lot next to City Center's parking lot. They never clear the snow and ice on the sidewalk in front of their lot, either. If Craig Haigh has ever once communicated with CSX about their responsibilities on their sidewalks, what did he tell them? "Please come shovel the snow off the sidewalks surrounding your tracks as soon as possible. Thank you!"? If he has reached out to CSX about their regular failings on their sidewalks, it ain't workin'.

The situation at 538 State Street is particularly troubling, obscene and galling, and one that I have made CEO well aware of repeatedly, usually to no avail. The property is a quality-of-life issue unto itself. 4 or 5 years ago, Craig Haigh deemed the ugly, neglected house Dangerous and Unsafe and order it vacated, so he is well aware that no one lives there. Yet the house is never being worked on to comply with the code violations inside the house, the grass and weeds in the large lawn rarely get cut, and snow (and the ice it often turns to) never gets removed from the long portion of sidewalk. This has been going on for like 5 years! 2 years is too long. But 3, 4, 5 years and beyond is to the point of criminality. Apparently, Code Enforcment isn't interested or able to do anything about the ignored snow and ice, so last year I gave up on trying to get them to do something about the continual violations. To add to the problem, 538 State has probably the widest property (and longest abutting sidewalk) in the neighborhood.

When was the last time that Code Enforcement spoke with the
owner Louis Jargow about his sloppy housekeeping habits?

It seems that 536 State has decided that, like their next door neighbor, leaving snow on their sidewalk is acceptable as well, a possible indication of another negative effect of the city's lack of enforcement of the code. You know, the dreaded copycat violators! "Well, they don't clear their sidewalk, so why the hell should I?"

511 Columbia Street-- ARGH! Don't get me started about this long-vacant, neglected disgrace of a house! Also, the owner of the old, long-vacant warehouse next door never bothers to clear the snow and ice off of their (long) sidewalk either, making for at least 75 feet of snow and ice-covered sidewalks year after fucking year, after every storm. There's no option to instead walk in the street, unless of course one is suicidal. Again, it appears that the city (including mayor Kamal Johnson) doesn't care how much longer this continues or if the problem is ever solved. Who knows, maybe it's not actually considered a problem in anyone's eyes in City Hall. "Just look the other way, it's too much hassle to deal with, spring will be here soon and no one will complain."

We shouldn't have to get used to this!

Of course, some municipalities - the wise ones - take matters into their own hands by having their DPW clear the snow-covered sidewalks of irresponsible property owners, including a charge for the work performed in their next tax bill. What does Hudson do instead? Not much of anything, it seems. Do you suppose that Craig Haigh has once contacted the owner of the property at 12 Park Place about regularly failing to clear their sidewalk of snow? I told Craig about that sidewalk TWO YEARS AGO when it was one huge sheet of ice! What an absolute waste of time that was! Was the property owner even issued a violation ticket to appear in court? Doubt it!

We shouldn't have to get use to this, either!

It's one thing for a property owner to take a few days to remove the snow from their sidewalk or fail to do it because they are out of town. But repeat offenders who often own vacant buildings? This can't be acceptable in a city that actually cares about its residents and visitors. Why would any property owner change their irresponsible ways if the city isn't going to do any serious, effective enforcement of the code?

Abutting property owned by the
Hudson Islamic Center

Sidewalk along a Columbia
County-owned parking lot!!!

Union Street

A common sight in the winter in front of
the so-called church (vacant for years!)
at 64 N. 6th Street. Think the city cares?

North 5th Street:

This should not be the norm in
front of these properties!

For 7 years, I've never heard one common council member ask a department head what the city is going to do, or is doing, about stopping so many property owners from failing to clear their sidewalks of snow and ice. Not once. The reason for this missing question might have to do with the fact that Craig Haigh of the Code Enforcement Office is not required to be at monthly informal meetings to present a monthly report to the council and the public. If there's no one available to answer a question, why bother asking? Next issue.

I am fairly certain that if Craig Haigh were asked at a meeting what his office is currently doing about snowy and icy sidewalk violations, he would say something like this: "We are doing the best we can, it's an ongoing issue every winter and we do our best. We are out there issuing code violation tickets where necessary, but once they are mailed out there is nothing we can do. It's in the court's hands then."

"How about doing anything special in terms of property owners who fail to clear their sidewalks on an annual basis, especially in front of buildings that are vacant?"

"No, there's nothing else we can do in that situation, of which there are many. We are aware of it. We wish we could do more, but there's only so much we can do."

I don't doubt that Craig Haigh does the best he can do with two-part time officers and an insultingly inadequate budget (which includes paying the rent for the offices his department rents on Warren Street!). Keeping our sidewalks clear and safe simply isn't a priority for City Hall in general -- the problem is beyond just Code Enforcement failing to enforce its own code. They probably can't.

If the city (mayor, council, council president, DPW, etc.) were serious about tackling the problem of rampant and persistent code violations, including snow and ice left on sidewalks, Craig Haigh would be required to be at every informal meeting, just like other City Hall department heads. The culture of incoherence and unaccountability coming from City Hall as a whole is the real culprit here, I think. It allows the dysfunction and the dangerous sidewalks (snow or not) to persist. How to get rid of this damage and rot? The first step is obvious: the Mayor's Office has got to go and a competent City Manager's Office put in its place. If the Hudson Mayor's Office was ever effective at managing our city, it stopped doing so long ago and it still ain't working. The longer that office exists, the worse the rot becomes and the more we all suffer the effects of that rot.