Hudson Is Now A Little Tidier and More Respectable

Is this progress?  What did it take to get 
this done?

Readers of Hudseen are likely aware of my disdain for the city's use of plastic bags to cover its fire hydrants that have gone out of service.  You may even have been introduced to Hudseen over a year ago by an article on the topic!  To my pleasant surprise -- and possibly yours as well -- I think that I have finally found the right people to help get to the bottom of this issue and to right this wrong.  It was not easy, and our mayor was most definitely no help. 

While in his office recently, I asked Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson if he had any feelings about the handful of out of service fire hydrants in the city that have been covered in plastic garbage bags for the past few years. Kamal responded that this was not an issue for him and that he "trusted that the fire department was handling things properly."   Words from a true leader and manger!

"What about you personally, Kamal?  Do you think that plastic bags rather than tags should be covering hydrants on our sidewalks?  Do you think this is an aesthetic issue for the city?" I asked our dear leader.  He continued to be cagey, saying that if others found it appropriate, then it must be okay.  Kamal, of course, never offered his own opinion of his own DPW using plastic bags used to cover their out of service hydrants.  He either didn't have an opinion or was not comfortable voicing it, fearing it might clash with the opinions of the people working for him.  Instead, he offered me some sage advice:  "If you have such a problem with the bags, Bill, maybe you ought to look yourself in the mirror."  The last thing I heard out of our mayor's mouth as I fled his office was, "I don't care." Interacting with him can often be a lesson in futility. 

Mayor Kamal Johnson had no 
opinions of his own about this look

But outside of City Hall, where the sun shines and the mayor can rarely be seen, things are different if you talk to the right people. Two Water Department employees whose job it is to maintain our hydrants -- John Calderon and Brian Decker -- more recently agreed with me that plastic garbage bags covering out of service fire hydrants "look crappy" and that they would use the out of service tags if they had any to use (even though they were the ones covering the hydrants in bags!).  They told me that their boss had just stopped ordering the tags long ago.  John and Brian were not nasty, immature or cagey with me, and we communicated like adults, as we often do.  (Sometimes I even voice my displeasure with something they have failed to attend to.  They don't seem to mind, and they listen to what I have to say). I even asked John and Brian, both of whom live in Greenport, if they had ever once seen a fire hydrant in Greenport covered in a plastic bag, even for one day. They looked at each other, shook their heads and said, practically in unison, "No." 

The next day, while in their truck, they told me that they had "found one tag" and had just attached it to the hydrant on Front Street.  No more plastic garbage bag!  "Great," I said to them. "What about the hydrant on 7th?" 

"Which one?"

I pointed a finger towards Galvan's unfortunate project on North 7th Street.

"We'll go have a look. Have a good day," one of them said to me as they drove off.

Then, bagged and out of service

Now, tagged and still out of service

It seems that John's and Brian's boss, Water Plant Supervisor George Topple, and George's boss, Robert Perry, haven't had any issues with the department's use of plastic bags to cover out of service hydrants, even for years. Bags or tags, it made no difference to them, so they just stopped ordering and using the out of service tags specifically designed for out of service hydrants and that are so popular everywhere else in the country.  And our mayor was on board, too.  The hydrant on Front Street (in front of a low-income residential complex) had been covered in a series of plastic bags for at least the past two years, while the hydrant on 7th Street was covered in its first plastic bag around May of last year when Galvan began clearing their houses from that block.

Great for morale, great for business!  
What about a fire?  I was told that this 
hydrant has been out of service for 7 years!

Plastic makes everything better!

Of course, this is only a start.  There are still at least two hydrants covered in plastic bags to be seen, walked by and driven by along our streets, and we will never know if this new "policy" will stick.  For Brian and John to do what they want to do, out of service hydrant tags need to be ordered and kept in stock.   But as long as the mayor "doesn't care" -- and Rob and George don't either -- there's no telling what might happen in the future.  But as long as John and Brian are around, I feel pretty confident that the unwelcome and unnecessary blobs of disposable plastic ugliness covering fire hydrants on our sidewalks will not proliferate.  

Some people, including our mayor, can look at an out of service fire hydrant covered with a black or orange plastic garbage bag on a sidewalk -- even for years, with some bags ripped and torn -- and say, "What's the big deal?"  I say:  We can't expect a respectable, civil and decent Hudson if City Hall itself opts for plastic bags to cover its out of service fire hydrants.  Nothing could be more telling about how poorly a city regards its streets, sidewalks, public places and residents -- its city! -- than a City Hall which opts for garbage bags rather than tags.  The bags, if nothing else, are just a symbol of a much deeper problem, perhaps even an illness, that has infected City Hall.  Don't expect our mayor to want, or even be able, to do anything about it.  He obviously "doesn't care."

A few years ago at a council meeting, I asked the Fire Department officer presenting his monthly report if the department had any feelings about their hydrants being covered in plastic bags rather than simple, colored out of service tags.  I was told that this was not an issue for the Fire Department, that the department did not maintain the hydrants, and that I would have to speak to DPW about it.  In other words, for at least the past several years, the people in charge at the Hudson Fire Department also did not care that out of service fire hydrants were covered in plastic bags.  This is probably still true, of course, and it may always be the case. 

Ever get the feeling that Hudson City Hall has a communication, management and (poor) taste problem?

Nothing quite says "We don't give a shit"
more than this, does it?

And City Hall wants us to keep our 
properties looking respectable and decent?

To read the first of HUDseen's few articles on our plastic-covered hydrants, read here:  Out of Service Bags.  

This article might be worth your time, too, if you haven't already gotten to it:  Weeds Covering Hydrant

Another question may have occurred to you, as it has to me:  Why are there so many out of service fire hydrants in Hudson and what, if anything, is the Fire Department and the Water Department doing about getting as many of them as possible returned to service and ready for use on a fire? 

Is there a reason why these meters have not been put back in service?  Will they ever be put back in service?