Should We Be Surprised That There May Now Be Hypodermic Needles In The Park?

Today I heard something from a worker at a retail business on upper Warren Street that should not surprise anyone paying attention to the deteriorating situation in the 7th Street Park.  The worker told me that he has been told of recent sightings of used hypodermic needles on the ground in the park.  I have not seen any needles myself.

This is the same troubled park that our police department, whose station is located less than 2 blocks away, never bothers to have officers walk through.  NEVER!  Police officers do, however, drive around the park regularly, and Chief Mishanda Franklin said last year that foot patrols in the park can't happen.  This is the same park in the heart of downtown that the homeless and others regularly gather to drink beer and alcohol, smoke cigarettes, urinate, sit in the middle of the walkways, play loud music, litter and charge their phones with the 4 available live electric outlets provided by our DPW (2 of the outlets are inches from a picnic table with room for 6).  They do all of this in broad daylight day after day after day, including the weekends, with near complete impunity.

Free phone charging for all!

The worker I spoke to also said this:  "Ever since the fountain was removed, that park has been nothing but trouble."  I couldn't agree more.

Pardon my francaise, but what the fuck is wrong with this city?  2 years ago, for the first time, DPW decided to leave the Christmas tree stand in the pool for the no-longer-operating fountain in the middle of the one square block public park in the middle of downtown Hudson.  For over the past two years, the Christmas tree stand has been in the pool that used to hold spraying water (as recently as 5 years ago?).  In the center of the public park that is arguably the centerpiece of downtown Hudson, we have a pool that was once part of a fountain now containing a wooden Christmas tree stand that children can often be seen playing on and around.  This most recent holiday season, for the first time, the tree in that stand was not a tree at all -- just several strings of lights to supposedly resemble a Christmas tree.  Now there are two pieces of lumber sticking up from the stand in the waterless pool where -- it bears repeating -- it is not unusual to see children playing.

As of today, the tree stand now has a new purpose -- to inform and offer children the opportunity to swing high above.  Is this really what park patrons want to see and what the park needs 24/7?  According to the guy installing the sign, DPW gave him permission to erect the posts and hang the sign.

Then there's the grand, once respectable and useful 4-sided clock at one corner of the park in the heart of downtown along Warren Street that has been inoperable for over two years and that our DPW Superintendent has deemed repairing to be prohibitively expensive.  To add to the insult, the base of the clock was recently tagged.  (Let's see how long it takes the city to remove that graffiti, if they ever bother to!)  In just about any other self-respecting and not bankrupt municipality with a worthy mayor or city manager, a competent, engaged common council and a respectful and approachable DPW Superintendent, the broken clock would have been fixed or removed by now.  The powers that be in Hudson, however, would rather just ignore the fucking thing.   Why not?  What does it matter if it's broken or if it works?  What does it matter if City Hall is working or is broken?

Unfixable and now tagged

Thursday in the park:

Today in the park, after the party

Two cones have been covering the two 
tripping hazards on and off for at least
two years.  Sometimes the cones are stacked,
sometimes not.  Cones seem to be the
permanent solution - in the public park!

Bottom of a glass bottle, likely a vodka bottle,
on the side of a walkway.

More pieces of the smashed glass bottle of
Michael Madison's preferred brand of vodka.

At 12:30 today, a total of 5 HPD officers in 3 vehicles arrived on Park Place to talk to Michael Madison on the sidewalk.  I did not make the call to report Madison, so I have no idea why the police were there to speak to him, but it must have been serious.  The interaction lasted no more than 3 minutes.  3 of the officers were new faces to me, with 2 of them wearing bullet proof vests and one of them looking to be no older than 18 years of age.  Two of the HPD vehicles are of the all-black variety, even the lettering being dark.  If that doesn't creep you out, I don't know what would.

Notice the bullet proof vest on the officer
 observing Michaeel Madison and an HPD cop.  

Madison was not ticketed or arrested, and the can in his hand apparently did not contain alcohol.  He stumbled across the street and met up with his friends in the park as the creepy cop cars quietly rolled away.  Everything was back to normal and no cops felt the need to walk through the public park full of beer cans, litter, broken glass and a large and ugly new sign inviting everyone to the park on Thursday afternoons.  Perhaps they were too afraid they would be shot and killed by someone in the park.  Or feared stepping on a used hypodermic needle or shards of broken glass.

Two black HPD vehicles parked, third on the way. 
5 officers, no arrest.  Nothing here, let him go.