What Else Does He Ignore That His "Boss," The Mayor, Allows Him To?

On too many occasions over the past seven years, I've seen it and done my best to avoid it every time I am fortunate enough to be headed to or from Lucky's after a decent rain.  Lucky me and everyone else out on two feet!  

(No, this is not another story about Michael Madison!) 

I am referring to the giant puddle across Columbia Street from the 7th Street Park that forms during a rain and sticks around for far too long because, apparently, it has nowhere to go but back up in the sky.  Tonight in the cool wet dark soon after the rain ended, the puddle looked larger to me than it ever had before -- much larger, like a pond or lake.   Yes, a few feet of the sidewalk was submerged as it always is, but the amount of water in the street shocked me this time, so I decided to measure as much of it as possible with my handy foot-long feet and 3-foot stride.  

This car avoided the lake, driving 
at a cautious, reasonable speed.

Lucky's lake is shaped like an isosceles triangle that tapers to the east. The base, which covers both the sidewalk and the street (including the base of the light pole) was 18 feet long, while the one long side I was able to access measured twice that, at 36 feet long.  I forgot my geometry formulas long ago, so I'll just say that's a voluminous goddamn puddle (sorry, no depth measurment), almost all of which is covering a city street at a turn in a very busy artery through town, also known as the truck route.  Vehicles of all sorts pass by Lucky's, some travelling quite far to get here or get away from here, with some going quite fast. Remember, there is no enforced speed limit in downtown Hudson! (Sit at a bench across from Lucky's sometime when it is dry and you've got nothing better to do to observe the traffic for ten minutes.  Chances are good that you will see a near accident and at least one sporty car going way too blazes fast. If you don't come away saying "I can't believe there isn't an accident here every other hour," you weren't paying close enough attention!) 

Through the lake, spraying water
and driving way too fast! 

It can't be possible that Robert Perry isn't aware of Lucky's lake, can it?  If he isn't aware of the lake, how much larger do you suppose it needs to grow before he does take notice of it?

Is it possible that our $117,000 DPW Superintendent doesn't have any sense of urgency to do something about that lake in our busy truck route?  If he doesn't care about Lucky's lake (or pedestrians and bicyclists), what else can he feel comfortable ignoring that he shouldn't be?

Would Mr. Perry ignore a large, slow-draining lake that forms during and after rains in front of 520 Warren Street, including submerging a portion of the sidewalk for hours at a time?

Lucky us for even having to ponder these questions!

(After taking measurements and pictures, just as I was preparing to head home, Michael Madison came stumbling toward me on the sidewalk (yes, he stepped in the lake!).  He had some choice words for me and, for the first time, he spit at me from about 8 feet away.  This was after I watched Madison ask a man heading into Lucky's if he would buy him something in the bodega, thrusting cash at him.  The man refused and, unsurprisingly, Madison said "fuck you" as he turned to head in my direction.  Madison stopped asking me for money long ago.)