The Eternal Question: Does Robert Perry Or Anyone At City Hall Care?

I would guess that most Hudson residents have never had to cross a street on foot at the Stewart's intersection, nor likely will ever have to do so.  They are the lucky ones.  For the unfortunate few who have had to cross a street at our busiest and most pedestrian-unfriendly intersection along the truck route, they might recall how bad the sidewalk and curb ramp at the northeast corner was before the so-called improvements to the intersection were made late last year.  In short, there was little to no ramp or sidewalk to speak of as a result of all the turning vehicles off of 23B/Green Street westbound onto Fairview northbound that made their way onto the sidewalk for a second or two.  The sidewalk/ramp was a battered, destroyed, ugly mess.  Then, in August, at long last, new concrete was poured for curb cuts and sidewalks at the intersection, including at the worst, most abused, neglected and tripping hazard-filled corner.  Smooth at last!  Respectable!  Safe!  Friendly!  I knew that it would not last long.

Yesterday, no more than 10 months after the pouring of the concrete, I noticed a large chunk missing from the new curb ramp.  The near constant abuse from trucks and all sorts of other vehicles' wheels has already set in, right about where I expected it to appear.  Now it will just get worse FAST -- notice the cracks surrounding the missing section and a few feet away on the Fairview side.  Soon those cracks will give up more concrete while additional cracks continue to appear, and so on...  Soon the ADA mat will begin to come apart as well.  Soon there will be nothing new, decent, attractive or pedestrian-friendly at all about the sidewalk and ramp.

The question is: Will DPW ignore the abused and failing curb ramp and sidewalk just as they did before the improvements to the intersection were made?  DPW's hands-off approach then seemed to be, "Well, it's bad, but there's not much we can do because sidewalks are the responsibility of the property owner, not DPW.  Just leave it!  It's the Stewart's corner, the whole thing is a shit show!"  Of course, though, the property owner at the corner had nothing to do with the installation of the new curb ramp and sidewalk in front of their house.  Stewart's and the City of Hudson paid for it to be done.  If you are going to build a new curb ramp and sidewalk but do nothing about mitigating the cause of the damage, should pedestrians expect more of the same at the "improved" Stewart's intersection?  Or is Mr. Perry hoping that the Public Works Committee dealing with sidewalks, of which he is not involved, will take care of the problem for him?

Hey, where you going cement truck?
We need you over here!

Be careful where you stand while waiting
 your chance to cross the street!

New sidewalk and ramp, same old abuse!

After less than one year, we have a failing curb ramp/sidewalk at the city's most dangerous intersection for pedestrians. Do you think anyone at City Hall gives a hoot? The crazy thing is that I don't think there is any way to prevent vehicles from driving onto the sidewalk while turning.  Create a 5-inch curb around the corner?  It will take weeks to crumble!  Install a bollard or something similar?  HA!  That might last all of 6 minutes before being destroyed.  Heck, a trucker just might run over it intentionally.

This is constant!

It turns out that the problem at the corner is not just caused by vehicles turning onto Fairview!  Not only did I take a picture of a passing 18-wheeler full of gravel staying straight ahead to head into town on Green Street:

But moments later, I saw a truck turning off of Fairview drive up and over the sidewalk and head out of town on 23B!  Off of Fairview!  Onto the sidewalk!  (Sorry, I wasn't expecting it, so no picture.)

Tire hitting the spot missing
the concrete

As part of National Grid's gas line replacement project, any street markings they or their contractors remove in the process of digging up our streets must be replaced.  Parking lines and crosswalk lines were replaced weeks ago on Warren Street by National Grid's painting contractor, work that was done at least 4 months after the repaving of Green Street.  Why didn't they replace the Stewart's intersection's missing crosswalk lines and stop line at the same time or before?  Is it possible that Robert Perry doesn't care if National Grid and their contractors don't ever bother replacing what they are required to replace, also known as the simple, expected and respectful act of putting things back the way they were found? 

Warren Street work done promptly

Does Robert Perry care that most of this stop line is missing?

What is National Grid waiting for?  A
pedestrian to get run over by an 18-wheeler?

The street markings were installed last year as part of
the "improvements" made to the Stewart's intersection. 

By the way, the NO TURN ON RED sign for southbound Fairview traffic is still missing, and if you stand at the intersection and observe vehicles taking the right on red, you'll only wonder why there isn't an accident there every other hour.  Also of note, Shershah Mizan removed the vegetation from his front steps and replaced a broken window next to the sidewalk soon after publication of last week's HUDseen article about the deplorable conditions at his house.  However, the loose railings for his crumbling concrete steps are still loose, as are nearly every one of the wooden steps up to his house.  Oh, and he still hasn't bothered to remove the lovely sign frame from his front yard.  Why should he?