Broke City In A Broke Country?

Several years ago, Robert Perry told the Common Council that the pump for the fountain in the 7th Street Park was done for and that it couldn't be replaced.  Of course, anything can be replaced, but no council members balked and now we've had a Christmas tree stand in the fountain pool for the past two years or more.  As far as I am aware, this past holiday season was the first without a real tree on the stand.  Recently, a large and lovely advertisement for the Thursday farmers market went up above the stand, further beautifying the park.  Thank goodness for the tree stand, otherwise how would the sign have gone up?

A few years ago, our two-faced DPW Superintendent told the Common Council that the no-longer-ticking 4-faced clock at the corner of the park was too expensive to repair.  The clock was a gift to the city from the VFW or the Moose Lodge, but the city has been responsible for its maintenance ever since.  Can we gift it back to the gifters?  (Notice the graffiti still on the base, one of two tags on it!)

In any other city with an ounce of pride, this 
clock would have been removed or fixed long ago,
and the graffiti would have been removed months ago.

During last week's Common Council meeting, Perry told the council that the fountain in the pocket park in the 300 block of Warren was shot.  He only let on about this because Rich Volo asked him about it.  As I recall (and I could be wrong), Perry didn't say that the pump couldn't be replaced or that it was too expensive to replace.  He just said it isn't working anymore.  Gee, thanks, Great and Holy Communicator on Zoom, were you ever going to tell us this without it being forced out of you?

I didn't hear Perry mention anything about the non-working fountain further north in the pocket park between State & Long Alley where it is rare to see anyone actually utilizing the park besides carefully walking through it to get somewhere else.  As I recall, that fountain was working up until two or three years ago when it was a rare sight to see anyone sitting in the park who might be appreciating the sound and sight of splashing water.

Finally, as you likely know, a few weeks ago someone dug a few large holes in the 7th Street Park to see if there was some evil force below the surface that was preventing HPD from ever patrolling the park on foot for even one minute.  Nothing was discovered below and HPD is still nowhere to be found above.  The holes were filled back in, and now it is apparent that no one was, or is, interested in reseeding the dirt to make the park not look shittier and less welcoming than it was before the failed excavation and exploration took place.  It is as if City Hall would prefer that the only people who feel comfortable enough to spend more than two minutes in the public park in central downtown Hudson are the homeless and their close allies.  What other conclusion can one come to?

If anyone were to ask Robert Perry why the 
new dirt patches in the park haven't been reseeded, 
he would likely say, "We didn't dig the fucking holes!
Talk to Katherine Kananga, she's in charge of the park,
not me!"

Is it just me, or do things appear to be spiraling out of control and down the drain in Hudson lately?  Or is it just a reflection of the way the entire country is headed and that there is nothing we can do about what is going on here?