How To Waste Time, Money and Effort While Getting Little To Nothing Accomplished, Hudson Style

If you are not sitting down, you might want to find a seat.

The subject of a new digital speed radar sign on N. 6th Street came up during Monday's informal Common Council meeting when a council member thanked the police chief (or DPW superintendent?) for getting the sign installed below the NO PARKING sign in the picture above (blocking the ANY TIME portion of the sign). The short discussion was about the fact that the sign had to come down soon after being installed to, I believe, recharge the battery because apparently the readout on the sign did not work for very long after installation. That hill along N. 6th Street is in the shade most of the day.

The city's efforts (if you can call them efforts) to get drivers to slow down on the steep 6th street hill as they approach the entrance to Oakdale Park are almost laughable.  Basically, there is nothing between Washington Street at the top of the steep hill and the entrance to Oakdale at the bottom to inform and remind drivers that they are approaching an entrance to a popular park and to SLOW THE HELL DOWN.  Cars are often going well past the speed limit down the hill and past the entrance (something HPD is well aware of) and of course they keep their speed up, or increase it, along the flat to get up the hill beyond the lake as they enter Glenwood Boulevard.  

There is no speed limit sign at or near the top of the hill at Washington Street; nor a SLOW DOWN PARK ENTRANCE AHEAD sign; nor a yellow SLOW DOWN WE LOVE OUR CHILDREN signs (these signs are everywhere in Greenport but nowhere in Hudson!).  There is, however, a 25 mph speed limit sign well after the park entrance, and that is where the new speed radar sign can now be found.  That sign did not operate properly near the top of the hill before the entrance where it would be most effective in preventing a crash because the pole it was attached to is essentially in the shade all day and the radar sign operates on solar power. Nice try people!

Now too late to be effective at saving the life
of a child or two at summer camp.  At least 
it's not in the shade and able to operate!

The Youth Center's summer camp started this past Monday, and I can only assume that someone recently decided that it would be a smart idea to have something posted prior to the entrance to get drivers to SLOW THE HELL DOWN AND BEWARE OF CARS, BICYCLISTS and PEOPLE ON FOOT (INCLUDING CHILDREN) EXITING THE PARK.  You know, something smart, maybe even effective, that might save someone's life who doesn't stand a chance with a two-ton vehicle hurtling down a steep hill at 30 or 40 miles per hour.  There is still nothing but a pair of faded crosswalks near the entrance that rarely get used and are in no ways ae they a means of generally slowing traffic in either direction. When there is finally a serious crash at the entrance (it's inevitable and I hope no children are hurt or killed) due to a car zipping down the hill, I wonder if the city would still approach the dangerous situation at the park entrance in their half-assed approach as if they don't know what the hell they are doing.

A little historical reference might be helpful in showing the futility of the city's efforts regarding traffic safety near Oakdale Park.  Some of you old timers might remember that until 4 or 5 years ago there was no stop sign at 6th & Washington for traffic headed south on 6th into the city.  There were accidents at the intersection (I witnessed one and arrived late to another), there were lots of near accidents and cars drove so fast through that intersection at the top of a hill that it was a miracle no one had been killed there, especially a pedestrian or two trying to cross the street assuming an oncoming car had to stop.  I complained, as did a few neighbors who saw the situation for what it was: a recipe for accidents at any time of the day or night.  When Robert Perry was confronted with the situation at a council meeting, he said that there should not be a stop sign there because (I am paraphrasing, and I am not kidding) "our DPW trucks will not be able to stop on the hill in the winter if the street is wet with snow or covered in ice."  He actually said this.  End of issue.  Next question, please.  

The complaints continued to come in. "We have children walking and biking to the park by themselves and cars are not stopping at a busy intersection.  Someone is going to get killed," was a common complaint from at least two residents of Washington Street.  Someone from the Police Department, likely Ed Moore, had had enough of Robert Perry's bullshit, and they got DPW to install a STOP sign and a STOP AHEAD sign to make the intersection safe and sane, something that should have been done decades ago.  Since then, Robert Perry has not complained to the council about the stop sign and, as far as I know, no DPW trucks have slid back down the hill in the winter because they had to stop at the intersection.  The common near accidents at that busy intersection are practically non-existent, and I have not heard, or seen evidence, of an accident at that intersection since the signs went up.  The frightening thing was that the city had to be convinced that this was the right thing to do -- to install a 3rd stop sign at a 3-way intersection at the top of a hill.  This was only a few years ago.

This sign did not appear easily

It turns out that the DPW Superintendent has zero authority to get a traffic sign installed or removed -- that authority currently lies completely with a guy by the name of Shane Bower, a former HPD cop and now our no-show to meetings Police Commissioner.  Mr. Perry was and still is fully aware of this arrangement that is written in the city code. But Perry got in the way anyway, because he felt he was entitled to. He knows best, to hell with all the rest. Fortunately, no one died while Perry was peddling his bullshit about his trucks sliding down the hill because of a stop sign at a busy 3-way intersection at the top of a hill in a residential neighborhood near a popular public park. It's not just that Robert Perry can be a jerk, it's also that he's okay with Hudson being less safe than it could be. For this, he is paid over $117,000 a year.

What about drivers headed into town on Glenwood approaching the bend, the hill, the flat and the entrance to Oakdale Park and the summer camp?  What do they see that might help slow them down to avoid killing a camper or two?  About 800 feet before the park entrance, at the top of the hill, there has been a solar-powered speed radar sign for about two years, and it works most of the time.  But since it is not associated with a speed limit sign in the same view, there is no context for drivers to gauge the appropriateness of their speed, rendering the readout essentially useless.  "So what if I am driving 40 miles per hour?  What are you trying to tell me?"  Whenever I come across a speed radar sign anywhere outside of Hudson, there is always a speed limit sign at the same location.  This is smart, logical and effective, right?  Context!  The nearest speed limit sign on Glenwood is 75 feet before the radar sign.  

Yesterday, I had to laugh.  When I took a picture of the first car I saw passing the radar sign on Glenwood prior to the sharp bend and hill, the display read 29 for the driver, 4 mph over the limit.  AFTER the car had passed the sign, the display read:  TOO FAST, then SLOW DOWN.  More like: too late, too slow!!!!!

Missing a speed limit sign

As useless as the new speed radar sign is for traffic in the other direction, at least it is now posted with a speed limit sign, as it should be and as it is done elsewhere outside of Hudson.  Ah, some context!  But before I left the area yesterday, I decided to take a picture of the new radar sign in action in the bright late afternoon sun.  Wouldn't you know, it was not working at all.  Kaput!  Blank!  Dead!  Perhaps moving it further away from the Oakdale entrance and summer camp will do the trick, maybe at the top of the hill across the street from the other one.  Usually the third time is the charm!

Not working here either!

Then there is this about halfway up the hill that drivers and cyclists must contend with that DPW seems perfectly comfortable ignoring for years. The shoulder, if you can call it that, along that side of the hill and the bend has been an absolute friggin' disgraceful mess for years. That's our DPW, making sure everyone is safe, things work properly, and things don't look like crap.

DPW:  "Not our problem!"