We've Been Talking To The Wrong Guy All Along!

Those of you who are under the impression that DPW Superintendent Robert Perry is the person in charge at the Hudson Department of Public Works, I am afraid you are mistaken.  I was mistaken also, until I read the 22nd chapter of our charter today, titled Department of Public Works. Section 2 states:  There shall be appointed by the Mayor a Commissioner of Public Works, who shall be head of the Department of Public Works.

If you want unaccountable, possibly corrupt, public officials and frustrated, apathetic residents who want nothing to do with their local government, start by making things as confusing and as opaque as possible by not abiding by the city code or charter.  This way, no one will know who to talk to to get a problem solved.  Issues will be ignored because possibly no one is in charge or no one appears to be in charge, no one knows who is in charge, and no one cares if anyone is in charge.  No one will feel like anyone in City Hall cares.  Soon enough no one will care about anything.  Soon enough you will have a strange, unfriendly town full of visitors from all over the world.  A ghost town for the wealthy that probably won't last very long.

A few months ago, someone by the name of Jason Foster became "the head of the Department of Public Works."  He was appointed Commissioner of DPW by Kamal Johnson, our mayor.  I guarantee that if you asked Jason if he were the "head" of DPW, he would laugh at you.  The problem is that this is not funny at all.  It's obscene.

There had to have been a time here in Hudson when the Commissioner of Police was actually in charge at HPD, not the Chief of Police.  There also had to have been a time in Hudson when the Commissioner of Public Works was actually in charge at DPW, not the Superintendent.  These things are WRITTEN IN HUDSON'S CHARTER!  What the hell happened to flip everything upside down?   Did it happen overnight or gradually?  Who pushed who out and why?  How is this even possible and why does City Hall continue to act as if the ridiculously out of date city charter and code are perfectly fine the way they are written?  That's the most frightening aspect of this issue, that City Hall doesn't care if things are all mucked up, misrepresented, confusing and make no sense.  For years and years and decades...

And so, among other obscenities around town, we get this sign, just one step away from a ghost town where only visitors feel welcome and appreciated:

Hudson Pride!  Rah! Rah! Rah!