Assistance? No, I'm Just Here For A Package of Skittles And A Drink of Water, Thank You.

Inside the HPD station there is nothing welcoming visitors to the station or simply identifying the station.  NOTHING.  The dark line along the bottom of the window is made up of the backs of a row of computers at the dispatcher's desk, making it difficult or impossible for visitors to see if anyone is behind the window.

Friday's Features (On Deadline!)

There is a lot going on around town these days, not all of it pleasant or welcome.  But that's what Hudseen is here for, so let's have a look at a few things you may not be aware of.

National Grid three-person crew has taken yet another Friday off from their gas line replacement work in the 300 block of State Street.  I'm not sure how many days they were "busy" there this week, but they were definitely there yesterday and Wednesday.  Last week they were MIA for at least two days, including Friday, same as the previous week.  NG began that one block portion of their huge project in early May, now 4 months ago, and there is still months of work to be done.  Then the street paver needs to come in and make things decent again.  Don't expect that to happen until next year or beyond, if ever!

The Next Big Dig Should Be On South Third. But We Will Be Paying For it. Again!

It has been about a year since DPW has done any of their very expensive and time-consuming street replacement work on South 3rd Street, and our Great DPW Communicator on Zoom seems to think that not mentioning the street's issues is a great way to give the impression to the new council that everything is just fine with Colarusso's 7-year-old pavement job.  It's not, and every council member should be deeply concerned why nothing is being done as the street continues to crumble.  They should demand answers from Robert Perry and not tolerate his evasive, bullshit so-called answers.

For any of the council members, especially the new ones, the first questions should be: 

Hudson's Big Dig 2024

 

The photo above was taken yesterday on Union at East Court, with two men working in an enormous crater while six looked on from above.
Below are pictures from Monday's excavation on East Court at Union, a much smaller crater.

A Fictionalized Story Based on Real Events in Front of 520 Warren Street This Past Sunday

"Honey, will you please go to City Hall today and get a few blue garbage bags?   We're down to our last one and it's almost full."

"Okay, dear, I'll drive over there on the way back from the grocery and the hardware store.  That goddam machine better accept my credit card this time."

"Now don't you fret yourself, honey."

"Okay, you're right once again, my love. I'll be back in a few hours."

"You're the best.  Good luck!"

An HPD Officer Or Two Drove To The Shodack Park & Ride To Do What?

Readers may recall that in February of 2022 an unarmed male robbed the Trustco Bank on Warren at 5th.  The perp fled on foot along Cherry Alley and was never captured by HPD.  What readers may not know is what Police Chief Ed Moore told the Common Council a few months later (I am paraphrasing):  "The suspect in the Trustco robbery has been apprehended for another robbery in Florida.  HPD detectives will be travelling to Florida to bring the suspect back to Hudson to face his charges once the authorities in Florida tell us he is available for us."  Ed Moore never mentioned the issue of the bank robber again.  The case went cold, apparently.

Beginning in the late summer of 2022, my hope was to ask Ed where things stood with the Trustco robber, whether his detectives were still planning on heading to Florida and, if they were hoping to get there, how they would travel and how much it would cost the city.   A number of circumstances prevented me from asking Ed any of those questions, then he quickly retired in early 2023 soon after HUDseen published a few articles criticizing and questioning his ability to do his job properly.

It Is At Least A 7 Foot Fall No One Would Walk Away From

 

Hudson, the dangerous city!

One wonders if Code Enforcement knows what 
the hell they are doing or are able to do their jobs.
.  Craig Haigh issued the building permit for this house
on Dodge at State with the easy and quick 7-foot fall
adjacent to the sidewalk.

Got Orange Mushroom Soup?

 

Friday's Feature (On Saturday)

The $800,000 project on, under and near the 400 block of Union Street to replace an ancient stone sewer has begun in earnest.  This should make the homeowners whose basements have been flooding for years due to the faulty (shocking!) sewer pretty happy.  Drivers, well, maybe not so.  Yesterday, there was a procession of cars from South 5th and from Union that were forced to proceed on Allen or Partition, turned left to head down the hill and out of town on Power Avenue or, more commonly, turned right on Court and then left on Union.  Of course, drivers headed east on Union will be forced onto South 4th Street and then have the choice of heading up Warren, Columbia or State to get to their destinations.  How long this will continue, and if the detour is going to be present every weekend, remains to be seen.  It's not going to be pretty for a long, long time, that's for sure.  There will be crashes, you wait and see.  Some may be even akin to this, though with much smaller vehicles: 

(A very old photo I recently came across that is now in my possession.)

There is no mention on the city's website of this huge, disruptive, long-term project, the parking situation, or the long-term detours, and Robert Perry made no mention of the situation during his report at the most recent informal Common Council meeting.  Why the heck would he if the detours don't affect him personally and he doesn't live in the 400 block of Union Street or anywhere nearby?  

She's Probably Not From Hudson

 

Saw This One Coming!

Our friends at National Grid, our only option to supply us with natural gas and electricity, have requested a 15% - 20% rate hike from the NY State Public Service Commission, citing increased costs for everything from utility poles to wire.  Inflation aside, this had to happen. 

The Price of Stupid Growth

In the backyard, the kitchen, the living room, in the front on the stoop or the sidewalk, from about 150 yards away it's loud and clear. The unmistakable sounds of a horrible cover band playing outside of one of the new brewpubs in the 700 block of State Street, blaring away right down State Street. People further east on State, maybe all the way to 5th Street, can likely hear it just as well. What a nightmare at 9 pm that started an hour ago. The fucking organ and drums are so loud.

Is This Hudson's Future, Where Code Enforcement Is M.I.A.?

 

On Tuesday at 1 pm, the front door to the CEO offices was locked and there was no indication why the door was locked or if CEO would be open anytime soon.

Is This Hudson's Future, Where DPW Does Nothing?

National Grid's contractor rips out sections of sidewalk containing painted yellow curbs.  National Grid's contractor replaces sidewalk sections to the street but does not paint curbs yellow.  DPW Stuperintendent Robert Perry, if aware of the missing yellow paint, does not force National Grid to replace the yellow paint they removed.  Four or five months later, tired of waiting and tired of cars parking in a NO PARKING ZONE created by DPW whose entire curb hadn't been fully repainted by DPW in years, business owner buys yellow paint and pays handyman to properly repaint the entire block of curb with yellow paint so that the busy truck route is as safe as possible, as safe as it was 5 months ago and brighter than it has been in years.  Business owner claims that she got permission from DPW to repaint the entire block of curb.

"WTF," Indeed!

Today, on South 3rd Street, when the driver of this tractor trailer got out of his cab to walk into Wylde, I heard one of the several drivers waiting to proceed south shout, "What the fuck!"

What's Your Guess?

 

How much does a two-foot section of a vintage Hudson telephone pole weigh?  Would it be more than 5 pounds or less than 5 pounds?

The City With Its Head Planted Firmly Up Its Ass!

In the past few months, there have been at least two car collisions on City Hall Place (CHP) at the intersection with Cherry Alley, not a street one would expect crashes on very often.  One of those crashes, on May 30th, resulted in a driver being transported to CMH and both vehicles being towed away. One of the vehicles was owned by J. Mullen & Sons, the National Grid contractor who has been replacing our natural gas pipes for the past year (and hasn't been seen in town for over a week).  That "accident" may have occurred on one of the several days that I noticed Mullen detouring 300 block Warren Street traffic down CHP about that time.

What Climate Catastrophe? What Bicyclists?

The 65-space parking lot in front of 325 Columbia, where the Columbia County Mental Health Center is located, is a parcel of its own, known as 327 Columbia, that is inexplicably owned by the City of Hudson.  There is no bicycle rack for anyone to park and lock their bicycle to securely.  The railing in front of the front door and the guardrail along the alley are commonly used by cyclists because those are pretty much the only options. 

It's true that the city owns that parking lot that is solely utilized by the county.  However, Columbia County owns the two-tiered parking lot parcel with the shameful, jungle gym stairs and waffley walking surface across the street, as well as the smaller lot on west side of the building.  Go figure!

There Were "ONLY" 4 Injuries, With 3 Sent To CMH!

It's been said that there are no guarantees in life. This is particularly true, I think, when it comes to being anywhere near a car or truck, a form of transportation that has only been around for a little more than one hundred years. For most of humanity, walking was never nearly as fraught as driving, riding in or being near a multi-ton vehicle is now. 

Traffic collisions are the number one cause of death for children between the ages of 5 and 19 in the US and around the globe.  Worldwide, 500 children a day are killed in traffic collisions, and road "accidents" take the life of one person about every 30 seconds.  Can you imagine?  You can be the safest, most cautious, aware, and defensive driver on the planet and still some other driver can destroy your car and injure or kill you and your passengers in an instant. Heck, your car doesn't need to be moving.  Perhaps you are just waiting at a light when you are slammed into. You don't even have to be in your car. My Honda Accord was totaled a few years ago while parked on State at 6th because some kid came careening around the corner and slammed into the rear of my car, bending the axle. The one witness to the crash said the driver tried to get away (after also hitting the car parked in front of mine), but his steering was shot and his car couldn't go any further.  If I had been gathering groceries out of the driver's side of the back seat when that car came around the corner, I'd probably be a paraplegic or dead right now.

Is Robert Perry The Genius At City Hall? Or Is He The Sleeping Beauty?

Over 4 months ago, though probably closer to 6, one of National Grid's contractors ripped out a few portions of sidewalk, including the curbs, along the west side of South Third Street to get at gas infrastructure below.  At least two of those excavations were along the yellow curbed NO PARKING zone found between Warren Street and Cherry Alley.  

There Is More Than One Way For Tractor Trailers To Get To Hawthorne Foods And Harney Teas, Both Located At The Bottom Of Our Second Steepest Street. Guess What?

Nobody at City Hall -- not one person -- gives one flying crap how many full or empty tractor trailers avoid the truck route on Front and Dock Streets, instead heading down that steep 2nd Street hill.   No one at City Hall -- including our DPW Superintendent and our Police Chief -- cares if 12 tractor trailers a day head down that hill.  Ask the people who live in those houses if they care about trucks using the hill regularly, and they just might paint a different picture.

"Where, Sir, Do You Suggest We Walk?"

Excuse me, sir, I'm a tad confused.  I was wondering how you'd prefer us to walk around yer here yellow ribbons blockin' our path.  What would you recommend that me, my three lovely children, mother and the dog do so we can continue on our way?  Should we walk in the street and hitail it up the street or git cross the street to use that there other walkway with the 5-inch curb?  How high is this curb anyway, you s'pose?  Gotta be 5 inches if it's an inch, don't it?  My goodness me, quite the curbs and sidewalks this town's got these days.  Everon's gotta watch where ya step round here or yer bound to step right smack into your own durn grave, know what ah mean?"  My goodness sakes 'live.  Say, kind fella, isn't this what they call the truck route with all them 18-godamn-wheelers and earth shatterin' gravel trucks better suited for a three lane highway or somesuch, not no pritty little city street like this here?  Well, it used to be pretty.  You ask maw, sh'll tell ya.  Yes, she sure will.  Might talk yer' ears off tellin' ya 'bout the ol' days she was growin' up round here.  Good lawd it was diffrint, I know!

DPWTF?

Let's See How Long This Loveliness Sticks Around On Warren Street

The rubbery cover to the lid of this can had been cracked, broken and with pieces missing for at least the past year.  Now it is almost completely gone, leaving mostly rusty metal, soon to be all rusty metal.  This can, in the 500 block of Warren, along with all the others, is emptied by DPW nearly every day.

Why DPW uses the rubbery covers on some lids is a mystery to me.  Most of the lids are uncovered metal painted black.

It's Like Pulling Friggin' Teeth and Talking To Trees!

Within a few days of yet another accident at 4th & Columbia on the 3rd of this month, DPW finally installed a pair of stop lines at the intersection.  I've been saying it for years: intersections without stop lines are incomplete and more prone to accidents.  (The picture above is of a previous crash there.) 

What The Flyin' Hell?

Wednesday afternoon, no contractor
in sight.  In fact, I don't think Luizzi 
has been there at all this week.  But

this fucking stop sign has been,  

BLOCKING THE ENTIRE SIDEWALK

Notice, too, the lovely red marking on our sidewalk that aren't going away anytime soon.  Thanks, National Grid, or whoever the spray paint addict is.

2024 Sinkhole #43 (Approximately)! OR Sinkholes? What Sinkholes?

Soon enough, the entire street surface of the 400 block of Union will be off limits to traffic (or very limited) so that Colarussso is able to dig it up to replace a Civil War era stone sewer that has been flooding basements for at least the past few years and, until a year or two ago, DPW Superintendent Robert Perry had no idea existed.  Also, about two-thirds of Cherry Alley west of 5th Street looks as though it will  be completely torn up to get at whatever ancient, failing infrastructure is below that our $117,000 superintendent was somehow unaware of until recently. Go figure!

It's Just 4 Feet, In Case You Were Wondering!

Isn't driving on the wrong side of double yellow lines illegal because it is really dangerous for more people than just the driver and passengers of that vehicle?  Of course that's the reason!  Then why is Hudson forcing drivers headed into town on Glenwood Boulevard to cross the double yellow when even one car is parked in the street at the bend?  And why is HPD not ticketing drivers for crossing the yellow lines there, which can be seen regularly?  Don't they want to stop this dangerous practice?  Or is crossing double yellows permissible anywhere they are found in the city?  Wasn't the speed limit recently reduced on Glenwood because everyone agreed that there was a speeding problem there, especially along that last long stretch?

The Assessment Of Hudson's Assessor Is Not Good At All

Apparently, our Assessor's Office is not
 crucial or even important, let alone accessible

It was about two months ago when I wrote my
question on that "sign" on the assessor's office door.
I love the response! 
. 

I Don't Even Know What It Means To Be Called a "PUNK"! Do You?

I have come across some screwed up nonsense in this city, but this might take the cake.  At least for now.

No Surprise, People! Oakdale Lake Has A Toxic Algae Problem. (I Won't Say I Warned You!)

Eight days after HUDseen ran an article about the algae situation at Oakdale Lake and how poorly the Youth Department was handling the problem, the city has closed down the lake to humans and pets.  I do not know who determined that there is a problem with the algae or if the water was tested, but this is a very concerning development and quite the bummer for the summer. 

Not To Worry, Robert Perry Is On It! He Has Been For The Past Few Years!

It's Frightening How Some Drivers Can Be So Stupid and Careless

Fresh on the heels of yesterday's HUDseen article about the wrong way driver on 4th Street and what might solve that common and dangerous problem, this morning I watched in disbelief as a wrong way driver made her way around the City Hall Municipal Parking Lot headed in the wrong direction while completely ignoring all 4 of the new white arrows on the pavement. I did not see which entrance the driver used to enter the lot.

What Is Wrong With This Picture And With This City?

This afternoon in the rain, as I was approaching 4th Street while bicycling up Cherry Alley (approaching the post office), I looked left only to see a car approaching in the direction one is not accustomed to or comfortable with.  After stopping, I twice yelled, "WRONG WAY!" as the car passed me.  Had I not stopped, we would have met in the middle of 4th Street.

Friday's Features Is Back!

The overwhelming amount of infrastructure issues around town really kept HUDseen busy last week.  So busy that I didn't have time to meet my deadline for the new weekly column called Friday's Features, now in its second month, and for that I beg forgiveness from readers.  Well, better late than never, so let's dig in, so to speak. 

Why Am I Not Surprised?

Yesterday, at the corner of 4th & Warren where a 30-room hotel with restaurant is being constructed thanks to Galvan, I watched as a worker for the contractor chipped away at a brick wall with a short jackhammer he held horizontally, with the chisel just a few feet in front of his face.  He was not wearing protective eyewear.

Galvan hired the construction contractor Bishop
Beaudry from Colonie to build their ill-advised
30-room hotel at 4th & Warren.

Another Rainstorm, Another Sinkhole! Still No Sign Of Our DPW Superintendent At City Hall!

Due to the overwhelming amount of infrastructure projects, repairs and trouble that HUDseen was distracted by last week, the weekly Friday Features segment didn't make it to deadline, and for that I apologize to readers.  I am considering changing the name and focus of the weekly feature or adding another feature.  The new column will be called something like THE SINKHOLE DIARIES, and today I will give a taste of what it will entail (if you haven't already figured it out!). 

Do We Want $7 Crosswalks Or $1,000 Crosswalks? Which Can We Afford?

Last week I noticed something on the surface of the 500 block of Prison Alley that I honestly never expected to see even though I had pestered the city about installing it for the past few years.  Well, it's true, there is finally a painted pedestrian crosswalk across the alley for people to get safely to and from the busy City Hall Municipal Parking Lot.  As far as I know, this is not in response to a pedestrian or two having been hit in the alley by a speeding car or truck, though I am still surprised that never happened.  Rather, it seems that DPW Superintendent Robert Perry just finally came to his senses for a moment about making the crossing less dangerous and even one bit pedestrian friendly.  Don't expect more of the same elsewhere around town. 

Can Anyone Spray Paint The New Entrance To Promenade Hill? Is There Any Limit To The Amount of Paint, Or The Colors, Used?

 

I have no doubt that if asked how the city could allow a utility company or a contractor of theirs to spray paint the new and not inexpensive stones and bricks at the entrance to Promenade Hill, our DPW Superintendent Robert Perry would say that there was nothing he could have done to prevent it. This, of course, would be complete horseshit.

If all the other spray paint seen around town that has been showing up on our streets and sidewalks for the past year is any indication, the lovely new red spots seen at the entrance to Promenade won't be going away anytime soon.  To add insult to injury, it appears that whoever sprayed there had no intention of excavating underneath any of it.  The paint is likely just a means of leading someone to an area to be excavated, or an area just to be aware of below or near the entrance.  WTF?

And While The Person In Charge Of The Youth Department and Oakdale Park Is Out Of The Country For Two Weeks During Summer Youth Camp...

Why would any Hudson resident want to swim at Oakdale this year?  Why would any parent want their child to swim at Oakdale this year during summer camp or otherwise?  How did we reach such a level of dysfunction at Oakdale?

Things Are Getting Ridiculous And Scary. City Hall Shrugs Its Shoulders.

This afternoon, there was yet another red light run car crash at 4th & Columbia that totaled a car on Columbia headed east that had the green light.  No one was hurt, and the driver who ran the red on 4th Street told me directly, "I didn't see a red light.  I didn't see any light."  Beside the missing plate, his car seemed okay.  If I had to guess from the way he spoke, I would say that he was stoned.  He likely made a direct hit to the rear wheel, throwing that car out of control, up on the sidewalk over the sign and back down onto the street.  That's no short curb, either.  I was the first on the scene, having heard the unmistakable sound of the crunch of metal from a long block away at 3rd & Columbia.  There was just a tiny screech of wheels, which means the driver on Columbia, perhaps driving at 30 mph, had practically no warning before the errant car entered the intersection.  Hell, both cars may have been traveling at or near 30 mph.

Car 6, Where Are You? Are You Answering The Phones Again Today?

From the start, there has been one and only one job posting on the city's website since the very difficult to locate JOBS & VOLUNTEERING page appeared about 9 months ago.  The fact that the posting is still there after 9 months, combined with what I saw today at HPD and yesterday in the 7th Street Park, should concern us all greatly. 

Would HPD Have Done Anything If They Had Noticed This Illegally Parked Car? The Answer is NO!

On Sunday afternoon, at least 4 minutes after I first noticed an illegally, dangerously and inconsiderately parked car on Warren at 3rd, a woman got in the car with a coffee and a loaf of bread, having just exited the Maker across the street.

Who and Where Are "The Guys" With The New Ten Year Lightbulbs?

It has been close to three weeks since I informed an incredulous DPW clerk that the new LED streetlight on North 3rd at Warren was not working.  As HUDseen reported exactly two weeks ago, the clerk told me that she would 'tell the guys" about the out light, whatever that means.

As of last night, "the guys" still had not made that light turn on and the corner is still dangerously dark for pedestrians and cyclists about 8 hours every night.

Invasion Of The Extra Wide Handicapped Parking Spaces!

Prior to this morning in the City Hall Municipal Parking Lot (CHMPL), there were 11 metered parking spaces along the alley east of the lot's southern entrance/exit. 3 of those spaces were for handicapped parking. There were also no lines of any color for drivers or pedestrians to drive or walk over as they entered or exited the lot.