Since publishing last week's piece which focused on the city's resumption of BOOTing vehicles, I have seen at least three more BOOTed vehicles parked around town. The city, particularly HPD, seems to be BOOT batty -- they have a lot of catching up to do, it seems. But there is too much of a mystery about how the BOOTing (and TOWing) process is resolved for vehicle owners who have a string of unpaid parking tickets that get them the BOOT in the first place.
Yesterday afternoon, I noticed a BOOTed white car parked on Allen just west of 3rd. Apparently, after applying the BOOT, Burch's Towing left an orange card in the door for the owner, almost all of which I could not read. I assume the card laid out what it would take for the owner to get their car UNBOOTED. Curious what that would entail, I called the phone number that I could read at the bottom of the card.Here is what I was told by a Burch's Towing employee, possibly the owner (shown in bold). To get a BOOT removed, the vehicle owner must pay all of their overdue parking tickets to the Parking Bureau or to HPD, plus a $150 BOOT fee that goes directly to the towing company. If the owner hasn't paid up within 24 hours, the vehicle is TOWed away, presumably to the towing company's lot. Burch's Towing is located on Route 9H in Ghent. To get a TOWed vehicle back in one's possession, you will pay a $300 BOOT and TOW fee on top of all the overdue tickets owed. And, of course, someone will have to drive you to Ghent or another place outside of Hudson where your car is waiting for you. Ouch and ouch!
Surely, I thought after hanging up with Burch's, this scheme is clearly written out for all to read somewhere on the city's website. Wait just one minute, pal, this is Hudson you're dealing with here!
I searched for information about the BOOTing and TOWing of vehicles on the Parking Bureau's Parking Rules & Regulations page, but came up empty. Typing the word TOW or BOOT in the search bar was no help either. Really, guys? There isn't even a warning about being BOOTed if you fail to pay your parking tickets, at least not that I could easily find. That just seems wrong wrong wrong! No, it is wrong! Strangely, there is still this to be found in the middle of the Parking Bureau's main page, having appeared a few years ago: Payments are no longer accepted at the Hudson Police Station. If that is still true, the owner of the white car BOOTed yesterday is shit out of luck trying to avoid being towed today since the Parking Bureau is closed for the weekend! (Once again, there's that theme that pops up so often on HUDseen: no one at City Hall seems to communicate with one another!).
Mayor's Office? Code Enforcement? The HOW DO I? page of the city website? No, no, and no. Nada!
Maybe all the details that a BOOTed vehicle owner might need to know about in a hurry are laid out on the card that tow operators leave on the BOOTed vehicle, but what if your car is TOWed? Shouldn't there be some conspicuous information on the city's website for owners of BOOTed vehicles and especially for those who can't find their car or truck because it has been towed out of town? Or is this considered an additional, unwritten penalty for the scofflaws? Ha, ha, we towed your car and we ain't gonna tell you where it is, how to get it back or how much it will cost you! Should have paid your tickets! Just like Mayor Kamal The Weasel Johnson does not!
Shouldn't someone reach out to the scofflaws to give them one last chance to pay their tickets and avoid being BOOTed or TOWed? Of course the city should be doing this! But that would be too nice a gesture for HPD to make, especially to those scofflaws who call Hudson home (believe you me, if they want to, HPD can track down the owner of any registered vehicle they come across!).
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| Time for DA BOOT? |
A new law (Local Law 11 of 2024) was passed recently by the common council which has to do with the regulation of tow truck operators doing business in Hudson. I read the entire thing (it is lengthy) but found no specific or general information about BOOT or TOW fees, nor any mention of the process of repossessing one's vehicle. The law does say that "tow operators must be issued a Tow Truck Operator Permit by the City Clerk to tow vehicles at the request of the City Of Hudson Police Department."
The parking consultant from the firm Fishbeck -- who the city paid $24,000 a few years ago to tell us what to do about improving our parking matters -- had a few important suggestions and warnings for us. We paid him a substantial sum of city revenue to tell us this. THERE ARE TOO MANY COOKS IN THE PARKING KITCHEN! WHEN EVERYONE IS RESPONSIBLE, NO ONE IS RESPONSIBLE! CONSOLIDATE PARKING MATTERS BY CREATING A CENTRALIZED PARKING BUREAU WITH A SUPERVISOR. GET HPD AND DPW OUT OF THE PARKING PICTURE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE.
We seem to be willfully ignoring the consultant's warnings and suggestions. If anything, we are headed in the opposite direction he was nudging us, and HPD is consolidating parking matters on their own. This actually frightens me, because HPD knows where the money is. Control parking, control the money, control the city! Parking enforcers will continue to work for HPD, no doubt.
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| Some people do their best to avoid the police and police stations. And court! |
Can you guess where the Parking Study Committee has decided the best place to locate the soon-to-hopefully-be enlarged and improved Parking Bureau will be? You guessed it -- at 701 Union Street! To do so, a small office will need to be created, with walls knocked down and walls built, electricity and plumbing moved, and a "very expensive window" installed, among other work. The estimate for the new Parking Bureau office is over $15,000, referred to by Jen Belton, the head of the Parking Study Committee, as "a lot of money." At the most recent Parking Committee meeting, Belton floated the idea of having Doreen Danforth, the long-time HPD clerk, become the new "Parking Bureau Chief." Belton said that Chief Franklin was fine with this idea (I guess Doreen has plenty of time on her hands as HPD clerk) but told Belton that Doreen "would have to be compensated." Would Doreen have two offices and two desks from which to work at HPD, as well as a pair of hats and job titles? Does she get to take two lunches every day? Twice the amount of vacation days, too?
Following Police Chief Franklin's yet-again very brief HPD report during last week's informal council meeting (two weeks after the Parking Study meeting), 5th ward council member, Vicky Daskaloudi, began her comments to the chief with this: "Thank you so much for taking over the Parking Bureau." Mishanda smiled and nodded her head but said nothing. I guess it's a done deal, and I guess no one read the parking consultant's detailed report that he compiled for us a few years ago which cost us more than a few quarters.
Yikes! Shit gettin' creepy, yo!
If the new and improved Parking Bureau is located at 701 Union, that is the place where anyone wanting to pay their parking tickets in person will have to head to. But the Hudson City Court shares 701 Union with HPD -- with court in session on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday mornings beginning at 9:00 -- and it is not uncommon for all, or nearly all, of the 17 or so parking spaces surrounding the front and some of the side portion of the building to be occupied while court is in session. The parking lot (if you can call it that) is small, narrow and poorly designed. There is no on-street parking on either side of the 700 block of Union Street.
Sounds like a great plan to me! This can't possibly fail! You go, Jen Belton! Will you be sticking around in 2026 and 2027 to see your work through to fruition and glory?
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