Over 7 months ago, in mid-July, HUDseen ran a piece about the streetlight on North 3rd adjacent to Warren that had never been on since National Grid switched the bulbs to LED's and handed the responsibility of the lights to DPW a few weeks prior. Rob Perry's clerk, Samantha, had a difficult time believing me that the light wasn't working when I told her about it. (Rob's two clerks work in the office on the second floor of City Hall where he can never be found.) It took Samantha a while, but she did tell me that she would "tell they guys about it." I told her about the light again a month or so later. Almost unbelievably, that streetlight is still not illuminated at night. It appears that since June or July when that light was changed to LED bulbs by National Grid (or their electrical contractor) and handed to DPW, it has not worked. Not for one minute. Thanks, National Grid! Thanks, DPW! Thank, "guys," you are all really killin' it!
The 500 block of Rope Alley has been pitch dark at night for at least the past 4 months, possibly a whole lot longer. (HUDseen wrote about this a month ago. Read here: Darkness). National Grid installed two new utility poles in the alley sometime late last year, and only one of them currently has a light at the end of a metal arm at the top. The pole closest to 6th street is without an arm. No arm, no light. For months. It is entirely possible that there has been one missing arm (and light) and one non-functioning new LED streetlight in the alley for the past 7-plus months since National Grid supposedly changed all the bulbs in the city and then likely told Rob Perry, "Good luck with the new lights, buddy! They're all yours now, so don't call us anymore." |
| Old pole, new National Grid pole, no arm, no streetlight. Darkness. Hire an electrical contractor, please. Pay them whatever they charge us. |
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| New pole, new arm, new LED streetlight and old orange cone. Hooray for darkness! Call the fucking contractor. |
All of this points to a City Hall in utter disarray, and to a DPW Superintendent who either can't pay attention or refuses to pay attention and has zero interest in telling the council and the public what is really going on inside his department.
Following Rob Perry's DPW report at the January informal council meeting, 2nd ward council member -- and likely Greenport resident -- Dewan Sarowar, in his smooth-talking style, asked Rob Perry who he was supposed to call about broken streetlights. (Call the fucking Youth Department, why don't you, Dewan! When they hang up on you, try the fucking Parking Department!) All Rob Perry, Our Great Communicator Always On Zoom, had to offer in response was this: "Email me the address and the pole number." He did not elaborate. Notice how Rob did not say a word about how that information would help him fix any broken streetlights of his. For instance, he did not add, "We will fix them as soon as we can." Or, "We strive to have broken lights fixed within a week." Or, "I will report back to you next month on any broken lights you inform me of." Or, "In an effort to keep the council and the public informed, during all future reports I will devote time to include a list of all the streetlights which DPW has repaired in the previous month. I will also let you know if, during the previous month, we haven't fixed any lights or have not been informed of any broken lights. Of course, if we are having difficulties with any streetlights, I will keep you updated monthly. Lastly, if we are forced to hire a contractor to fix a streetlight that DPW cannot fix, I will keep you informed. I will also let you know how much money we need to spend to hire any contractors to fix our streetlights." If Perry can't actually fix or install broken or missing streetlights, why would he offer anything other than "EMAIL ME..."? Talk about a city official who thrives on darkness!
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| 500 block of Rope Alley last night at 11:00, taken from 6th street looking west. |
In the past 7 months, Rob has never spent any time explaining to the council how he will be handling his new LED streetlights and how it impacts his department. Yet again, we get NOTHING HELPFUL or REVEALING from Our Great Slob Of a Whatever Communicator On Zoom. At January's meeting, our Whatever Slob Superintendent didn't say one thing about his department not being able to actually repair broken streetlights, did he? But apparently that is the situation we, and DPW, have been in from the start! One wonders if DPW even has a bucket truck that will allow them to replace and repair their own streetlights (let's face it, the lights are now the sole responsibility of Rob Perry's DPW!).
Yesterday morning, on the phone with mayoral aide and all-around pleasant guy, Justin Weaver, I was informed about the out streetlights I had been reminding Justin of occasionally for nearly two months. (Trying to get a straight or helpful answer out of anyone at DPW is a complete fucking waste of time). Justin told me that he had just gotten off the phone with Rob Perry, who told him that DPW can't install or fix the lights that are currently not working and that a company by the name of Leggett Electrical, of Kinderhook, will be doing the work instead. Perry told Justin that this work would happen on, or before, March 8th. One wonders why Our Great Communicator is getting to this now, a few weeks after someone at City Hall finally asked him what the heck is going on with DPW's ignored, broken and missing streetlights and an entire block of alley that has been pitch dark for months. (And let me tell you, the only reason that Justin approached Rob Perry about the streetlights was because I began informing him of the situation over one month ago!)
Anyone paying attention to council meetings knows that the central purpose behind our DPW taking over responsibility of every streetlight in town was so that we could save money. Purchasing the lights, and the rights to the lights, was not cheap, but over time it was supposed to help us out financially, and maybe, JUST MAYBE, allow Rob Perry's DPW to fix broken streetlights faster than National Grid ever bothered to. But I never heard any mention of DPW having to hire an outside contractor to fix our new, money-saving, efficient LED streetlights, did you?
From what I understood from speaking with Justin, it seems that if a streetlight issue involves electric wires, Rob Perry has to hire an electrical contractor to do the work. I'm not even sure DPW is capable of simply replacing the LED bulbs when they die on their own, and I'm not sure Justin knows for sure either. How about our dear, useless mayor, how is he getting involved to put an end to this nonsense? After speaking with Justin, I tried my best to talk to Kamal Johnson on the phone about the streetlight issue, just to get his take on why DPW can't seem to do much of anything on their own about broken streetlight other than calling a contractor to come do the work. I spoke and, as usual, Kamal soon made an asinine, immature comment that amused him so. He doesn't give a hoot about any of this. Our mayor is an absolutely worthless, childish buffoon, and I feel sorry for anyone working near him. As long as Kamal Johnson is anywhere inside Hudson City Hall, this city is screwed.
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| If Rob Perry can't fix this fucking streetlight on 3rd at Warren for 7 months or more, why should anyone email him the address and pole number? Figure it out yourself, jerk! |
Then there is this, if you can believe it. Before ending my conversation with Justin, I asked him if the streetlight on 3rd at Warren was going to be fixed by Leggett Electrical as well. He told me that Samantha at DPW told him that her computer indicated that there was nothing wrong with that light, that it was working and did not need fixing. She told Justin the same thing about the streetlight on Columbia at 6th which has been on 24/7 for at least three months and which I first informed Justin about no less than 6 weeks ago. (That's the light in the lead picture.). Yes, the city is relying on a computer screen to tell them which streetlights are working and which are not. Welcome to the future. The failed, dark future where no one knows how to communicate with one another. Just like Rob Perry and Kamal Johnson prefer to get things done!
This is how bad things are at Hudson City Hall, about as ugly as can be. The combination of Rob Perry's unhelpfulness and incommunicative nature and Kamal Johnson's worthlessness, immaturity and lack of leadership is starting to seriously damage Hudson. We all deserve a whole lot better than these two selfish clowns, that's for sure.
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