"NO RECORDS"? NO TICKET? NO BILL? NO CONSEQUENCE? NO PROBLEM?

Nearly 11 weeks ago, just before noon on Saturday, March 1st, a driver attempted to back up his pickup truck and attached trailer to get in front of a garage near the southwest corner of 6th & State. From across the street, I heard the sound of metal on concrete, a loud KA-LANG. I looked up and noticed that there was no longer a stop sign at the corner.

By the time I had a close look, not only was the stop sign flat on the sidewalk, but both the trailer's and the pickup's right wheels were on the sidewalk as well. Well onto the sidewalk.  There was a guy in the passenger's seat of the pickup who just as well could have been standing outside the pickup directing the driver safely and properly to the garage. They were there to clean out the garage.

I called HPD.

Officer Randy Strattman responded within a few minutes and spoke with the driver of the pickup truck and the owners of the garage. 

Soon, someone from DPW showed up (on a Saturday!) to install a temporary stop sign at the intersection for eastbound State Street traffic.  It kept falling over in the wind until a day or two later when sandbags were added to the base.

The stop sign no drivers could possibly see,
blocked by the vehicle that knocked over the
so-called permanent sign.

A few days later, two DPW workers drilled a new hole in the sidewalk, removed what remained of the old breakaway that did not hold, and installed a new breakaway.  The next day, with the breakaway set in the concrete, a new (or perhaps the old) stop sign was installed.  If you have a look at the base of the signpost, you can see the concrete that was poured to replace a sign ON A SIDEWALK that was knocked over by someone not paying attention while DRIVING IN REVERSE with no idea that they had two wheels well onto the sidewalk.

How much did this cost us?  Does Rob 
Perry care?

I recently FOILed for any parking or traffic violation tickets which were issued to the driver of the vehicle who drove on the sidewalk and knocked over a stop sign on March 1st, as well as the bill sent to the driver for the cost of the replacement sign and labor to install it. 

Both requests came back empty:  "No records."   Neither HPD nor DPW had anything to offer.

I guess the driver didn't do anything wrong, didn't break any traffic laws, and the city can afford to replace any sign that is knocked over by a driver hopping the curb while not paying attention to where they are driving.  It's a good thing City Hall is swimming in revenue.  

If the driver apologized to Officer Strattman, did Strattman think that was sufficient consequence for the driver driving on a sidewalk and knocking over a stop sign?  Would he also have just accepted an apology if the guy had knocked over a fire hydrant instead?   How about a hydrant and a sign?  How about a pedestrian or a dog?  How about a baby in a stroller?  Still nothing beyond "I'm sorry, I won't do it again"?????

"I'm sooooo sorry!"