The Garbage, Litter and Stains Never End (As Does The Garbage Coming From Rob Perry's Mouth)

Speaking of never-ending garbage, here is an update on the issue of the stained steps to the entrance of Promenade Park.  It's almost beyond belief.

Rob Perry's "averted crisis." You're really killin' it, Rob!

The lovely stains on the "$400,000 of quarried bluestone" steps to the entrance of Promenade continue to reappear, grow and proliferate despite Rob Perry's laughable claim that the stains were caused by the sand that DPW applied to the steps this past winter in lieu of damaging salt. (This, despite the fact that the steps have been stained for close to two years!)  Since Perry's explanation in April, and since his DPW power washed the stains away to "avert a crisis" sometime prior to his explanation, the stains have returned, only to belie what our $123,000 DPW Superintendent offered as an explanation to the council and the public about why his DPW had to spend money and time removing the stains.  
By telling us that he had "averted a crisis," his implication was that the stains were gone for good, wasn't it?  Can we forgive Perry for being mistaken or lying through his teeth? How much longer, though, can we forgive Perry for spending tax dollars to power wash the relentless stains off of the steps every 6 months or so because the contractor who installed the steps did a horrible job with the grout holding the steps together?  A contractor left us shit and we're paying to clean up after them for how long and how often?  For fucking ever?  Or will it be just until 2040 when there is no more grout left to stain the $400,000 of special quarried bluestone steps and they all begin to feel a wee bit wobbly and maybe begin to crack?

Here are the before and after pictures that Rob Perry showed the world in April to prove that he had "averted a crisis" by having the stained steps power washed. They show the set of steps on the right side of the entrance.

Here is a picture of that same set of steps taken last week, not two months later.

Here are pictures of the stain-covered set of steps on the left side of the entrance, where things are much worse:

Are we once again at "crisis" stage, Rob?

How will DPW avert this crisis so that it doesn't
HAPPEN AGAIN?

Let's face it, sand or no sand, there shouldn't be any stains on those steps for one day, let alone 6 months or a year, and DPW shouldn't be spending a dime to remove the stains we are in no way responsible for.  It rains, the stains reappear and grow.  The next thing we'll hear from Rob Perry's mouth might just be this:  "It's because of the sand we put on the steps 6 or 7 months ago. But my guys took care of it again with the power wash equipment. It only took them two hours and 4,000 gallons of water to avert another crisis.  People tell me it's not the sand, it's the grout.  It's all lies and fake news.  I'm the one in charge, I know how these things work."  Only in Hudson would this be acceptable.  We are governed by a City Hall with a peculiar expertise in wasting tax revenue and never quite getting at the truth or the reasons for our problems.  The truth hurts, don't it?  Avoiding reality can be expensive, can't it?

Wouldn't it be fascinating to get Gail Wittwer-Laird's opinion on the matter of the stained steps at Promenade that Rob Perry offered a nonsense explanation about?  After all, she and her cohorts at Starr Whitehouse Architects are responsible for the design of the entrance, including those two sets of unnecessary stone steps where ramps would have been better suited and more appropriate for everyone entering and exiting the park.  Would she agree with Rob's assessment of the situation? 

Both sets of steps were a design flaw -- they are difficult to see and completely unhelpful to get people in and out the park.  Someone, perhaps Gail, probably thought 2 sets of 3 steps, each over the course of 15 feet, would look nice.  A real classy touch!  Look at the artistic beauty we have created!  Look at how subtle and nearly invisible the steps are! I'm sorry, first and foremost, steps should be functional and only installed when and where they are necessary, which is not the case at the entrance.  Steps weren't necessary 10 or 20 years ago (when there weren't any!), they weren't necessary 4 years ago when Starr Whitehouse got hired, and they aren't necessary now.  But we're paying to clean them and they look like shit.  (Over a year ago, in an admission that something was wrong with the steps, white lines were added to the edge of each step to make them more conspicuous and to prevent people from stumbling over them, something I did and something I saw someone else do while exiting the park.  The lines only came after I repeatedly pointed out the problem to Gail and her superiors, Laura Starr and Stephen Whitehouse.  Of course, those lines will need to be repainted at some point.) 

Do Gail, Laura and Stephen care that our $400,000 of bluestone steps on either side of the ramp in the middle of the entrance to our most popular destination are stained and look like shit most of the time, even months after DPW is forced to power wash the stains away?  Does anyone from Starr Whitehouse care that the contractor who installed those two sets of steps may have screwed up by doing a poor job with the grout or using the wrong grout?  Hell, she and her architects got their tens or hundreds of thousands for that gig, what the hell do they care what their creation looks like now or if it is falling apart?  Do any of them even live here in Hudson or visit Promenade Park?

Does Rob Perry care what the steps to Promenade look like?  Sure he does!  That's why he will have his "guys" soon power wash them once again to avert another crisis at the entrance to Promenade Park.  Thank goodness he's on it!  Our $123,000 garbage-spewing, money-wasting Crisis Averter in Chief!  What would we do without him?