3 Out Of 4 Ain't Bad. Or Is It?

 

Thanks to Luizzi's recently completed DRI work at 2nd & Warren, 3 of the 4 city-owned street lamps were moved to the bump-outs (or "plazas," as DPW Superintendent Rob Perry calls them), and thus, out of the way of pedestrian traffic.  The lamp on the northeast corner remained unmoved on the sidewalk in the same spot where it has always been in the way.  And there it shall remain.  Has anyone at City Hall offered an explanation for this failed opportunity to move it off of the sidewalk and onto the bump-out plaza a few feet away? HA!

Word On The Sidewalk Is...

 

... that the city purchased the wrong parking kiosks.  It appears that the only currency the LUKE COSMO COIN P2PE CL SOLAR parking kiosk will accept are quarters, not paper bills. 

Is This The Disrespect Pedestrians, The Elderly And The Disabled Deserve For The Next Two Years At Warren & 8th??

 

Have things gotten uglier all over town lately, or is it just my imagination?

Who Are The Slobs At DPW and HPD Who Find This Acceptable?

 

Double The Rate To Park Downtown, Add "Convenience" and Credit Card Fees, Let The Police Deal With Every Aspect of Parking. Sounds Like A Wonderful Plan!

There were so many concerning and crazy things said at Tuesday night's Parking Study Committee meeting that I don't know where to begin.   So, I'll just stick to two issues and hope to follow up later with more posts of what was said at what appears to have been the committee's final meeting.  

It Doesn't Matter Much, Does It?

 

Either Monday or yesterday, DPW finally repainted -- for the third time in less than two years -- the 17 feet of curb on State at 7th that had been nearly completely missing its yellow paint for the past 8 months, allowing cars to be parked too close to the intersection and making it dangerous for others.  Very dangerous for others.  Yellow curb or not, it doesn't seem to matter, particularly in an area where parking can be difficult to come by for patrons of new businesses and, soon enough, for tenants of the hideous monstrosity with virtually no off-street parking that is Galvan's unwelcome, swanky apartment building gift to Hudson.

Another Garbage Tree

 

What's A Dog To Do In The Absence Of Fire Hydrants?

 

Plenty of dogs in need of relief have already made good use of the city's new $10,000 kiosk that was installed last week on the sidewalk in front of the city's parking lot next to MOTO Coffee.  Can you blame them?

Summer Fun

 

Voila! Tyranny Is On The Run! Let The Good Times Roll!

Jen Belton and others on the Parking Study Committee (and, likely, whoever is in charge of the new Parking Bureau) are expecting those who park in the City Hall lot -- wherever they might park -- to then walk to a kiosk on the sidewalk just outside of the entrance along Columbia Street. Most of those people will be doing a lot of walking in the lot, a whole lot more than any meter ever forced them to! They will be crossing the entrance/exit area inside the lot where they can quickly and easily find themselves within feet of all sorts of turning vehicles entering and exiting the lot, with drivers focused on avoiding other cars, not necessarily people walking in the lot, including inside the entrance/exit area and on the sidewalk. This is exactly what we do not want. This is absolutely stupid and fucking inconsiderate, and people using the lot are going to be annoyed as hell at the hassle and time wasted to pay to park their car in the lot for an hour or three.

I Swear...

 

... this vacuum has been waiting to cross 5th Street at Columbia for AT LEAST THE PAST THREE WEEKS!  From the looks of the vegetation growth on it, though, it has probably been there for months.

Does Anyone Else Think This Is Nothing Short Of A Really Dumb Idea That Will Only Fail And Piss People Off?

Until a few days ago, I'd been wondering where the city's new $10,000 parking kiosks for the City Hall Municipal Parking Lot in the 500 block of Columbia Street were going to be located.  Would they go on the island currently full of parking meters that bisects the city's largest downtown parking lot with about 100 spaces for the public?  Or would they be situated near the entrance/exit along Prison Alley where just about everyone parking in the lot eventually walks through twice to get to and from Warren Street, using the walkway to Warren that is full of tripping hazards?  (After all, the lot is there for visitors arriving by vehicle to Hudson's downtown.  They tend to walk toward Warren after parking, not away from it.)  Since there doesn't seem to be enough space at the alley entrance for even one kiosk that won't get run over within a day or two (putting kiosk users at risk as well), I was sure that the only viable place in the lot for two or three $10,000 high-tech parking kiosks was on the island.  With meters removed (can I watch, please!), there would be room for a kiosk at either end of the island, with maybe one near the middle.  Or just two near the middle.  On the island, the kiosks would be conspicuous, centrally located (convenient for all) and generally out of harm's way.  And it's where most drivers would expect to find them.  Just sayin'.

What The Hell?

 

I saw these three barrels this morning at 9:00 on South Front Street when they were on the median lines, though for no apparent reason, as they were not covering anything problematic and the yellow lines had been installed two weeks ago.  Neither DPW nor Luizzi was anywhere in the vicinity. By 6pm, two of the barrels had moved a bit, likely from being struck, though still in the street for no apparent reason other than to cause a crash. 

The $tinkers Continue To Pop Up. Or Is It Down?

 

5 weeks after HUDseen reported on a sinkhole that DPW was attending to in the middle of South Front Street at Cross Street (which took them at least 7 days to complete), yesterday there were signs of yet another break in the sewer below Front Street, just 125 feet up the hill along the new DRI curbstones.  

I'm thinking that the heavy downpour we had on Monday was the cause of DPW's attention to South Front.  INCREASED DELUGES THANKS TO CLIMATE CHANGE ARE GETTING VERY, VERY EXPENSIVE TO DEAL WITH, RESPOND TO AND TO RECOVER FROM! JUST ASK GOVERNOR PHIL MURPHY OF NEW JERSEY.

Just Ten Dollars, The Same As Failing To Put Enough Quarters In A Parking Meter?

 

I'm have no idea how many feet one has to park their vehicle from a curb to be issued a $10 IMPROPER PARKING ticket by a HPD parking enforcer, but it appears to be at least 4 feet (I sure hope it's less than that, though).  That is the exact distance from the curb that the outside of the Jeep's front passenger side wheel was this morning on busy and narrow (and speedy) North 6th Street.  4 feet!

What Pedestrians? What DPW Budget? What Lung Cancer? What Climate Catastrophe?

 

The DPW truck parked on the sidewalk in front of 401 State this morning (feet from the empty parking lot) had both of its windows down all the way while the vehicle was idling.  The two workers who arrived in that truck were busy preparing thermoplastic crosswalk lines across the end of 4th Street when a second DPW truck arrived with one employee supplying the gas cannisters and heat gun needed for the task. That truck was also left idling.  It was much too hot for me to stick around to see how long the DPW vehicles were left idling, but I'm thinking the workers remained there for at least a half hour, possibly much longer. 

When unnecessarily idling vehicles become the norm, you know we are in for serious trouble.  In my mind, that serious trouble has already arrived.  We are in the beginning stages of a climate catastrophe caused in large part by too much vehicle exhaust, too much reliance on fossil fuels and too much CO2 pumped into the atmosphere.  And far too much idling of vehicles as if it doesn't matter one bit. 

Shapes of Things To Come To Hudson?

 

I had some time to kill in downtown Albany this morning, so I decided to do a little inspecting of their parking kiosks.  What grabbed my attention more than the kiosks, though, was the ridiculous number of signs for them.  I found the clutter and visual pollution nauseating (of course, I was looking for them).  If we're lucky, this nausea may be arriving in Hudson soon.

The signs in the background are  
featured in the lead picture.

The signs in the background are featured above.

The economical thing about parking meters is that they don't require any signs. In that regard, unlike kiosks, they are money and space savers. A parking meter next to a parking space is essentially a sign, with all the information and instructions needed right there on it.

Our Parking Study Committee has been spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to figure out their signage.  Should they meet this month (unlike last month), you can be sure discussions of signs will take up a fair amount of time, including how much they will cost us.  I can't wait!

Most of the kiosks I passed in Albany seemed well maintained, though there were a few with issues.  

An unfortunate location

It should be remembered that until about two/three years ago there were two parking kiosks for commuters at the entrance to the Amtrak lot on Front Street.  Hudson City Hall neglected them so badly that the bottom rusted out on one and it had to be discarded.  The problem was discovered after it was too late, and there has been just one sad old kiosk standing since.  Who will be responsible for maintaining our $10,000 kiosks all over downtown (including at the Amtrak lot) AND ALL THOSE DAMN SIGNS THEY REQUIRE?   The same person who didn't maintain the Amtrak kiosks?

Parking Study Committee member Dominic Merante has been leading the charge to get handicapped drivers the best deal they can with our kiosks.  At a recent meeting, committee head Jen Belton seemed more than a little annoyed at how much time Merante was forcing the committee to spend on the issue.  Of course, there is a solution to Merante's cause, something Albany appears to have figured out:  the handicapped spaces downtown still have the old-fashioned meters next to them.  Problem solved. 

One wonders if Jen Belton or anyone on the Parking Study Committee has reached out to the people in charge of parking in Albany to pick their ears and get some assistance.  Something tells me the answer is no.

Why Bother?

 

How Do You Suppose They Would Handle This Up In Oswego?

 

350 Columbia is owned by Galvan, and there is almost always garbage of some sort on the sidewalk out front, usually blue city trash bags.  These two lovely castoffs have been blocking a portion of the sidewalk for at least three weeks, not doing any favors to the tree.  Do you think anyone at DPW, the Mayor's Office or Code Enforcement cares?  How about Rich Volo and the sidewalk tree people at the CAC, do you think they would care if the tree were to get knocked over by the bulky trash leaning up against it?  My guess is that if someone at Code Enforcement were to be notified of this violation, they literally wouldn't know what to do about it or how to handle it.  They might even think it's not a code violation.  What else would explain it being ignored by CEO and DPW for so long?  The DPW garbage trucks and its crew of 3 have probably seen this sidewalk waste 30 times in the past three weeks but done absolutely nothing about getting the attention of Code Enforcement to do an inspection and possibly issue a violation notice to the property owner.  (Oh, gee, it's Galvan, we can't tell them what to do.  They don't play by our rules or our code!  They are immune from code enforcement!)

Is City Hall Really Ready To Make The Switch To Dozens of $10,000 Parking Kiosks In Lieu Of Meters?

 

It has now been over 5 months since 16 parking kiosks that cost city taxpayers $139,000 were delivered to the DPW garage on Dock Street.  The Parking Study Committee's original phases one and two of the project were to have those kiosks in the ground for the Union Street parking lot and for lower and upper Warren Street (where no meters currently exist) in "the spring of 2025."  Jen Belton's recently amended Phase 1 of the project now just includes kiosks for the city's 5 parking lots, to be done this summer.  The summer clock is ticking.  At least one of those kiosks will be installed on a Warren Street sidewalk, directly in the way of foot traffic.  Well, at least that appears to be the plan.  It's difficult to know what's going on with Belton and the crew of parking professionals since the committee didn't meet last month.

Dear Mr. Perry: Are You Okay? Do You Need Help? Are You Having Trouble Getting Your Work Done?

 

As HUDseen has pointed out a few times in the past year and a half or so, our Department of Public Works decided (or was told by HPD) to extend the yellow curb on the northeast corner of 7th & State.  The idea was to remove a parking space or two to allow for better visibility of westbound State Street traffic for drivers on 7th Street stopped at the only stop sign at the intersection.  Since painting the extra 17 feet of curb to make the intersection safer, DPW has repainted it twice.  They just can't seem to make their yellow curb paint stick to that curb for more than a few months, even though that is not the case with the yellow curb that wraps around that corner.  For the past 8 months, DPW has been having trouble repainting the curb for the third time.  Cars regularly park along the curb with the missing yellow paint.  There appears to be something wrong with our $123,000 DPW Superintendent, and I'm not being facetious. 

No, Not So Lucky!

 

HUDseen posted an article on February 26th about the major excavation and gas tank replacement project going on at Lucky's gas station and convenience mart at 718 Columbia Street.  Within 6 weeks of that post, the station had a new paved surface - both asphalt and concrete -- and new pumps.  And, to my surprise, we got a much-needed new sidewalk out front. 

When Will It Need To Be Repaired Next?

 

Of the 6 or 7 car crashes in the past 10 years at the dangerous intersection of Columbia & 6th that I have seen the results of -- all of which involved someone running a red light -- 3 of them involved a car hitting the same wall of the house at the northeast corner.  The most recent crash there (at least that I am aware of) occurred on the morning of June 12th; I was the second person on the scene.  Just today that wall was repaired.  Yet again.

Trying To Make Sense Of The Downtown Revitalization Initiative Blueprints...

 

... in front of a huge sign which indicates the completion date for the project was 8 days ago!!!  (Has the sign been there for the past year, more or less?)

Does DRI Stand For Dumb Regrettable Ideas?

 

This afternoon around 2:00, I didn't see or hear any DRI activity at the first three intersections of Warren Street, nor anywhere on Front Street, all locations where Luizzi still has plenty of work to complete, mostly with the stone pavers (or whatever they are known as), which are about the dumbest and most unnecessary idea of all the "improvements" the project will bring us (and there are a few dumb and unnecessary ones!).  That's right, on a sunny and brutally hot Monday with no forecast of rain and with the DRI project past the deadline of June 30th, Luizzi had no workers in Hudson.  Not one person. Not one truck. One wonders where they were (Luizzi is based in Watervliet, wherever the hell that is) and if perhaps last week they just decided to give up on Hudson's west side and suffer the consequences... if Hudson City Hall even notices (or cares).

Still There, Three Weeks Later! WTF?

 

3 Feet Two Inches!

A Chronicle Of "Progress," "Improvement" and ADA-Compliance, Hudson City Hall Style

The two recently installed curb ramps at the intersection of South 3rd & Cherry Alley are a result of the U.S. Department of Justice's 2019 (Rector era!) "settlement agreement" with the city to make our sidewalks and curb ramps at and near essential city services ADA-compliant. The curb ramps with red ADA mats in front of the Hudson Youth Center showed up late last fall, I believe, no more than 8 months ago. I remember watching the concrete work being done by a contractor I was not familiar with, and they must have been one that the city hired. (DPW had nothing to do with the work as they don't do sidewalks!) Outside of CHIP's-related curb ramp work, I think these are the first two (and possibly only) ramps resulting from the DOJ settlement agreement, though I could be mistaken.

Why Would They Bother?

 

This morning, across Columbia Street from the farmers market, I did my best to get the attention of both Hudson police officers in the two HPD vehicles in succession that passed a white car parked on Columbia headed in the wrong direction (I won't say it was parked on the wrong side of the street since there is no parking ever allowed on the south side of Columbia).  My efforts were in vain -- both cop cars (SUV's really) continued past 6th Street, though the officers driving were in no rush to get anywhere. 

"We Didn't Intend To Actually Run A Utility Company." Actually, Mr. Perry, You Aren't!

During his DPW report at the April 2025 Common Council meeting, Superintendent Rob Perry whined about the responsibilities his department was now taking on after the city "purchased the streetlights from National Grid for $300,000 last May."  He went on:  "Obviously, we didn't intend to actually run a utility company of our own.  What we found out is that National Grid doesn't migrate the lights from the old poles to the new poles.  There's any number of issues that go on with the electrical services and the technology.  You know, we have a local electrician that basically we've dedicated to all thing streetlight."  Perry added that there was all sorts of inventory to purchase, from "cobra arms" right down to bolts.  "We don't have anything, because, quite frankly, in the city's history, we never had to deal with it before. So, this is a kind of a bottom-up approach.  But it is something we are working on a permanent solution for, and we should get all these streetlights up and running hopefully in the next couple of months."

When Is Enough Enough? Or Too Much?

This morning on North 5th at Washington Street, a crew of utility workers was busy working on lines atop a National Grid utility pole.  There were two guys up above and at least three below, all working for a company called D & D Power out of Latham, NY, in Albany County.  Lots of trucks and vehicles, lots of cones and signs, lots of noise, lots of diesel exhaust. There were also 3 traffic flaggers who were working for a flagging company.  One sidewalk was closed, as was one lane of traffic.

Can Someone Help Me Make Sense Of This? PLEASE!

 

Who decided that these sharrows and arrows were appropriately installed on Front Street?  (A pair of arrows without a bicycle is not a sharrow!  I don't know what they signify by themselves!)  And who at City Hall agreed to all of this?  Anyone?  People who don't know what the hell they are doing and likely don't even own a bicycle, that's who!  

Follow the arrows and die, fool!  Hope you enjoyed your ride!

A Quality Of Life Issue That Ithaca Understands and Acts On But Hudson Does Not

 

The first of the graffiti currently on the wall of the house adjacent to the pocket park in the 200 block of Warren appeared at least 3 months ago, possibly much longer.  Someone has added more paint since.  That wall seems to be a popular target for taggers -- an attractive canvas, if you will.  Perhaps the most prized canvas in town.