HUDseen: 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!)

Do you ever wonder what the 3 part-time employees and one full time employee at the Hudson Code Enforcement Office do all day, specifically what kind of code violations they enforce? Me, too!! Well, if we lived in Oswego, NY, we wouldn't have to wonder what our local code enforcers are up to every day and whether or not they aren't doing any enforcing. We could easily read all about their efforts and activities, because they seem to understand a thing or two about accountability, transparency and getting things done in that town up by Lake Ontario, whose population is less than three times that of Hudson's. They seem to care about people who do not abide by the rules and the code; they seem to care about people who create quality of life issues that make a city less livable, less attractive and more dangerous. Unlike here in Hudson, the enforcers in Oswego seem to be actively enforcing the code. Every day, and very actively. And they want everyone to be aware of it.

On the Oswego Code Enforcement Department's webpage is a link to a CODE COMPLAINT/VIOLATION REPORTS page which details, in easy-to-read table form, every complaint and code violation the department has responded to or acted on (issued violation notices for) in the past seven years. The detail on the monthly reports is staggering, at least compared to what our CEO offers us, which is nothing. Each listed violation includes: the date of the inspection, the type of complaint, the NAME OF THE PROPERTY OWNER where the violation was found, that person's personal address (!!), the address where the violation was found, a description of the violation and what was seen, which code enforcement officer was assigned to the violation, observations that officer made, the number of violations found and inspections made and, if the case is closed, a closing date. What more could you ask for to know that public servants are doing the best they can to keep their city from looking like shit and being a dumping ground for garbage? Of the NINE code violations listed for May 1st on that month's violation report -- NINE VIOLATION INSPECTIONS IN ONE DAY! -- 5 of them had to do with illegally dumped garbage, 4 being "at the curb" and one on private property. 4 of the 5 cases were closed within 5 days, the other within 3 weeks.