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?)

Besides a pair of Luizzi employees trying to make sense of the DRI blueprints, the only other "activity" I could find in the Dumb Regrettable Ideas zone this morning was on Front Street just south of Warren, where four laborers were digging in the new and questionably useful dirt between the curb and the sidewalk.  None of them resembled any of the Luizzi workers who could be found working sporadically in the area until about one week ago.  I have no doubt that these workers do not work for Luizzi.  In the sweltering heat and sun -- and smartly trying their best to protect themselves -- they were speaking to one another in Spanish.  (I saw 8 or 9 white guys working near that same spot about two weeks ago, all definitely Luizzi employees.)

The new barely raised intersection at Warren & Front (which is not at all evident to drivers approaching or passing through the intersection) was meant to slow drivers down, particularly those on Front Street who speed up and down the hills, a common sight and sound that HPD and people living in the west end are well aware of.  The city's effort to curtail the dangerous speeding there is an absolute fucking joke!  What easily could and should have been done at the busy 3-way intersection -- at the top of a pair of hills and with one stop sign -- was the addition of two stop signs, one for each direction of Front Street traffic.  Instead, we got a raised intersection that no one is aware of and does absolutely nothing to slow traffic down. 

DRI or no DRI, each direction of Front Street traffic should be required to stop at the top of the hills before proceeding through the intersection, if only for all the pedestrians crossing the street headed to and from the park, but also for general traffic safety considering all the cars and trucks turning off of Warren with limited visibility of oncoming traffic, especially those crossing the northbound Front Street lane to head south (see picture).  Soon enough, this "improved" intersection full of Dumb Regrettable Ideas will produce plenty of "accidents," with HPD responding to them all.  Let's hope that none of the inevitable "accidents" involve bicyclists, pedestrians or children, but without three stop signs at the intersection, it's bound to happen eventually.  Ask any professional traffic engineer -- they would agree with me in an instant.

ONE STOP SIGN IS CLEARLY INADEQUATE
FOR THIS BUSY and SPEEDY 3-WAY INTERSECTION!

Perhaps at some point in the future, probably ten years or more from now, someone with some sway at City Hall will realize that there is no reason not to have a pair of stop signs on Front Street at Warren.  That person might make their case to the Common Council with these words:  THERE IS NOT ONE STOP SIGN ON ALL OF BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH FRONT STREETS.  THE STREET IS AT LEAST A QUARTER MILE LONG, BOTH PORTIONS BEING LONG STEEP HILLS, AND THERE IS NOT ONE STOP SIGN ANYWHERE!  NOT ONE!  FORCING DRIVERS ON FRONT TO STOP AT WARREN SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE DECADES AGO; IT IS LONG PAST TIME TO DO IT NOW.  THE ONE STOP SIGN FOR WARREN STREET TRAFFIC AT THAT BUSY INTERSECTION AT THE TOP OF TWO HILLS -- WHERE SPEEDING IS COMMON AND PEDESTRIANS ARE FOUND IN THE STREET DAY AND NIGHT -- IS NOT ADEQUATE AND IT NEVER HAS BEEN.  FORCING DRIVERS TO STOP AT WARREN WILL NOT BE AN INCONVENIENCE FOR ANYONE, SO THERE IS NO REASON NOT TO DO THIS NOW. THE SIGNS WILL MAKE THE INTERSECTIN SAFER AND SANER, AND THEY WILL CHIP AWAY AT THE AUTO-CENTRIC ATTITUDE THAT IS FAR TOO PREVALENT IN HUDSON.  IT'S A THREEE WAY INTERSECTION, AND A BUSY ONE, AND THERE SHOULD BE THREE STOP SIGNS TO CREATE A TRULY SAFE BUSY INTERSECTION.  THERE ARE TOO MANY PEDESTRIANS CROSSING FRONT STREET FOR US TO CONTINUE TO BE SO CARELESS, DISRESPECTFUL, NEGLIGENT, AND, FRANKLY, STUPID.  WAKE UP PEOPLE, BEFORE SOMEONE, OR AN ENTIRE FAMILY, IS RUN OVER BY SOMEONE SPEEDING THROUGH THE INTERSECTION THAT THE FAMILY ASSUMED WOULD HAVE A STOP SIGN TO STOP AT!  WHEN THOSE STOP SIGNS FINALLY GET INSTALLED, PLENTY OF SMART PEOPLE WILL WONDER WHY IT TOOK SO LONG TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.  I CAN TELL YOU THAT IN JUST ABOUT ANY OTHER TOWN OR CITY IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK, THEY WOULD NOT BE HAVING THIS DISCUSSION.  THE INTERSECTION WOULD HAVE HAD 3 STOP SIGNS DECADES AGO!

THE FACT THAT THIS DISCUSSION IS TAKING PLACE AT ALL IS A CLEAR INDICATION THAT SOMETHING IS WRONG IN THE CITY OF HUDSON IN TERMS OF CREATING SAFE STREETS FOR DRIVERS AND PEDESTRIANS OF ALL KINDS. 

CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE THE POLICE COMMISSIONER IS AND WHY IS HE IS ONCE AGAIN ABSENT FROM AN INFORMAL COUNCIL MEETING? WHY HE IS NOT AVAILABLE TO TAKE QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS AND NOT BE INVOLVED WITH MATTERS WITH WHICH HE IS EXPECTED TO HANDLE?  WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME THE POLICE COMMISSIONER ATTENDED A MEETING EITHER LIVE IN PERSON OR ON A SCREEN?  HE IS THE ONLY CITY OFFICIAL WHO CAN GET DPW TO INSTALL TRAFFIC CONTROL DEVICES, INCLUDING STOP SIGNS, IN THE GROUND!  HE IS THE ONLY CITY OFFICIAL WHO WE CAN RELY ON FOR SAFE STREETS!  WHERE THE HELL IS HE?  DO WE EVEN HAVE A POLICE COMMISSIONER?  WHAT IS HIS NAME?  IF HE ISN'T INTERESTED IN ATTENDING MEETINGS AND SHOWING US THAT HE CARES ENOUGH TO SHOW UP, WHY ARE WE RELYING ON HIM TO MAKE OUR STREETS SAFE FOR EVERYONE?  WHY WOULD WE RELY ON HIM TO DO AYHTING POSITIVE FOR THE CITY?

HELLO?  ANYONE HOME?

In ten years, will this guy still be the city official Hudson relies on 
for safe streets, including intersections with proper signage?