Time To Take A Break From The Craziness

 

Unless something truly irresistible to share comes along, HUDseen hopes to be back at it in mid-to-late September.

In the meantime, do not forget: 

Your Tax Dollars (Not) At Work

 

At least we know the solar panels work,
even through a clear plastic bag!  For now!

This All Makes $ense, Doesn't It?

 

You may have noticed that the contractor hired by the city to install dozens of curb ramps on a few downtown city streets has been busy on North 5th for the past two weeks.  As of today, Vosburgh & Sons, an excavation company - and, as far as I can tell, not a paving company -- seems to be finished with installing several corner ADA-compliant curb ramps at three intersections along 5th Street (Prison Alley, Long Alley, and State Street) that the Department of Justice told us several years ago were needed.  Included in the DOJ's list of intersections that needed ramps were the non-compliant and missing ones at the intersection of 5th & Columbia.

Garbage, Garbage, Garbage Everywhere! Garbage Over Here and Garbage Over There!

 

I'm pretty sure no Front Street residents asked for or demanded public trash cans as a requirement for the new DRI sidewalk along Front Street.  Rather, I think that Arterial, the designer for the DRI Streetscape project, just thought the dark black trash cans would look nice and serve a purpose.  Because, of course, people enjoying the view from the new benches along the sidewalk will be producing candy wrappers and empty soda cans and coffee cups like you won't believe.  

Do You Think Code Enforcement Cares? How About Sean Roland? How About The Planning Board?

The contractor handling the Pocketbook Factory hotel project, ARCO MURRAY, is well aware that they are not to begin work before 7 am, a rule that is in writing somewhere from the Planning Board's approval of this project.  No work and no noise until after 7 in the morning, a reasonable rule, especially given how close the project is to so many houses.  As far as I can tell, there are no special weekend rules regarding noise.  Work can, and does, begin on Sundays at 7 am (and sometimes before). 

Is This Not A Problem Yet For The Folks In London? How About For Rob Perry or Kamal Johnson?

 

As if it needs repeating on HUDseen:  National Grid, the utiltiy company that supplies Hudson with all of its electricity and natural gas and that owns all of Hudson's wooden utility poles and the electric lines attached to the top of them, including the pole shown above leaning ominously over Prison Alley, is headquartered in London.  Not London, NY (there isn't one).  Not London, Ohio (there is one).  But London, England.  You know, the city and country found across the Atlantic Ocean in Europe.

Signs? What Signs? And What Else Is HE "Forgetting"?

Fifty-four weeks ago, on August 3rd, 2024, two cars met at the intersection of 4th & Columbia after the driver on 4th Street ran the red light. (I overheard the driver say that he "didn't see the red light.")  The car with the green light, traveling east on Columbia (it's a good thing it wasn't a tractor trailer ON THE TRUCK ROUTE), careened over the curb near Helsinki, knocked over sign pole with 3 signs on it, narrowly missed a tree, then wound up back in the street.  That car was likely also totaled, with its axle being bent by the impact with the curb.  DPW removed the signs right away and, a month or two later, installed a white stop line for 4th Street traffic at an intersection with its fair share of collisions.  (Don't you love how it took another crash there to get a stop line installed!  Thank goodness for the crash!)

Was Rob Perry Made Aware of Wednesday's Flood In The 300 Block of Columbia? Does He Even Care Why The Flood Occurred Or If One Did? It Appears Not. Is He Completely Checked Out?

 

As of yesterday afternoon, 48 hours after Wednesday's flood event at the bottom of the valley-shaped 300 block of Columbia Street that saw water rise 18 inches and damage at least two cars, DPW still hadn't removed the debris clogging most of the storm drain across the street from 325 Columbia that was a big cause of the flood, if not the primary cause of the flood.  They have completely ignored all the shit stuck to the storm drain that is waiting ONCE AGAIN to prevent as much rainwater as possible from getting off the street.  Honestly, what the fuck?  Perhaps Rob Perry and his foreman, Frank Rogers, will find the time on Monday have a look at the drain, but don't count on it.  How about never?  (As of this writing, a rainstorm is due in a few hours.)

Welcome To Hudson. Now Get Out Of Their Way Or You May Regret It!

 

A New Committee Of Concern You're Probably Not Aware Of

Sometime early this year or late last year, due to concerns about rising deficits at the Columbia County Solid Waste Department, a group of 9 Public Works Committe members (possibly all of them) was formed to get costs and deficits under control at CCSWD.  The committee is called the Solid Waste Workgroup and as far as I can tell they have only met once, in May of this year. Things are so bad at CCSWD (a "$900,000 deficit" in May) that the committee is looking into the idea of creating an enterprise fund, a concept I am unfamiliar with.  But the enterprise fund idea was, according to minutes of the May meeting, "flagged by auditors."  Basically, I think, the CCSWD is unable to manage itself properly and the Solid Waste Workgroup is looking at all alternatives to right the ship.  The CCSWD, as we know it, may have to be completely revamped or taken over by a private entity.  I'm not kidding about the latter.

It Probably Occurs More Often Than Anyone Can Imagine

 

This afternoon at 4:00, I was biking on Warren directly behind an eastbound white Jeep as we approached the red light at 4th Street.  The driver barely stopped, failed to signal, and took a right turn to head the wrong way on 4th with no vehicles headed their way.  The driver made it to Union without encountering any oncoming vehicles, stopping as if they wanted to turn right, once again with no signal.  At the same time, an eastbound car on Union turned very awkwardly and widely onto 4th, barely avoiding a collision.  The Jeep then made the turn onto Union without incident.

Who At HPD Writes These Things?

 

If, instead of a vehicle and an ebike meeting at the intersection of 1st & Warren the other day, it had been a vehicle colliding with a pedestrian or two, would the title of the announcement still include the abbreviation vs. (as in versus) to make it sound like some sort of contest or battle, like King Kong vs Godzilla or Mets vs Yankees?

How Many Steps Are There To The Second Floor? And Back Down?

 

Good luck if you are disabled
or easily annoyed! (Today)

Rainwater One And A Half Feet Above Columbia Street! Does Rob Perry Care?

The pictures seen here were taken near 325 Columbia, the low elevation point in the 300 block, about two hours after the deluge of rain we had early yesterday afternoon caused a serious flood event there.  Apparently, the two storm drains alongside 325 were clogged with debris, allowing water to rise as high as about 18 inches above the street level.  You can see from the disturbed mulch in front of  325 where the water reached the second tree from the street, which is on a slight incline. Across the street among the houses, the top of the debris line on the white wall next to 324 Columbia was precisely 13 inches above the sidewalk (the curb there is about 5 inches high).  At least one flooded car was towed away, and the owner of a flooded car parked on Columbia told me that when he got to his parked car during the rain to close his sun roof there was "water inside up to the front seats." He was fortunate; his car started and he drove it away.

It's Confusing! It's Head-Spinning! And Kind of Hilarious! And No One, Not Even Me, Could Make This Stuff Up!

But HUDseen is here to help try to make sense of it all!

A few years ago, the city hired a parking consultant to write us a report on what the city needed to do about its perceived parking woes.  We paid a guy named John Forster $24,000 to tell us that, among many things, we needed to get rid of our meters for kiosks, we needed to create an independent Parking Bureau, and we needed to create more parking opportunities for visitors.

"Might Be," You Say? "Might Be"?

Last night, to conclude his DPW report to the Common Council, Rob Perry spent a minute or two talking about the Ferry Street bridge project.  He included this: "The bridge physically is done.  There might be some minor punch list items.  We don't know if DOT has conducted their final inspection; we don't think so."  (Who is this "we" anyway?  And has Mr. Perry (or they) conducted his own inspection to look for any "minor items" that might need attention?  Or is he hoping DOT will take care of that for him?)

Well, Now We Know...

 

... that extra wide sidewalks are good for at least one thing!

The Never-Ending, Dangerous & Annoying Renovation Project at 6th & Columbia

 

Last year it was a dumpster blocking almost all of the sidewalk along the Columbia Street portion of the truck route.  Now this.  The man wanted to step into the street to get around the lift, but the woman wisely suggested otherwise.  Of course, as usual for the past two years, the contractor has left nothing there telling pedestrians where to walk safely AND TO NOT WALK IN THE STREET.  And the city is perfectly fine with that.  Think Rob Perry cares if a contractor's lift forces pedestrians to walk for 30 feet in the truck route?  (DPW issues Sidewalk Permits to contractors closing off and occupying sidewalks with machinery and dumpsters.)

While On The Subject Of...

... subpar paving work, there is this.

Surprise, Surprise! Luizzi Left Us "Junk." (What Is The Going Rate For A City Manager These Days?)

The only noteworthy thing revealed during last Thursday's Public Works Board meeting came from Mayor's Aide and ADA-Coordinator, Justin Weaver, the city official keeping an eye on all things ADA-related, including Luizzi's recently (not so) completed DRI street and sidewalk work on the city's west end.  It was noteworthy, for sure, but not at all surprising.  Justin's few-minute ADA/DRI update began 16 minutes into the half hour meeting.

Welcome To (The Entrance To) Hudson.

Click below for more fun pictures!

Another Week Of No Operating Kiosks and Plenty Of Concern

 

I was recently told by an employee at T2 Systems, the company that manufactured the 16 parking kiosks the city bought for $139,000, that a one-year warranty came with the purchase, but that after a year the city will have to pay to extend the warranty if they care to.  I guess that will be up to the Police Chief and the HPD Clerk/Parking Bureau Supervisor who, apparently, will be making all the decisions about kiosks and all other matters related to parking from now on.

A Thousand Words At The Very Least!

 

How Careless Can A City Be?

Hit this metal tub full of dirt with your car "by accident" and you will likely walk away unscathed (but cursing).   Of course, your day will be ruined, and you may need to have your car towed because it too was ruined. 

DPWWTF?

Longtime HUDseen readers may recall an article from 2023 focusing on an issue at the southeast corner of 3rd & State well after DPW moved the trash can there across the street soon after it had been knocked to the ground one too many times by an errant turning tractor trailer.  Basically, DPW left a hole in the sidewalk where the metal base to the trash can had been imbedded.  They extracted the base (if it didn't tear out on its own), installed base and can across the street but decided to leave the mess they had created on a sidewalk that the property owner of the building at the corner is expected to maintain. Typical DPW sloppiness and disrespect from a department "supervised" by a consummate slob.

Down On The New Corner (in case you hadn't noticed)

 

Scenes from 2nd & Warren today.

Who Owns Our Sidewalks? Is It That Utility Company Based In Europe?

 

Sometimes ya just gotta wonder if National Grid and DPW Superintendent Rob Perry communicate at all.  Or if Perry cares to communicate with National Grid at all.

Something To Laugh About?

There hasn't been much, if anything, to laugh about over DPW's recent efforts to paint our street curbs yellow, but this might be the exception.

In Other Words, Don't Expect Any Enforcement From HPD To Stop The E-Bike Problem That Is Spiraling Out of Control. Because, Apparently, There is No E-Bike Problem To Begin With!

The next time you see someone in town operating an electric bike or scooter (or two people on a bike meant for one) doing something really stupid, dangerous or illegal (or possibly all of them together) -- including riding too fast, weaving in and out of traffic, blowing through a stop sign or red light, riding on the wrong side of the street, riding the wrong way on a one way street, and especially, riding on a sidewalk -- keep in mind what our Chief of Police had to say at the end of her HPD report at June's informal Common Council meeting.  If you can you make heads or tails about what she was getting at in regard to the issue of e-bikes, your reasoning skills are much better than mine.  

Guns & Cotton Candy: A Public Opinion Survey

 

Q:  Do you feel that it is appropriate, as I witnessed Saturday, for a uniformed police officer to be conspicuously armed with a large service pistol in a hip holster while serving free cotton candy at a festival primarily to children of color?  

Do you feel that this is acceptable, regardless of what food an HPD officer is serving and to whom they are serving it to?

"Is It Okay If I Park Here? Am I Allowed To Use This Sidewalk?" Welcome To Hudson.

 

Soon after I noticed this mess on the sidewalk of the 300 block Union Street last night at 8:00, I called HPD to request that they come clean it up.   After all, the signs had their name on them and DPW wouldn't be available for another 3 days.  On Thursday, I had noticed that two of the signs with cones were flat on the ground while a crew of at least five men from one of National Grid's many contractors was removing an old utility pole and doing other work at the corner.  They, and the cones and NO PARKING signs, were there Wednesday as well.  The utility contractor from Latham by the name of D&D Power left that fucking mess for us on the sidewalk for the weekend.

Are They All Blind? Are They All Okay With People Falling On A City-Owned Sidewalk Just To Pay For A Parking Space?

 

10 days ago, near the end of the final meeting of the Ad Hoc Parking Study Committee (I will miss that name so much!), committee head Jen Belton had this to say about the implementation of the city's very ambitious parking kiosk project that she and the other committee members will not be a part of:  "Now it's in the hands of Doreen and Chief Franklin.  And I'm sure they're going to do a great job."  Doreen Danforth is the longtime Hudson Police Department clerk and recently appointed Parking Bureau Supervisor.  Chief Franklin is, of course, Chief of Hudson Police, Mishanda Franklin, who looks to be ready to give birth to her second child in two years.