HUDseen: Need A Good Laugh and Possibly a Cry? Try This Study In Contrasts!

If you'd like to get a real-time, true sense of how deplorable the sidewalk situation in Hudson continues to be, carefully step on over to the eastern end of Prospect Street to behold two examples that are quite different but both part of the same intransigent problem: a Hudson City Hall that refuses to care about pedestrians or the sidewalks we all walk on. For the time being, perhaps these pictures will help.

First up is the 50 feet length of "sidewalk" that was recently installed along the south side of the street. The work seems to have been done by a twelve-year-old with plastic toy tools (or no tools at all). What passes for a new sidewalk (which is already crumbling) just might make you laugh out loud, that is, if you don't fall flat on your face first. (Remember: anyone replacing a sidewalk must get a permit and permission from DPW to do so. Presumably, Rob Perry's department also inspects new sidewalks to see that they conform to the code requirements as found in chapter A330-1. Presumably, Perry also has some means to force property owners to replace new sidewalks that do not conform to the code.)

What the hell is this? It's not meant to be
walked on or looked at, is it?

If you make it all the way across the new "sidewalk" alive, cross the end of Prospect Street to appreciate the new sidewalks surrounding the multimillion-dollar Pocketbook Factory project in very full swing. These sidewalks were not installed by children! No, sir! The bottomless pocketed Pocketbook investors spared no money getting their (our) three sidewalks installed! This is top notch work, done with all pedestrians in mind! Right?

(Aside: Is this ugly, or what?)

Not so fast, buddy! Below is a screenshot of Chapter A330-1 of the City Code, titled Curb and sidewalk requirements. It appears that the millionaire "developers" Sean Roland and Gabe Katz, as well as their project designer, were never made aware of this chapter of Hudson's code -- not by the Planning Board, not by Rob Perry and not by Craig Haigh at the Code Enforcement Office across the street from the project. Nor did the Pocketbook people seek chapter A330-1 out for themselves (The A stands for appendix).

As you can see in the first line, the requirement for new sidewalks is 4 inches (in thickness) by 5 feet (in width). However, the very new concrete sidewalks surrounding the planned hotel, wellness center, bar, retail, office, etc. along Prospect, Washington and 6th Streets are all exactly 4 feet wide. They missed it by one foot, all the way around the block-long building! The green spaces soon coming to the sides of the three sidewalks show that Sean, Gabe and their fancy architects had plenty of space to create sidewalks meeting or exceeding the required 5-foot width for code compliant sidewalks. And, make no doubt about it, the sidewalks they ripped out a few years ago that had been around for decades were at least 5 feet wide. Did anyone from the Planning Board, DPW or Code Enforcement think to remind the project developers or to check the Pocketbook plans to make sure the fucking replacement sidewalks would meet simple code standards -- especially the width -- BEFORE THE PROJECT WAS APPROVED IN DECEMBER OF 2021? Apparently not. How about the nearly four years since then? Sorry, no!

Who involved with the Pocketbook project decided that 4-foot-wide sidewalks would suffice? Did the residents in the neighborhood ask for twice as much green space than walking space between the building and the streets! Is this really what the neighborhood needs? Clearly, the developers are more concerned with their customers and guests than they are with anyone living or walking nearby. The fucking place hasn't even opened yet and the disrespect to locals is already clearly evident on the sidewalks where we all have to walk, hobble and use wheelchairs!

Gabe and Sean's new Washington Street sidewalk in a residential
area. 4 feet wide with 6 feet of green space on the outside and
another 5 feet on the inside.

The old sidewalk across 6th Street is exactly 6 feet wide, excluding the curb stone.

The code-required sidewalk width is at (a minimum of) 5 feet for a reason: it allows plenty of room for two people to walk side by side and for two people to pass one another without difficulty or fear of being knocked over or into the street. 4 feet of sidewalk fails that test. It's simply not adequate or respectful.

Well, at least all the greenery that will soon line the Pocketbook hotel's narrow, non-compliant sidewalks will look attractive from a distance and in the pictures soon to come to the Pocketbook hotel/spa/bar/community bullshit website.

Galvan's new sidewalk on 7th Street in
front of their Depot Lofts is exactly
5 feet wide. Someone read the fucking memo!

In front of the Firestation on Washington,
5 feet wide!

The question is, do Rob Perry and Craig Haigh give a hoot that the new sidewalks surrounding the Pocketbook Factory don't meet even the most basic of code requirements? Has either one of them bothered to inspect the few hundred feet of concrete since the job was completed two weeks ago? Did they bring a tape measurer for their inspection? Whose sidewalks are they anyway, Sean Roland's and Gabe Katz's or the people of Hudson's? Will the city give Sean and Gabe a pass on their mistake? Do you suppose Sean and Gabe can afford to redo their sidewalks to make them at least 5 feet wide? If someone were to point out the mistake they made, would Sean and Gabe care to do something about it?

Bigger questions: If our City Hall can allow a contractor to create hundreds of feet of sidewalk that miss the width requirement by one foot, how will our Sidewalk Improvement District fantasy project ever succeed? AND what else can't City Hall pay attention to if not to the required width of a fucking public right of way such as a sidewalk? What else will it allow contractors and developers to get away with both inside and outside buildings?