Where There Once Was A Sidewalk, There Are Now Parked Cars

Prior to Galvan's efforts on North 7th Street to help solve the city's housing crisis, one could walk the eastern sidewalk there in a straight line from State Street to the end of the street at the confluence of the DSS driveway and Washington Street.  Crossing the (only) intersection at Railroad Avenue (which is quite a busy on weekday mornings) was, well, normal.  You made sure no vehicles were headed your way before walking straight ahead, crossing the street and continuing on with the last stretch of sidewalk towards your destination, possibly one of the 3 houses ahead.  Yes, all the while walking straight ahead -- you know, normal-like.  No turns. No steep curbs to step over or up onto.  No wondering or saying out loud, "what the fuck do I do now?"  And when you were done, say, with your walk in the woods behind or around Oakdale Lake, you might walk back along the same straight-as-an-arrow sidewalk on 7th Street, the one with no encumbrances, if a bit narrow at times. 

These sidewalks used to line up, as they should.

Before quiet little North 7th Street was transformed.

But since Galvan took away that straight and somewhat respectable sidewalk so they could have parking spaces in front of their wonderous apartment building at 76 North Street, the two sections of sidewalk north and south of Railroad Avenue no longer line up. The creation of the new sidewalk was not made with pedestrians in mind -- it was made with vehicles and the comfort of the building's tenants in mind. Of course, there may be five or more retail shops coming to the first floor of the building, creating a wild crush of pedestrians on little old 7th Street (at least that's what Kamal Johnson and his landlord, Galvan, are hoping for!).

Because there had been no parking allowed on the east side of the street where the building now stands, the street needed to be widened a bit to accommodate the new parking spaces in front of the building (as well as emergency vehicles using 7th Street). So, the new sidewalk that Galvan's contractor recently installed between State Street and Railroad Avenue is about ten feet further east than the original sidewalk that had been in place since perhaps the Civil War era. There was no way around it: if there was to be parking on the east side of 7th Street in front of Galvan's property, the sidewalk had to be shifted. And so, pedestrians got shafted. Once again.

Yes, this is the curb ramp meant to allow people to 
safely cross Railroad Avenue, as well as for those who 
have just safely crossed it.  The ramp leads to
and from 7th Street, not Railroad Avenue.

Now anyone on two feet approaching Railroad Avenue (headed north, let's say) hoping to get from one sidewalk to the other is directed away from walking straight ahead.  Where there once was a curb ramp at the southeast corner for pedestrians to safely and easily cross Railroad Avenue by walking straight ahead, there is a high curb.  But pedestrians are not to go there anymore.  In full-on Hudson sidewalk insanity mode, to cross Railroad Avenue one is expected to use the curb ramp along State Street, then, to reach Railroad Avenue, walk for about 40 feet on 7th Street where traffic and parked cars can be found and no painted crosswalk will ever be found.  It's true (and nuts) -- instead of facing north, the new curb ramp now faces west, forcing pedestrians to turn, then walk in 7th street for a bit and navigate their way around and across an intersection that is busy in the morning and is sure to be busier soon all day and night.  Of course, tenants of the apartment building will also be forced to walk in the street, not just locals who walk along 7th Street.  (One of the worst things, if not the worst thing, you can do for pedestrians at intersections -- especially for the disabled -- is to make them turn and walk or wheelchair in the street away from their desired path.)   

The truth of the matter is that what we now have on North 7th Street at Railroad Avenue never would have been allowed to be created anywhere on Warren Street, State Street, Columbia Street, and so on.  The fact that 7th Street is not a major pedestrian thoroughfare is beside the point -- this sets another awful precedent for a city supposedly trying to make things better for pedestrians all over town.  Hudson seems to be becoming less pedestrian-friendly than more so.  Let's face it, cars and trucks rule just as much as Galvan does!

A painted crosswalk here is an impossibility!

Crossing Railroad Avenue while walking on the east side of North 7th Street used to be a no-fucking-brainer.  Now it is about as dangerous and disrespectful of pedestrians as one could concoct, all because creating parking spaces for vehicles was more important than leaving a sidewalk alone and in a straight line on either side of an intersection.

I looked at the original plans for 76 North 7th Street that Galvan submitted to the Hudson Planning Board two years ago.  The sidewalk and curb ramp we now have are where they had planned them to be and what the board approved.