Didn't Craig Haigh Recently Request A Salary Raise?

 

The owner of the former church at 64 North 6th Street is a serial code violator when it comes to snow and ice on his long expanse of sidewalk, also known as a public right-of-way.  Though head Code Enforcement Officer Craig Haigh is told (reminded, really) of the property's dangerous violations at least once after every snowfall, nothing changes year after year.  It didn't take me long to come to the conclusion several years ago that Code Enforcement just isn't getting it done.  Either they can't or they just don't want to.

Given enough time -- even just a day or two -- snow, as it tends to do, often turns to ice. And that's what we recently got once again from both Code Enforcement (by doing nothing about the repeat code violation and violator once again) and the owner of 64 North 6th Street (also doing nothing about their dangerous sidewalk once again).  We can't continue to find this acceptable!  It took someone 10 days after the 4 inches of snow fell on Tuesday, December 2nd, to spread salt on the nearly completely ice-covered sidewalk in front of 64 North 6th (it was done Friday) that had been ignored for, yes, 10 days and, especially, 10 nights. This is in front of the so-called church that has been inactive and vacant for at least 4 years while it continues to be 100% tax-exempt to this day.  The owner pays no property taxes year after year, he doesn't lift a finger or spend a fucking dime to fix the rotting eye-sore up (because Code Enforcement isn't forcing him to), the building remains vacant for years with no one working on it, no one sweeps the sidewalk or the damaged stone steps of snow before they turn to ice, the building looks like shit (especially form the rear where many missing and broken windows can be seen) and is probably a fire hazard, an active dumpster in the back inches from the alley is often overflowing with trash, and there are what appear to be 4 abandoned vehicles in the back lot.  

How on earth is this acceptable to the Code Enforcement Office, the Mayor's Office, and every member of the Hudson Common Council, including both 3rd ward so-called representatives?  How many other buildings in Hudson are allowed to be treated with such negligence by both the city and the owner AND CONTINUE TO BE 100% TAX EXEMPT?

As well as recently requesting a raise from the BEA, I seem to recall that Craig Haigh expressed the need for either a full-time clerk or a full-time enforcement officer (or both).  Last I checked, Craig has two or three part-time enforcement officers and possibly one part-time clerk (that position may have been vacated recently).  It's difficult to know what's going on at our Code Enforcement Office; the physical office is located blocks from City Hall, the front door is often locked late in the day before 5:00, and it's one of the few departments that does not offer a monthly report to the Common Council.  It is as if City Hall doesn't care what is and isn't going on inside 77 North 7th Street Suite 2 or if Craig is having difficulty enforcing the city's code. 

At 1 pm this past Thursday, I walked into the CEO offices located on Washington Street behind a woman with a large roll of blueprints in her hands.  Though the two outside doors were not locked, there was a small sign on the service window to Craig Haigh's office for people just like us (of course, it could have been posted on the outside door).  The hands on the image of the clock indicated that someone would be back in the office at 2:00, one hour later.  Out we went, having not seen nor spoken to anyone.  In other words, Craig was out of the office but there was no one else there to help city residents with whatever code enforcement-related issues they had come to his office to get help with.  Like, perhaps, informing Code Enforcement of an ice-covered sidewalk or two in their neighborhood -- a few hundred feet from the CEO offices -- that was continuing to be ignored for days or weeks and might soon kill someone or put them in the hospital if it hadn't already.  

Whatever!

Perhaps Craig and an enforcer or two of his were busy near the County Courthouse, though I doubt it.  You see, the flagstones on the sidewalk along East Court Street (in front of at least one law firm) that put two people in the hospital last winter are still there being walked on.  They shouldn't be.   As I was told by the ambulance driver, the elderly man shown in the picture above fell and hit his head (and who knows what else) on that stone "sidewalk" just a few minutes after a woman had been taken away in a different ambulance after she fell on the same section of slippery-beyond-belief flagstone code violation sidewalk!  Boom, Boom -- welcome to Hudson, land of ignored code violations hoping to fuck you up for life or, better yet, end it immediately.  I was told that the woman did not hit her head on the flagstone sidewalk and that she fell a few feet away from where the man soon fell.  I took a few steps on the "sidewalk" near Partition Street to take a picture and it was frighteningly fucking slippery.  I did not feel stable even standing still.  I'm not kidding when I say that I was afraid to move.  It was no different than standing on a frozen pond, but at least in that case you know what is below you and you've made the decision to walk on it.  The people tending to the victim even had a difficult time walking and standing on the "sidewalk."  I was much safer standing and walking in the street.

Like any unsafe city sidewalk with just one tripping hazard, a sidewalk made of flagstones or any material besides concrete is a code violation.  CODE VIOLATION!  Why?  Because the lovely fucking stones are deadly even with a light dusting of snow on them!  And because they tend to break apart and not to stay level over time! Have you had the pleasure over the past several years of walking along the so-called sidewalk on the east side of North 5th north of Prospect Street?  Give it a try some day (or night!) if you haven't, even after all this snow and ice melts.  It's a real joy.  Snow, ice, no snow or ice, whatever the conditions -- I suggest you wear a bicycle helmet.  If you are disabled or not so stable on your feet, I suggest you walk in the street instead and just have a look at what you are avoiding.

The portion in the background is the worst of it!

9 or 10 days ago, a few days after last Tuesday's snowfall, Code Enforcement was informed of the snow and ice on most of the sidewalk in front of 68 North 6th Street (adjacent to 64), yet another serial slippery sidewalk code violator. (Like 64 North 6th, the property owner does not live in Hudson.)  Guess what has happened since then?  The ice has only remained as slippery as can be but now it is covered in this morning's two inches of snow, making it impossible to notice until you hit slam your chin on it.  Sorry about that, pal!  Are you a taxpaying Hudson resident?  Hope you recover soon!

The question is, if someone were to slip and fall on ice in front of any serial code violator's property that Code Enforcement can't or won't do anything about year after year, shouldn't the City of Hudson be held liable for any injuries or death that might occur?  What the hell do we have a city code for if not to keep us all safe?  What the hell do we have a Code Enforcement Office for if not to prevent serial code violators by dealing with them properly and sternly and putting an end to the bullshit and dangers as quickly as possible and for good?  What enforcement abilities (teeth!) does our Code Enforcement Office have when it comes to safe and respectable sidewalks in winter, spring, summer and fall?  None?  It sure seems like it, doesn't it?  And it sure seems like the rest of City Hall doesn't give a crap, either!

Nearly two weeks after snowfall.  If you look really hard, 
you might see the CEO offices in the background.