How Coffee and Snow Reveal What HPD and DPW Can't Seem To Get Straight!

The downtown NO PARKING ZONE that is perhaps most commonly ignored by drivers is the lengthy one found on the west side of the south end of Park Place, at the intersection with Warren Street.  It's no coincidence that there is a popular coffee shop across the street.  Hang around there long and often enough and you'll see it all in that signless NO PARKING ZONE:  a parked car idling with no one inside, or maybe a passenger waiting; people parking there who then disembark and head straight across the street for their fix; customers returning to their illegally parked car with coffee(s) and treat(s) in hand; parked cars not idling, maybe with flashers on (as if that makes it okay to park there for  any amount of time), usually without anyone inside; 1, 2 or, in very rare instances, even 3 vehicles illegally parked because caffeine is required.  It's been scientifically proven that Caffeine Deficiency Syndrome often trumps parking rules, and the effects of the debilitating illness can be witnessed at Park & Warren just about every hour of every day from 7:00 - 4:00 (the other side of the street, where the coffee is sold, gets its fair share of illegal parkers, too).

But what I came across in the late afternoon on Sunday, December 14th, outdid anything I had previously seen at that intersection: there were three illegally parked cars taking up the entire NO PARKING ZONE.  The trifecta!  The pickup truck at the front of the line was idling, its flashers were on and there was someone in the driver's seat.  The two other cars were empty but not idling.  Figuring they might be interested in doing something about the situation, I called HPD to suggest they come have a look.  I don't know what, if anything, resulted from that call.

You call this a NO PARKING ZONE????

About 21 hours later -- yes, the following afternoon -- I hit the jackpot again: three parked cars filled the same so-called NO PARKING ZONE!  None of their engines were idling.  Twenty minutes later, I noticed that the remaining two cars had each received a $25 NO PARKING ZONE ticket.  One wonders if either of the owners of those ticketed cars knew they had parked in a NO PARKING ZONE before they read their ticket.  HPD certainly didn't care if they didn't know.

Ticketed for parking along a yellow curb
and on top of white lines! 

Notice in the pictures how well DPW cleared the sidewalk of snow but ignored the yellow curb and white lines in the street!  DPW doesn't give a hoot if drivers can't see any of that paint!  Which is also to say that Rob Perry doesn't care if drivers make things dangerous for other drivers, truckers, cyclists and pedestrians by unknowingly parking in a NO PARKING ZONE.  It's not part of his job description to care about such an annoyance as making sure our streets are as safe as possible at all times for everyone!  Go ahead, ask him!

Within a day or two, it was clear to me that HPD had had enough of my calls, finally getting the hint I was sending them:  It's not a proper NO PARKING ZONE if there aren't any NO PARKING signs, especially in the winter when DPW makes zero effort to clear snow off their yellow curb and off their silly, meaningless white lines on the pavement less than two feet from the curb.  Make a better effort if you don't want to hear from me or anyone else about the situation and so that we know you care about safe streets for everyone, including bicyclists and pedestrians!

You'd think this was rocket science.

Here is what HPD decided to do about the recurring parking problem they have been aware of for years (just ask any parking enforcer) that is worse in the winter: 

Why bother removing the snow?
Because it's turned to ice?

And here is what the "solution" to the parking problem looks like about 9 days later:

No more orange cones!

Will there be a permanent solution someday,
or will this be the "solution" every winter?

Those signs are truly lovely, aren't they?  How much money did the effort to get them in place (and to get rid of the cones) cost us?  How much brain power did it require and take away from other, more pressing issues at HPD and possibly at DPW?  Who ultimately made the decision that a temporary solution needed to be made?  Was DPW Superintendent Rob Perry, our sign master, involved?  How long will the lovely orange signs remain?  When will DPW install a NO PARKING ANY TIME sign on the sidewalk at each end of the NO PARKING ZONE?   In the year 2036?  Why haven't there been a pair of NO PARKING ANY TIME signs there for years?  Is DPW broke?  Is no one paying attention, including Rob Perry?  Does City Hall have an inter-departmental communications problem, particularly between HPD and DPW?  

A city full of inconsistencies!

.

This car was parked along a yellow curb 
several days after an early December snow.
Yellow curb, white curb, whatever!

Anyway, thank goodness for Park Place's temporary orange NO PARKING signs in the street and on the sidewalk for weeks or, hopefully, months; they're a true testament to how things are handled professionally, efficiently, properly and at the least cost possible. And thank goodness for HPD issuing parking tickets to vehicles that don't deserve them! They sure need the money!

It's interesting to note that the only reason Park Place's long NO PARKING ZONE exists is due to the truck route.  The longest of the tractor trailers and other behemoth trucks passing through town need all the space they can use turning off of Warren onto Park (and, to a lesser degree, turning in the other direction).  And so, thanks to the truck route, downtown Hudson is missing at least three metered parking spaces, which also means the city is missing out on an important thing called parking revenue, a topic of much discussion and concern of late.  The city is desperate for more revenue and more parking spaces, but the truck route is doing its best to get in the way of both of those things.  Of course, if DPW does finally install a permanent NO PARKING sign or two at the end of Park Place, we can chalk that expense up to the truck route!

Sometime soon into next year, I'm hoping that a certain unnamed new member of the Common Council will ask Rob Perry the following question:  Can you give us ballpark figures as to how much time DPW spends and how much money taxpayers spend annually repairing and replacing the damage that trucks inflict on our streets and our water and sewer infrastructure below the damaged streets?