Lots more below...
The 8 x 11-inch plastic laminated "LOT Parking ONLY" sign pictured above is taped to a light pole in the small parking lot on the west side of 325 Columbia Street, the Columbia County Mental Health Center, one of four parking lots for the building (two are across the street). The county owns three of those four lots.
Our Police Department is expecting anyone parking during the day in the lot closest to 3rd Street -- on Saturdays only (read the fine print near the bottom if you can) -- to do one of three things: scan the code on the little plastic laminated "sign" with their phone so they can pay to park on the city's parking app which, of course, would be a real pleasure to do in the rain, snow, sleet or cold (or all of them at once); or walk to the other side of the building and through that parking lot (in the rain and in and on snow and ice possibly) to its southwest corner to get to the not-so-conspicuous parking kiosk there and pay for the parking space they are occupying but can't see that is located a country mile away on the other side of the county-owned building. That would be at least a 90-second walk (if you know there is a kiosk to use and where it is, of course), and you had better have your license plate memorized. And don't bother bringing dollar bills, because the kiosk won't accept them! Put a pound or two of quarters in your pockets instead and count on adding another 30 seconds to your walk! That is, if you know there is a kiosk to use and where the hell it is. The third option, of course, is to just strangle someone.
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| Is that the kiosk over there? |
The problem that no one at HPD, the Parking Bureau or the Mayor's Office seems to understand or be concerned with is that the City of Hudson does not own the parking lot on the east side of the building, the one closest to 3rd Street. It is owned by Columbia County, as it and all four of the lots should be. But the main, much larger lot on the east side of the building is actually owned by the City of Hudson. (Yes, it's true.) You may recall a recent HUDseen article showing that no one on the Parking Study Committee, including Tom Depietro and chairperson Jen Belton, knew that the city owned that sizeable parking lot. Late in the committee's existence, though, Police Chief Franklin told members that she was "pretty sure the city owned that lot." And she was correct. Ultimately, it was her suggestion to the committee to meter (with a kiosk) that lot... for one day of the week only. And so it was done. But there was never a suggestion or discussion to meter the lot on the west side of the building, not even from our Police Chief. Why? Because the City of Hudson can't create parking rules and enforce parking on property it doesn't own. Any reasonable person would conclude that HPD can't issue parking violation tickets in a parking lot it doesn't own, right? Heck, even Tom Depietro and Kamal Johnson might be stumped by that one. Not that either one of them gives a hoot, though!
Oh, by the way, the countdown has begun. We are less than one month away from HPD's recent announcement that "all of Warren Street - from Front Street to Prospect Avenue/Worth Avenue - will be designated as metered 2-hour parking."** This I am looking forward to! Don't you feel so much safer knowing that HPD will be furiously trying to meter upper and lower Warren by "January 5, 2026"? There are only ten kiosks in storage that have been gathering dust since early February!
** This was the announcement made by HPD on the city's website on November 17th. Twice! Yes, you can choose from two of them, though with different titles and different backgrounds. What's inside the two are essentially identical. They're really, really serious about this! It's gonna happen on time! On time! Less than a month from today! From today!
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