Pictures Of A City On The Brink Of Going Nowhere!

The rusted white van with all of the junk surrounding, above and inside it that has been parked LEGALLY AND UNTICKETED in the city-owned parking lot directly behind City Hall for the past eleven and a half months represents how bad things have gotten in Hudson (and inside City Hall) lately.  The van might as well have an image of Kamal Johnosn's face spray painted on its side. With his beaming smile, of course.  With the caption, Why Did You Think I Would Care About Anything?

Don't open that fucking door!

The question on everyone's mind is whether on January 5th the city clerk's office will issue the owner of the rusty white van his second annual $250 parking lot permit so that he can continue to leave his lovely van and belongings unmoved and unticketed in the same space FOR ONE MORE YEAR in the City Hall lot, as the city allowed him to do this year by issuing him a parking lot permit.  Don't you wish there were more permitted vehicles like that van in all of our parking lots?  Imagine the revenue we'd be swimming in!  Budget woes solved!  Let's celebrate!

The application for a Municipal Parking Lot permit does not ask for any information regarding the vehicle inside which the permit is to be displayed.

(Since the city created a Parking Bureau and it moved out of City Hall to the police station, why on earth is the City Clerk still issuing $250 municipal parking lot permits?  Where does all that revenue go to ultimately?)

"Here's you permit, do whatever you want  
with it. Display it in any vehicle you like."

This, apparently, is what a $250 annual parking lot permit is 
intended to create and allow.  For an entire year!

This chunk of loose concrete curb has been  
ignored by DPW for months.  Or is it the Parking 
Bureau that has been ignoring it?

Bring on the kiosks!

Ditto with this chunk of curb, a few feet 
from a $9,000 parking kiosk that was installed 
on the wrong side of the lot.  (Even a parking 
enforcer agreed with me on that assessment.)

The vehicle shown below, also full of junk, also displaying a $250 2025 parking lot permit and also owned by the same person who owns the lovely white van on the other side of the lot, appeared in March or April of this year and has not moved since.  In a few weeks, will the Clerk's Office (supervised by Mayor Joe Ferris?) allow the owner to be issued another parking lot permit for this vehicle so that he can leave it in the lot for all of 2026?  Will the city issue two more permits to the same person for both of his vehicles? The fact that these questions even need to be asked (and they do!) shows how bad things have gotten at City Hall.  Is it any surprise that City Hall can't seem to get its finances in order?

Permitted in that space for 9 months.  The junk came 
off the top a week or two ago.

Need more evidence of how no one is paying attention?  Shown below is a parked car that has been unmoved for at least the past 17 days in the city's Warren Street parking lot nearest to 4th Street.  When parking enforcers issue parking tickets to vehicles in this lot, the location on the ticket refers to the parking lot as "Reg Star" lot, as in Register Star.  I'm not kidding.  As readers may know, until a few years ago, our local newspaper's offices were found directly across the street from the lot.  The offices are now located in the 100 block of Warren, I believe.

Nearly completely flat!

Evidence of no movement in a long time

The black car -- parked in a designated Parking Permit Only space -- has one flat tire, one parking ticket issued over two weeks ago, one 2025 parking lot permit on the dashboard (that is supposed to be hanging on the rear view mirror), one business card on the dashboard indicating the owner is associated with a local business (as if to say to enforcers, "Leave my car alone, I'm allowed to leave it here for as long as I like!"), one expired inspection sticker, one expired registration sticker and one expired temporary registration card.  And the city is okay with this car that hasn't moved for at least 17 days and nights parked in a 20-space city-owned parking lot in the heart of Hudson's business district.  One fucked up, stupid situation made possible by a City Hall (and mayor) that can't seem to get much of anything right.  Can you think of any other city, town or village in the entire country where this would be acceptable and the norm?

The message from the City Clerk's Office, HPD and its Parking Bureau is clear: purchase a $250 parking lot permit so that you can leave your vehicle in a city parking lot for as long as you like for up to 12 months without moving it, even if your vehicle is ticketed, inoperable, unregistered, uninspected, has a flat tire or four, is full of junk, is surrounded by junk and belongings, has loose junk on top that can easily fall or be blown off, is leaking oil and/or other fluids, is butt ugly and possibly a danger to others.  Do whatever you like with your permit(s), we don't give a damn!  Thank you for your $250 or $500; we really need and appreciate it!

HPD does not ticket parked cars with expired 
registrations or inspection stickers.

And we're supposed to believe that our city officials from HPD, the Parking Bureau, the Mayor's Office and DPW can successfully transform our parking payment scheme into something befitting the 21st century without bankrupting and embarrassing the city?  Are you f'ng kidding me?

A city on the brink of something wonderful!

How much do you suppose it will cost us 
to replace these two signs? (Alongside the city-
owned lot for the county building at 325 Columbia!)