Of course, by doing nothing about the dangerous code violations that cover long expanses of sidewalk surrounding the St. Charles Hotel along Columbia Street and Park Place numerous times every winter, Hudson Code Enforcement assists the St. Charles in their efforts to keep both of their sidewalks as full of snow and ice as possible for as long as possible after every snowfall. Every winter! Their award should be in form of broken shovel.
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| Just in time for Winterwalk. Again! How many people have walked on this? |
Speaking of serial code violators that our Code Enforcement Office can't or won't do anything about (hey, maybe it gives them something to do if they do nothing but take the occasional complaint), another perennial award winner is the former church at 64 North 6th Street that has been vacant for several years due to a fire in the attic where several men were living illegally. (I warned Code Enforcement about the situation weeks before the fire! Obviously, my complaint and warning were not taken seriously. The entire building could have burned to the ground, including the building next door.)
Of course, the everyday disgrace and insult known as 64 North 6th is right around the corner from Craig Haigh's office on Washington Street! But you wouldn't expect anyone from Code Enforcement to actually walk there in the winter, would you? That's for the fools who have no option but to risk their lives to walk on that ice! If someone slips and falls there, what does Code Enforcement care? They tried their best to locate the owner! They've got building permits to sign and make money from!
Of course, 64 North 6th Street hasn't had a valid building permit in at least two years, and no one is ever seen or heard working on the building anymore. The owner seems to have given up on his property, much like Code Enforcement has. The property remains a dangerous fucking eyesore year after year with a constantly overflowing garbage dumpster and growing number of abandoned vehicles in the back along the alley while the entire property remains 100% tax fucking exempt. Hallee-fuckin'-lewia!
Two days after I made my complaint to Craig Haigh about the snow- covered sidewalk in front of 64 (and 68) North 6th, yesterday I went again to his office to ask him if anything had been done about the code violation which had essentially turned to ice following a frigid night in the single digits. An update on the existing dangerous violation, if you will. This was our exact exchange:
"I just want to check why 64 still hasn't cleared their snow off."
"We're trying to get a hold of the owner. We've been over there; nobody answers the door. We've been trying to call them. And we've also issued a OTR violation."
"Same as last year and the year before?" I asked.
"I don't know about last year or the year before."
"Thank you."
We should all be thankful that on a weekday a Code Enforcement worker or two went knocking on the door of a former church that hasn't held a service in at least 5 years, trying to get the attention of the owner of the property that never removes snow and ice form its long expanse of sidewalk. (County property tax information that is freely available online indicates that the mailing address for 64 North 6th is a PO Box in Hudson. No name other than the church is included -- the First Church of God in Christ of Hudson.)
If 64 North 6th Street doesn't qualify as a VACANT BUILDING, I don't know what property would. But according to Code Enforcement's most recently updated list of 50-plus VACANT BUILDINGS, 64 North 6th Street did not make the cut and never has. So what the hell is 64 North 6th if not vacant? Occupied? A dangerous fucking eyesore YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR?
64 North 6th Street sits quietly and starkly a few houses from our soon-to-be mayor's house. What, if anything, might Joe Ferris do about the tax-exempt disgrace that is his and so many others' so-called neighbor? Will he allow everyone else at City Hall to continue to ignore it as best they can? Will Joe Ferris attempt to find out why the hell his neighbor doesn't pay a penny in property tax and how much longer this kind of nonsense that is damaging and bankrupting Hudson will continue? Finally, will mayor Ferris allow Code Enforcement to continue to knock on the front door of 64 North 6th Street year after year as if that were a rational and effective way to conduct actual code enforcement for a building they know has been vacant for years?
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