Why Would He Tell A Lie About Work On A City Street?

I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of Hudson residents wouldn't be able to locate Railroad Avenue on a map of the city.  If it's not Hudson's most unknown street, it is certainly one of the city's least traveled by residents if only because the looped street primarily serves the Columbia County Department of Social Services building that is tucked in the woods between Oakdale Park and the CSX railroad tracks.  So, why was our DPW Superintendent forced last month to inform the Common Council about an issue related to the street that goes nowhere but in a circle, the first time I've heard him speak at any length about Railroad Avenue.  And, more importantly, why did he have to lie about what DPW was and wasn't doing with the street? 

Here's what Rob Perry explained to the council and the public, taken straight from a video of the meeting last month.  Mr. Perry, of course, was not in the room with the other council members, department heads and public.  As usual every month, he was offering his voice and many sideways pictures from either his office behind the barbed wire fence in the Water Department office at the top of Rossman Avenue or from his house near the bottom of Rossman Avenue.  Perry has had the grace to show up in person to one informal meeting in the past 5 years, and that happened only because the internet was down, I believe.  He showed up that one time only because he was forced to.

County worker or city DPW worker?
It's difficult to tell, isn't it?

Anyway, here are Perry's words, spoken while displaying a sideways picture of what appears to be a DPW worker in a safety vest striping the middle of Railroad Avenue alongside the nine new tenant parking spaces located on the north side of Galvan's enormous new apartment building at 76 North 7th Street, the Depot Lofts:  

This is Railroad Avenue that goes to DSS.  It's actually listed on the highway inventory as a two lane road.  Most people assumed it was a one way because there was only one house on there and I think that that person usually would just go through the driveway and parking lot at DSS.  But anyway, so as part of the Depot District, they've installed a parking lot on the back side of it.  So, you know, we've had to call this out as being a two lane road.  There will be signage that will be installed by the county.  And other than that, it's not pretty but it's enough to give people some guidance.

First of all, a family lives in the only house found on Railroad Avenue, not one person.  People visiting the family likely arrive by automobile.  How does the mail carrier or UPS truck driver arrive to the house?  Perry assumed anyone living or visiting that house treated Railroad Avenue as a one way street even though there have never been any signs between 7th Street and the DSS parking lot indicating it was one way.  (The sign shown above is meant for DSS employees and visitors.)  Real smart!  Do you also make grand assumptions about other one way streets in town that are actually two way streets, Mr. Perry?

Second, the new monstrous apartment building at 76 North 7th Street is not called the Depot District.  That ugly behemoth is known as the Depot Lofts or 76 North 7th Street.  The Depot District is part of Galvan's Hudson real estate empire, primarily surrounding 7th & State, that they decided to name themselves.  Please try harder to get your names (and pictures) straight so we think you know what you are talking about and we can all follow you.

Third, "we've had to call this out as being a two lane road."  So, you always knew it was a "two lane road," but you refused to treat it as such?  

Fourth, and most bizarre and deeply concerning, was Rob Perry's claim that "the County" would be installing "signage" on a city street.  Why on earth would he say this?  Did he have a brain fart or was he intentionally offering false information for some reason?  I don't know who that pavement striper in the sideways picture works for (and Perry didn't say), but I can't imagine it was a county worker.  And what about the new stop sign now found at the new end of Railroad Avenue at 7th Street?  Who installed that?  DPW most definitely did!  And who paid for it? Hudson taxpayers most definitely did!  And why did we have to pay for that new stop sign and pole to be installed by paid DPW workers at an intersection of city streets?  Because Galvan forced it on us by creating an apartment building alongside one way Railroad Avenue where no parking spaces previously existed.  Their tenants using those spaces needed a safe way to enter and exit Railroad Avenue, and we gave it to them.  Free of charge!

And Galvan's nine tenants got a nice new white stop line, too!  Well, who do you suppose installed that stop line, how much did it cost and who paid for it?  DPW installed it, of course, soon after they installed the stop sign, at a cost of at least $120 in materials and labor.  One stop line, $120, paid for by city taxpayers funding the bloated DPW budget. 

DPW's $120 stop line for Galvan, failing already!

That stop line is not county work; it's most definitely city DPW work!  How can you tell?  For one, of course, the county does not install stop lines on city streets.  Two, it's not made of paint.  Rather, it's made of two or three consecutive white thermoplastic decals adhered to the pavement with a heat torch.  That's the DPW (expensive and time-consuming) way!  Third, you can see that the decal is already chipping away from the pavement.  That, too, is evidence of DPW work, failing within one month.

Who will replace and pay for the decal stop line when it is nearly or complete gone in a year or two?  Will the county do us a favor on a city street that is mainly used by County employees?  Nope!  Will Galvan help us out?  No, they'll be out of town by then (we can only hope).

Notice how faded the median line is in
just over one month!

Fifth, in what world does a DPW Superintendent comment on street work as bizarrely as how Mr. Perry ended his explanation of the work that had to happen on Railroad Avenue?  "It's not pretty but it gives people some guidance."  I think that might sum up DPW's approach to a whole lot of streets around town, if not all of them.  "IT'S NOT PRETTY!  GET USED TO IT.  IT'S THE BEST WE CAN OFFER."  How is it that a DPW Superintendent making over $125,000 a year could describe a long yellow stripe in the middle of the road as "NOT PRETTY" unless the work is done intentionally messily?  It's like he's proud of, even prefers, the "NOT PRETTY" look.  Isn't that the trait of a slob?  If the street work designed to keep people safe and "give people some guidance" is NOT PRETTY, why is it being doing at all?  Because it's not possible to?  Could Mr. Perry not make the work on Railroad Avenue "pretty," or at least not "not pretty"?   Or are the signage and street markings NOT PRETTY because someone else did the work ("the County") and our DPW Superintendent doesn't care if it turns out "pretty" or not?

Thanks for informing us of the not pretty guidance work on Railroad Avenue, Rob!  All of us, including Galvan, appreciate it! Now, please explain again who actually did the not pretty guidance work you are apparently so satisfied with.  Oh, and by the way, who paid for that not pretty guidance work?

After DPW installed the stop line but before 
they installed the permanent stop sign.  Notice 
the red ADA curb ramp mat.

Picture taken two days ago. Not pretty? 

The most surprising thing I discovered last year while diving into the characteristics of habitual liars is that they often lie even when it doesn't serve them any purpose.  They're addicted to lying.  They can't help themselves.  Lying is a compulsion, and they get off on it.  For people who don't make it a habit to lie, this is all very difficult to comprehend.  Even the current President of the United States consistently exhibits traits of a pathological liar, like every time he opens his mouth.  He tells lies as naturally as he breathes.  He can't help himself from lying. 

The Newport Institute's list of the ten signs of a pathological liar includes this characteristic:  LYING ABOUT SOMETHING WHEN THERE IS NO NEED TO. 

Lying for no apparent reason.  Not showing up to council meetings in person.  Consistently offering sideways pictures during monthly DPW reports.  Never found in his own DPW offices in City Hall.  Admitting that DPW street work is "not pretty."  Hmmm....

"The County" did not install the new stop sign at the intersection of 7th & Railroad, they did not pay for it, nor do they own it. "The County" will not pay to replace it when it is knocked over or otherwise needs to be replaced! The same goes for the stop line. As for the DSS sign beyond the stop sign, there has always been one at that intersection, though on the other side of the street when Railroad Avenue was a de facto one way street without an enormous building at the corner. Who owns that sign and who got it put back in the ground recently? Ask Rob Perry, perhaps he will tell you the truth.

Imagine, if you can, if every HUDseen article you were to read included at least one picture (sometimes many) displayed sideways or upside down, possibly even with a caption for each one that can only be read easily if you turn your head or computer screen sideways. Imagine, also, that I offered no explanation for this ridiculous approach to informing the public about important things and issues I see around town. You wouldn't take HUDseen seriously, would you? And I can only assume that every reader would think there is something wrong with me. Something very wrong with me. And I wouldn't blame you if you felt that way. And I also wouldn't blame you if you just stopped paying attention to HUDseen altogether. If I were a reader of a blog or newspaper that suddenly included sideways pictures without an explanation, I'd stop reading too.  Why bother?