HUDseen: Dear Mayor Ferris:

Since I see you walking around town regularly, I can only imagine -- particularly now that you are the mayor -- that the level of litter and messes you see and step around concerns you, just as it concerns and irks me and many other city residents. I also hope that you want to get something done about these issues to make the city a less messy, littered place. If so, I am here to help you in that effort (and help you are going to need!).

What I have been aware of for many years may be a surprise to you, as it initially was for me: a cause of the litter problem here in Hudson actually comes from your Department of Public Works. They are not part of the solution to litter and unwanted sights; they are CLEARLY part of the problem. For the well-being of Hudson and its residents, as well as the future viability of the city, I hope you will agree with me when I say that this obscene behavior by DPW must end.

What I have noticed over the past few years are the sights of leftover 16-inch plastic zip ties -- often multiple ties attached to make a long string of them -- on the ground soon after DPW has removed their orange NO PARKING signs that had been secured to trees and poles with the ties. In other words, DPW workers deliberately leave their used plastic zip ties on the ground rather than hold on to them and dispose of them properly. They cut the zip ties and allow them to drop to the ground as if our streets and sidewalks are garbage dumps.

Take the several zip ties in the street and on the sidewalk that I came across yesterday on State Street just east of Carroll. Because I'm so used to seeing this kind of disrespect from DPW to the people of Hudson and the planet, it didn't surprise me one bit to find them. It is DPW's (and by extension, Rob Perry's) modus operandi to create litter and ugliness. I can assure you that it happens all the time.

In case you've never noticed how your DPW actually creates litter rather than preventing it, I am including pictorial proof of it for you here. The zip ties you see in the pictures had been securing NO PARKING signs to trees and poles near a sinkhole that DPW was attending to much of last week on State Street. I'm thinking that a DPW employee or two cut those zip ties and allowed them to immediately drop to the ground last Friday, 5 days ago.

I hope you find this as insulting, reprehensible and unacceptable as I do. And I hope you can have a talk with Rob Perry (and possibly his foreman, Frank Rogers) about it. DPW Superintendent Perry, after all, is responsible for this insulting behavior coming from his employees. Have you ever heard Rob talk at meetings about problems he has with our sewer system constantly needing attention, or how DEC is making us upgrade our sewer system, or how much money it costs to repair our sewer system and treatment plant? Or -- my favorite -- how much it costs the city to hire a company to take away all the gunk and debris that winds up at the sewer treatment plant, all of it originating on our streets and sidewalks? Yet our DPW Superintendent is okay with his employees deliberately leaving heavy duty plastic zip ties on the ground to eventually get washed into his sewer system. Isn't that a laugher? But is this a laughing matter, just as Rob Perry must think creating plastic litter is? Are you laughing, mayor?

As you can see, it's more than just a plastic litter issue that DPW has no problem creating. And you have to wonder, don't you, mayor, if Rob Perry is perfectly comfortable with his employees leaving numerous 16-inch,15-cent used disposable plastic zip ties on the ground, what else is he allowing them to do that most reasonable people would find unacceptable and shocking that also might be FORCING THE CITY TO SPEND MONEY UNNECESSARILY? My guess is that creating litter rather than preventing it is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Rob Perry's unwelcome behavior. The zip tie problem is easy to see (and step on), and it happens all the time! It's the other unwelcome behavior that we can't see that concerns me and should concern you.

If you haven't had your meet-and-greet with Rob Perry yet, I would like to suggest a question you might ask him when you do get together with him. Perhaps you could inquire whether he will be your anti-litter DPW Superintendent or your pro-litter DPW Superintendent for the next two years or more. And, by all means, feel free to show him all five of the pictures of DPW's lovely zip tie litter that I took yesterday. Here's another question you might send Mr. Perry's way: Who the hell is supposed to remove the plastic zip tie litter your department regularly leaves on the ground? DPW? No one? Who pays to have the zip tie litter removed that gets washed into our sewer system? And, finally, do you train and instruct your employees to leave used plastic zip ties on the fucking ground, Mr. Perry? If not you, who does?

Have a great day, Joe, and may the force be with you -- I think you are going to need it,

B I L L HUSTON