Did They Consider Anything Else Besides All The Zeroes?

The mountain of snow that DPW created on December 29th and 30th in the dirt lot on Washington Street across from the Firestation (hereafter referred to as "the city's lot") didn't shrink much at all before several more inches of snow were added to it yesterday.  While DPW can't make that mountain any taller with all the tons of snow they will be collecting today and for the next several days, the mountain will certainly widen, and by quite a bit. Count on it: the impressive mountain of snow that has been in the lot for the past month will likely more than double in size by the end of this week.  We got 9 inches of snow in late December; 12 or more inches arrived yesterday. (Early yesterday, while at its base, I estimated the wide mountain of collected snow to be at least 12 feet tall at its highest points.  Today it is probably closer to 13 or 14 feet.)

Since January 1st, all of the collected snow in the city's lot -- all that is there now and all that is on the way in the next several days and possibly months -- is technically on LEASED CITY LAND.   Not land leased to the city, but LAND LEASED TO THE POCKETBOOK HUDSON HOTEL and BATHS business complex just a half block away.   

It's difficult to even write this:  Over the next several days, DPW will be able to once again drop hundreds of dump truck loads of this weekend's massive snow next to the mountain of snow that is already there only because the Pocketbook people have yet to build their enormous parking lot on their leased land on empty city property that has been regularly used by the city to, among other important purposes, store collected snow likely ever since Hudson bought its first snowplow and dump truck.  Rob Perry and others at the previous City Hall administration decided that it was in their (and our) best interest to allow the Pocketbook developers to take over nearly all of the city's lot with a parking lot for their guests.  Presumably, Rob Perry, if he was informed of the lease deal before it was signed, thought this was a great idea.  And, as I recall, the entire Common Council thought it was a great idea, too, since every member was in favor of leasing the city's lot when it came in front of them as a proposal late last year.  Did they all think the city's lot was completely useless for the city's, and especially DPW's, purposes -- and always had been -- and that we'd all be better off monetizing it for $30,000 a year for the next 5 years (and likely beyond) to a business in a residential area desperate for parking for their customers?  Did any council members look anywhere beyond all the zeroes in the Pocketbook's lease proposal?  

This mound of DPW-collected snow has been on leased 
city land for the past 25 days. Starting today, the mound 
will expand, taking up more leased city property! 

Did any council members -- including Margaret Morris -- ask to hear directly from Rob Perry about his feelings to give most of the city's lot away, if it was a good idea, if exchanging use of the city's lot for $30,000 was a fair and reasonable price, if the city would benefit in the long run, and whether he and his successors could do without nearly all of the lot for the unforeseeable future if not forever?  Did Rob Perry or the Hudson Fire Chief (or both) tell the Common Council and mayor Kamal Johnson that leasing nearly all of that lot to a private entity was a fantastic idea and that it should be done post haste?  Did Rob Perry tell the Common Council that starting next winter his department would only need a tiny portion of that lot to dump snow in, even if we were to get one or more massive snowfalls?  Did the Hudson Fire Chief (or Commissioner) tell the council that shrinking the city's lot to just 8 public parking spaces was a fantastic idea and that it should have been done long ago because the lot was essentially a wasted resources and has never been helpful in allowing people to park their cars in it when events were being held at the Firestation or when City Hall was forced to relocate there during Covid?  

Was there one bit of discussion among council members about how that vacant city lot has been utilized in the past or what might happen when it is no longer a large, open snow storage and public parking area?  (The lot isn't vacant if it occasionally has mountains of snow that remain for months, is it?)  Did any of them/do any of them care how much snow DPW dumps in that lot nearly every winter, particularly after the inevitable big snowstorms sent our way?  Before the council voted on the proposal to lease the city lot to the Pocketbook developers, did Rob Perry bother to tell the council how much his department relies on that vacant city lot?  Or did he say nothing at all?  Was he asked to comment on the proposed lease deal?  Did Rob Perry inform the entire council where his department will be forced to dump snow when the city's lot on Washington Street is no longer available beginning next winter because a private business's parking lot on city property will be in the way of his dump trucks full of snow?  Did Rob Perry also inform the council that the city lot is a wasted resource and that it had been losing money for far too long, every day that it wasn't leased to a business?  Do any of the council member know how much snow can fall here in Hudson and how long it can stick around... and that it needs to be stored somewhere that isn't too inconvenient, preferrable in a large open area that isn't a concrete parking lot?  Did the Common Council approve something they were completely clueless and uninformed about, even uninterested in inquiring about?  I guarantee that there were (and still are) at least a few council members who have no idea that DPW stores snow in that city lot and how much they rely on the entire lot, let alone how much snow the lot can hold.  And I wouldn't be surprised if Margaret Morris is one of those members.

Are Rob Perry, Mayor Ferris and the entire Common Council all crystal clear in the understanding that starting next winter and for at least the following 5 winters, DPW will not be able to dump their collected snow where a) they have been dumping it forever; and b) will be dumping it for the next week or more while they try to clear all 12 inches of snow from all of our parking lots, streets and parking spaces?  Are they all on board with this short-sighted, money-hungry stupidity?

Did Rob Perry email every council member to announce that starting next winter it will never again snow heavily in Hudson and that the city will never again be forced to respond to another snow emergency?  Did every member thank the DPW Superintendent for his informative email?  Did they all think he must know what he is talking about and that leasing nearly all of the city lot was a dandy idea that would benefit Hudson for years to come, if not forever?  Ask Dewan Sarowar -- the council member who appears to live with his family in a house he and his wife own in Greenport -- why he voted to lease the city's vacant lot for $30,000 a year so that a business could have a huge private parking lot there instead.  Ask him if he thinks that city lot has ever served the city in just one positive way even to his constituents on the other side of town in the second ward. His response would probably be all you need to hear to understand why and how this stupid, soon-to-be-regrettable lease deal ever came to be.