24 Hours Later. Well Looky Looky!

 

Yesterday, a few minutes after I notified Code Enforcement in-person of all the snow still on the sidewalk around the corner in front of 60-68 North 6th Street, I noticed something interesting.  Two city employees, having come from the Code office, approached the first mound of snow in front of 60-68 North 6th.  They stopped and spoke for a few seconds, though I was too far away to hear their conversation.  They then turned around, walked back to Washington Street and took a right to return to where they had just come from.  The two people were a plainclothes Hudson Police Department Lieutenant Nicolas Pierro (likely not on duty) and a long-time part-time Code Enforcement officer, possibly Peter Merante, the same person I had just notified of the sidewalk code violation.  Nearly all of the snow on the sidewalk -- that had been there for 10 days just a literal stone's throw from the Code Enforcement Office -- was gone by this morning.  (I would have done a more complete job, but not everyone is as perfect as I am!)

A few hours later, via phone, I notified Code Enforcement of two more snow-blocking-sidewalk and slippery sidewalk code violations -- again, this was10 days after the snowstorm we got last Sunday.  One was on (or mostly on) CSX property at their rail crossing on Columbia across from the 7th Street Park.  While their lack of attention to snow and ice on their crossings is a perennial problem that our Code Enforcement Office doesn't give a shit about, the situation this year, and for the past ten days particularly, has been unimaginably obscene.  The person who answered the phone at Code told me, "We'll speak with CSX."  The rail behemoth CSX is headquartered in Florida.  We can thank CSX and the flour mill in Greenport for the blocked sidewalks here in Hudson at the crossings.  And, of course, also thank Code Enforcement for doing nothing about the problem (it's not a problem!) and ensuring the situation never goes away year after year after year.  One wonders if someone were forced to walk in the street and immediately get run over by a semitrailer if things would change or someone at Code Enforcement would lose their job.  Because you know the city would get sued and have no option but to settle out of court!

Speaking of train companies who don't give a damn about Hudson or pedestrians, my second complaint to Code was about Amtrak's snow-covered sidewalk from their station up the Front Street hill to Ferry Street.  I didn't notice one footprint along the whole stretch of untouched snow.  I watched three people walk up the hill in the street, alongside parked cars and often a few feet away from moving cars zipping down the hill at the bend.  Amtrak regularly fails to clear that sidewalk of theirs, and Code Enforcement doesn't seem to mind or be aware of it.  The Code officer who took my call was not familiar with where the Ferry Street bridge is located.  I asked him if he lived in Hudson.  "No, I do not," was his reply.  I have to say, though, that he is by far the most pleasant enforcer I have ever dealt with at the Code Enforcement Office.  Let's hope he sticks around (he's been at Code for at least one year).  Will someone please give him a bicycle so he can get acquainted with Hudson's streets and bridges!  And don't let him ride on any sidewalks!

Also yesterday, ten days after the snowstorm and all around town, DPW still hadn't removed any snow to reveal painted yellow curbs at intersection, also known as NO PARKING ZONES.  The yellow curbs, which are typically without any NO PARKING HERE TO CORNER signs, are meant to keep the intersections safe by preventing crashes, injuries, deaths and totaled vehicles, including city vehicles.  When people park their cars -- knowingly or unknowingly -- too close to an intersection, they raise the risk of crashes that CAN INJURE AND KILL OTHER PEOPLE AND DESTROY OTHER PEOPLE'S CARS.  But Rob Perry doesn't give a shit about creating and maintaining safe intersections, not even for pedestrians.  And he is likely delighted by the fact that his department is not part of the new Safety Committee that our new Common Council President created to get things better handled and taken care of. 

Prior to last summer's DRI project, there was a yellow curb on the east side of South Front south of Allen that took away at least 5 parking spaces so that driver's exiting Allen could readily see oncoming traffic headed up Front that was often quite fast.  At the end of the yellow curb was -- as there always should be -- a NO PARKING HERE TO CORNER sign with an arrow pointing toward Allen Street, at least one hundred feet away.  After completion of the project to improve the city's west end, the sign was not returned (it should be at the DPW garage somewhere), and the yellow curb was drastically shortened to cover just one parking space at the corner.  That is, of course, if anyone can actually see the curb in the winter.  

Where is the yellow curb, Rob?  
Can anyone park anywhere along that
snow-covered curb?

One wonders if shortening the yellow curb was intentional or a mistake.  Why would the sign not have been replaced, even if it wound up closer to the intersection?  Surely that was a mistake.  While Rob Perry might beg to differ, the fucking sign served a purpose every day and night of the year, didn't it? 

Less than two years ago, DPW extended the yellow curb at the northeast corner of State & 7th by about 15 feet, the equivalent of one parking space, to make the intersection less dangerous (it's a bad one even when cars are not parked close to the intersection).  This was long overdue.  But no one has been able to actually see that extended yellow curb for the past ten days, and since DPW didn't bother to include a NO PARKING HERE TO CORNER sign in that new NO PARKING ZONE, no one is able to know that they shouldn't park there.  Doing so, of course, endangers OTHER DRIVERS, THEIR VEHICLES AND PEDESTRIANS, including children.

Respect, responsibility and common sense seem to have taken a permanent leave of absence from Hudson City Hall.  Well, certainly from DPW.

Have you noticed how much salt DPW has been spreading around our curb ramps at intersections as if it were free and posed no problems to dogs and other animals, our Hudson River, and our fragile and expensive concrete, pavement and all the critical infrastructure below our streets and sidewalks, especially the water and sewer pipes made of metal?  Why are we all stepping on (or around) so much fucking salt from DPW on our sidewalks ten days after a snowstorm?  Since when did this become acceptable and the norm?  Is Hudson City Hall flush with cash?

Here is something to look for at this coming Monday's Code and Infrastructure Committee (DPW & CEO) meeting (I'm sure you are all looking forward to that meeting).  Will Rob Perry show up in person to give his report, take questions and interact with the committee and the public like a professional adult?  Or, as he has done for the past five years, will he continue to beam his voice (with no image) into the room via his laptop, possibly from his living room couch at home with a beer or soda on the table beside him?  Is Council President Margaret Morris requiring that department heads show up in person to committee meetings?  Or does it still not matter?

By the way, I recently mentioned that Craig Haigh was retired.  That is not the case at all; I saw him at the CEO offices yesterday.  Will he show up to Monday's Code & Infrastructure Committee meeting?  Will it be the last meeting he ever attends?