Welcome To The (New) Neighborhood. Won't You Stay A While?

Last night at 6:00, I came across a parked car completely blocking the new sidewalk that the Pocketbook people forced on the city to make way for their drop-off drive-thru area.  The driver of that car (with an Arkansas plate) won't be the first guest of the hotel, wellness center, restaurant, bar, etc. to have no idea that the concrete area is a sidewalk meant for pedestrians and not a place to park their car, mainly because there is no curb between the brick drive-thru and the concrete sidewalk. What a disgraceful, disrespectful mess the Pocketbook has created for the neighborhood (with the blessings of the Planning Board)!

Perhaps this new dangerous situation is an issue that Margaret Morris's new SAFETY Committee can take up at their next meeting.  That's the committee that's made up of four council members and one or two people from both the Fire Department and the Police Department.  Yeah, good luck with that!

Do you think Sean Roland or Gabe Katz care if their guests park their cars on a sidewalk surrounding their mega-retail business in a residential area?  Was this ever a problem before they decided to do something with the Pocketbook factory?  Prior to last night, do you think the Hudson Police Department had ever received even one call about a parked car completely blocking the sidewalk along Washington Street?  And if Sean Roland and Gabe Katz decide to show local residents and Hudson City Hall that they care enough about pedestrians and the neighborhood by keeping their guests from driving and parking on our new sidewalk that they built, what do you suppose they will have to do?  Will they put up signs telling guests where to park and where not to park?  Would those signs be posted along the new sidewalk?  How many signs would they need to post?  How about several orange barriers of some sort, preferably made of plastic and with blinking lights?  Will they get permission from the city if they do any of this?  They have to do something to keep their guests' cars off of the public sidewalk, don't they?  Don't they!  Hell, you know the city isn't going to make them do it!

Do you think any Common Council members would care that guests of the Pocketbook are parking on the new sidewalk that the Pocketbook reconfigured because the old one in a straight line that had been around forever was in the way of their plans for a drive-thru for their guests from out of town?  How about Rich Volo and Jen Belton of the fourth ward, where the Pocketbook Hotel & Baths is located?  Think they give a hoot?  Good luck with that!