What New Idling Law? What Climate Disaster? What Budget Woes? What Public Trash Can That's Looked Like Crap For Years? DPW's Got A Road To Rebuild!

As DPW Superintendent Rob Perry promised us last week via an announcement on the city's website, excavation began yesterday on Harry Howard Avenue to fix the problem below that caused the road to fracture and be shut down to vehicle traffic two weeks ago.  There is now a rather large hole in the street, though it is not where I expected it to be. 

Hudson, NY: The Small City With A Big (Coffee) Drinking Problem. And A Bigger Pocketbook Problem!

The story goes that when Hudson was a bustling industrial town (with a population of like twice what we have now), there was a tavern on every corner.  (And a bordello on every block.)  Here in the 21st century, though, alcohol seems to be down (but not out), while coffee is the new king.

Just today or yesterday, a new fancy coffee joint opened up in the 500 block of Warren nearly directly across the street from the popular Supernatural Coffee & Bakery shop.  I, for one, am glad to see that the window and door of the long vacant storefront that once held the 5-Star bodega are no longer coved in paper.  But another coffee place?  Will Rev even bother to reopen?

Welcome to The Little City That Can Do Without You

It was about two years ago that the dead tree protruding through the hole in the middle of the metal tree grate in front of 414 Warren disappeared.  It was ugly, insulting, leaning and long dead.  Very dead, just like you might be if you step in the 12-inch diameter hole that is still in the middle of the tree grate on the sidewalk after two years, inches from a regularly occupied parking space in the heart of downtown and inches from the center of an often-bustling sidewalk.  The message from Hudson City Hall - particularly from HPD, whose captain and chief are part of Margaret Morris's new so-called SAFETY Committee and whose parking enforcers walk past that gaping hole multiple times 6 days a week - is clear:  We don't give a damn about any of you, whether you are a resident, a visitor, disabled or a child.  Or one of our parking enforcers, for that matter!

Brought To You By Hudson City Hall....

... directly behind Hudson City Hall, no less!  For the past 15 months, no less!  In the year 2026, for Christ sakes!

Does Rob Inspect (DRI)?

 

When were the 2nd Street stairs completed, including the landing?  7 months ago?

A City On The Verge Of Something Truly Wonderful!

 

HPD treats our tax and parking revenue like it is garbage.

He Actually Said This! Again, Perhaps For the Twelfth Time! And With His Arms Firmly Crossed On His Chest! Probably Also For The Twelfth Time!

Following Rob Perry's DPW report to the so-called Code & Infrastructure Committee during last week's monthly meeting (where, for the second consecutive meeting, no one from the Code Enforcement Department was present, nor were code issues discussed... nor did anyone seem to mind), committee head Jason Foster asked Rob Perry a question he has heard on multiple occasions for at least the past ten years. Perry's answer was in line with his previous responses.

Age-Old Questions That Probably Flummoxed Even Socrates and Plato

Is it illegal to park your car along a yellow curb surrounding an out-of-service fire hydrant, including one that is wrapped in a black plastic for seven years or more?  
Is it illegal to yell FIRE in a movie theater if you are the only person in the theater?

Why Is It Starting To Look Like Manhattan Around Here?

Is it "8 am to 4pm" or is it "9am - 5pm"?  Is it "Monday - Friday" or is it "Monday - Saturday"? Why am I so confused?  Are you confusing me intentionally so that my car gets ticketed and I want to strangle someone?  Was this Parking Captain David Miller's idea of a joke?

The Situation On (and Under) Harry Howard at Underhill Pond Is B-A-D Bad! Maybe Not As Bad as 1969, Though We'll Have To Wait And See!

 

Do not expect to drive or bicycle on Harry Howard Avenue between Washington and Paddock anytime soon.  My prediction for the complete repair of Harry Howard Avenue at Underhill Pond is between two to three two months.   

Yesterday afternoon, I came across an old-timer surveying the scene (as I was) who lives on Harry Howard just south of the inaccessible portion. He said that Harry Howard would "probably be closed all summer," and he should know.  He told me that this was the third time in his lifetime that that portion of road had given out due to a "broken drain."  He claimed that the first instance involved a car falling into a hole that had suddenly opened up in the street. "What year do you think that was?" I asked him. "Well, let's see," he pondered. "That musta been around 1969." 

YOU ARE WELCOME! AND THANK YOU FOR PASSING THROUGH! PLEASE COME BACK SOON! WE'D LOVE TO SEE AND HEAR YOU AGAIN! WE'LL KEEP THE ROADS SMOOTH FOR YOU!

 

It's Not A Problem! Fire Trucks and Hoses Are Never Far Away!

 

Following the Fire Department's monthly report at the beginning of last week's so-called SAFETY Committee meeting -- the remainder of which had everything to do with parking -- I asked a question of the Fire Department representative regarding out of service hydrants.  But Committee head Henry Hadddad decided that he was the most qualified person to answer my question.  "I think I can answer that one," he started with.  Before Henry could get much further, I interrupted him. "Can I hear somebody from the Fire Department respond to my question?  I didn't ask you a question, Henry."  Committee member Claire Cousin, seated at the table with Haddad and 2 people both from HPD and HFD, seemed to sympathize with my plight.  While Henry was responding to me, she said, "He seems to be willing to answer the question."  

Where Else In America?

 

Galvan Giveth and DPW Taketh Away. Not Ye Worry, There Always Be Hudson Hub!

 

I'm thinking it was in October or November of last year, no more than 5 months ago, when Galvan had a contractor pour a concrete sidewalk -- where one did not previously exist -- in front of their new asphalt private parking lot at 6th & Washington for their tenants in the Depot Lofts at 7th & State. (Can you imagine moving to the "country" and wanting/needing to park your car so far from your apartment? And having to pay for it!). The enormous chunk of loose concrete from that sidewalk that you see in the pictures I took this morning at 7:00 appeared at least ten days ago, and I'm not kidding.  I don't know what else other than a DPW snowplow could have obliterated that sidewalk.   (Notice the lone car parked in the lot. There are a lot of dark windows facing 7th Street at night at the Depot Lofts. Lots!) 

How Could It Have Been Possible? (So Many Questions!)

 

If we are to believe Margaret Morris's recent explanation of the events leading to her "very minor [vehicle] accident" in a Warren Street parking lot on February 20th -- that her "car slid on the ice" while she was parking it -- how on earth did both of her car's front wheels make their way over a 6-inch ( I measured it) concrete curb  at the front of the parking space then continue rolling another foot or two before the front of the car hit the side of a building?

Somewheres Over The Rainbow?

Well into last Monday's one hour Parking Safety Committee meeting, apparent parking supervisor and actual Police Captain David Miller -- without any prompting -- gave a spiel about how far the city has come with parking since "HPD took over parking less than a year ago."  It came after a Warren Street resident stood up and voiced her concerns and complaints for a few minutes about the new parking system and after several minutes of mostly confusing responses from SAFETY Parking Committee head Henry Haddad, Miller and Police Chief Franklin (yes, there are three people speaking on parking matters these days).  Miller's speech was as laughable as it was incoherent.  Here it is; hold on to your wig: 

How Cheap, Low Class and Disrespected Can We Be Treated?

Upon closer inspection in the wonderfully warm sunlight this morning, I realized that I misspoke last night about HPD's and DPW's sign replacement effort yesterday.  While the broken-off single sided polyethylene aluminum "Dibond" crap sign on the east side of 6th Street at Columbia was replaced with a double sided crap sign of the same EASILY BREAKABLE material, the sign that went missing on the other side of 6th Street was not replaced with a double sided crap sign.  Rather, it appears that someone decided to reattach the same single sided sign that had been broken off the pole (or possibly a different broken sign, perhaps from the 700 block of Columbia Street) but with about two inches of the bottom of the sign missing.  Someone with a box cutter probably made a clean cut across the bottom of that polyethylene sign right above where it had been sheared off of the bracket on the pole a few days ago.  So classy!  So very classy!

And By 8pm...

 

... the two short term parking signs we spent $38 on that were made into garbage by a passerby yesterday or the day before at 6th & Columbia had been replaced with $58 in short term parking signs made of the same brittle material, whatever the hell it is.   Actually, Mathew Signs identifies our sign material as being made of "Dibond," the latest high-tech, unrecyclable crap we should all be excited about and which f'n AI refers to as a "brand name aluminum composite material (ACM) featuring two pre-painted thin aluminum sheets bonded to a solid polyethylene core.  Known for being lightweight, rigid and durable, it is popular for [among several things] signage, resisting warping and corrosion."   Rigid?  Durable? You don't say!  Is Hudson's future in Dibond?  AI also claims that polyethylene -- a fantastic form of toxic plastic -- "takes roughly 450 years to decompose," about as long as it will take Parking Captain David Miller and Parking Chief Mishanda Franklin -- with zero crime to concern themselves with -- to get our parking system straightened out and truly "running great" so that they can retire and finally relax.

SHORT TERM Signs, Indeed! With Plenty of Short Term Money and Short Term Thinking To Boot!

According to a few invoices I recently received from the Parking Bureau, our new one-sided scannable paid parking cost us $19 each.  These are the signs attached to random streetlight poles on all of Warren Street, some portions of side streets, in parking lots as well as on the tops of meterless parking meter poles on side streets, Columbia Street and a short portion of Union Street.  The signs are referred to as "Short Term Parking Signs," and they measure 12x18 inches.  

Do These Cars Appear To Be Abandoned To You? (What's Another $15 Ticket or 30?)

During last month's so-called SAFETY Committee meeting, I tried my best to find out why the Hudson Police Department tickets cars parked overnight on the so-called WRONG SIDE of the street when there is no DPW sweeper or plow activity happening.  After all, if a parked car isn't in the way of DPW activity in the early morning hours while HPD is issuing $15 WRONG SIDE parking tickets, how can there be a WRONG side of the street to be parked on?  No one is doing anything WRONG by leaving their car parked on a city street - whatever side it's parked on for the night -- if it's not in the way or causing trouble for DPW, correct?  No, not according to HPD brass.   

Gettin' It Done, The Hudson Common Council Safety, Parking, Crosswalk and Car Repair Committee Way!

 

Anyone who has found themselves walking past or into shops on Warren Street in the past month has likely seen at least one of the several paper notices taped to windows and doors meant to remind everyone that the city has a new paid parking system on all of Warren Street.  The reminders were obviously created by the Parking Bureau and handed out to certain businesses that agreed to post them.  One wonders how long they will stick around.  The fine print at the bottom of an unofficial reminder found in the 800 block of Warren and picture above says this:  Please park behind the building to avoid paying the fee.  This is what it has come to.

Who Needs HUDseen When You Can Hear It Straight From The Former Horse's Mouth!!!

 

22 minutes into last Thursday's edition of Tom Depietro's typically soporific, self-absorbed two-hour weekly gab fest show on local radio station WGXC, our recently deposed Common Council "president" had this to say to his guest from Catskill (and his audience of four) about the city he still lives in and once wielded far too much power over:   I JUST HOPE CATSKILL DOESN'T GO THE WAY OF HUDSON... IT'S A MESS OVER THERE.  

Welcome To Hudson. We Take Dog Shit Seriously! Enjoy Your Stay and Y'All Come Back!

 

Perhaps Three's the Charm. Probably Not! (The Politics of Distraction)

 

Yesterday, HUDseen noticed a third broken or missing very new plastic paid parking sign needing replacement atop an ancient parking meter pole.  Two days ago, I noticed that the sign -- in front of a business on Park Place -- was badly bent and leaning back, more so than it had been when I took a picture of it two weeks ago.  Closer inspection showed that the plastic sign was also badly cracked, though I was not able to take a picture of it.