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.
During the laughable parking portion of the SAFETY Committee meeting this past Monday, Dominic Merante, member and 5th ward representative who appears to be legally blind, asked our Police Chief the following question: In terms of signage, is there any way to do like a laminated 8 x 10 signage for the businesses that they can put up?"
Franklin: Yeah, parking enforcement actually went out to the businesses and like handed out flyers about it so that they have it in their stores.
Merante: Good.
Chief Franklin did not say when this effort was made, nor, I believe, in the previous two months had she or Captain Miller ever announced that it happened. If they did announce it previously, Dominic either didn't hear it or he wasn't listening. Or maybe he has hearing trouble as well.
A few minutes later, during a back and forth with a Warren Street resident unhappy with the new parking payment system, Captain Miller told them that they can always approach the Parking Bureau with their concerns and "situations." He informed the resident, "If something happens like you explained, there's no reason for them to not to want to help you with a situation like that."
You don't say, Captain Miller! Thanks for that helpful info! Why does no one from the Parking Bureau ever appear in front of the Common Council or the SAFETY Committee? Why is Captain Miller speaking for them?
Dominic Merante immediately offered backup support: Captain Miller has been very proactive on Facebook. When he does see someone ask a question, he is quick to respond to correct it and also give that information.
Isn't that great! With the full support of at least one Common Council member, our second in command at HPD is scouring Fakebook sites looking to help the "community," most of whom don't live in Hudson, with their parking kiosk and payment questions. How many hours a day does Captain Miller spend doing this? Do we pay him extra for this specialized skill of his?
But, what Merante conveniently failed to mention is that nearly all of the comments on the Hudson Community Fakebook sites that Miller is responding to are critical of the new parking system, with very few questions being asked and little to nothing positive said. If Merante would read a little closer (dare I say look a little closer?), he might notice that Miller (and Nick Pierro) are primarily responding to negative criticisms -- some of them quite harsh, and rightly so -- of HPD's new parking system. I think what our HPD brass are engaging in and being paid to do on Fakebook can easily be defined as nothing more than damage control and spin. And being paid at least $50/hour to do so, no less. What is funny to me is that Miller, Pierro and Franklin -- the top brass at HPD who are completely responsible for the new paid parking system (what Parking Bureau?) -- have stopped posting anything about their new paid parking system on HPD's own Fakebook page. Their most recent post about the system, titled Warren Street Parking Update, came over two months ago, on January 6th! On-street parking in all of downtown was still free then, as it would be for the remainder of the month while DPW put the scannable signs up on light poles and on the tops of ancient parking meter poles! I think the gang of three soon realized after that UPDATE that doing so only invited bad press and bad optics a little too close to home and that it was more difficult to control the narrative there than on other Fakebook forums. Can you imagine? Two months and not a fucking peep! Update? Why bother! Everything is fine! Miller is responding! He's PROACTIVE!
41 minutes into the meeting, perhaps the most ludicrous thing said at the meeting -- in the form of advice in response to comments and questions from a resident in attendance -- came from the mouth of our Police Chief. She actually said this: "To reiterate what Captain Miller said, if you are concerned with receiving a ticket, you can drive to the nearest kiosk, pay, and then park." Really, Chief? And what shall I do if I can't find a parking space near a kiosk that I go searching for BEFORE I PAY FOR MY PARKING SPACE THAT IS LOCATED ELSEWHERE, IF ONE IS AVAILABLE? Would you like me to double park near the entrance of a parking lot, get out, walk to the kiosk, possibly wait in line while someone is using it, take two minutes to pay for a space anywhere on Warren Street using the kiosk (if it is operating), walk back to my idling car that has been clogging the street for three minutes or more and has not been struck by a passing vehicle or trapped someone in their parking space, get in my car and drive away to look for a parking space in the block I want to spend some time in in downtown Hudson? Is that really what you are suggesting I and others do to park in downtown Hudson to spend our money here? You aren't serious, are you? Is what you just explained to me something you wouldn't mind doing?
Is it possible that our Police Chief and Police Captain are unaware that it is not uncommon on Saturdays to have literally no parking spaces available on Warren Street between 2nd Street and 8th Street, including in the two parking lots in the 300 block? I'm starting to think it is possible.
The final few minutes of Monday's SAFETY Committee meeting were spent on "new items on the agenda," as committee head Henry Haddad stated. Chief Franklin said she had two items. The first had to do with an email "request from a resident at 76 North 7th Street [the Depot Lofts] about a stop sign at 7th & State." Not "a pair of stop signs" or "two stop signs," but "a stop sign." Franklin went on: I know one of the main reasons there is not one there is because of the railroad tracks. So, it follows the same traffic safety order as 6th & Columbia because of the railroad tracks." (6th is not a typo! There are no stop signs at 3-way 6th & Columbia, but there is a traffic light, of course.)
I can only assume that Mishanda was trying to make the point that there are no stop signs for Columbia Street traffic at 7th Street due to the railroad crossing further east. If that is true, if that is her assertion, I think it is time for her to explain why she is under that impression. Who told her that the lack of stop signs facing east and west at 7th & Columbia has something to do with the rail crossing?
Questionably useful SAFETY Committee member Claire Cousin then asked Chief Franklin, "Did they witness something that made them feel like it would be helpful?" Notice that Claire used the word "it," obviously being under the impression -- and comfortable with the fact -- that just one stop sign was all that was being considered for the 3-way intersection where one stop exists. One wonders if she's ever once walked through that intersection in her ward -- perhaps across State Street -- in any direction.
Franklin responded: "I think...[long pause] it's just a concerned parent about their children in that area being concerned about possibly getting hit by a car. But there was nothing specific according to this email."
The intersection of 7th & State is the only intersection on State Street where State Street traffic does not stop. There is no traffic light, nor is there a PAIR of stop signs for State Street traffic, one for each direction. The only stop sign at that intersection is for 7th Street traffic preparing to enter or cross State Street. That intersection has always been as dangerous as can be, made much worse recently by the arrival of additional traffic and parked cars in the area thanks to the two new breweries, the Depot Lofts (with a retail business) and the Asian restaurant on 7th at Long Alley. All this additional busyness has arrived but the city hasn't done one thing to improve the intersection... and apparently has no interest in improving it because of the train tracks 125 feet away.
Henry Haddad agreed with everything Chief Franklin offered the committee. He was on board with the conclusion that, because of the nearby CSX rail crossing, A STOP SIGN -- just one, mind you --cannot and will not be installed at 7th & State to keep children or anyone from being run over and killed by a multi-ton vehicle speeding through the intersection with no reason to stop or slow down and no painted pedestrian crosswalk to consider. There was also no need for any discussion as to where, had it been possible, the ONE STOP SIGN would be installed at the dangerous intersection, which direction it would face or which of the two directions of State Street traffic the sign would force (or should be forced) to stop.... If, of course, the one stop sign were meant for State Street traffic.
Claire Cousin followed up with a logical question: "Would one of the crosswalks with the blinking signs be helpful there?"
Franklin: "I mean, I think that would be a good solution. Yeah."
27 months ago, during the dark of Winter Walk of 2023, a woman and her child were knocked to the ground by a turning vehicle at 7th & State. Chief Franklin reported this during her January 2024 HPD report to the Common Council. Here is exactly what she said (taken from the video of the meeting): "A mother was walking her two-year-old child across the street, she was holding her child, and she was bumped by a car and fell to the ground. Baby was fine, child was fine. Witness said the vehicle was driving at a slow rate of speed. The mother just had some scrapes, and everything was fine. The operator of the vehicle said it was because of the dark, the lighting was poor on the street and didn't see her crossing the road. And at the time, I will say, on Warren Street it was pretty dark out that night. 7th and State, I'm not sure off the top of my head if there are any lights out there, but I don't believe there is a crosswalk, I don't believe there was a crosswalk there where she was crossing the street." Mishanda Franklin, the Police Chief of the City of Hudson for the past three years, then concluded her report on that accident with the following. Keep in mind that this was 790 days ago, give or take a few days. "I think there was discussions to try to put one [a crosswalk] there. I'm not sure, but I think there was. So, maybe that's something to consider."
Who is supposed to do the "considering," and what exactly are they supposed to "consider"? Consider doing nothing? Maybe for the next 5 or 10 years? The message from our police chief was clear: It's not my problem. You deal with if you want something done. I can't help you and I don't want to help you. I'm just here to report what is going on around town and who is getting run over by cars and trucks. Heck, at least I told you about this accident even though I didn't have to.
Captain Miller and Chief Franklin (who, it turns out, is also our Police Commissioner until a new one comes along) have both had three opportunities this year to announce publicly that in the late afternoon of December 18th last year, possibly in the dark, a female city resident in the crosswalk at the south end of Park Place was struck and dragged "ten feet" by a turning Jeep Wrangler. (That's the one crosswalk of two at the busy truck route turn intersection that does not have an associated flashing pedestrian signal.) The victim was taken to the hospital and, as I found out later, suffered at least a broken leg, not to mention the psychological trauma she must be suffering still. How do I know this? Because I read the "accident" report from HPD which details that tragic encounter between a pedestrian and a multi-ton vehicle that only stopped well after it struck the woman in the crosswalk. That report was completed by a great Hudson cop by the name of Anthony Conn. One wonders if either Franklin or Miller were made aware of Conn's detailed report. And if they were, why haven't they been able to mention the details of the incident to the SAFETY Committee and the public this year, let alone that the incident even occurred? Is it because no one from HPD could possibly believe that the SAFETY Committee would be interested to know that a pedestrian was recently run over in a crosswalk and could have easily been killed so that maybe they can do something about preventing a similar or worse incident in the future? You know, so that the SAFETY Committee could make an effort to make a dangerous intersection SAFER for pedestrians? Or is it because it's not HPD brass's problem that a city resident was nearly killed trying to cross the street in downtown Hudson very near to her residence at a busy intersection that is clearly in need of pedestrian safety improvements? Safety improvements made to intersections by HPD and the SAFETY Committee? What the hell are you talking about? The mayor is taking care of that, isn't he?!
If, instead, a Hudson cop had accidently run that woman over, do you think our police chief still wouldn't have bothered to mention anything about it publicly? How about if that woman had died after being hit by the Jeep? Still not worth mentioning to the SAFETY Committee or anyone outside HPD??? How about just a plain old coma following severe head trauma? Better yet, how about if it were a Hudson cop crossing the street that got hit and dragged ten feet by a vehicle and sent to the hospital with a broken this or that and possibly in a coma or DO fucking A? Do you suppose Franklin and Miller would still be so tight lipped? I sure hope so!
It's not just creepy and bizarre that HPD brass haven't bothered to publicly mention that pedestrian-vehicle encounter from just 3 months ago, it's completely disrespectful to the victim. And, to me at least, not at all surprising. Perhaps, if we're lucky, next month Henry Haddad will ask Chief Franklin why she hasn't mentioned to the SAFETY Committee the incident late last year that put a city resident just trying to cross the street in the hospital. That answer, if provided, should be interesting. Maybe, as well, Franklin can give us an update on the victim's progress. Or maybe she doesn't care how the victim is faring. Our Police Chief is aware of the incident, isn't she?
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| December 2024, 7th & State. |
Oh, I almost forgot! Our Police Chief's second item for the SAFETY Committee's agenda had nothing to do with safety at all, at least not directly. She let the committee know that one of her department's patrol cars needed over six thousand dollars in repair, including "a new radiator and muffler." She added, "We probably could get away with not replacing the muffler right now, but eventually that would have to get replaced. So, we're going to try to find the money of how to pay for that, otherwise we'll be down a car, a patrol vehicle."
Maybe by next month's SAFETY Committee meeting Henry Haddad will have found the six grand needed to fix the police vehicle and make it safe to drive again. Let's hope so!
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