How Bad Is The Parking Problem Surrounding The New Pocketbook Business Complex? How About 5 Inches Bad!

 

Last fall, when our new neighbors at the Pocketbook Hotel hired a contractor to replace the sidewalks and curbs surrounding their block-long property, they forgot to do one little thing.  (Well, two, really.  The sidewalk on 6th Street is one foot too narrow.) They forgot to tell the contractor to apply yellow paint to the new corner curb ramps and NO PARKING ZONES beyond the corners.  Where there was yellow paint on curbs telling drivers to stay away, we have been without it for about 7 months.  And no one from DPW or the Code Enforcement Office (directly across the street) cared to make sure the curbs got painted right away before the weather turned cold, if only because no one is ever paying attention.  (I was recently told by Henry Haddad that DPW will get to painting the curbs yellow sometime soon.)  

But, miraculously, the PBH people and their contractor did manage to get the curb at the FIRE HYDRANT ZONE in the middle of the block painted yellow last fall soon after the concrete curbs had cured and winter arrived.  Go figure!  That FIRE ZONE just happens to be the business complex's de facto delivery truck parking area.  And the city is fine with that as well.

They were sure to paint this curb yellow so that 
their delivery trucks have a place to park!  In 
front of a FIRE HYDRANT!

Pardon my vulgarity, but the parking situation surrounding the Pocketbook business complex is a fucking mess, thanks in equal parts to the owners of the PBH, Sean Rolard and Gabe Katz, and the city itself.  And the situation, as we all know, is pissing off nearby residents, including homeowners.  And it's making our streets and sidewalks MORE DANGEROUS.  And City Hall snores. Margaret Morris, our so-called Common Council President (and terrible driver), essentially tells angry residents that there's nothing the council can do about any of their concerns and complaints about the PBH.  "Take your issues and petition to the Police Department, DPW and Code Enforcement.  Henry Haddad's SAFETY Committee will help you."

I have no doubt that in the back (or front) of Gabe and Sean's minds is this:  if we do a good enough job of pissing of nearby residents, they will move out of Hudson.  No more complaints.  Problem solved.

Friday, 2pm

5 inches!

Yesterday, within the span of 4 hours (at 1:00 and 5:15), I came across two vehicles parked in the same NO PARKING ZONE on the southwest corner of 6th & Prospect.  That zone has a sign and a poorly painted yellow curb.  Both cars had Florida license plates.  Someone drove several hundred miles to park illegally on 6th Street in Hudson to cause an accident that would not involve their Florida car.  The illegally parked cars and out of state license plates started showing up, oh, I don't know, about THE SAME TIME THE POCKETBOOK HOTEL OPENED UP LATE LAST YEAR!

At 1:00, it turns out, I came across a perfecta: both NO PARKING ZONES were occupied at the same time!  Yes, 50 feet away across the end of Prospect Street, there was also a car parked in the dangerous intersection's other NO PARKING ZONE, the one with a sign that's been without a yellow curb for 7 months that gets parked in all the time (much more often than its less dangerous complement).  Anyone who leaves their car parked there for even one minute instantly endangers others, creating a much more dangerous intersection than it already is.   

Good luck noticing that car before
 it slams into yours as you pull out!

The second of the two illegally parked cars simultaneously making the intersection directly in front of the mayor's house all that more dangerous was sporting New York license plates.  A New York resident, perhaps, but certainly not a Hudson resident.  

Two weeks ago, I decided to stop calling HPD to let them know about illegally parked cars surrounding the PBH.  It's useless to make the effort since the problem is only getting worse. Plus, the city -- including HPD -- doesn't give a shit about and won't even acknowledge the worsening problem, all happening directly in front of the mayor's house.  Let him figure it out if he cares to.  He's in charge of the city, after all, and he told us that safe intersections were one of his top priorities, didn't he?   

6th & Washington. New curb, no yellow paint. 
"Go talk to Code Enforcement!"

What a crock!