Hudson, We Have Problems

 

If you stand to the side of the pedestrian crosswalk at the Warren Street end of Park Place on a busy day and observe pedestrian-vehicle activity (interactions?), it usually doesn't take long to witness a scary WTF moment.  Early yesterday afternoon, such a moment occurred directly in front of me no more than 3 minutes after arriving to the intersection to have a look at the insanity that is that intersection.  And it was a unique WTF moment, having nothing to do with a vehicle turning off of Warren, the prevailing hazard (often unseen) for pedestrians in this crosswalk.  

I watched as a pedestrian essentially got chased out of the crosswalk by a driver on Warren who decided it would be a good idea to turn their vehicle around in the intersection, needing a portion of the city's most dangerous crosswalk to do so.  It didn't seem to matter one bit to the driver that there was a pedestrian well into the crosswalk headed toward their moving multi-ton vehicle.  Pedestrian right of way in a painted crosswalk?  In Hudson?  At Park & Warren?  Are you kidding me?

You can see in the series of 3 pictures that the driver of the car continued to approach the middle of the crosswalk while the pedestrian human was approaching the same spot clearly with the right of way (at least in any sane person's mind).  The driver probably thought, well, I don't want to stop and get rear ended by a car so I'll just keep moving and force this jerk out of my way so I can turn around and go find a parking space somewhere and finally get my coffee.  And so they did.  I half expected the driver to honk their horn at the pedestrian to get him out of the crosswalk and out of the way of their turning (around) vehicle.  

The lack of regard for pedestrians in this town full of drivers from out of town is astounding, particularly at Park & Warren.  But the situation at this typically busy intersection (cars, trucks, pedestrians, families) is exacerbated by a unique combination of stupidity and manufactured danger.  There is no way for pedestrians to cross on the green; Warren Street traffic never has to stop, even prior to turning onto Park; there are no signs for drivers on Warren warning them to stop for pedestrians in the Park crosswalk; and last but certainly not least, the city, including the mayor and Margaret Morris's so-called SAFETY Committee, doesn't give a shit how unsafe that intersection is or who gets run over there.  That dangerous crosswalk is nothing more than a reflection of the dangers coming from inside City Hall.  Last year and the prior 5 years it was Tom Depietro and Kamal Johnson.  This year and for at least the next 18 months it will be Margaret Morris and Joe Ferris.  And HPD will continue to be no help, either.

Here is what Captain David Miller had to say at the most recent SAFETY Committee meeting during a long discussion brought about by a Warren Street resident regarding speeding vehicles, speeding enforcement and the city speed limit.   Miller had a difficult time hearing or comprehending the word SPEEDING that was repeated to him clearly at least five times by two city residents in a few different contexts, so he stuck to what he does best: obfuscation and unhelpful nonsense talk. 

"Having zero pedestrian accidents for almost a half year to me is showing that we are doing our work and DPW is also doing their side of painting and puttin' up signs and everything else.  So, I'm proud to say that, actually."   

(He sure has a way with words, doesn't he?  Aren't you proud that the second highest paid city official is so proud that no pedestrians have been run over for nearly 6 months?)

But what Captain Miller and Chief Franklin (who was not in attendance at this meeting) have been proud to not say or ever mention to the council or the public in the past "almost a half year" is more telling than what they do bother mentioning. It's been just over 5 months since a city resident was run over by a turning vehicle in the city's most dangerous crosswalk and no one from HPD has mentioned anything about it.  Not one fucking word, like it never happened!  And the victim's leg was broken so badly that it required two surgeries to put it back together!  Screws and plates!  Only in Hudson can a vehicle run over a city resident in a crosswalk and there is nothing but complete silence about it.  

Can Margaret Morris's so-called SAFETY Committee be any less useless?  Does she prefer that her committee (and the public) hears from HPD about what hasn't happened in our crosswalks and elsewhere rather than what has happened?  Is Margaret Morris as big a part of the problem as Captain David Miller and Mishanda Franklin are?  Are they all colluding to keep our streets and sidewalks and intersections as dangerous as possible?  It sure seems so, doesn't it!  There hasn't been one word of discussion at any of the four SAFETY Committee meetings about how to make Park & Warren safe for pedestrians five months after a city resident using the crosswalk nearly lost her life to a turning vehicle.  Two days later -- TWO DAYS!!! -- someone by the name of Jason Foster had his heel clipped by a turning vehicle in the same pedestrian crosswalk! Why the silence?  Because, apparently, there is no problem there.  There is NO PEDERSTRIAN SAFETY ISSUE at Park & Warren at all. 

We've been injury free for almost a half year!  But don't ask us to tell you when the most recent "pedestrian accident" was, because we don't want to talk about it or acknowledge that it even happened.  Everything is fine.  And don't expect us to tell you about the next "pedestrian accident" that occurs on a city street (or the one after that), even if it occurs at Park & Warren and even if a pedestrian dies at the hands of a turning vehicle.  This is, after all, the SAFETY Committee, why do you think the police department would inform the committee or the public about another vehicle hitting another pedestrian in a crosswalk?  No one is making us tell you about these "accidents," so don't expect to be told about them.  We tell you what we want you to hear and know about.  Everything is fine.  There's no problem with any intersections in town, including the busy one at Park & Warren where there hasn't been a "pedestrian accident" in nearly a half year.  Next question, please.

When the police do nothing but drive around in their vehicles all day, don't expect them to understand what it's like to use a crosswalk in downtown Hudson, especially over there at Park & Warren where a "pedestrian accident" can happen at any moment. When the sight of a Hudson police officer on a walking beat is an impossibility, don't expect any help from David Miller and Mishanda Franklin.  Do expect them to continue to act as if there is no pedestrian safety issues at all in the City of Hudson.  They'll even tell you it's true!  Everything's been fine for the past "almost half a year."  And before that everything was fine, too.  Next question and safety issue we can ignore, please!

Oh, by the way, the city resident in a pedestrian crosswalk very near her home who got her leg run over by a turning vehicle on December 18th at 5 pm?  Proceedings for her lawsuit against the city for creating a dangerous intersection began less than two weeks ago.  Her lawyer expects the city to settle out of court!

Now do you see why no one from HPD has mentioned the "pedestrian accident" that nearly got a city resident killed at Park & Warren?  Surely, Council President and architect of the new Common Council committees, Margaret Morris, is fine with the silence as well.  Isn't she the one who recently drove her car over a 5-inch curb in a city parking lot and continued forward to hit the wall of a building, did not call the police, refused to talk to the shop owner who was inside the building and who came outside to talk to her, left the scene of the accident before the police arrived, then made the responding cop wait while she finished her lunch at the cafe across the street?  

Expect more of the same.