Hudson, Where Progress Comes In The Form Of "I Don't Think So."

On Wednesday night at 8:30, I came across 4 illegally parked cars surrounding the Pocketbook businesses complex. Four! Two were about to be issued tickets by a HPD officer on the east side of 6th Street across from the business complex, where it is extremely rare to see parked cars with no one in them.  It's safe to say that the drivers and passengers of those two cars were not visiting friends in one of the nearby houses. 

While there are NO PARKING ANY TIME signs on 6th from State to Washington, they are poorly spaced.  More concerning, though, particularly because there are now so many people from all over the country visiting the now fractured neighborhood surrounding the PBH business complex, is that for some dumb reason DPW has never painted the long curb yellow, including this year.  They paint some of the ends of driveways yellow but leave the rest of the curb in an extended NO PARKING ZONE unpainted.  Wouldn't you love to hear Mr. Perry offer an explanation!

As I continued my walk on Wednesday, within seconds I came across two cars parked along this week's freshly painted yellow curbs on Washington, one of them beyond a NO PARKING HERE TO CORNER sign.  Half of that NO PARKING ZONE is completely unnecessary and is rightly often ignored by drivers who, for the most part, are headed to the PBH business complex.  Parking there doesn't ever get in anyone's way or create an unsafe situation, but the Fire Department has decided it should be, so it is. 

Who made the decision that parking
is no longer allowed along this grass? 

Across the street, the other illegally parked car (the fourth of the night!) was also doing no one any harm.  (Keep in mind that this was on a Wednesday night, not Friday or Saturday!)  In fact, where that car was parked -- in the length of two car spaces between the curb cut in front of Galvan's old shack to Washington Street -- had never been painted yellow until this week.  Cars regularly parked there, though not always in the proper direction, mind you!  But hey, this is Hudson, where anything and everything goes and the rules are loosey goosey at best.  

Two weeks ago, before the yellow curb appeared

One wonders if Rob Perry decided that those two parking spaces should be off limits or if someone, perhaps Perry himself, made a mistake.  One can't also help but wonder if Sean Roland and Gabe Katz of the PBH are happy that two parking spaces across the street from their business complex are now gone for good.  Maybe they have a hotline to Rob Pery's personal cell phone.

During the most recent Code & Infrastructure Committee meeting, CEO Nick Fox and DPW Superman Rob Perry had a little back and forth trying to make sense of an issue along that portion of Washington Street close to 6th.  Nick Fox didn't look happy that he had to interact with Perry, who, as usual, had his arms crossed against his chest.  Henry Haddad had the last word about the confusion, and I found it all quite hilarious.

Fox:  There's a fire hydrant across from my office that needs yellow in front of it.

Perry:  Does anyone park in front of your office?

Fox: The other side.  There's a fire hydrant over there.

Haddad: On Sixth?

Fox (still to Perry):  Some people do from the Pocketbook Factory.

Perry:  I thought that other side was no parking.

Haddad:  I don't think so.   

(Earlier in the meeting, Haddad kept referring to Prospect Street as Partition Street.)

Picture taken several weeks ago.  The
curb is now painted yellow.

Over two weeks later, DPW finally painted the curb yellow across from Nick Fox's CEO offices, including in front of the fire hydrant "over there."  The curb and sidewalk in front of Galvan's shack and new parking lot (including the area surrounding the hydrant) was created late last year by Galvan, and it began falling apart quickly and badly.  The huge chunk of loose concrete curb you see in the picture has been leaning against the utility pole in the background for the past three or four weeks. 

Rob Perry's painting crew seems to have gone a little too far with their paint gun.  The City of Hudson now has two fewer parking spaces, both which had served the city's latest mega-development quite well for a few months.  

Illegal and dangerous parking in the residential area surrounding the PBH business complex is now the norm, assisted by trucks making deliveries to the complex.  Finding a parking space near your residence, even on a Wednesday night, is now a regular hassle or impossible on Washington, Prospect and 6th... just ask the mayor. 

This delivery truck was parked directly in front of a NO
 PARKING sign.  Why is the curb not painted yellow?

Taxes are raised so that the quality of life for certain residents can diminish.  Tensions rise, as does blood pressure.  Parking spaces disappear with the swipe of a DPW paint gun and nobody seems to care or question why.  A lease agreement for a parking lot on city property is made and signed in December between the PBH and the city without the DPW Superintendent's knowledge.  5 months later, the lease is ripped up and rewritten.  The mayor holds Town Halls every two months and listens to the complaints, assuring everyone that things will be fine. Taxes are raised.  Wonder why so many houses are for sale?  A NO PARKING ZONE two blocks long in a residential neighborhood is never painted yellow.  The Police Chief says, "Call us if you see an illegally parked car."  Parking tickets are issued, but nothing improves.  Things only get worse.  keep calling HPD.  Don't bother calling the mayor, though.  And don't bother calling the DPW Superintendent, either.  He's the highest paid city employee outside of HPD.  He can't be bothered.  Not only does Rob Perry not work from the DPW offices in City Hall, but he also no longer has voicemail on the DPW phone number.  He got rid of it.  Try as you might, you cannot leave him a voicemail message.  He doesn't want to hear from you.  Think the mayor cares?

You ever get the sense that no one really knows what they're doing around here and none of them are accountable to anyone?

Oh, and by the way, the outgoing voicemail message from the Code Enforcement Department has changed.  A lot!  If you want to leave a voicemail message, you first have to listen to a creepy computerized female voice for 58 seconds trying "her" best to keep you from leaving a voicemail message.  "She" will TWICE offer you the email address to the head CEO, the first one being: "All inquiries should be directed to Hudsonceo@cityofhudson.org as email is the most reliable and preferred method of communication for this office."

Email instead of human interaction and a human voice (including a resident's voice).  Now that's progress! 

SORRY, "I DON'T THINK SO!"