WTF Is Going On At City Hall? (New Mayor, New Council President, Same Dysfunction!)

During Rob Perry's DPW report at last night's Code & Infrastructure Committee meeting -- in which for the first time Nick Fox from the Code Enforcement Department was actually present, showing up in person -- the issue of the Pocketbook Hotel's parking lot on Washington Street came up.  It turns out that the signed lease between the PBH and the City of Hudson that was made late last year -- signed by our dear former mayor and Gabe Katz, the man behind the money behind the PBH -- is null and void.  Or it has just been crumpled up and thrown out.  Or there is no longer an "agreement."  Or the signed lease is just being "amended."

While it's difficult, if not impossible, to know what is going on in City Hall these days, it appears to me that Rob Perry of DPW was never informed of the 5-year lease agreement that essentially took nearly all of the area of the huge dirt lot across from the Firestation that DPW dumps snow in every winter and that also acts as the occasional public parking lot for large and small events inside the Firestation.  Margaret Morris (attending virtually) even got involved during last night's meeting, adding yet another issue to her enormous overflowing platter of issues to solve.  If you listen to the meeting, what you realize is that this all should have happened 6 months ago, that no one was talking to one another (there's that issue again that HUDseen loves to point out!) and that the lease agreement never should have been signed by mayor Johnson.  (We're still dealing with his bullshit!)  In other words, City Hall is still a dysfunctional mess.

(All of these quotes are taken directly from the archived video of last night's meeting.)

Here are a few things that Perry had to say about the lease situation during his report after chair Jason Foster asked him about it:  The very last page of the resolution says, "not for construction purposes." But the actual layout was never there.  When they presented their draft layout, that was a concern of the Fire Department and it was a concern of the DPW because they were taking over frontage and there was no access for us to do our snow dump and there was for no access for fire.  

Then, Mr. Perry, if the lease was in the "resolution" phase and there were obvious problems with it, why on earth did you allow it to continue and allow it to be signed by the mayor?

Then, about a minute later, Perry summed it all up for us:  It's fine.  It was just one of these things that kind of just slipped through.  And it's all been buttoned up. And like I said, it's in front of the Planning Board now.

Following Perry's report, council president Margaret Morris had this to say about the city's signed lease agreement with the PBH that is apparently no longer valid (take a deep breath before proceeding):  There was a lease ready to be signed but DPW had not been included, and the Firehouse had not been included and so forth, so we have to go back to amending the lease...  They [the PBH] now have to go in front of the Planning Board.  My question, probably mainly to you, Rob, is do I need to now bring the lease agreement before the council so that we can approve the lease because they [PBH] are not going to want to do any work or expend any monies until the lease is agreed to, or do I need to wait until the Planning Board approves the site plan before we approve of the lease?  What is the flow there?  I'm sure you recall that conversation [in December].

Perry:  I was a little confused at the conversation then and I am right now.  You guys have a lease.... I believe you have a lease that's in force...  They still have a review process they have to do with the Planning Board.

Morris: Back in December when we met, one of the things that Craig [Haigh] pointed out was that this should have gone to Code [the Code Enforcement Department] and then Code would have asked for a site plan, and the site plan would have to be approved.  I want to make sure that we move forward on this and that whatever the council needs to do to approve the lease we do in a timely fashion...  I think the most efficient thing is for you, me and Nick to meet and just be sure we've got it in order.

Perry:  We can meet.  I'm back next week.

Why on earth was this lease allowed to be signed last year by the mayor and Gabe Katz?  Who allowed it to be signed and who was behind its creation besides the mayor Bozo the Clown?  Did Morris meet with Perry in December after the lease was signed by Johnson on November 18th and Gabe Katz on December 17th, making the lease official?  (Notice on the lease how the typed NOVEMBER is crossed out and replaced with DECEMBER for Katz to date and sign.  If those two dates are accurate, why was there a month between the two signatures?) 

They even LOOK LOUD, don't they?  
(photo taken from Neil Allen's backyard patio about a month ago)

When the dysfunction at City Hall rears its ugly head, as it so clearly did last night, and you realize how poorly things are handled (or not handled at all) by DPW, Code Enforcement, the Mayor's office and the feckless, clueless Common Council and all of its committees, it should come as no surprise that the Pocketbook Hotel and Baths has created enemies in the surrounding dense residential neighborhood.  And it happened right away, let me tell you! And, of course, it was inevitable that one homeowner a few houses away from the PBH would be so furious that the city allowed Gabe Katz and Sean Roland to install their HVAC equipment on the roof of the building for the entire neighborhood to see and hear and to make complaints about, ruining his once peaceful and quiet backyard and patio, that he had no choice but to create a petition to get the city to do something about his and his neighbors' diminished quality of life and the likely diminished value of his own property.  And all that City Hall can focus on now is how to create a new lease agreement in a timely fashion for the PBH's parking lot because the original signed 5-year lease was, apparently, A BAD FUCKING IDEA AND DEAL FOR THE CITY THAT NEVER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SIGNED, LET ALONE PRINTED ON PAPER.

Of course, Mayor Bozo the Johnson thought the lease was a fantastic deal for his city, even though he was on his way out of City Hall:  $30,000 a year for five years of vacant city property!  Why should I tell Rob Perry or the Fire Chief about it?  Just sign the fucking thing and leave.  What does it matter to me? I just love to sign things -- it makes me feel important.

On December 24th, a few days after Gabe Katz's ink had apparently dried, HUDseen wrote all about the parking lot lease issue:

HUDseen Knew Something Was Wrong

As long as there is only one person in charge of all of DPW's matters, there will always be "things that just kind of slip through."  And it will be acceptable and normalized, as it has been for years.  Mistakes are, and will continue to be, the norm.  Big mistakes, little mistakes, all of it so common but so preventable.  Thank goodness Margaret Morris is here to do her best to clean up the messes and mistakes and the "things that just kind of slip through."  She can handle it.  That's what we pay her the big money for!