Now Albany Is Our Inspiration! Are you as PROUD as Captain Miller Is?

During last night's SAFETY Committee meeting  -- where there was plenty of talk about issues having nothing to do with safety --  the head of our law enforcement department, HPD Chief Mishanda Franklin, revealed two interesting things about the remaining ten parking kiosks that still have yet to make their way onto sidewalks 16 months after they were delivered to the city in early February of last year.  Actually, she announced three things of note. 

Need To Dump A Body? How About Just A Couch or Two?

Since I first came across the city's most ideal midnight dumping area a few weeks ago, several discarded items have been added to it.  Given the fact that there are no signs or video cameras anywhere nearby, it seems that Joe Ferris, Rob Perry, Mishanda Franklin, Nick Fox and the whole cast of characters supposedly governing the city are perfectly fine with you, me and everyone else living in and around Hudson dumping trash in that quiet no man's land on the 2nd Street extension.  Go ahead, it's city property!  Drop a couch or broken chair or two (or large bags of fresh garbage!) down there some night instead of taking it to the transfer station to pay for it to be disposed of properly.  You know Rob Perry won't mind, and neither will Joe Ferris.  

The Police Don't See What I Do. Perhaps They Don't Want To!

 

There are plenty of benefits to riding a bicycle rather than driving a 4-wheeled vehicle that weighs thousands of pounds and can kill a pedestrian or bicyclist in an instant, particularly if it's being driven by someone who is distracted by their phone.  One of the benefits for me that's not on most cyclist's list is my ability to see just how pervasive the problem of distracted driving really is. Unlike the perspective from a sidewalk or from a vehicle, the insight into drivers' habits a rider is able to get from the seat of a bicycle is unmatched.  The distracted drivers that I see far too commonly here in Hudson -- with little to no effort made on my part -- is appalling to me.  But it does serve as a reminder:  wear your helmet at all times and assume everyone driving a vehicle is distracted in one way or the other!  And give 'em shit when they're stopped at a light!

Let's Try This One More Time, Shall We?

 

LUIZZI's BACK, BABAY!

The decorative stupidity that arrived on all 4 corners of 2nd & Warren last year as part of the DRI project were ripped out of the ground this morning by Luizzi, the contractor who installed the ugly and dangerous paver stones there in the first place.  Pedestrians in all directions were being forced off of closed sidewalks and into the street, just as last year about this time.

Who Is Mi$$ing Those Parking Meters Now? Tax Paying Residents Are! Planet Earth Is, Too!

Prior to this year, DPW made regular use of the sturdy and ancient metal poles supporting our parking meters when they needed to post temporary NO PARKING signs in preparation of planned events and reacting to unplanned events such as snow emergencies.  Think of the meter poles as FREE, PERMANENT, READY AT ANY TIME and WELL-SPACED sign supports that made DPW's job a bit easier and cheaper.  Think of the meter poles as dual purpose infrastructure and a big help to DPW.  With the parking meters and their poles gone, though, what can DPW attach their temporary orange wooden NO PARKING signs to?  Plastic, of course!  Cheap and ugly plastic to the rescue once again!  More plastic destined for our landfills full of the awful toxic shit that never degrades!