I Know That $10,000 Parking Kiosk Is Around Here Somewhere!

I don't know how Hudson survived without one for so long, but at long last there is a lovely ten-thousand-dollar parking kiosk in front of 735 Columbia Street waiting to take your quarters or credit card.  No, I swear, there is a kiosk there on the sidewalk!  I wouldn't lie to you!

Why remove the weeds from the curb?

A horrible tripping hazard on the 
way to and from the new kiosk

The owner of 735 Columbia -- the former auto repair garage -- is a repeat overgrown vegetation code violator.   And the Code Enforcement Department is a repeat violator for ignoring the violations year after year.  A violator's paradise! 

What violation of the code narrowing the sidewalk by the day, just a few feet (and shrinking) from the $10,000 kiosk?  Yesterday, my head was assaulted by a wispy branch as I walked past the kiosk.  And I'm sure I wasn't the only one.

The new $10,000 kiosk also sits a bit too close to an increasingly common unwelcome sight in Hudson:  A DOUBLE UTILITY POLE.  The scourge of Hudson.  Clutter writ large!  Hell, there's been a pair of National Grid utility poles inches from one another directly in front of Rob Perry's house for at least two years!  The "replaced" pole even has a large and lovely X spray-painted on it. Apparently, our own DPW Superintendent doesn't care if any of our "replaced" poles ever get removed.

It is a code violation for business signs to 
remain after a business has closed.

Sometime in the past year or three, National Grid decided it was time to "replace" their old wooden pole in front of 735 Columbia.  They installed a new pole a foot away, surrounded its base with gravel, transferred their lines and equipment from the old pole to the new, cut off the portion of the old pole with lines no longer on it, then called it a day.  Since National Grid no longer owns or is responsible for the old/"replaced" pole, it's up to Verizon to remove it.  But, of course, to get that done the remaining lines must first be transferred to the new pole that isn't so new anymore.  Has mayor Ferris had a chance in the past five and a half months to call his contact at Verizon to ask them when the hell they hope to remove their old utility pole in front of 735 Columbia THIS YEAR and why it didn't happen LAST YEAR?  Has mayor Ferris even had the pleasure of meeting his DPW Superintendent, Rob Perry, yet?

What would be hilarious is if that "replaced" pole in front of 735 Columbia were to fall over and somehow obliterate the $10,000 parking kiosk.  Oopsie!  Drain the general fund again.

Hudson is quickly becoming a cluttered mess, if only because no one, including our new mayor, is paying attention.

July 2023

2 signs from a business 3 blocks away that are. 
never removed.  The one on the left is made of steel
and must weigh at least 30 pounds.  If it falls over, 
 it could crush a dog, baby or foot.  No permit necessary.

What does City Hall do in response?
Mostly, it continues to twiddle its thumbs.