Will Hudson City Hall Ever Get Its Act Together?

 

Yesterday at 12:45 pm, with the farmers market winding down and the Pride Parade soon to begin, just 3 of the 120 parking spaces in the City Hall parking lot were unoccupied.  All 3 of them were handicap only spaces.

In the southwest corner of the lot, closest to City Hall, however, a pickup truck and trailer owned by a farmers market vendor were conveniently occupying 5 of the lot's 120 parking spaces.  And you know they weren't bothering to pay for those 5 spaces like everyone else parking in the lot is expected to pay for their one space or risk being ticketed.  And you know that parking enforcers never bother to ticket that pickup and trailer that occupy 5 parking spaces for 5 or 6 hours every Saturday.  And you know that Parking Captain David Miller and Police Chief Mishanda Franklin don't give a hoot.  And neither does our new so-called mayor.

For the few minutes I was in the lot observing things, I watched four cars enter the lot from Columbia Street, drive all the way around the lot only to exit where they had entered about one minute prior.  Off they went to who knows where.

Sorry, no space for you!  Five for him.  None for you!

Two of the lot's 120 spaces have been occupied for months by a pair of vehicles owned by one "homeless" person who happens to be "living" in one of them, a van that likely cannot start.   The van hasn't moved for close to two years. It is permitted to remain in the same space for the remainder of this year, as is his other vehicle that has only been in the lot for about 10 months.

(Picture taken a few weeks ago)

On my way out of the lot yesterday, I checked to see if the rear door to the flat rear roof of City Hall was locked, which it has not been lately.  I could see from three feet away that the door's dead bolt - the only thing that prevents easy access to the stairs, roof and back door and windows of the DPW office on the second floor -- was not engaged.  It was Saturday afternoon, and once again the door was unlocked, obviously for another weekend.  Think our so-called mayor gives a crap?  I've made him well aware of the situation, but he seems too preoccupied to care.  He's busy making our intersections safer, isn't he?

The door is typically unlocked.  The NO TRESPASSING 
sign appeared last summer or fall.  When Rob Perry visits 
City Hall, this is his typical access point to and from the
DPW offices.