Should Galvan and Walter Chatham Be Charged With Crimes Against Humanity?

Hudson's latest gift from Galvan and their so-called architect, Walter Chatham, can be found at the end of their/our new sidewalk on South 4th Street in front of what is to someday be a luxury hotel and bar.

Conspicuous In Its Absence! (At Least To This Park Patron)

Gone is the lovely plastic porta john greeting everyone entering and leaving Oakdale Park that the Youth Department had been paying $225 per month for at least the past 5 years.  Either Calvin Lewis ran out of money to pay for the lovely plastic box, or he finally came to his senses over a year after he inherited it.

Margaret Morris Must Be Satisfied With The Public Work Board's "Progress"!!!

We can only assume (and perhaps they have stated as much) that the Public Works Board's decision-making process to arrive at just six portions of sidewalk to be replaced this year was simple:  walk around the entire city and rank every portion of sidewalk from, at the top of the list, horribly dangerous and insulting down to smooth and safe as can be/not a problem, with a few degrees of ADA-noncompliance in between.  Then, of course, they would have had to choose six portions of sidewalks (well, first it was ten, then it was 8...) from the top of the list and leave the rest for future years, likely well into the 23rd century.  A simple and logical approach to fixing things, right?  Well, maybe in Ithaca, but probably not here in Hudson, particularly if Margaret Morris is involved.

Don't We Deserve A Whole Lot Better Than F'ng Plastic?

 

Doesn't our one and only planet deserve better than plastic?

In The Year 2525, If Hudson Is Still Alive!

Four or five years ago, while attending a meeting of the Columbia County Public Works Committee at 401 State, I asked Chairman Ron Knott when the county was going to replace the long stretch of longtime dangerous sidewalk in front of the county building at 610 State Street, a so-called pedestrian walkway that my neighbors and I are all too familiar with.  While I didn't laugh at Ron's response at the time (it was more of a groan), in retrospect it's comical (and SAD) to consider what he said well before the acronym SID came into existence.  In essence, Ron told me and the committee members in attendance, "We understand that the City of Hudson is going to be replacing all the sidewalks in town, so it isn't our plan to replace that sidewalk." Ron didn't say the sidewalk was damaged, dangerous or in need of replacement (nor did I ask if he felt it was), but his answer sure implied he felt that way, didn't it? 

Hudson Just Might Be, Hands Down, The Most Poorly Managed City In America!

 

A few months ago, while out for a walk, I was able to talk to a Washington Street neighbor who had grown up in Hudson, having attended Hudson High School in the 1980's.  After telling me stories about what kids did for fun around here in the 80's ("driving up and down Warren Street among all the vacant buildings..."), the conversation became all about the parking mess surrounding the Pocketbook Hotel and business complex.  One of the last things my neighbor said to me was, "For as long as I can remember, parking in Hudson has been a problem."  It still is, but it doesn't need to be.  And, unless we start over, parking likely always will be "a problem."  Even on Warren Street.  

The following is further evidence to be added to the file titled, "Parking is Great As Long As Parking Captain David Miller Says It Is."

It's Just A Matter Of When, Not If, Isn't It? And What Will The Price Be? So Many QUESTIONS!

Six or seven days ago, when I first noticed the new stop sign for westbound traffic on Warren at Park Place, I guessed that it was 8 feet from the curb.  A measurement the following day proved I was exactly right.  I also figured that by the weekend the new sign would be damaged or just knocked over altogether with the new signpost.  I was wrong, so I gave it another week.  

Here Are The Facts and Pictures. You Be The Judge.

 

Here are a few recent historical facts.

On at least two occasions in the past 12 years, a common council member has made a request of DPW Superintendent Rob Perry concerning on-street parking that has nothing to do with overnight parking.  It's been a few years since I've heard a reprise of that request, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear it again soon, and for it to go nowhere at all once again. (It's one thing we can count on from the Hudson Common Council.  Members come and go, and the same old issues are brought up and shot down -- primarily by Rob Perry -- every few years.

I Had To Laugh! Twice! (With An Important PSA!)

Yesterday, two days after HUDseen's article about the unregistered, uninspected, unticketed yellow car with the nearly deflated rear tire that had been parked unmoved on North 6th Street at Prospect for at least 6 weeks, the adorable car was gone.  It was nowhere in sight; not even a trace remained.  It had moved on, either on its own or with help from a tow truck. That was my first laugh. (I would pay $20 to know who at HPD was involved in getting the yellow car removed, how much time they spent on the task, and, perhaps most important, how often they are sure to read HUDseen!*)

Who or What Is Broken At City Hall? Is Hudson's Demise Right Around The Corner? (A Pictorial Of Decay and Neglect)

More pictures below 

In Case It Hasn't Hit You On The Head Yet, There's Something You Should Know About 333 1/2 State Street!

 

If you happen to get slapped on any part of your body, including your head, by a branch attached to the sidewalk tree in front of 333 1/2 State Street, you should know two things.  First, you aren't the only one to be treated with such disregard by the homeowner.  Second, that unmaintained sidewalk tree that got in your and so many other people's way stands directly in front of 4th ward council member Rich Volo's house.  That annoyance and code violation sidewalk tree is Rich Volo's tree.   

Coming Soon to A Town or City Near You!

The coincidence of the never-ending shenanigans and embarrassing dysfunction going on in the adjacent town that we here in Hudson happen to share a zip code with is not lost on HUDseen. 

Sure, This Makes All The Sense In The World! Sure, This Is Good For Hudson! Sure, There's No Dysfunction At City Hall Or AT HPD To Be Concerned With!

If there are two things we can count on here in Hudson, it's that parking is a mess and City Hall can't pay attention to anything.  Consider the following as (further) evidence of these two seemingly intractable problems. 

Priorities Inside City Hall (And Out Front)!

New $700 pedestrian crosswalk at 7th & Columbia?  Check!  Refreshed $600 crosswalk across Front Street at the train station that, according to Rob Perry, was originally installed a few years ago by Amtrak? Check!  Two metered parking spaces removed with bright yellow paint to make the intersections at each end of Park Place safer for pedestrians?  Check!  Check!  (Done on Monday.)

Forsaken City

It was about 6 weeks ago that I first noticed that the public trash can in the public park of the 300 block of State Street was no longer upright.  Contrary to what I assumed, it turns out that the can wasn't even secured to the ground that whole time.

Say Hello To Your New $700 Pedestrian Crosswalk. You Paid For It, Now Go Walk It! That Is, If You Dare! *

Sometime this past week, DPW installed fourteen and a half white decal lines at 7th & Columbia to create a long crosswalk where one never existed.  Ain't it pretty?  If we're lucky, the lines that take the most beating will last all of two, maybe three, years.  Each line (the one at the far curb is just a half) measures 18 inches by 6 feet, and they are all melted into the pavement with a propane gas heat gun.  The cost of each line, including installation labor, gas, and whatever else is necessary (like four DPW pickup trucks idling nearby), is about $50, though it very possibly could be $60 or more.  We'll stick with $50 until further notice.  

Look What The Demolished 309 Union Revealed!

If the city's speed limit was "20 miles" 100 years ago, why shouldn't it be the same now?  Who decided that 20 miles per hour was too slow and that the limit had to be increased to 30 (and recently dropped to 25)?

Would It Kill You, Rob and Frank?

I took the lead picture on Wednesday, March 11th of this year, a few days or weeks after DPW replaced a portion of the wood bench that is popular with a certain clientele of the 7th Street Park.  (By the way, neither Michael Madison nor evidence of his presence have been spotted there this year.)

Rob The Slob, At His Best Again!

Two weeks ago, on July 31st, the day after all that rain, DPW dug a hole near the middle of the 200 block of Columbia to repair a water main break (oddly, it was not a sewer main break).  There was a lot of water and mud on the street, more than I expected to see (though not as bad as what came out of the ground on South 4th Street at Cherry Alley a few years ago when valves failed to stop the flow of water following a break).  It came to my attention that DPW had trouble with the valves that control the flow of drinking water under Columbia Street.  (Hmmm.... this seems to be an ongoing issue.)  In other words, it took DPW longer than usual to shut off the water that was pouring out of a broken water main.  Water and dirt equals mud.  And mud there was.  And GRIT, Rob Perry's nemesis!

When "THIS SUCKS" Says It All!

This past Saturday morning at 10:00, I observed the fellow in the picture for at least 4 minutes as he tried his best to pay for his parking space in front of the DMV building on Warren at 6th.  It was great theater, and I even had a free front row seat on one of the building's marble blocks. After about one minute, I was hoping that Parking Captain David Miller would walk by so that I could invite him to attend the show with me.  (Alas, the chances of seeing Miller, an apparent Hudson resident, walking on a downtown sidewalk out of uniform are slim to zero.  12 years and I've never seen him once.  Too bad for me.)

The Power Of A Box Cutter, A One-Step Ladder, And Some Common Sense! (And A Little Story About Our mayor And His aide)

 

It has been three months since our new and very green head Code Enforcement Officer was introduced to the issue of business signs on National Grid's utility poles, an issue that never should have been brought his way. NEVER!  As in EVER!  The Code Enforcement Department is underfunded and understaffed, and Nick Fox has got way too many other critical matters to attend to and get up to speed on. Henry Haddad (or the mayor) should have instead brought the issue regarding the signs to DPW Superintendent Rob Perry's attention, telling him:  WITH THE AID OF A 10-FOOT LADDER AND MAYBE YOUR BUCKET LIFT TRUCK, HAVE YOUR MAINTENANCE CREW REMOVE ALL OF THE SIGNS ON NATIONAL GRID'S POLES AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, THEN REPORT BACK TO US WHEN THEY ARE ALL REMOVED.  KEEP THE SIGNS SO THAT SOMEONE -- PERHAPS THE MAYOR BUT CERTAINLY NOT NICK FOX -- CAN CALL THE NUMBERS ON THE SIGNS AND INFORM THE BUSINESSES THAT WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS NOT ALLOWED IN HUDSON.

The Power Of The BLOG!

Seen On Green. (Is The Public Works Board Made Up of Blind Members Unfamiliar With Hudson's Sidewalks?)

Suffice is to say that Jason Foster -- Green Street resident, 3rd ward council member, and chair of the so-called CODE & Infrastructure Committee (that saw Nick Fox once a few months ago but will never see him again... a sure sign of dysfunction at City Hall) -- never walks his dogs or himself on the inside sidewalk of the bend of Green Street.  Foster's too smart for that, as all his neighbors must be as well.  He values his life and his dogs' lives too much to make such a reckless choice as walking where a sidewalk literally disappears.  Some people who find themselves walking on Green Street, however, don't know what they're getting into, where simply choosing the wrong side of the street to walk on might wind them up in the morgue.  Like dead on arrival.  Death by vehicle (or speeding ebike!) from behind.  Never saw it coming.  Never felt a thing.  Died peacefully and quickly, head smashed to pieces. 

Is It Possible That Hudson Has Always Been "Managed" By Uncaring Slobs??? Or Is This A Recent Phenomenon (and On and On and On)?

 

If you think this city of ours is in good hands, you are horribly mistaken and you are clearly not getting out of the house enough to pay attention to the awful direction the city is headed.  I am referring specifically to our new and old infrastructure we all rely on and pay for as well as the people supposedly managing the city whose paychecks we all contribute to, including the two very handsomely compensated city officials vying for the top of the list of slobs, Parking Captain David C. Miller, Jr. at HPD and the only guy in charge of everything at DPW, Robert W. Perry, Jr.  (I knew they had something in common besides being slobs!)

I Don't Know About You ...

... but I keep can't keep from wetting my pants in anticipation of the long overdue improvements coming to the 7th Street Park!  I'm telling you, it's going to be a TOTALLY AWESOME PARK ONCE AGAIN!  You watch!  (And wait.  And wait.  And WAIT some more!)

A City Hall Farce In Three Acts!

 

What do you say we have a little fun in the form of a (recent) history lesson?  Sure, why not!  Who doesn't love fun historical facts!!!

I am going to once again do my best to demonstrate -- in six pictures and in words taken straight from the mouths of city officials during three committee meetings over the course of four months -- how dysfunctional, wasteful, blind, embarrassing, and full of incompetency City Hall has become.  I honestly think that the dysfunction at 520 Warren is the worst it has been in the past twelve years, perhaps for a lot longer or ever.   It feels to me as if City Hall might implode someday soon from all the things they are dealing with, including the troubles they are creating for themselves.

First Step (Of Many) To Help Keep The United States Postal Service On Its Feet (I'm Not Kidding!)

DEAR USPS CUSTOMER --

TO ALLOW USPS MAIL SERVICE TO BE MORE EFFICIENT, QUICKER AND SAFER FOR OUR MAIL CARRIERS, THEY WILL NO LONGER BE ASCENDING MORE THAN 4 STAIRS PER ADDRESS TO DELIVER MAIL.  FROM NOW ON, 3 STEPS UP AND DOWN IS THE MAXIMUM, AND EACH STEP MUST HAVE A SOLID RAILING TO HOLD ON TO, BE IN GOOD REPAIR AND FREE OF HAZARDS, AND HAVE AT LEAST THREE FEET OF UNENCUMBERED WIDTH (THIS INCLUDES VEGETATION OF ANY KIND).  FOR THOSE WITH MAILBOXES OR DOOR SLOTS CURRENTLY LOCATED MORE THAN 3 STAIRS FROM THE SIDEWALK, WE ASK THAT YOU LOCATE A MAILBOX AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR STAIRS THAT DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC AND ABIDES BY WHAT REMAINS OF SOCIETAL NORMS AND AESTHETICS.  IN OTHER WORDS, MAKE IT USER-FRIENDLY AND NICE-LOOKING, PLEASE.

Careless and Dangerous City and City Hall

As difficult as it still is to write this, here goes (once again). The Hudson Youth Department is responsible for everything related to Oakdale Park, our largest and wildest public park, including maintaining the trails (even if they are owned by National Grid), mowing the grass, maintaining the basketball courts, maintaining the beach, keeping an eye on and removing algae from the lake, the hiring of the lifeguards, and getting a floating dock to the middle of the lake and possibly leaving it there for the entire winter, as was done recently.  No, not the Department of Public Works nor the non-existent Parks Department, but the Hudson Youth Department  with its main office on South 3rd Street about one mile away from the park.

Can We Trust Colarusso and Rob Perry To Build Us Any Infrastructure That Will Last Even Just A Few Years?

Here are some pictures I took a few days ago of the concrete sidewalk and street surfaces of the year-old Ferry Street bridge.  Even if you don't ever drive, bike or walk across the new bridge, you should be incensed at the situation.  And seriously concerned about what the heck is going on (and not going on) on the second floor of City Hall.

Incompetence? Dysfunction? Lack Of Awareness Of The Obvious? Plain Old Lack of Communication Between Our County And Our City? Lack Of Respect For Hudson? Or Could It Be All Of The Above?

Columbia County's five very new parking signs on the south sidewalk side of the first block of Warren Street -- four found on city lampposts and one on a (soon to be installed) permanent signpost -- indicate what we all knew was coming.  The county's new parking rules on one block of the city's main thoroughfare prohibits the general public from parking anywhere in front of 11 Warren on weekdays from 8 am - 5 pm lest they get their vehicle towed.  Not ticketed, just towed!  Those once public parking spaces that were always free until this year are now reserved for county employees during workdays.  So, is it safe to say that as of the past week or two the first block of Warren has new county parking rules that trump the city's new paid parking rules that exist along all of Warren?  Well, no, it does not appear that way.  This is, after all, where county meets city, where nothing is simple or straightforward, and where things can get dumb, ugly, and confusing quicker than you can say 11 Warren Street.