Don't Worry, It Was Just A TEMPORARY Week Without The Parking Bureau! (Is The City Clerk's Office Next? How About The Police Department?)

 

According to the automated email response I got ten days ago from the Hudson Parking Bureau (with no personal name associated with it), today should be the day that the "temporary" closure of the Hudson Police Department's new Parking Bureau ends. (They're working out the kinks!) The apparently not-so-important bureau was closed all 5 days last week, plus the previous Friday, with the vacation possibly beginning the day before, on Thursday the 17th.  (Someone was there on Wednesday the 16th.)  The sign that has been on the window of the bureau's office for the past 10 or 11 days does not give any indication as to why the offices was closed or when it might reopen.  Who the heck is in charge over there?  Our four police detectives?

Council president and all-around bon vivant Margaret Morris, no doubt with the full support of the HPD, the department that claims to oversee (run?) the Parking Bureau -- is doing her best to raise the fee of every parking ticket she can get her hands on, including so-called "meter violations."  Those inappropriately named tickets will be doubling in cost, from $10 to $20. Given the pending increase in ticket fees (and late fees!), it will be interesting to see what happens during the October 14th BEA meeting to discuss the 2027 budget for "Police and Parking."  Will they find enough money to put an end to "temporary" closures of the Parking Bureau, perhaps allowing HPD to find and pay someone who can occupy the office while the ticket clerk is sick or on vacation?

Because, after all, when is it ever okay to close a city office for even one day, let alone for 6 or 7 days, especially one that the public relies on to speak to a human being and maybe even hand money to?  That's a very difficult if not impossible question to answer here in Hudson.