Welcome To The DisgraCity!

Yesterday at noon, I came across yet another pair of broken scannable parking signs barely hanging on to the meter pole on the south side of the 700 block of Columbia nearest Park Place.  This is the third, possibly fourth, such instance at this pole since signs went on poles in early February of this year.  

According to Parking Captain David Miller, "HPD took over parking last July [of 2025]."  But who is the full-time supervisor at the Parking Bureau, which isn't so much a department as it is an arm of HPD?  Surely, there has to be someone supervising the bureau, right?  Apparently, no.  Not only does the bureau's web page on the city's website offer no hints about who is in charge there, but the City Officials page, where all departments and associated officials are listed, doesn't even include a Parking Bureau, let alone anyone associated with parking.   Of course, our second in command at HPD, David Miller, gives the so-called parking reports to the so-called SAFETY Committee (yeah, that makes sense!).  But if he doesn't work for the Parking Bureau, why on earth is he offering the bureau's reports to the common council?  Then there is longtime full-time police clerk Doreen Danforth who last year also took on the role of part-time parking clerk, or so I've heard.  Doreen's name and contact information, along with other higher-ups at HPD, can be found on the HPD page of the city website, and her position is written as Police Clerk/Parking Bureau.  What the hell does that mean?  Parking Bureau what?  Does she have a title at the Parking Bureau?  Does she work one and a half jobs for the city?  Lastly, there's the ticket clerk behind the window at the police station who handles tickets and money all day.  Who of these three people can possibly be paying attention to the day-to-day operations of the city's grand new paid parking system to ensure it is running smoothly and expensive shit isn't falling apart on our sidewalks?  And this final thought, which should never need to be considered: Does anyone officially work for the Parking Bureau?  Or are the two clerks at the bureau working for HPD?  What does it mean to say "HPD took over parking"?  It sounds like something an authoritarian or our sitting US President would proudly say:  "We took over the court system and the media.  Any questions?  Talk to me."

By 7:00 this morning, both of Parking Captain Miller's scannable plastic signs were flat on the sidewalk at the base of the meter pole.  Either Miller is a slob of the highest order, or he is too busy with law enforcement and criminals to care about his signs, how broke and broken the city is, or what Hudson looks like.  With any luck, I suppose it could be all three.  If no one is paying attention to the signs, what else aren't they paying attention to that they should be, whoever they might be?  Or is it Doreen Danforth who isn't paying attention?  

Also this morning, just 100 feet and one meter pole to the east, I came across this.  

Hudson is sinking to new lows, and my sense is that HPD is happy with it.  It turns out that -- news to me -- there are people in this world who intentionally engage in WILLFUL DYSFUNCTION and WILLFUL INCOMPETENCE.

It's no longer sufficient to say that there is something wrong at City Hall and HPD, is it?

4 or 5 weeks after the signs fell off their meter pole in front of 720 Columbia -- directly across the street from the latest sign mess -- there is still this.

The $10,000 parking kiosk for the 700 block of Warren is still not responding after at least four weeks, possibly five, of being DEAD.  Who should care that it's been DEAD for so long?  Doreen Danforth, the ticket clerk, mayor Ferris, or David Miller?  Or no one?

After nearly 3 months, the spray-painted
circle is still such a classy touch, isn't it?

A few feet from that DEAD kiosk on Warren Street is a 3-inch-wide hole in the sidewalk where a parking meter pole once stood.  DPW cut off the pole but didn't plug their hole with concrete.  This might be an example of willful dysfunction or willful incompetence.  Or both.  Or just plain old, unadulterated incompetence and/or dysfunction.

Click here to read or reread HUDseen's first article about the signs on meter poles:  The Cracks Are Back, Jack!