Welcome To The New & Improved Parking Bureau At HPD! Go The Hell Away! We Don't Want To Help You Pay For Your Parking Ticket!! Now Scram!

On Wednesday at 9:10 am, inside the HPD station at 701 Union, I came across three people (two seated, one standing) waiting for someone behind the Parking Bureau window to lift the blind so that they could pay their parking tickets.  None of them looked thrilled to be waiting and wondering.  One woman was filling out an envelope to be put in the slot, having given up on the idea of handing her money to a human being.  She didn't have a hard surface or clipboard to write on. 45 minutes later, the blind was up and the clerk was ready to accept money, questions, and complaints.

Yesterday morning, in response to an email to the Parking Bureau about the still DEAD parking kiosk at Warren & Park, I received an automatic reply from a nameless someone at the Parking Bureau: "I am out of the office until Monday, 9/28.  For all urgent matters, please contact Doreen Danforth...."  It didn't say anything about the Parking Bureau being open or closed or how to pay for a parking ticket.  At 11:30, I stopped by the station to see if the Parking Bureau was open.  It was not.  I was told by the HPD dispatcher (I had to pick up a phone to talk to him) that no one could help me and that the bureau is closed while the clerk is on vacation through next week.  I was told to call the number on the sign if I had a problem.  The phone number and email address on the sign on the window of the closed Parking Bureau were completely different than the number and address in the "I'm on vacation" email from the Parking Bureau.  I'm not kidding!

I soon spoke on the phone with City Clerk Cherri Wrigley at City Hall to warn her that she might be getting phone calls about parking tickets because of the situation at the Parking Bureau over on Union Street.  As I expected, Cherri was surprised and puzzled about what was going on, telling me that she would talk to Chief Franklin about the situation.  Cherri thanked me for the heads up.  Before I said goodbye, I asked her if anything like this had ever happened when the Parking Bureau was located in City Hall.  "Of course it didn't," she immediately responded.

Here it is again:  No one seems to speak to one another at City Hall and HPD.  (Make no mistake about it, HPD is definitely not a part of City Hall!)

According to our longtime parking enforcer Stan Rutkey, he will be retiring at the end of the month.  (Of course, when I was a parking enforcer for a few months in 2014, Stan talked of retiring then as well!)  Until Jen Belton and Tom Depietro decided that the city would be better off with 16 $10,000 parking kiosks and hundreds of signs rather than hundreds of parking meters, Stan was tasked with fixing the meters, including replacing dead batteries.  The man knew our meters better than anyone.  Let me tell you, Stan knew a quarter from a plug nickel, even blindfolded!  Yet neither Jen nor Tom ever asked Stan what he thought about their ambitious and transformative paid parking plan and how it might be tweaked (or dropped altogether!).  

Sadly, word has it (and I can tell by the look in his eyes) that the ugly and expensive kiosks just aren't doing it for Stan; the new high-tech system is beyond the not-so-young fella's understanding (and sympathy).  His parking meter tool kit is no longer of any help to him or the city, if you will.  Hell, there's absolutely nothing Stan can do about the $10,000 parking kiosk for the 700 block of Warren that was installed 6 months ago and has been inoperable for at least 8 weeks (I think this is the 9th consecutive Saturday!).  I'm pretty sure I saw Stan give that dead kiosk a swift kick last week.  Just what it deserves!

$10,000?  For what?

According to HPD's own Incident Report for the month of May, a police officer was injured on the 1st of the month (Incident # 26-3703).  No details were given, as is the case for all incidents listed.  So, I FOILed for documents related to the incident, asking that all personal information be redacted.  I didn't care too much who was injured; I just wanted to know what happened and what kind of injury the officer sustained.  My request was denied on the basis of an "unwarranted invasion of personal privacy."  The details of the circumstances regarding that injury to a police officer -- like all city employees' injuries (or deaths) -- will be spelled out on this year's annual OSHA Injury Report, available at the beginning of 2027.  The city can't hide the cause of any injuries to city employees from OSHA, including injuries to police officers, but they sure can hide them from residents if they want to (until the OSHA report is available, of course).  The past OSHA Injury Reports that I've received have had all personal information redacted, as it should be.

Will Mishanda Franklin deny OSHA any and all information regarding the May 1st injury to one of her police officers, telling them that divulging the information would be "an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy"?  Let's hope so!

This past Monday, at the end of her as-always brief HPD report to the public and so-called SAFETY Committee (with no mention of crime made), Franklin had this to say:  "We are down an officer.  We.  Under unfortunate circumstances, we had an officer resign last week.  So, we will be doing our best to fill that position prior to year end."  About one minute of somewhat confusing talk ensued regarding how the position was going to be filled. Dominic Merante ended the discussion by asking Franklin, "How long was the officer on the job?"

"For us it was three years, three and a half years," our police chief responded.

"For us"?   Dominic wasn't asking for the young officer's employment history prior to joining HPD, was he? 

The news of that officer joining HPD was likely not mentioned by Franklin (or, depending on the timing, her predecessor) at a council meeting, but you can bet that his name*, along with pictures, was mentioned in a post on HPD's Fakebook page.  It's kind of a big deal (and a lot of effort) to land a new cop these days.  It's kind of a bigger deal to lose one after just 3 years.

Committee chair Henry Haddad concluded things by offering his condolences to Franklin. "Well, that's unfortunate.  Good luck."  He did not ask Franklin who the officer was, what rank he held, nor what the "unfortunate circumstances" were that led to the officer's resignation.  Henry also didn't ask if the officer's resignation had something to do with an injury. (Though how would Henry know about a police officer being injured if the police chief never mentions such incidents at public meetings?)  I guess it doesn't matter to Henry, anyone on the committee, nor Franklin herself why officers leave HPD, especially young ones who had the potential to spend decades protecting Hudson.  Why would any of them think the public might be interested to know why a relatively new Hudson cop decided to seek employment elsewhere?  Why would anyone want to know why at least three relatively new police officers have "resigned" from HPD in recent years?  A string of resignations at any police department, particularly of young cops, is a huge red flag, isn't it?  Of course it is!  But there can't be any concern outside HPD, let alone attention to the matter, if no one outside HPD is aware of the common occurrence of resignations inside HPD.

Yes, this is at least the third resignation in recent years of a new cop at HPD, though Franklin never mentioned the first two publicly (Luis Martinez and Reid Ferris, as I came to find out on my own).   Neither of the three remained at HPD for more than 3 years (I believe it was 1, 2, and 3 years for the three of them).  Who knows, maybe there are more than three recent "resignations" that no one outside of HPD is aware of.  

It is becoming increasingly clear that there is something amiss at HPD.  And something more than "that's unfortunate" and "good luck" needs to be said about this recurring problem of resignations.  Something that conveys even the slightest bit of concern and urgency is needed.  After all, we're not talking about losing laborers at DPW here! "What is the problem at HPD, Chief Franklin?  Please tell us the truth.  Why are so many young officers leaving your department?  What are the officers telling you their reasons are for resigning?  Are they just not happy at HPD?  Are they uncomfortable?  Are reality and expectations clashing for them?  Are they being asked to do things they don't feel right doing?  Why aren't any of your veteran officers resigning?  We shouldn't have to be asking you these questions."

* HPD has not hired a female officer in quite some time. 

This is the logo that is found on HPD's Fakebook page but not on their page on the city's website.  Notice the two blue lines.  If you aren't creeped out by this, you should be. 

By the way, SAFETY Committee member Claire Cousin was absent from Monday's monthly meeting.  She also did not attend Thursday's Legal Committee meeting.  It's safe to say that she has been far too commonly absent at meetings this year!   How many meeting absences are council members afforded before they are disqualified and sent packing?  Surely there's got to be a limit to the bullshit!