Given that the NY State primary election was held 9 weeks ago and the general election isn't for another 8 weeks, you'd be hard-pressed to find a political sign of any kind on any property in the city. At this point, any that remain are nothing but useless clutter, visual pollution, and, for good reason, code violations. However, besides the few election signs for Abdus Miah from 4 years ago along lower Columbia Street, there is one conspicuous and noteworthy green and white election sign that has been in front of a drab and joyless (and flowerless) house on North 6th Street for quite a while. That sign says a whole lot about the owner of the house as well as how screwed up things are at City Hall.
The sign in question is the lovely one with Didi Barrett's name on it that has been attached to the railing of the stairs leading to the front door of 74 North 6th Street since April or May. And I guarantee that the owner of the house has left the sign there intentionally for all these months. No, this is not a case of "Woops, I forgot all about that election sign I attached to my railing four or five months ago that I have been walking past and admiring at least twice a day for the past four or five months and hope to keep posted for another two months or longer." Yes, the owner of the house has been thrilled to be able to announce to the world for the past 4 or 5 months who he hopes will be reelected to the state assembly in early November (and who he hoped would win the primary for state assembly on June 23).
What the owner of 74 North 6th Street may or may not know -- but should know! -- is that Hudson has rules about posting signs of all kinds in all kinds of places, including election signs on private property. In fact, Chapter 244 of the Hudson City Code, titled Signs, has a section solely devoted to election signs. Here is the first sentence (of three) of section G of chapter 244 of the Hudson City Code:
Temporary election signs shall not be erected prior to 40 days before any election and shall be removed no more than five days after the election.
According to public records, the house at 74 North 6th Street has been owned by our current mayor since 2022. The mayor's election sign in support of a politician he admires that has been posted out front of his house for the past 4 or 5 months has been a code violation for the past 66 days. The Code Enforcement Department offices are located one short block away to the north. After about two months, the Jobs & Volunteering page of the city's website still indicates that there is an open position for a full-time "Code Enforcement Officer" at the Code Enforcement Department. Here is the sentence that begins the Job Summary: The City of Hudson is seeking a proactive, detail-oriented Code Enforcement Officer to uphold community standards and ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.
Our dear mayor Ferris is clearly indicating that it's perfectly fine with him -- and perfectly beneficial for the city he is supposedly managing -- if every property in the city were to have an election sign (or twelve!) posted for as long as the owner wants to leave them up, regardless of what the City Code states. Go ahead, everybody, post your election signs months before the primary and leave them up until (or well past) the general election that takes place 5 months later, just like I do. Take it from me, your mayor: it's a wonderful look and it's just what Hudson needs right now.
How much would you pay to be a spectator if, by some divine miracle, someone from the Code Enforcement Department (perhaps Nick Fox) were to make a visit to the Hudson mayor's office to talk to mayor Ferris about immediately removing the code violation election sign posted in front of his house, possibly threatening him with a code violation ticket if he fails to comply? I don't know about you, but I would pay 20 bucks to witness that interaction, if only to see and hear our so-called mayor's reaction and response. "I'm so sorry, Nick. I didn't know. Are you sure? Didi won't be happy; I can tell you that!"
Our former "mayor" magically got his personal parking tickets expunged. And now this! The problem is Hudson City Hall!
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