Who Will Save Us? Or Is It Too Late (After 4 PM)?

At 10 am this morning, no one was available at the so-called Parking Bureau, and the same unhelpful "we are temporarily closed" sign that was on the window last Friday was still there. (Shouldn't the sign be on the front doors of the building or at the entrance to the parking lot or, better yet, at the corner of 7th & Union?!!!!)  There is still no indication on the sign when or if a human being will return to occupy the office behind the window "M-F 9AM-5PM."  The closure is temporarily ambiguously indefinite.  It's just temporary, mind you!  

Can you imagine?

Sure you can!

The Parking Bureau's webpage on the city's website is a case study in WTF government, too.  Near the top of the very crowded page is this: "Hours of Operation: 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM Monday thru Friday."  Is that so?  And, surprise surprise, there's nothing on the entire page that says anything about the bureau being currently "temporarily closed" or the fact that a human being will not be able to help you at 701A Union Street if you walk or drive over there to get a parking ticket taken care of, ask a question, or make a complaint, perhaps about the office being mysteriously and annoyingly closed far too often.  The next bit of useful information below the erroneous Hours of Operation is this:  "Payments, appeals, parking related questions, etc. will be handled at this location."  "Will be"? Will they really be "handled"?  When?  Next week?  Next month?  Next never?  Next "we don't know or care"?

About an hour after leaving 710 Union Street, I called the "for assistance" phone number (518-828-0218) written on the "Go Away, We're Temporarily Closed" sign.  After one ring, I got the voicemail message that is so commonly heard when calling the so-called Parking Bureau during the supposed hours of operation (take your pick!).  "Your call has been forwarded to the voicemail for [sic] Parking Violations Bureau.  No one is available to take your call.  At the tone, please record your message.  When you finish recording, you may hang up or press the pound key for more options."   I have underlined Parking Violations Bureau because it is the only human voice that one hears on the message.  Before and after those three words one hears a creepy computerized robot lady voice. Neither of the voices includes the definite article one expects to hear before uttering Parking Violations Bureau.  And the word Hudson isn't "spoken" either!  But, in perhaps the grossest indication of a city in disarray, there is no such department in the city of Hudson titled Parking Violations Bureau.  Perhaps there once was, but no such department exists now!  There is a Parking Bureau, but that's all we've got.  There is not a competing Parking Violations Bureau; not in Hudson, at least.  However, during a meeting last month (I forget which one), there was talk of creating two distinct parking-related departments (or bureaus):  one solely for violations (tickets), and one for everything else (such as complaints about DEAD kiosks and broken and missing scannable paid parking signs).  But Margaret Morris made it clear to everyone that having two departments both including the word PARKING in their title was probably not a good idea.  (She so smart!)  Alas, during last night's informal council meeting, I did not hear an update from Morris about the city's latest conundrum. Thank goodness for that; there's always next month!  Maybe by then the Parking Bureau will be reopened from its hiatus so that someone -- ANYONE -- can help us get this mess all sorted out!  I suggest Margaret be sure to get a hold of them by 4:00 PM!  That is, of course, if she's fortunate enough to find someone behind the window or answering the phone!

Is there a lovelier sight downtown?
The Public Works Board chose not to
replace this sidewalk!  Did the Parking 
Bureau tell them not to?  "DON'T YOU DARE
MESS WITH OUR PARKING SIGNS, TIFF!"