Is Our Mayor Sleeping On The Second Floor Of City Hall At Night Too? Including On Holiday Weekends?

 

It's not unusual to see our mayor's personal car parked in one of his two designated parking spaces directly behind City Hall late at night on just about any day of the week. Or on a Saturday or Sunday morning, exactly as I noticed his car parked this morning.  (There's also a space for the mayor in the parking lot.)  In other words, our new mayor, who lives in a house he owns just a 5-minute walk from his place of employment, has decided that the two parking spaces behind City Hall reserved for his one car are his 24/7 personal parking spaces, whether or not he is working on making Hudson a better place to live and do business in, and even if he is out wining and dining in town or sleeping in his bed three blocks away.  He has decided that leaving his car parked behind City Hall while he sleeps at home is perfectly acceptable, implying that every employee working at City Hall ought to take advantage of the situation.  

The funny thing is that I saw Joe Ferris driving his black car on Warren Street early yesterday afternoon.  (Unfortunately, he turned onto a side street before I had a chance to wave to him.)  At some point within the next few hours, Ferris either couldn't find a parking space on or near North 6th Street for the night, he wanted a more secure, off-street parking space, or he decided he wanted to keep his car dry during today's forecasted rain.  Or maybe it was all of those things.  Let me tell you, finding a parking space near the Pocketbook business complex can be a bitch these days, particularly on weekends and especially on long weekends like this one, something Ferris would agree with (if he were to be truthful).  Ferris and I have been neighbors for a few years, we were once cordial to each other, then he became a politician.  Then, in late January, he did his best to ban me from City Hall for speaking too passionately to him and his aide about a sidewalk problem they had both been ignoring for far too long (the ACLU of New York will be contacting him soon).  When his all-black car (the most accident-prone of all colors) is not parked behind City Hall, our cars are often parked on the same street, sometimes in adjacent spaces.

Well, it's a nice job with free parking spaces if you can buy it.  And, let's face it, Joe Ferris bought his way into City Hall last fall, spending oodles of his own money to eke out a win over Kamal Johnson.  At least Kamal, who made sure his personal parking tickets were expunged, never left his car in the mayor's designated parking spaces behind City Hall overnight.  Unlike his successor, it was too long a walk home and back for him anyway. 

By the way, the door leading to the rear flat roof of City Hall is still NEVER LOCKED at night, a fact that mayor Ferris has been well aware of for at least the past five months, perhaps seven.  He simply doesn't care that anyone or several people could easily access the roof at any time of the day or night, including on weekends and holidays.  About two months ago, someone at HPD told me that they had been told that the door and staircase leading to the roof were considered a fire escape, though I failed to ask who they got their information from.  (The issue of the unlocked door was taken care of by HPD last year after they spoke with Rob Perry, but it resurfaced this year with a new mayor.  Now HPD wants nothing to do with the door, Rob Perry, and possibly mayor Ferris himself.  The Hudson Police Department is not part of City Hall and, apparently, they want nothing to do with it or anyone inside.)  

The windows you see in the lead picture are at the back of the DPW offices, and there is a door to those offices that is out of view to the right.   Rob Perry, Mishanda Franklin, and Joe Ferris all want 24/7/365 access to that roof and those windows and door, if only because it makes sense to them, and, well, that's the way it's always been (or they think so).  Anyway, who would be foolish enough to break into Hudson City Hall late at night via the always unlocked door, staircase, flat roof, and DPW rear door or windows if the mayor's car is parked nearby and he is presumed to be sleeping inside?  Or maybe he's awake and working hard at his desk in the mayor's office on the second floor at midnight on a Saturday!

Don't you worry, we are all obviously in good hands!