Raise Those Parking Ticket Fees Right Away, Our Mayor Needs Another Stop Sign And Pole!!

It was August 25th when I first wrote about mayor Ferris' new stop sign at Warren & Park, one week after it had been installed 8 feet from the curb.  At the time, I gave it two weeks to be demolished.  In a rare case, I was proven wrong.  I should have chosen TWO MONTHS instead!

Earlier tonight, about 55 days after Joe Ferris' new stop sign atop a new sign pole was installed by DPW, I noticed it was no longer there.  In its place, in the street 8 feet from the curb, was a much shorter temporary stop sign.  Anyone with a pair of eyes and half a brain could have seen this coming.  I did.  What am I, a genius?

I'll say it anyway:  Ha Ha Joe, I told you so! 

Our mayor may be well intentioned, but he simply doesn't know what he's doing.  Mayors, no matter what municipality they represent, do not make decisions about traffic control devices.  But our mayor feels the need to get involved, if only because no one is telling him he can't or shouldn't (and he has nothing better to do).  There are proper means to get traffic signs and crosswalks installed that do not involve the mayor, and the city should stick to it.  Don't confuse things, Joe!  Henry Haddad, as part of the so-called SAFETY Committee, got 3 of 4 traffic signs installed in June via HPD and DPW (a dumb process in itself, and we are still waiting for number 4).  Then the mayor decided he had to get involved with his ten unsafe intersections, making things happen on his own by avoiding the SAFETY Committee.  We shouldn't fault Henry Haddad if he feels pushed aside and unneeded.  Poor Henry!  Poor Margaret Morris, the mayor ignored the SAFETY Committee she created!

HUDSON CITY HALL IS AN ABSOLUTE MESS! 

Last week, I noticed yet another pair of scannable signs missing from atop a parking meter pole in the 700 block of Columbia. It's so absurd!  There are 6 meter poles between Park and 8th, and right now just half of them have signs.  It's like HPD has given up.  Yet, this afternoon the mayor probably signed Margaret Morris's proposal to raise the fee of every fucking parking ticket, including one referred to simply as "meter." (It's called meter violation, people!)  What used to be a small town-appropriate $10 meter violation fee will soon be a $20 meter fee, even though we got rid of the parking meters last year. 

In late January, I appealed a $15 WRONG SIDE (overnight) parking ticket that my car was issued in December.  That was 9 friggin' months ago, and I haven't heard one thing about my appeal from the Parking Bureau.  NOTHING FOR NINE MONTHS!  Meanwhile, Margaret Morris -- who parks her car in her garage every night -- will soon have another notch on her belt: the price of a WRONG SIDE parking ticket will soon be $25.  I'd bet ten dollars that Margaret Morris doesn't even know when HPD typically issues WRONG SIDE parking tickets.  Perhaps the mayor knows, but I wouldn't be one bit surprised if he doesn't either.   

Will mayor Ferris be foolish enough to return his stop sign to the same spot where it was taken out by a vehicle today?  You know, 8 feet from the curb on Warren Street at the city's most dangerous intersection.  Seriously, though, where is the replacement stop sign going to be installed?  6 feet from the curb?  How about never replacing it, like Parking Captain David Miller's parking signs on Columbia!!!