YOU MUST OBEY! YOU MUST CARRY A WORKING CELL PHONE AT ALL TIMES! YOU MUST OBEY! (Hello, George Orwell and the Nerd Reich!)

It only took about 4 months, but the tag team duo at HPD (not the Parking Bureau, mind you!) of Police Clerk Doreen Danforth and Parking Captain (PC) David Miller finally found the time, will, motivation, money, paper, ink, tape, plastic laminate, gasoline, and decency to adhere an OUT OF SERVICE sign to the $10,000 parking kiosk for the 700 block of Warren that was one of 16 purchased by the city in late 2024, delivered to the DPW garage on Dock Street 21 months ago in early February of 2025, installed about 7 months ago, and became useless within three months due to an inoperable (and apparently unfixable) solar panel on its top.  None of the kiosks are warrantied, and PC Miller has never mentioned anything about this out of service kiosk during any of his recent monthly so-called parking reports to the so-called SAFETY Committee.   What else are he and his boss "forgetting" to tell the public and the council about that they should be revealing? 

Now that the OUT OF SERVICE sign is on the DEAD kiosk, let's see how long it takes for it to fall off, be removed by a passerby, or be removed by PC Miller when, if ever, the kiosk is working again after city taxpayer funds cover the cost to have a technician from Connecticut install a new solar panel.  6 months for the latter, anyone?  Do I hear 12 months?  Do I hear $2,000?  $3,000?  More?

There's just one problem with the sign (that has nothing to do with the tape or how long it took to appear!).  The sign is essentially saying the following, isn't it?  

YOU ARE SHIT OUT OF LUCK IF YOU DON'T HAVE A WORKING CELL PHONE WITH YOU, OR IF, FOR WHATEVER REASON, YOU DON'T WANT TO PAY FOR YOUR PARKING SPACE USING YOUR CELL PHONE.  SORRY, YOUR CREDIT CARD OR QUARTERS WON'T HELP YOU NOW.  STILL, YOUR CAR MAY BE TICKETED IF YOU DON'T HAVE A CELL PHONE AND CAN'T PAY FOR YOUR SPACE.  HOW THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO KNOW YOU WEREN'T ABLE TO PAY FOR YOUR PARKING SPACE WHEN WE FIND YOUR CAR IN VIOLATION?  HAVE A GREAT DAY AND COME BACK SOON TO SPEND YOUR MONEY AND TIME IN HUDSON, WON'T YOU?  

SINCERELY, 

POLICE CHIEF MISHANDA FRANKLIN, PARKING CAPTAIN (PC) DAVID MILLER, AND POLICE CLERK DOREEN DANFORTH!  (AND DON'T FORGET MAYOR JOE FERRIS, OF COURSE!!!)

Notice the line on the sign in light blue near the bottom of what is a replica of the hundreds of ON STREET PARKING signs found around town high in the air or (those that remain) on top of parking meter poles:  "Kiosks available in municipal lots."  That statement is true but misleading and incomplete. The OUT OF SERVICE sign is attached to a kiosk located nowhere near a municipal parking lot, and there are six or seven other kiosks on Warren Street and one on Columbia that are not found near any municipal parking lots nor meant for them.  

Shouldn't the second line of the sign instead read:  TO PAY FOR YOUR PARKING SPACE, USE ONE OF THE METHODS BELOW BY MEANS OF A WORKING CELL PHONE ONLY.  YOU MUST USE YOUR CELL PHONE IF YOU HAVE ONE.  YOU MUST OBEY.  DUE TO THIS KIOSK BEING OUT OF SERVICE, YOU HAVE NO OPTION OTHER THAN USING A CELL PHONE TO PAY FOR YOUR PARKING SPACE.  IF YOU DO NOT OWN A CELL PHONE, BUY ONE SOON BUT DO NOT BILL THE CITY OF HUDSON FOR IT.  ALSO, PLEASE DO NOT APPEAL ANY PARKING TICKETS YOU MAY RECEIVE CLAIMING THAT YOU DIDN'T HAVE A CELL PHONE WITH YOU OR THAT YOUR PHONE WAS NOT WORKING, AS ALL SUCH APPEALS WILL BE DENIED IMMEDIATELY.  YOU MUST OBEY.  YOU MUST POSSESS A WORKING CELL PHONE AT ALL TIMES IF YOU PARK IN HUDSON.  YOU MUST OBEY; WE HAVE NO TOLERATION FOR ANYTHING ELSE.  AGAIN, FOLLOW THE RULES BELOW.

They "improved" and expanded paid
parking for this?