Seen At 2nd & Warren. Oh, The IMPROVEMENTS! Oh, The Revitalization! Oh, The Downtown To Be So Proud Of!

If you need evidence of a city in full-fledged failure and money-hemorrhaging mode, take a walk over to 2nd & Warren and observe the recent DRI improvements at your feet.  The liquid goo spreading on the new stone "plazas" for the past few weeks from both public trash cans on the south side say it all, don't they?  "Welcome to your once-neglected, now-improved downtown westside commercial district.  We don't care about you.  All we ask is that you pay your property taxes and parking tickets on time and use the public trash cans for your litter.  Otherwise, piss off!  And don't even think of calling Rob Perry.  He doesn't work from City Hall and he doesn't want to hear from you.  Have a great day.  But piss off anyway!" 

None of the 4 cans are secured to the plazas.

Here's a question I haven't heard brought up at any public meetings.  When the DRI paving stones begin to come loose on the new plazas and across the sidewalks at 2nd & Warren, 1st & Warren, as well as on Front Street, who will pay to fix or replace them and who will do the work?  Is there a line in the 2027 DPW budget for such work and expenses, and what is the title of that line?  Or are property owners responsible for Luizzi's DRI sidewalk stonework that they installed last year, were forced to repair this year, and will most certainly need attention next year so that someone doesn't fall flat on their face, wind up in the hospital or morgue, and sue the city for millions?  Finally, who is responsible for cleaning the stone plazas of the wet filth oozing from the public trash cans? 

Who at City Hall, if anyone, approved 
the stonework across the sidewalks at the first 
three intersections of Warren Street?

Notice the crack extending into the concrete!

A contractor working on the Galvan-owned building at the southeast corner of 2nd & Warren left sandbags and a cone at the curb at least two weeks ago when their work was done and their dumpster finally disappeared.  How many HPD parking enforcers have walked past this dangerous, ugly mess and done nothing about it?  Don't they all have Rob Perry's hotline phone number?  (It is 518-965-5235, an unpublished number.)  How about our new head Code Enforcement Officer Nick Fox's phone number? (518-828-3133.  I urge readers in need of a laugh to call that number after hours just to listen to the voicemail message!  At one point, well into the message after one prompt, what is obviously a male AI voice says, "This is Code Enforcement Officer Nick Fox.")

I noticed the lovely decorations on this doorway at least 4 weeks before work ended, and it's still there.  I sent the mayor a picture about 3 weeks ago. This is a Galvan property, which includes the small grocery store around the corner on 2nd.  That's right, one of the only bright lights on the city's west end is renting its space from Galvan, perhaps soon to be Bard College (if it isn't already).

A city in obvious failure mode!