The Quality of Life and Safety Issue That HPD And Margaret Morris's So-Called SAFETY Committee Would Rather Ignore!

Rest assured, though, because during last night's meeting of the so-called SAFETY Committee, Police Chief Franklin announced that Winter Walk will be back this year!  Hoo-f'n-ray!  That's right, the so-called SAFETY Committee found time to talk about Winter Walk 2027 but not about the epidemic of lawless, reckless, dangerous, and COMPLETELY OUT OF CONTROL ebikes and escooters on our streets and, especially, ON OUR SIDEWALKS.  If the cracked or missing sidewalk don't get ya, an escooter or an ebike from behind will!  Enjoy Winter Walk from your wheelchair (if you survive the "accident")!

Disgracity, Part 12!

More lovely pictures below...

Then and NOW!

May 16th...

How's That DPW Budget Looking? Time To Raise Property Taxes Again?

Over the course of about a week in late July and early August, excavation and water pipe work took place on and under the upper 200 block of Columbia Street directly adjacent to the never-ending Hudson Islamic Center's mosque project.  Hudson DPW was not involved, the excavation work was done by a local contractor, and it was most definitely related to the always "in progress" mosque as a new sidewalk was being installed at the corner at the same time by the same contractor.

Has Anyone Seen Kenneth A. Ellsworth Recently? Has Craig Haigh Returned To Save Us? Hello, Is Anyone Working Today?

While the front door to the Code Enforcement Department offices on Washington Street was open yesterday at noon when I stopped by, nobody was inside to greet me.  Even though this hasn't been an unusual occurrence of late, yesterday it was a bit of a surprise to me if only because a new receptionist (full-time?) and a full-time code officer were recently hired to help Nick Fox straighten out the city.  Well, not only was Nick out, but so were his two new hires.  And where was part-time code officer James Schermerhorn and the other part-timer that has been around for a few years?  Do they both still work for the Code Enforcement Department?  It's difficult to know what the heck is going on there -- or who works there -- especially when no one is available to answer any questions or take complaints and you can hear a pin drop in the hallway.   Imagine if the City Clerk's Office were regularly "CURRENTLY OUT OF OFFICE"!

Why Was Our Mayor Being Given A Tour Today Of Vacant Columbia County-Owned 610 State Street?

Today at 12:20, three people -- one I recognized as a county employee -- escorted mayor Ferris into 610 State through a side door.  What could his reasons have been to feel the need to see the insides of the old building, whose department offices and employees were recently transplanted to 11 Warren?  Was he invited?  Or did he request a tour?  Was this a necessary use of taxpayer funds?  And why wasn't Nick Fox along for the tour of the nearly 150-year-old building?  

It's Now An Epidemic! An Ugly and Dangerous Epidemic On Our Sidewalks That Rob Perry is Fine With! Send In The Public Works Board, Please!

The number of sections of concrete sidewalks in town that magically turn into lumpy black asphalt and remain that way has gotten to obscene proportions in the past few years.  The most recent ugly and dangerous sidewalk code violation I've noticed is impossible to avoid and lumpy as hell (perhaps the worst of them all), waiting to put someone on their chin (slamming it into concrete, of course).  It appeared this week or last in front of Galvan's rental property at 17 North 3rd Street, a two-family most recently assessed at $150,000 that is 100% tax-exempt and appears to have been exempt since 2006.  The questions are obvious:  Who replaced the concrete sidewalk with asphalt and why?  Do they have a plan to replace the asphalt with the material it replaced?  Are they required to do so (if anyone is required to do anything in Hudson)? And why does the city not care that it happened and that the practice has become so common all around the city?  And, of course, why is 17 North 3rd completely tax-exempt, and does anyone at City Hall know it is?

8 Feet From The Curb, Two Feet Or Less From The Car Carrier Passing Through Town

Yesterday at about noon, I watched as a cement mixer turned off of Park Place to head east on Warren.  It couldn't have missed hitting mayor Ferris's new stop sign by more than 4 inches.  It may have been just two inches.  Prior to witnessing that near miss, I assumed that the first truck to destroy the new stop sign would be turning off of Warren, not onto it.  (The sign does not show any indications of being banged into.)

The picture above was taken last week.  Somehow the carrier did not make mincemeat of the mayor's stop sign.  From my vantage point, I wasn't able to see how close the rear end came to the sign, but it sure looks like it could have been inches moments after the picture was taken.

Has Our New Paid Parking System Reached The Level Of A Shitshow Yet? Or Is It Still Just A Disgrace?

Yesterday, on Columbia Street just west of 8th Street, three days after noticing one pair of paid parking signs dangling from a meter pole and another pair completely fallen off an adjacent parking meter pole also in the 700 block of Columbia, I came across yet more evidence that no one at HPD -- absolutely no one -- is supervising our new ambitious paid parking system or even cares if it fails miserably. 

Get Used To It! (If You Can Afford To)

Get used to the lovely frosted windows on the funky basement storefronts at 726-728 Warren; they may be around for your lifetime.  According to what I witnessed yesterday and what can be seen through the unfrosted windows, it appears that the hotel across the street is renting both of those potential retail business spaces as STORAGE SPACE, primarily for stuff related to their restaurant and bar.

Hello Stop Signs, Goodbye Dying New Trees!

Thanks to two dangerous sections of sidewalk that were recently removed from the Public Works Board's SID list*, mayor Ferris announced that the city now has enough money to install a pair of stop signs and stop lines for Front Street traffic approaching the intersection with Warren Street, an improvement that should have been part of last year's DRI project that wouldn't have cost the city a dime.  (The I in DRI stands for IMPROVEMENT, of course.)  Instead of much needed stop signs and stop lines at that intersection that even a blind person knew were needed decades ago, the DRI and an engineering firm from New Jersey gifted us with three new painted pedestrian crosswalks, two new trees obscuring two new PEDESTRIAN CROSSING signs, and three new painted arrows and three new RAISED INTERSECTION signs that all belie the unraised intersection.  The latter should all be removed, and the former will have to be relocated to make way for mayor Safety Ferris's stop signs.  And, of course, the nearly dead trees will have to be taken to the dump or burned (they might be diseased!).

Progress In Disgracity!

By 6pm yesterday, the clear signs of a disgracity sunk to abysmal levels had unfolded on Columbia Street for all to see, walk by, and scan with their phones.  

Then And Now!

The lead photo was taken on March 17th, 170 days ago, give or take one or two.

Broken City, Flailing City, Failing City (Better Late Than Never)

 

(Non-existent editor's note and apology:  This piece was written over 4 weeks ago but never got published.  I forgot all about it.  Hey, there's a lot to keep an eye on these days, and I've only got two eyes.)

I took the first three pictures late yesterday morning.  The lead picture is particularly notable because this is at least the third instance in the past 4 or 5 months where HPD's plastic paid parking signs have fallen off the repurposed parking meter pole in front of lovely 720 Columbia.  As of today,  HUDseen has featured all three instances, though it's entirely possible I missed one or two.  First, it was the original sign, installed in early February.  Then, one sign became two back-to-back signs, their tops secured with a pair of binder clips designed for holding sheets of paper together.  Now it has been another pair to fail, these two being "held together" with a screw or two.  

Welcome To The DisgraCity!

Yesterday at noon, I came across yet another pair of broken scannable parking signs barely hanging on to the meter pole on the south side of the 700 block of Columbia nearest Park Place.  This is the third, possibly fourth, such instance at this pole since signs went on poles in early February of this year.  

How and Where Do They Find These People? Is Arkansas Next? (And Other Tales Of Staffing Woes)

 

It was three Tuesdays ago while I was waiting in the parking lot of the Police & Court building for City Court Judge John Connor to arrive that I noticed a new-looking black Audi with MASSACHUSETTS license plates pull into the lot and park.  A well-dressed, middle-aged woman with a briefcase got out of the car and proceeded to enter the building.  She looked very lawyerly to me; certainly not a defendant.  Sure enough, 10 minutes later inside the courtroom, there was the same lawyerly woman sitting up front in the only chair at the table reserved for the Columbia County Assistant DA, the attorney representing "the people of New York State."  I wondered what road she drove on that morning to enter New York from Massachusetts.

Was This Sign Approved By The HPC and The Owner Issued A Sign Permit By Code Enforcement??

Would a generic, ahistoric, inappropriate sign like this be approved for every restaurant in town?

Don't Be Fooled By The News, Rumors, Or The Vacant Storefronts! Business Is Up All Over Hudson! Way Up! Higher and Higher! Too High To Come Down! Rejoice, People! Rejoice!!!

Business is even booming on Green Street! Along the truck route and on the way out of town, no less!

Rob Perry and Colarusso Have Some Explaining (And Work) To Do!

Cracked concrete can now be easily seen all over the 14-month-old Ferry Street Bridge, particularly on the sidewalks but also on the street surfaces and the island between them.  The island surrounds the bridge's truss.  Yesterday, for the first time, I noticed two additional common warning signs of poorly mixed, poured and/or cured concrete: scaling and pitting.  Perhaps the best time to inspect the bridge is on a day when recent rain has had a chance to evaporate, as was the case yesterday.  This way you can see where water remains in cracks, pits, and scaled areas, sticking around to further damage the concrete surfaces.  And, boy, were there a lot of wet areas remaining on the bridge late yesterday afternoon!  

Concrete is supposed to be impervious to water, not take or soak it in.  Once the water gets inside the concrete, it doesn't leave easily.  And when that water freezes you've got a bona fide compounding mess on your hands.  An expensive, time-consuming, ugly, and embarrassing mess.  All of it preventable if the job is done correctly from the start and someone from DPW is paying attention, of course!

Well, Lookee Here, If It Isn't Our Violator-In-Chief!

Given that the NY State primary election was held 9 weeks ago and the general election isn't for another 8 weeks, you'd be hard-pressed to find a political sign of any kind on any property in the city.  At this point, any that remain are nothing but useless clutter, visual pollution, and, for good reason, code violations. However, besides the few election signs for Abdus Miah from 4 years ago along lower Columbia Street, there is one conspicuous and noteworthy green and white election sign that has been in front of a drab and joyless (and flowerless) house on North 6th Street for quite a while.  That sign says a whole lot about the owner of the house as well as how screwed up things are at City Hall.