First Step (Of Many) To Help Keep The United States Postal Service On Its Feet (I'm Not Kidding!)

DEAR USPS CUSTOMER --

TO ALLOW USPS MAIL SERVICE TO BE MORE EFFICIENT, QUICKER AND SAFER FOR OUR MAIL CARRIERS, THEY WILL NO LONGER BE ASCENDING MORE THAN 4 STAIRS PER ADDRESS TO DELIVER MAIL.  FROM NOW ON, 3 STEPS UP AND DOWN IS THE MAXIMUM, AND EACH STEP MUST HAVE A SOLID RAILING TO HOLD ON TO, BE IN GOOD REPAIR AND FREE OF HAZARDS, AND HAVE AT LEAST THREE FEET OF UNENCUMBERED WIDTH (THIS INCLUDES VEGETATION OF ANY KIND).  FOR THOSE WITH MAILBOXES OR DOOR SLOTS CURRENTLY LOCATED MORE THAN 3 STAIRS FROM THE SIDEWALK, WE ASK THAT YOU LOCATE A MAILBOX AT THE BOTTOM OF YOUR STAIRS THAT DOES NOT INTERFERE WITH PEDESTRIAN TRAFFIC AND ABIDES BY WHAT REMAINS OF SOCIETAL NORMS AND AESTHETICS.  IN OTHER WORDS, MAKE IT USER-FRIENDLY AND NICE-LOOKING, PLEASE.

Careless and Dangerous City and City Hall

As difficult as it still is to write this, here goes (once again). The Hudson Youth Department is responsible for everything related to Oakdale Park, our largest and wildest public park, including maintaining the trails (even if they are owned by National Grid), mowing the grass, maintaining the basketball courts, maintaining the beach, keeping an eye on and removing algae from the lake, the hiring of the lifeguards, and getting a floating dock to the middle of the lake and possibly leaving it there for the entire winter, as was done recently.  No, not the Department of Public Works nor the non-existent Parks Department, but the Hudson Youth Department  with its main office on South 3rd Street about one mile away from the park.

Can We Trust Colarusso and Rob Perry To Build Us Any Infrastructure That Will Last Even Just A Few Years?

Here are some pictures I took a few days ago of the concrete sidewalk and street surfaces of the year-old Ferry Street bridge.  Even if you don't ever drive, bike or walk across the new bridge, you should be incensed at the situation.  And seriously concerned about what the heck is going on (and not going on) on the second floor of City Hall.

Incompetence? Dysfunction? Lack Of Awareness Of The Obvious? Plain Old Lack of Communication Between Our County And Our City? Lack Of Respect For Hudson? Or Could It Be All Of The Above?

Columbia County's five very new parking signs on the south sidewalk side of the first block of Warren Street -- four found on city lampposts and one on a (soon to be installed) permanent signpost -- indicate what we all knew was coming.  The county's new parking rules on one block of the city's main thoroughfare prohibits the general public from parking anywhere in front of 11 Warren on weekdays from 8 am - 5 pm lest they get their vehicle towed.  Not ticketed, just towed!  Those once public parking spaces that were always free until this year are now reserved for county employees during workdays.  So, is it safe to say that as of the past week or two the first block of Warren has new county parking rules that trump the city's new paid parking rules that exist along all of Warren?  Well, no, it does not appear that way.  This is, after all, where county meets city, where nothing is simple or straightforward, and where things can get dumb, ugly, and confusing quicker than you can say 11 Warren Street.

You'd Think That Shop Rite Would Know The Drill By Now!

Yesterday afternoon, I first saw the Shop Rite 18-wheeler headed west in the 500 block of State Street, among the five blocks of State between Green and 3rd that compromise what is known around these parts as the Easily Accessible Truck Route Alternative that HPD, mayor Ferris, Rob Perry, Jason Foster, and Margaret Morris are all fine with.

Here We Go Again With The Whack-A-WaterMole! Get Out The Checkbook and Tell Dewan Sarowar To Come Have A Look!

At least two houses in the 200 block of Columbia Street (210 and 212) were flooded this morning due to a municipal pipe break that I have been told by a DPW employee was related to a water main, not a sewer pipe.  It is a wet, muddy mess down there, street closed, a waiting fire engine, and it appears that a local excavation contractor has been called in to assist ($$$$).  This is a much larger response than yesterday's response to the busted pipe at 4th & State, which appears to be completed (though a dirt and stone surface is waiting for asphalt to patch the hole). This latest headache for DPW -- and expense for the city -- will not be wrapping up today, and it's entirely possible that the 200 block of Columbia will be closed to traffic all weekend.

Old Pipes, Too Much Water

Here is some information that has yet to make it to the Announcements section of the city's website.  The DPW Water Department is dealing with a broken pipe of some sort directly under the middle of the intersection of State & 4th.  State is closed to traffic from 3rd to 4th. A whole lot of water is being pumped out of the excavation that was made.  At least one subcontractor for a utility, likely National Grid, is involved with the response.