Monday, July 21, 2025

What's A Dog To Do In The Absence Of Fire Hydrants?

 

Plenty of dogs in need of relief have already made good use of the city's new $10,000 kiosk that was installed last week on the sidewalk in front of the city's parking lot next to MOTO Coffee.  Can you blame them?

Summer Fun

 


Friday, July 18, 2025

Voila! Tyranny Is On The Run! Let The Good Times Roll!


Jen Belton and others on the Parking Study Committee (and, likely, whoever is in charge of the new Parking Bureau) are expecting those who park in the City Hall lot -- wherever they might park -- to then walk to a kiosk on the sidewalk just outside of the entrance along Columbia Street. Most of those people will be doing a lot of walking in the lot, a whole lot more than any meter ever forced them to! They will be crossing the entrance/exit area inside the lot where they can quickly and easily find themselves within feet of all sorts of turning vehicles entering and exiting the lot, with drivers focused on avoiding other cars, not necessarily people walking in the lot, including inside the entrance/exit area and on the sidewalk. This is exactly what we do not want. This is absolutely stupid and fucking inconsiderate, and people using the lot are going to be annoyed as hell at the hassle and time wasted to pay to park their car in the lot for an hour or three.

I Swear...

 

... this vacuum has been waiting to cross 5th Street at Columbia for AT LEAST THE PAST THREE WEEKS!  From the looks of the vegetation growth on it, though, it has probably been there for months.

Thursday, July 17, 2025

Does Anyone Else Think This Is Nothing Short Of A Really Dumb Idea That Will Only Fail And Piss People Off?

Until a few days ago, I'd been wondering where the city's new $10,000 parking kiosks for the City Hall Municipal Parking Lot in the 500 block of Columbia Street were going to be located.  Would they go on the island currently full of parking meters that bisects the city's largest downtown parking lot with about 100 spaces for the public?  Or would they be situated near the entrance/exit along Prison Alley where just about everyone parking in the lot eventually walks through twice to get to and from Warren Street, using the walkway to Warren that is full of tripping hazards?  (After all, the lot is there for visitors arriving by vehicle to Hudson's downtown.  They tend to walk toward Warren after parking, not away from it.)  Since there doesn't seem to be enough space at the alley entrance for even one kiosk that won't get run over within a day or two (putting kiosk users at risk as well), I was sure that the only viable place in the lot for two or three $10,000 high-tech parking kiosks was on the island.  With meters removed (can I watch, please!), there would be room for a kiosk at either end of the island, with maybe one near the middle.  Or just two near the middle.  On the island, the kiosks would be conspicuous, centrally located (convenient for all) and generally out of harm's way.  And it's where most drivers would expect to find them.  Just sayin'.

Wednesday, July 16, 2025

What The Hell?

 

I saw these three barrels this morning at 9:00 on South Front Street when they were on the median lines, though for no apparent reason, as they were not covering anything problematic and the yellow lines had been installed two weeks ago.  Neither DPW nor Luizzi was anywhere in the vicinity. By 6pm, two of the barrels had moved a bit, likely from being struck, though still in the street for no apparent reason other than to cause a crash. 

Another Garbage Tree