Monday, October 31, 2011

Not to Be Missed

Sam Pratt has a summary of R. Mary Wend's 1963 master's thesis on Hudson, entitled The Administrative Effects of the Breakdown of Law Enforcement in Hudson, New York, on his blog: "Hudson's Breakdown."  As Pratt points out, "Her paper is chockful of telling but largely forgotten details" of Hudson's history. In 1963, Pratt notes, Wend called Hudson "a stagnant city beset by many problems," chief among them:  
  1. a high tax rate
  2. a declining population
  3. slum areas and substandard housing
  4. lack of a public library
  5. lack of a sewage disposal system
  6. lack of imaginative leadership

1 comment:

  1. Considering the quality of nonsense our leaders are able to make up on the spot, it seems Hudson is cured of its lack of imaginative leadership anyway.

    We are still awed at Roberts' recent flat out lie that the causeway was not repaired and not used since Hurricane Irene.

    In that case anyway, the lack of imagination was the public's.

    I wonder if Ms. Wend had any ideas on the quality of participation, or did she also suppose that "leaders" are supposed to provide for every aspect of human existence?

    When we believe such nonsense and willingly allow our voices to be trammeled upon, what else can be expected but a Scalera, a Moore or a Roberts. In other words, people who need constant reminders that they are public servants.

    The fundamental lesson Hudsonians never learned was shouted at a crowd in Saratoga Springs in 1910:

    "The rule of the boss is the negation of democracy!" - Theodore Roosevelt.

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