Déjà vu All Over Again

Last year, the first his fellow business owners heard about Joe Fierro's plan to stage a muscle car and motorcycle show on the 300 block of Warren Street, with American Glory as the focal point, was the morning of the day it was happening. They arrived on Saturday morning to open their shops and discovered the street lined on both sides with "No Parking" signs. Although the plan last year started out as simply parking cars diagonally along both sides of the street, narrowing the street to a single lane, the police eventually closed Warren Street completely from Third to Fourth streets, in the interest of public safety. 

This Saturday, it's happening again--only this time, a few things are different. As it did last year, the City of Hudson has issued Fierro a mass gathering permit for this event--although it's surprising that the application didn't raise a few red flags. It has been reported that this year, in applying for the permit, Fiero gave assurances that he had spoken with the other business owners on the block and they were cool with it. Not so.

Most business owners on the 300 block are hearing about Fierro's plans for the first time today--not from Fierro but from Alana Hauptmann of the Red Dot. Needless to say, all are concerned about parking in front of their businesses being eliminated and access to their businesses inhibited. The situation will be particularly problematic for the Hudson Opera House, where the seventh annual Hudson Valley Literary Festival is taking place this Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.--probably at about the same time as Fierro's Classic Car & Motorcycle Show is happening.