Cool or Redneck?

Last month, Mayor Hallenbeck bragged on Facebook about the achievements of his two terms in office:

4th most visited City in America, 3rd coolest City in America, and 17th Richest Small Town in America. Please do not let the local social media propaganda bloggers ruin what we have worked so successfully to establish over the past three years. There really isn't much more to say. 

One wonders what the mayor will do with this information.

Yes, it's true. The rock 'n' roll radio station WPDH and the alternative rock station WRRV reported yesterday that, according to Roadsnacks.com, Hudson tops the list of the most redneck cities in New York. The categories on which this judgment was based--the number of bars in a city (can (p.m.) Wine Bar, Ör, and Back Bar really be considered "redneck"?), the number of mobile homes per capita (they are illegal in Hudson), and number of tobacco stores (do they include convenience stores that sell cigarettes?)--suggest that the City of Hudson may have been judged by the surrounding areas that share the 12534 zip code. (Surprisingly, one of the categories was not the number of pickup trucks flying Confederate flags.) The picture below--the only picture of Hudson that appears on Roadsnacks.com--pretty much confirms that Hudson was judged by what surrounds it: Greenport.

This is Fairview Avenue, beyond the bridge over the railroad tracks that some consider the city limits. On the left is the outer edge of Hudson; on the right is the Town of Greenport, home of the soon to be expanded drive-thru cigarette superstore, several mobile home parks, and, of course, Walmart.

There is one category used for judging "redneckness" that we in Hudson need to own: our low high school graduation rate, which this report sets at 67 percent.
COPYRIGHT 2015 CAROLE OSTERINK