Parking at CMH
Parking in the vicinity of Columbia Memorial Health remains a concern for the hospital and the City of Hudson. Hospital workers park their cars on the street, taking up spots that area residents, without driveways or garages, consider theirs. Three years ago, the Common Council voted to enact a new law that would provide parking permits for residents of the streets surrounding the hospital. Anyone parking on the designated streets without such a permit would be ticketed. The Council passed the legislation in March 2015 with barely a majority, but it was vetoed by Mayor William Hallenbeck because, although the parking permit scheme had originally been his idea, the Council Legal Committee, to quote Hallenbeck, had "turned it into a monster." Since there weren't enough votes to override the mayor's veto, that was that.
Since 2015, the parking permit scheme has been mentioned a few times in the Council, but no action has been taken to revive it. Now, Gossips has learned, by way of Facebook, that new parking rules are being imposed by the hospital, not for its workers but for patients and visitors. All those who like to avoid the parking garage and snag a spot in the little lot out front when keeping an appointment or visiting a sick friend take notice. That parking lot is no longer available to you.
According to this map, posted on Facebook by someone who works at CMH, the parking lot out front, off Prospect Avenue, is reserved for handicapped parking, medical transport, and valet parking. When you are visiting the medical office building or the hospital, you can park your car yourself in the parking garage or leave your car at the valet parking stand and have the staff park it for you.
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The Council needs to revisit - and pass - the parking permit proposal again, and the new mayor should approve it, like, yesterday. The hospital has been, and continues to be, an abusive and awful neighbor.
ReplyDeleteIf one parks in the garage the ticket will be voided by the office one is visiting.
ReplyDeleteSo I have been informed.
That's right. If you are visiting a lab or doctor's office, your parking ticket will be "validated" (not voided), and there is no charge for parking. If you are visiting a patient in the hospital there is a charge of $1 an hour, with a maximum of $4.
DeleteAnd I'll bet that nothing's changed on Prospect Avenue where the filled parking space nearest the crosswalk obscures the view of southbound drivers going the posted 30 MPH.
ReplyDeleteDear CMH: due to that single parking space, drivers often cannot see pedestrians waiting to cross. I guess it's an acceptable risk, though, because the hospital is right there if someone gets hit.
The hospital has indeed been an awful neighbor.
ReplyDeleteHaving lived on Rossman Ave for 22 years when No One parked on Rossman Ave to the last years when one had to juggle for a spot everyday near ones house. I was part of the initiative for parking permits which got tabled in 2015. My neighbors and I have written to the hospital and spoken to our alderman all to no avail. It took 2 years to sell our house on Rossman partly because of this problem when other houses were flying off the shelf. The law should be brought up again. Having said all that, the hospital is also a convenient neighbor, but they should be more considerate.