The one on Front Street, in front of the Chamber of Commerce, has been vandalized and is completely unusable. The handset is missing! The ones next to the First Presbyterian Church and in front of City Hall are magnets for graffiti. The only one that looks like it might still be functioning is the one on Union Street near the courthouse, but it's unclear if anyone ever uses it.
In this day and age, when everyone carries a cell phone, it seems there is little need for public telephones. But what would it take to get rid of them?
Update: We are not alone. After reading this post, Alderman Dominic Merante sent me the link to an article about abandoned and nonfunctioning payphones that appeared in USA Today on November 3, 2014: "Forgotten payphone relics no talk, no action." It seems the first step in getting rid of them is establishing who owns them.
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I inquired about this, at the chamber's request, when we installed the Little Free Library on Front street. Rob Perry told me that Verizon owns them and has to remove them. I spoke to the people from Verizon Wireless when they came to the Planning Board last year and asked if they knew of anyone one could speak to about it at Verizon, and they told me that Verizon hasn't owned any pay phones in over two years so they aren't theirs. I asked Andy Howard if that meant the city could remove them and he said he'd look into it. I never heard back and gave up my quest after that.....they are certainly an eyesore.
ReplyDeleteReally? You've never been without a cellphone - battery died, screen broke, account suspended? I have, and those payphones were a lifesaver.
ReplyDeleteNone in downtown Hudson have worked for at least a few years. They are of no use.
DeleteIf you want a more extensive list of pay phones in Hudson, look here: https://www.payphone-project.com/numbers/usa/NY/HUDSON/
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of DPW failing us, and Rob Perry in particular. This is a DPW issue -- the phones were part of our infrastructure and they are on our sidewalks. HPD, CEO, Mayor, Common Council -- they shouldn't be expected to deal with it. Only DPW. If Rob Perry actually knows that Verizon owns the phones, what has he done about getting rid of them in the past few years? If he doesn't know who owns them, has he even made the effort to find out by getting on the phone to Verizon to begin the process of figuring it out? If at some point Mr Perry can't determine who, if anyone, owns the phones, the DPW should just remove them --Job done, as it should have been done long ago. Only if Rob Perry's boss, the Mayor, tells Rob to get this done will it happen. It's really not that difficult, but if Mr. Perry (our $100,000 civil servant) doesn't care whether the phones remain and no one tells him to get it done, well, they will stay put and we will be asking the same questions sometime in 2021. We deserve better, especially for $100,000/year.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be so quick to remove them. These could be turned into info centers, public art, city bulletin boards, etc.
ReplyDeleteAnd continue to be repositories for spray paint and stickers. No thanks.
DeleteAsk Amtrac who removed there phones inside building and outside
ReplyDelete