Apparently the complaints of many on Facebook and elsewhere about the clock being silenced have outweighed the single complaint about the clock ringing the hours through the night. This evening, Mayor Kamal Johnson made this announcement on Facebook.
 |
Can we have a public flogging in the 7th St. Park of the person who made the complaint?
ReplyDeleteFor what? We honestly know the very broadest of strokes of this issue. If something is disturbing someone's peace and quiet, they are allowed to bring that issue to city government. (I'm pro-bell, just FYI, but people have the right to have their grievances heard.)
DeleteI would say the mayor's office, where the complaint was lodged, handled the issue poorly, but I'm not even sure that happened. Perhaps the mayor asked the church to quiet the bells while researching the issue? I'm not saying this is what happened, but in the absence of any evidence we should at least leave the pitchforks in the closet.
Perhaps gifting earplugs would be a kinder solution.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to get the whole story and maybe some type of balanced solution can be found. Although I agree that, if it has to be one way or the other, a few new complaints should not cancel a 200-year tradition.
ReplyDeleteWhat is really disappointing to me is how this is another example of how this town’s citizens rely on social media to get its news, including unofficial announcements from city officials. And just like our national discourse, social media allows misinformation to spread. Carole, I appreciate the due diligence you take here and this blog is really the only good source of investigative reporting on local issues and the going ons with city government.
I find the Facebook groups in this town disheartening, perpetually negative, and full of low-information individuals. The constant scapegoating of the newly arrived in almost every post rivals the nativism of the MAGA crowd. Everyone was quick to assume it was some newly arrived individuals complaining about the bells, trying to change the town for their selfish needs. It now seems the complainant is much more tenured in Hudson. Such provincialism from a community that thinks itself to be progressive. I get it, everyone is wants to be the last person to move to their neighborhood. It was ok for you when you came, but these people now, they are different and don’t fit the mold in some way. It’s funny because this happens everywhere. In NYC it’s “go back to Ohio.” In the south it’s “yankee go home.” People have been migrating since the dawn of time, get over yourselves. At least people are willing to purchase homes and contribute to the tax base. Growth and change have their problems too, but they are good problems to have. The alternative could also be an opioid addicted ghost town like what is happening in much of rural America. The very real issues of stagnant wages and income inequality are systemic national issues and not the blame of your neighbors.
Hurray!
ReplyDeleteI just heard the clock chime 5!
ReplyDeleteI have missed it.
I grew up in far northern Europe
In the summer the birds started at 5 am. Never noticed it. Then I moved into the inner city next door to a fire station. For the first month, i could not sleep. Then I stopped noticing
I went to visit my parents in my childhood home and could not sleep past 5 am because of the birds.
It just takes a few weeks to adjust.
When I moved to Hudson 11 years ago, for the first month I could not sleep through the street cleaning. Now I do not notice it -- on my corner 3 times per night.