A couple of people have asked in comments on this blog how they could sign the petition supporting the citizens' initiative for charter change. The group will be at the Hudson Farmers' Market again this Saturday, December 14, gathering petition signatures. The farmers' market is now at its winter location, the Hudson Elks Lodge, 201 Harry Howard Avenue, from 10:00 a.m. to 1 p.m.
For those unable to get to the farmers' market, the group also makes "house calls." Go to the website hudsoncharterchange.com, scroll down, and fill out the form (pictured below). A volunteer will come to you.
Signatures on the petition must be obtained in person, and those signing must be residents of the City of Hudson and been registered to vote in the City of Hudson in the last election (November 2024).
đ Imagine this type of resident-centered and servant leadership in City Hall...
ReplyDeleteđź We may no longer need to buy blue trash bags from a vending machine at 1am in the morning... hell, maybe our highest-in-the-state taxes would cover trash pick up?
¯\_(ă)_/¯
The blue bags are the most efficient and fair way to charge for trash pickup. Since Hudson does not have its own landfill we must pay for every pound we haul out, as well as the cost to transport. If we eliminated the bags and allowed unlimited pickup it would cause a tragedy of the commons where the overall trash load would increase since people would not be as mindful of how much they make. That would require an increase in the DPW’s budget to cover the additional costs. We pay for it one way or another. So a single retiree who barely consumes anything would thus be subsidizing, for example, a family of 7 who consume more overly packaged food and supplies from Walmart and make loads of trash weekly. This system is better for the environment too.
DeleteSomeone with an “Economist” mindset should understand that well placed usage fees can help keep taxes low by keeping power users from abusing a municipal resource.
If the city wants to get ahead of ever raising property taxes then we need to better utilize usage fees to increase revenue sources as well as protecting limited public resources. Examples: pricing parking closer to a current market rate, lodging taxes, water usage, etc. They’re already starting to move in the right direction of many of these things. Even the sidewalk improvement district fee will account for frontage as well as not let nonprofits (many of whom pay their executive staff/themselves quite well) exempt themselves out of paying their share.
Dear Union Jack -
Delete1️⃣ - I am almost blushing that you acknowledge The Economist mindset. You sir, are a reader and I appreciate you.
I respond at length out of respect for your wise advocacy for usage based fees.
2️⃣ - if you re-read my last quip… and previous comments on Hudson's Blue Bags… I don't advocate for unlimited trash pick up. (Though I don't fault you at all for your very fair comment on the Tragedy of the Commons…. and this is why we will eventually do some long-form pieces… dare I call them evergreen ♻️ content… to lay out some common sense policies… )
3️⃣ - I think a solution that provides a finite number of paid blue bags per year… or fixed volume trash loads in approved containers, coupled with use based and surcharged for additional bags/waste, likely makes most sense.
So we agree, Jack.
đŹ In any event, this is the sort of thing that some city somewhere has perfected and we don't need to re-invent the wheel. Our trash is not artisanal and special.
đ See here: https://www.epa.gov/transforming-waste-tool/zero-waste-case-study-san-francisco
Finally … the real indignity and absurdity of the Blue Bag breakdown, bungle, and blunder… is that it is 2024 and a City of Hudson resident cannot purchase a blue bag with a credit card. You have to use a paper check. The vending machine is well intentioned but does not work consistently, or at least not for first-timers. I guess in a way the blue bag vending machine is like a crash course for new residents in how Mayor Kamal and Presidet Tom operate Hudson; only for some, some of the time.
This is not the City Treasurer's fault…. or the wonderful ladies at DPW… but further evidence of the absence of competent executive and operational leadership.
✍️ → https://hudsoncharterchange.com
More than 90% of households in Kenya can use M-Pesa or credit cards to buy basic services goods… since 2005…. and the City of Hudson cannot process on-site credit or debit cards for parking tickets or blue bags. (Yes, you can pay online for a parking ticket via a 3rd party with a hefty fee…)
A resident-centered local government would allow residents to purchase Blue Bags individually or in bulk, and allow for pick up on-site at City Hall, or shipping to my mailbox.
PAYT (Pay-as-you-Throw Programs) are proven. **
** PAYT:
In MA / Boston:
https://www.mass.gov/doc/payt-in-massachusetts-fast-facts/download
General:
https://archive.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/payt/web/pdf/payas4.pdf
The research archive:
https://archive.epa.gov/wastes/conserve/tools/payt/web/html/research.html
That seems fairly reasonable, let’s see if FNI drops it from the emoji oriented roll call of grievances
DeleteThe fact I have to pay my water bill via check drives me bonkers. The only thing I use checks for. I walk it to city hall quarterly because I refuse to also buy stamps. Two anachronisms to simply pay a bill is a Ferry St bridge too far
DeleteUpdate: Small Blue Bags will be $2.00 and Large Blue Bags will be $3.50, starting next year. Still good value.
DeleteIt seems everyone agrees that a pay-for-trash system works. (I got some emails and texts).
My main point was/is that a City Manager could, on the margin, make many "design thinking" improvements that are resident-centered. I am sure City workers have plenty of amazing ideas.
Also... I might propose that going forward we could measure City of Hudson unwise spending in Units of Blue bags.
Remember a Scaramucci time unit of 10 days... or Warhol... a unit of hype measuring 15 minutes, 1 kilowarhol = 10.42 days.
đ See other humorous units of measurements here;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_humorous_units_of_measurement
đĄ So Mayor Kamal's SurveyMonkey / Comprehensive Plan survey cost tax payers 100,000 blue bags; 200k / $2.00
Or 100k đ️đ”
Michael, I think FNI was referring to when the machine was out of order for a few weeks and the only way to get bags was going inside and paying by check.
Delete@ Michael - very happy that it works for you. I have seen tourists and visitors think it is poncho bags and frequently help people buy from the vending machine when I walk past...
Delete@Henry - Not grievances per se... just opportunities for improvement đ
indeed, by some measures, the absence of reasoned points is the keystone of your oxygen depleting rhetoric.
DeleteThank you David!
DeleteI appreciate that while your comments are mostly brief put-down attempts you have done many great things for Hudson and that you mean well.
I am sure offline you are a fountain of ideas, reasoning, and public service.
Michael -
DeleteI appreciate that it may undercut my other points in _your_ eyes.
đł If you scan the Gossips archive on the vending machine / blue bags topic you will see many OTHER opinions and frustration over the years. I recall some funny Hudson Wail memes on this long ago. And I completely agree that this is not Hudson's biggest problem and not the hill anyone should die on. This can even be a funny idiosyncrasy / anachronism that we embrace and really love to hate / hate to love.
đ And I also recognize that this 2nd comment of yours is more specific and helpful (in my opinion) and shares your perspective and feedback, which moves the conversation forward. So thank you, and let's do more of that.
đŠč♂️ That said, all Hudson residents have different perspectives and backgrounds. I have worked in financial services / fraud / AML, and paper checks is a major fraud vector, especially in this county. And certain generations prefer credit cards over paper checks, and vice versa. America is one of very few countries where some states require certain businesses to accept checks and not charge for it. Other countries outlaw checks entirely. At this time there are limited anti-money laundering law and fraud enforcement in this County.
[Similarly, as a related aside, some people really dislike emojis, and others love it. I use it mainly on this blog to improve readability for different browser / device types. #Accessibility]
đł Payment solutions, even in government, is so advanced now that residents (customers) ought to be able to pay via whatever method they prefer, and the payee (in this case City of Hudson) has no additional accounting burden.
This way staff can spend their time servicing residents, managing the growing list of grants or whatever Dept Heads need, and not reconciling pieces of paper or monitoring time delays in payment.
❓đȘ Michael - if I am not mistaken you have lived here for a while…. if you could waive a magic wand and improve one thing in City of Hudson service delivery… what would it be?
đ Or alternatively, what do you think the City of Hudson does exceedingly well, so well, that other towns should copy Hudson?
Hi Michael -
DeleteI wish it took me more time to write these… if I had more time they may be simpler… or what is the cliche quote; "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter"
To your question: I do not think it is hyperbolic to emphasize a particular pain point for residents, one that has been echoed by many for years, and to suggest that a professional City Manager might resolve it better. Especially if every city in America has resolved this issue efficiently and scientists have measured the cheapest/most sustainable solution. I also previously listed several much larger and systemic issues, and pointed out that the Blue Bags is part joke, part symptom.
[Even if it were hyperbolic… for you… this is a Blogger comment section, not the Letters Section of Nature or Science Magazine].
I will admit that 5000 residents can probably come up with 5000 urgent / important pain points. Especially so when you have had a decade of poor and intentionally lob-sided leadership.
A well designed product, system, city, company etc. ought to work just as well for first-time and inexperienced users, as for the repeat and experienced users. See Dieter Rams principles of good design.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams
Why can't we ask what good looks like?
đ I do find your relentless pursuit of a "gotcha" very entertaining and reminiscent of early Reddit / ICQ days.
Do you care to answer my questions from your experience? I am genuinely interested in what you think Hudson does well and less well:
❓đȘ Michael - if I am not mistaken you have lived here for a while…. if you could waive a magic wand and improve one thing in City of Hudson service delivery… what would it be?
đ Or alternatively, what do you think the City of Hudson does exceedingly well, so well, that other towns should copy Hudson?
đșđž Michael - must be hard for you to be around the 1st Amendment and in America in general... when statements of fact or personal experience feel like hyperbole... I am excited for you to discover "Rhetorical Maximalism" đ
DeleteIt is true that many new residents, and some long-time residents... have a hard time buying blue bags:
đ https://www.trixieslist.com/deus-ex-machina/
đ️ Again, the real question is how can Hudson be better... please share your ideas....
and perhaps Hudson is already leading the nation in some area... that would be terrific... please highlight that for us.
If not, let's move on and not waste Carole's time publishing comments that does not move the conversation forward.
Have a great weekend
Is there a specific number of signatures being aimed for, or a (legal) threshold that would prompt some action?
ReplyDelete204 signatures are required to place the proposal before the Common Council. If the Council does not approve it or does not act within 60 days, another 104 signatures are needed to make the charter change a referendum item on the ballot in November 2025.
DeleteThe blue-bag model of waste management is incredibly not green. People who are struggling financially often don't purchase the bags and find other ways of getting rid of trash. Whether it is dumped in someone else's dumpster, or just left in the alley without a blue bag. There are also ravines at the end of some alleys which many know, became a de facto dump. Ther was a particularly bad one at the end of Rope Alley between 3rd St and the JL Edwards School that the city cleaned up a few years ago. I also caught someone stealing my blue bags and leaving me all of the trash in them to be re-bagged again. That was pretty crappy.
ReplyDeleteOur taxes can cover the expense of picking up anything that is put out. We are already paying for the garbage trucks, the fuel to run them, the labor to pickup and the costs for printing and sale of the blue bags. The subsidy provided by the blue bags is not worth all the down-side. Imagine what the alleys could look like, if everything that is placed out for collection, actually got collected, instead of rotting for weeks or months at various de facto dump points along the alleys. The blue bag model can and should be thrown out with the trash.
Being a resident of neighboring Greenport, I have no particular stake in Hudson's preferred way of disposing of trash.
DeleteThat said, when I moved here from a place where you just dump all your stuff on the street and it's gonna be collected (I disposed of a significant portion of my household that way prior to my move - possibly including numerous nuclear warheads), I quickly had to face the fact that here it's pay-as-you-dump and it instantly effected - for the better - a change in how I view and accumulate trash.
My town recently switched from selling tags (to be glued on whatever garbage bag you prefer) to selling you the bags instead. That actually made it cheaper. Tags were available for differently sized bags you acquired yourself whereas now they sell you the bag and as I remember, some of the bag sizes exceed the size of bag that the equivalent tag used to cover, for the same price. The bags are by the way pretty sturdy, too.
I have yet to see residents of Greenport do what you describe as commonplace in Hudson. I haven't so far come across one of those de facto dump points that you mentioned either.
That said, Greenport has a similarly infuriating way how to pay for the bags, except we don't have a vending machine. So it's cash or a check which you exchange for the bags at the townhall off Healy Blvd.
But we don't mind because it gives us an excuse to interact with our lovely town clerk Sharon and the rest of the very friendly staff.