The Register-Star reports today that the leaks causing the City's recent loss of water have been located and repaired: "Hudson's water replenishing after line freezes, breaks." The cold snap around December 23 caused both pipes in homes and water lines to break. According to the article, the Department of Public Works identified fourteen buildings with water line breaks, "homes that were vacant, unoccupied, under construction, or left empty by people traveling during the holidays."
Even though the problems have been corrected and the City's water tank is being replenished, residents are still urged to conserve water.
There are far too many long vacant and long-neglected houses in this city, PARTICULARLY ON 6 BLOCKS OF STATE, excluding the 400 block! It doesn't seem to matter if they are on Craig Haigh's Vacant Building Registry -- nothing gets done, no improvements, not even superficial work to make them look less like shit and frankly, spooky. That list is meaningless, just words and numbers, why even fucking bother with it?
ReplyDeleteHow long do you suppose the plywood (put there by DPW!!!!) boarding up the long vacant and DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE house on 8th at Columbia will remain? It's had a code enforcement NOTICE TO VACATE red sign on the front door for less than a year -- and that's relatively short compared to all the other ones around town that lost their signs years ago and no one has lifted a hammer at. Why did DPW board up that house? Because they discovered that homeless people were living in it, surprise surprise! Boarding up a vacant house with lovely plywood is the solution here in Hudson, apparently.
More surprise:
Galvan recently erected a lovely chain link fence with NO TRESPASSING signs in front of 618 State because this past fall I repeatedly called the police to tell them that a homeless person was living on the front porch and possibly inside the house. Think Code Enforcement noticed the homeless guy there when they did their monthly inspection of that house that has been vacant forever? Think DPW cared that the house was being squatted in? Think anyone at the Fire Department cared? HPD? Galvan? "Mayor" Kamal Johnson? Ha! None of them cared, none of them thought of PREVENTING a homeless squatter from taking up residence in a long-vacant city house that is literally rotting to the ground, possibly of course, because of several leaky pipes inside and a roof full of cracks and holes. Don't board it up with expensive plywood -- put a fucking 8 foot high fence around it and put up some lovely, welcoming signs! Problem solved!
We shouldn't be surprised one bit that the city, and all residents, are losing water (and money) and will continue to do so, in all seasons and for years to come. By not enforcing the VACANT BUILDING code, the people in charge at City Hall continue to bring this expensive, annoying and wasteful nonsense on. They are pretty good at responding to emergencies, but preventing them is a whole different story. We all suffer, financially and otherwise. Lost and WASTED water forcing us to conserve water because the city, including the mayor, can't pay attention -- didn't they just raise our bloody water rates like $25 with little to no explanation??? "Pay us more, but use it less or we will raise it again soon." What about the vacant houses code enforcement hasn't stepped in for years that are leaking water ALL THE TIME. No one would ever know. This emergency only came to light because so many houses were leaking. What about just two or three vacant houses (with no water meters, of course) LEAKING WATER ALL THE TIME? How would DPW know about them if Code Enforcement isn't REGULARLY checking every vacant house in the city? This city is dying by a thousand cuts! City Hall is simply unprepared and unqualified to keep us afloat sustainably.
The mayor et al don't seem to understand the most basic of life's tenets: don't ignore the important stuff, even if it's unseen, or you will suffer and probably die at an early age. Like brushing your teeth. This is not about putting your clothes on in the morning and getting out the door. It's about paying to attention to what you have decided to take care of and attend to the things that keep you alive and fed. Fix your leaky roof or the whole goddam house will be worthless. Find a way to do it! Your neighbors will appreciate it, too!
We are being "led" by the blind, some of them immature beyond their years.