The tornado warning was over by the time Monday night’s Common Council meeting got under way, but inside City Hall the storm was just beginning. Residents, upset with Central Hudson’s response to a weekend storm cleanup, turned out to voice their concerns.
“We want to know what we can do when things like this happen,” said Manitou Avenue resident Qiana Bennett. “Somebody needs to be held accountable.”
Bennett is one of thousands of Central Hudson customers who were affected by the strong storms over the weekend. High winds, heavy rain and damaging winds brought down trees and power lines, and led to outages throughout the tri-state area.
“Residents bought food with stimulus checks, and watched it rot in their refrigerators,” said resident Randal Johnson – also of Manitou Avenue “We pay high prices for our utility service, and if we fail to pay our high bills on time, we’re penalized,” he said.
Tonya Strothers, a city resident and single mother of seven, lost food, and was concerned about a home-bound neighbor who relies on an oxygen tank.
Johnson asked the council to call on the utility giant to compensate customers for their losses.
Mayor John Tkazyik later addressed the issue.
“This has been an ongoing problem in the past, particularly in this neighborhood (7th Ward). I understand that there were a lot of outages throughout the county, and Central Hudson has a lot to deal with, but we will be scheduling a meeting with them,” he said.
Noise issues
Residents also revisited noise ordinance concerns brought up at the previous Common Council meeting.
“Someday I would really like to see the police department in this city report the amount of tickets written to cars with boom boxes, and motorcycles – they’re so loud they shake the house,” said John Mihans of Wilbur Boulevard, at the June 2 meeting. “Quality of life issues are easy to solve, if you enforce them.”
Similar concerns were raised at the June 16 meeting, this time referencing vehicles in the vicinity of the Hooker Avenue and South Clinton Street intersection.
“It’s not just my concern, it’s a concern of the entire neighborhood,” said Hooker Avenue resident John Mihaly. “The vehicles disturb the peace, affect property values, and are a public safety concern,” he said.
Assistant Corporation Council Paul Ackermann addressed the issue.
“The police department issues noise ordinance tickets on a daily basis – whether it’s a loud vehicle or a party. They are issuing them, they’re out there,” said Ackermann. “With a vehicle you can issue an inadequate muffler ticket, but with a motorcycle it’s more difficult,” he said.
Ackermann cited a number of problems which were encountered when the department used meters to measure decibels, including background noise and weather.
“We’ve had them in the past, they’re just not effective,” he said. The noise ordinance, which was recently changed, allows for officers to use their own judgment when addressing noise complaints.
“As we heard from the gentleman earlier this evening, the concern is not by any means only on Wilbur Boulevard,” Ackermann said.
The Common Council will meet again on July 7.