Hey Forrest,

Great to hear from you! It's nice to see a fellow resident!

More on the parking situation, the town does list numerous public parking spots in downtown that visitors can use, most within a few minutes of walking:

https://www.discoverhudson.org/plan-your-visit/

There are also plenty of side streets that people will use for off-street parking. Admittedly Hudson's parking situation isn't the most convenient for visitors who aren't used to the area, and this is backed up with a parking study:

https://www.townofhudson.org/sites/g/files/vyhlif3281/f/pages/parking_report_final-lg.pdf

There are 1,400 parking spaces, but many spaces are hard to find.  
− There is a perception of lack of parking
− Many lots do not have clear or visible signage that indicates whether or not one can
park there
− There are more than a dozen different types of regulations
− Half of off-street parking is "restricted access", meaning that the lots are not available
to the general public
− There are some lots that are publicly owned and available to the general public, yet
most of the stakeholders and workshop participants we spoke with did not know they
existed
− Some parking areas are difficult to find from the roadway and/or challenging to
access, so they end up being underutilized
− Overall signage is confusing to customers

The study is fairly old and the parking situation may have improved since then, but I think the point is clear that there's a demand for improved parking. I hope the town will do more to make parking easier to find instead of adding more parking spaces. We definitely have plenty of parking, it's just that visitors may have to plan ahead as it's not designed like a shopping plaza with massive parking lots in front of storefronts.

I also hope the town will do more to invest in transit so car traffic and parking demand are reduced. As it stands right now, our regional transit authority has a fairly limited schedule and its coverage isn't great either:

https://www.mwrta.com/routes/fixed-routes/route-15

It is for example technically possible to travel from Hudson to Boston via bus and train, but it will take an excruciatingly long time, requires multiple transfers, and may even be at times be unsafe due to poor pedestrian infrastructure along the route:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Peter's+Grove,+11+Lake+St,+Hudson,+MA+01749/Back+Bay,+145+Dartmouth+St,+Boston,+MA+02116

This is why my wife and I compromise by driving to the train station first when going on day trips into the city. We hope to further reduce our car dependency by having more robust public transit in the central Mass area. There's something to be said by having the freedom to travel to places without needing to take several tons of privately-owned metal with you.

- Josh


On Fri, Nov 19, 2021 at 8:06 AM Forrest S via WLUG <wlug@lists.wlug.org> wrote:
Hey Tim,

Names Forrest I introduced myself a while back on the forum I live in Hudson and know the area pretty well so I will be there for my first in-person meeting and so for everyone who does not know there is a parking lot in the back behind the fire station it is right next to the library
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