Of Parking and Parking Meters

We are approaching Independence Day, which means the suspension of alternate side of the street parking. Because July 4 is on Thursday, the rules for overnight parking during the upcoming weekend are a bit on again off again, given that alternate side of the street parking is also suspended on weekends in the summer. So lest anyone be seduced into a false sense of freedom from the risk of an overnight parking ticket on this long weekend, here is the drill:

• Wednesday, July 3 (the eve of Independence Day): Overnight parking on either side
• Thursday, July 4: Cars parked overnight must be on the odd side of the street (south side on east-west streets; west side on north-south streets)
• Friday, July 5: Overnight parking on either side
• Saturday, July 6: Overnight parking on either side
• Sunday, July 7: Cars parked overnight must be on the even side of the street (north side on east-west streets; east side on north-south streets)

Pursuing the topic of parking, a reader recently discovered this item that appeared in the Hudson Evening Register in April 1941. It pinpoints the moment in time when parking meters were introduced on Warren Street. Given the reaction of some Warren Street merchants when parking meters were installed in the 300 block earlier this year, it is interesting to note that it was the merchants who petitioned the Common Council to install the original meters in the summer of 1941--on the 500 and 600 blocks of Warren Street and on Seventh Street between Warren and Columbia.