A reader contacted me earlier today to ask if Martin Luther King, Jr., Day was one of the holidays for which alternate side of the street parking was suspended. I responded that it was. For everyone's reference, these are the eight holidays for which the alternate side rules are suspended:
- New Year's Day
- Martin Luther King, Jr., Day
- Presidents' Day
- Memorial Day
- Independence Day
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas
Seeking answers, I contacted Rob Perry, DPW superintendent, who told me that because the snow was expected to continue overnight, there was a crew coming in at 4:00 a.m. to do plowing.
Given that, Gossips best advice is to follow the alternate side rules tonight and park your car on the odd side of the street. If everyone did that, the plows could clear the middle of the street and the even side without having to plow around parked cars.
COPYRIGHT 2026 CAROLE OSTERINK
Would it be too much to ask the new administration to inject some sense into what is considered a holiday for the purpose of parking fees? It would be a nice quality of life improvement if any federal holiday would exempt you from paying to park.
ReplyDeleteI don't want have to dig out this information from the city's website every time a holiday comes around.
Leaving three federal holidays out of the equation is Hudson City Hall's way of showing us how much they appreciate us and care about our well-being and quality of life. It's also their way of satisfying their addiction to the money involved in parking tickets. They can't help themselves, and they're not interested in helping us.
ReplyDeleteGoing to the Parking Bureau's webpage will not get you to the list of the 8 free parking holidays they offer -- there's not even a link to it. For that list you must peruse the City Code. But don't try to find the City Code on the Code Enforcement Office's webpage, because it's not there. The page does offer a link to the Planning Board Application, however. We're on our own.
The information is readily available on Gossips. It is regularly published whenever there is a federal holiday on which alternate side parking is or is not suspended.
DeleteThere should be no need for anyone to do such a thing, Carole. All federal holidays, like everywhere else, should be days of free parking in Hudson. Why wouldn't they be? No one in Albany or Ithaca has to ask if a certain federal holiday is free parking. They all are, as they should be.
DeleteHudson City Hall is closed on all 11 federal holidays (as Albany City Hall and Ithaca City Hall are), so parking enforcers should not be asked to work. No one should have to wonder -- or ask you -- if a certain federal holiday has free parking or not. It should be a given, and at the very least it should be posted and easy to find on the Parking Bureau's web page. This is how things operate in the real world in municipalities that care and communicate properly.
No one should feel the need to correct City Hall's inability to communicate the simplest of matters, even when they are closed for a two or three day weekend or on a federal holiday in the middle of the week. I'm not talking about a perfect world here. I'm talking about the basics.
PS -- Though you may be shocked, Carole, not everyone reads your blog (or wants to have to get information about parking)!.
DeleteI wish city hall read Gossips — I got a ticket today. On the up side, our municipal employees are hard at it.
ReplyDeleteSo sorry to hear this, John. I hasten to say, however, that the information I shared pertained only to overnight parking (midnight to 8 a.m.) not to onstreet parking in formerly metered areas during the day.
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