An incoming winter storm could bring a foot of snow to parts of the region starting tonight.
Speaking in Westchester County today, Governor Kathy Hochul said she expects every county in the state to be impacted by the winter storm that could bring more than a foot of snow in some places.
“Upstate, it should be anywhere from 6 to 12, even 18 inches further north. The city, downstate should be in a decent place, but there is a boundary. And you see that right around Poughkeepsie where we’re expecting about 6 to 8 inches in this area.”
At the City of Albany’s Department of General Services building, Mayor Kathy Sheehan asked residents to be prepared by moving their vehicles off city streets.
“In addition to encouraging anybody who does have off-street parking to use that off-street parking, share your off-street parking with a neighbor if you have room, we want to announce that the timed parking regulations in Washington Park effective 6 p.m. tonight.”
Regular restrictions in Washington Park will be reinstated at 9 a.m. Monday. In addition, downtown residents can utilize the Riverfront Garage on Columbia Street from 4 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Monday.
Sheehan said Albany would not decide whether to declare a snow emergency until after the snow has fallen. The Democrat said the fewer cars on the road, the less crews have to come back to clear snow.
She recalled the recent storm that left some cars iced-in for days.
“But if you looked at Clinton Avenue for example, where there was a lot of cars parked on the street, that cleanup took all of the weekend. And it was, you know, DGS literally going through, cars would move out and they would come in and scoop up the snow and push back the snow that had encased that car. So it’s a give and take, it takes a lot of time,” said Sheehan.
The snow will also serve as a test for the city’s new GPS system, which will be provided to both city and contractor vehicles alike. Leaders hope the technology will improve storm response, as the city has relied more heavily on contractors due to a shortage of available commercial driver's license holders.
Frank Zeoli is Deputy Commissioner of the Albany Department of General Services:
“There’s an app so our supervisors in the field can see where a contractor is, they can see where our staff is so they can make judgements on the fly about what we might need to correct,” said Zeoli.
Also in the Capital Region, the cities of Troy and Schenectady have not yet declared snow emergencies.
Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy is asking residents to be aware that vehicles parked on designated “priority” streets during a storm with more than 3 inches of snow may be ticketed or towed until the snow has been cleared.
The city has opened the Schenectady Municipal Parking Garage on Broadway for free parking through 9 a.m. Monday.
Elsewhere, the cities of Oneonta, Newburgh and Kingston have declared snow emergencies, as have Springfield and Pittsfield, among others.
