Mounds of snow line the streets, and Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs has declared a snow emergency will take effect Tuesday night. The delayed announcement comes after other local municipalities installed states of emergencies over the weekend.
According to the National Weather Service, more than a foot of snow has accumulated in New York's capital city – marking the region's largest snowstorm this winter.
Camyl Dohnert is one of the many city residents who were on the street shoveling Monday morning.
“I think it’s crazy, we haven’t had snow like this is like I don’t know how many years, I ain’t gonna lie,” Dohnert said.
Dohnert, who works as a trainer at FedEx in Menands, said he stayed inside most of the day Sunday. He was surprised when he saw the amount of snow on the ground this morning and is not sure of when the city last declared a state of emergency caused by heavy snowfall.
“I don’t know if they did in the past when weather like this had happened, I know they declared emergencies in other places,” Dohnert said.
Nearby cities like Watervliet and Schenectady enacted states of emergency over the weekend, and Albany County Executive Dan McCoy also put a declaration into place Sunday, saying “please stay home; stay off the roads and be safe.”
But Applyrs did not announce her intent to issue a snow emergency until Monday.
The Albany emergency declaration means residents will have to move their cars from one side of the street to the other, beginning Tuesday at 8:00 p.m. so plows can effectively clear snow from the roads.
During the first 24 hours of the emergency, cars must be parked on the even-numbered side a street. Afterward, cars must be parked on the odd-numbered side for another 24 hours.
Speaking at the Department of General Services headquarters Monday, Applyrs said there is a reason the city waited to declare an emergency.
“Parking on the wrong side of the street will result in a car being ticketed and may result in being towed, and this is why we are giving our residents some time. In addition, by law, we are required to give some time, but we wanted to give even more time,” Applyrs said.
The snow emergency will conclude on Thursday.
Frank Zeoli, Deputy Commissioner of DGS, explains Albany employs snow emergencies as part of a post-storm cleanup effort.
“During the storm, we focus our energy on keeping the streets open, right? It’s important to keep them open we got a lot of hospital routes and such, we start with the primaries, secondaries, and then tertiaries. That is our focus when we are plowing snow. When we get to a snow emergency, the whole focus is to get the snow pushed back or removed,” Zeoli said.
He says that residents’ compliance is key.
“By adhering to the snow emergency rules and the odd, even parking for the 48 hours, it’s imperative for us to do it. As the mayor said, we don’t want to tow, we don’t want a ticket,” Zeoli said.
Emergency snow parking lots will be open for people to park their cars during that time, if needed.
Albany residents can check the city’s website for more information.
