After the 80 plus parking tickets were issued during last week’s snow storm, people’s reactions have been mixed. Some called for other parking violations to be enforced. Beacon’s City Administrator Chris White announced the 80+ tickets at this week’s City Council meeting, while issuing a further warning about fines on property owners for not shoveling the corners of sidewalks.

Others complained that the 2” snow minimum was not well publicized on signage. Said one citizen to A Little Beacon Blog: “There is zero signage. With 80+ plus people who made the same record-breaking ‘mistake,’ something’s wrong here.”

That citizen had just returned from trying to dispute several tickets on behalf of their New York City guests by speaking to a clerk at City Hall. “The clerk told me that there are ordinances posted on the way into Beacon from Fishkill. But that’s not where our visitors come from. The clerk also told me: ‘it’s just known universally and it’s the same everywhere.’ I told the clerk that there’s no signage and that it’s certainly not how it’s done in NYC, where our guests are from. The clerk told me that ‘when it snows in NYC, people just use parking garages.’”

Parking garages in NYC are expensive, and parking in them on snow days is not what NYC residents do. As a former resident of New York City, this blogger, who did not have a car in the city, recalls that residents did not need to move their cars at all, unless they were on an emergency snow route road. Normally, there would be an announcement over the radio or TV that “alternate-side parking is suspended for today,” and people didn’t have to move their cars to the opposite side of the street. Car owners in New York City need to move their cars to the opposite side of the street on certain days to allow for cleaning.

Two Beacon citizens who also used to live in NYC confirmed to ALBB what happens in NYC: “Generally, they (NYC) just suspend alternate-side. Not really anywhere for most of the cars to go, so they just stay on the street, and risk being plowed in.” Recalled another citizen: “I used to get plowed in all the time.”

As for official notices in Beacon, the City of Beacon posted an announcement on their website on January 4, 2024. The City did not make a robo-call and it was not posted to the City’s Facebook page. The Beacon Police did post on their Facebook page, which got only 3 “Likes” and 1 Comment. The City Administrator Chris White did announce it in a City Council Meeting prior to the snow storm. The meetings are watched by a handful of people, but it is safe to say that most people don’t watch them, or hit up the home page of the City’s website on the regular.

While at City Hall, the citizen said that a Police Officer told them that there was an event coming up where people could dispute the snow tickets all at once. ALBB inquired with City Administrator Chris to see if such an event was happening. He replied: “I’m not aware of any such event. They can dispute tickets in City Court.”

ALBB called City Court, which is located at 1 Municipal Plaza, inside of City Hall, to ask what the process was to dispute tickets. The person who answered the phone said that if a citizen comes to the City Court in City Hall, there is nothing the clerk can do. The ticketed person needs to mark the box on the ticket to dispute the ticket, and then mail it to the address that is listed on the ticket, which is in Tarrytown. “You will eventually get something in the mail, and could take 6 moths,” the city employee said. “Parking tickets don't get dropped off,” the employee reiterated.

From the City Of Beacon’s News Post

Posted on the January 4th News item on the City’s website reads:
”SNOW PARKING REGULATIONS: Please be aware that after two inches of snow, your vehicle cannot be parked on the street between 9:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m. and must not obstruct City snowplows from clearing the streets. You’re welcome to move your vehicle into the City’s public parking lots, but they must be moved 24 hours after the snow stops falling so that the parking lots can then be cleared after the streets are finished. We hope to avoid issuing any tickets for this storm.

“SNOW SIDEWALKS REGULATIONS: Please also remember that property owners must clear adjacent sidewalks within 24 hours of the snowfall ending. Further, it is both unsafe and a violation of City code to throw snow into the road.

“Thanks for helping our hardworking highway crews to get through the storm cleanup and ensuring our streets and sidewalks are safe for all to use.”

Once more News items are posted, this news item will move off the Home page, and be buried in the City’s website for the winter season. Buried like a car under snow.