ITHACA, N.Y. — The City of Ithaca has put odd\even parking regulations into effect while a snowy few days remains in the forecast.
Tompkins County officials implemented a program called Swift 911 earlier this year to release automated notifications to people based on their address. Examples of notifications include snow emergency routes, construction updates, emergency alerts, and other general Tompkins County community notifications.
In the city of Ithaca, that also includes odd/even parking notifications. Usually, odd/even parking goes into effect from Nov. 1 to April 1. But with the new system, the city hopes to only have people move their vehicles when there is enough snow to possibly warrant street plowing.
“Do you know how infuriating it is to get a ticket when it’s not snowing on a pleasant night in November? Very infuriating,” Myrick said during a press conference about the new system.
Related: Tompkins launches system to send important alerts directly to residents; how to sign up
The system was officially rolled out Monday after weather reports indicated that there was a chance of 4 – 6 inches of snow in the area through Wednesday.
While many people online reported receiving a text message or email about the odd/even parking, some people who signed up for Swift911 are stating that they were not informed of the odd/even parking implementation.
Chief of Staff Dan Cogan, however, said online that the issue was likely caused due to people signing up for Swift911 but forgetting or not knowing how to sign up for odd/even parking notifications.
In order to activate the parking notifications, one must click the “add subscriptions” button and select the option that states “Tompkins County NY City of Ithaca – Odd Even Parking Notifications.” An example of what one’s Swift911 profile should look like when a person is properly signed up for the odd/even notifications is below:
Still not sure which side of the street to park on though? As per city code, from 2 a.m. to 6 a.m. city residents are not allowed to park their cars on the odd-numbered side of all city streets on the odd-numbered days of the calendar month, and on the even-numbered side of all city streets on the even-numbered days of the calendar month.
If that wording is confusing, as some people have indicated on social media, you can check out this link that will tell you exactly where to park: www.whichsidetopark.info
Another notification will be sent out through Swift911 after odd/even parking restrictions have been lifted.
Have more questions about parking? Let us know in the comments and we will do our best to explain it.