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Canton-Potsdam Hospital parking issue creates safety hazard

Posted 3/30/15

To the Editor: I have been to three village board meetings with my concerns of hospital employees parking on both sides of the street on Waverly Street from Cottage to Grove. It is down to one lane …

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Canton-Potsdam Hospital parking issue creates safety hazard

Posted

To the Editor:

I have been to three village board meetings with my concerns of hospital employees parking on both sides of the street on Waverly Street from Cottage to Grove.

It is down to one lane because they are parking on both sides. I explained that it had become a safety hazard if any emergency vehicles needed to get down our street and that it was difficult to see if any cars were coming to get out of our driveways.

Some days there are around 25 cars from Cottage to Grove and now they are parking on both sides of Waverly from Cottage to Garden Street.

One day I called the village to complain because there were so many cars that I did not think I could get into my driveway due to 2 vehicles parked so close to both sides of my driveway. Two village directors and a pair of police officers came to see what was going on and they gave out two tickets.

One for blocking a fire hydrant and another for parking too close to the corner of Cottage Street.

The officers commented that it was a safety hazard due to only one vehicle being able to get down our street and it would definitely be a safety issue for emergency vehicles to get to our houses.

I brought that up at a village board meeting and told them that all I wanted was for No Parking signs put to be put up on our side of the street.

The way I look at it, if the hospital would have thought things over better it would have been better to build the parking garage instead of buying all those houses because the purpose of buying them was to put in a parking lot, well that did not happen because the village wanted to leave our community as residential.

I am glad that a parking lot did not go in, but it has basically turned in to one anyway. What's going to happen when any of us want to sell our houses. Who is going to want to live on a street that is overflowing with cars blocking the street?

I guess my point is, the village board keeps saying that they are looking at how to resolve the problem and hope to have an answer soon.

Well, it has been at least three months because I have been to three meetings and they are held once a month. I solved the problem by telling them to put up no parking signs! Problem solved. Now I would like to see something get done.

Susan Sharlow

Potsdam