Feb 2025 Update: If you are a resident of Hudson, registered to vote before the November 2024 and election, and would like to put a measure on the ballot to change the city's governance structure to make it more professional and efficient, and less political, please go to the Hudson Charter Change website and enter your name and email address to indicate your interest to sign the petition.

Jan 2025 Update: This petition was brought to members of the Hudson Common Council on 10/14/24. The Ad Hoc Parking committee, led by Hudson Common Council member Jennifer Belton, responded with the message below.  An Ad Hoc Parking committee meeting scheduled for 12/20/24 was cancelled. It appears that the current Hudson Common Council is dismissing this petition and will NOT consider bringing back annual parking passes. 

11/5/24

Thank you for your email. 

In November of 2022 the city received a commissioned study from Fishbeck which you can link to here: https://cms3.revize.com/revize/hudsonnynew/Hudson Parking Final Presentation.pdf

Since the study was completed Hudson parking needs have grown. The numbers of people using Amtrak for daily commuting and people buying second homes in the area and using the South Front Street Lot for car storage seems to have increased. For these reasons the South Front Street long term parking lot is often at capacity.

The situation at the time we decided to phase out parking permits was:

Parking Spots- 171 numbered spots, 72 reserved (99 permits sold) Total number of spots 243

Payment - Park Mobile via direct payment at Kiosk or app by phone or online. Park Mobile is only used in the Front St Lot.

Price - For non-permitted parking is $10 +.60(transaction fee) per 24hrs

Residents and visitors unable to pay the upfront fee of $1000 for a permit were paying  $10 a day as opposed to $2.74 a day for permitted parkers.

As of January the city had oversold permits by 28, causing problems for permitted users when all of the reserved spots were completely full.

Huge Loss of revenue. $10(Non-permitted) - $2.75(permitted) = Loss of $7.25 a day per space. $7.25 X 99 permits = $717.75 x 365 days = $261,978.75 a year. Even if the 99 people with permits were parking in the long term parking lot only 4 days a week it would still be a loss of $146,421.

Streamlining the parking system. Currently, a user at the South Front Street Lot has to enter their spot number and their plate number and pay via kiosk or app online or by phone. The signage/Park Mobile app are hard to understand and if you are in a hurry this is cumbersome. There are multiple systems for hardware and software scattered throughout the city. The new system with T2 and Integrated Systems will be a kiosk payment or text to pay system requiring the user to enter their plate number and kiosk number. This will be the same method/system used for parking throughout the city (in 2025) with discounted pricing for residents who are seniors and/or people with disabilities.

Understanding that the reasons for parking permits were convenience and discount I, and other members of the Parking Committee, went to the Finance Committee and floated the idea of parking prices that were more in line with Rensselaer parking rates and the option to pay by day, week, month, or 3 month intervals (a yearly reduction of over $1000).  Members of the Finance Committee felt (rightly) that this would cause bigger issues. Parking is so scarce in that lot that as one car left another would fill its space. If the user buys parking for 3 months or even a week there would be no guarantee that there would be a space available if they left and returned. Reserving spots seems not to an option any longer.

I am sympathetic to the problems that the lack of space is causing. The problem is supply and demand. We do not currently have enough spaces for all of the cars that want to use the lot but we are looking into ways to try and alleviate some of the issues. 

Jennifer Belton
Council Member 4th Ward
City of Hudson

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Many Columbia County area residents heavily rely on the South Front Street Long Term Parking Lot. It's our gateway to the working world, providing us with vital access to the Amtrak train that transports us to our workplaces. Unfortunately, we can no longer buy parking passes for the whole year, leading to undue stress and financial instability. For many years, annual parking passes were available for $1,000 per year. Hudson Common Council, led by Tom DePietro, eliminated them. Parking now costs $10 a day, or $2,600 per year for those who park 5 days a week, a 160% increase. Meanwhile, there have been zero price increases for all other parking in Hudson, including metered parking and municipal (non-South Front Street) annual parking lot passes. These are priced at the extremely low rates of 25 cents per half hour, and $250 per year, respectively.

Hudson is a commuter town, with over 20% of its residents relying on public transportation for their daily commute (US Census Bureau, 2019). The absence of annual parking passes not only limits our ability to plan for the future, but it also makes the otherwise simple act of getting to work a daily struggle. 

Perhaps most troubling is that the Council's decision to eliminate annual passes was based on anecdotes and assumptions rather than data or a future-focused strategy that recognizes Hudson’s role as a commuting hub. No formal analysis of parking demand or revenue was conducted—just an arbitrary policy shift. A more thoughtful solution would be to gradually raise the annual pass price, guided by historical usage data and revenue projections per parking space.

Discounted annual pricing is common in many industries, from gyms to software subscriptions to transit passes, where frequent users benefit from consistency, while occasional users pay per use. This model incentivizes longer commitments, encourages regular use, and ensures stable and predictable revenue. As stakeholders in Hudson’s future, we fear the current approach will drive away regular commuters while failing to meet the city’s stated revenue goals.  Moreover, commuters contribute to the local economy in Hudson by frequenting grocery stores, restaurants, and gas stations.

The abrupt removal of annual parking passes was done without any engagement with or communication with the community. The implementation of the new ParkMobile app-based parking system has been chaotic. A sign states that parking costs $10 per 24 hour period, 365 days a year, but this would include overnight, weekends, and holidays, which is contrary to how parking works in the rest of Hudson. There aren't enough numbered spaces, which has given commuters no choice but to park illegally in order to get to work. Furthermore, the app is subject to glitches, limited accessibility, and inadequate customer service.

For the sake of just and fair commuter practices, we firmly urge the city management of Hudson to reinstate the sales of annual passes for the South Front Street Long Term Parking Lot. This move will not only mitigate the hardship imposed on workers who rely on the Amtrak train, but also contribute to the stability and adaptability of the local economy.

Let's make a change for the better: for a fair, equitable, and efficient Hudson. Please sign this petition.