About a month after the 1 a.m. to 6 p.m. parking ban, the city of Oswego starts to question the policy after the start of a mild winter and looks into lifting it before March 31.

While Mayor Billy Barlow was campaigning in the fall, it was brought to his attention that many residents were unhappy with alternate side parking for the winter, implemented by previous mayor, Tom Gillen.

“Many people were saying the roads were too messy and hard to travel, and when I was brought into office, Tom Gillen hadn’t left behind a policy,” Barlow said. “I felt the 1 a.m. to 6 a.m. ban was easy to understand for residents and easy for plows.”

He felt the ban was a good policy to implement as his first order as mayor, and although his timing may seem to be off now with the little snow, he felt it was necessary at the time he issued it on Jan. 12, said Barlow.

“There was a lot of snow forecasted for that week, and we did get some, so I felt something needed to be done right away so accommodations could be made,” Barlow said.

Now knowing the conditions of this winter, Barlow says he hopes to appeal the ban as soon as possible.

“It’s at my digression, so once I feel we’re out of the woods for bad weather this winter, I’ll lift it. I just don’t want to appeal it, and then get snow, and then re-implement it,” Barlow said.

Kevin Withus, an Oswego State senior, hopes early appeal will be the case. Although Withus has sufficient parking at his off-campus apartment, he feels the parking ban interferes with studying and hanging out with friends, almost acting as a curfew in some ways.

“I don’t have a lot of early classes so I tend to stay late at my friends’ houses either doing homework or watching movies, and a lot of the time I’m either trying to awkwardly squeeze into their small driveways or end up having to go home so I’m not parked illegally,” Withus said.

Although this is an inconvenience, Withus agrees with Barlow that it wouldn’t make sense to appeal the ban now in the heart of winter.

“Obviously this winter couldn’t have fully been predicted, but the way the winter is going they could have possibly changed the ban back to the alternate side parking. Withus said being this far into the winter though I don’t think a parking ban should be completely lifted.

However, to alter the ban would be counterproductive to what Barlow was trying to achieve.

“The weather this winter is definitely helping with road conditions, but I think if there was snow, this ban would be improving the roads tremendously,” Barlow said.

According to Barlow, this ban was needed, but Oswego State senior Victoria Laruccia, said it could have been done differently.

“I think it would have worked better during the day when it’s easier for people to move their cars and most people are at work or school anyway,” Laruccia said.

This idea did not seem as logical to Barlow however, as he supports his original decision and said the opposite.

“I think parking during the day works because people have things to do and may be in and out of their house during the day,” Barlow said. “I think it’s most convenient to have it at night when people are home and sleeping.”

No matter the perspective on this winter’s parking ban, both students and Barlow, agree it is in their best interest for the ban to be lifted early.