Sarah Trafton is reporting for Columbia-Greene Media Cairo officials say a new town parking law will give local police more discretion over writing tickets. “It gives local police more options,” Town Supervisor John Coyne said. Town board member Jason Watts calls the law excessive. “It’s just so they can give out tickets when they feel it’s necessary,” he said. “We have laws already.” Watts alleges the measure could pose problems for businesses like Watts Oil, his family business. He said the prohibition on leaving vehicles more than 23 feet in length or over 12,000 pounds parked on town streets between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., would mean if he had an employee living on Main Street, they could not be able to take the vehicle home. "It’s too much for our small town,” Watts said. There have been instances of boats and small dump trucks staying parked on Main Street for two to three weeks, Coyne said. “Parking in front of the few businesses we have on Main Street is an inconvenience for those folks,” Coyne said. “Ultimately, I want them to find the owner and tell them to move it before writing a ticket. If they’re not able to, then they have the authority to do that.” Board member Mary Jo Cords, who also opposed the law, called it too open-ended. “The part about the handicap parking — that’s fine,” Cords said. “The rest of it, I don’t like how it’s so open-ended. There’s no designated streets, which at this point could mean you can’t park on every street in town.” She said enforcement could be an issue, as well. “I don’t like laws that people can enforce when they feel like it,” she said. “If it’s that important, it should be uniform. The law lent itself to too much abuse.” Coyne expects the provisions of the law to be discussed and implemented, "as board members and residents bring up problem areas." Read the full story at HudsonValley360 [dot] com.