Because while we can debate whether Washington Park was an inappropriate location for Holiday Lights - generally speaking, car traffic doesn't belong in parks - it should be obvious that the event was good for Albany overall.įor one thing, it brings more than 100,000 people into the heart of the city, many of whom would never experience its charms otherwise. It's difficult to believe it's come to this. So, as my colleague Steve Hughes reported, Holiday Lights will likely go dark. "Everyone involved agreed that last year’s Lights in the Park would be the final one in Washington Park," Sheehan spokesman David Galin said via email Monday, adding that the administration has "not received a permit application for Holiday Lights in the Park nor a request for assistance regarding potential new locations." Apart from discussions about turning over the National Grid accounts used to power the display, the city and PAL have barely communicated about the future of Holiday Lights. The decision had been made and that was it."Īnd at this point, a mayoral reversal is highly unlikely. "There wasn't one night where there was a traffic build-up," Bauer told me Monday morning. In fact, he had hoped she would do so, given that, in Bauer's view, the move to pre-scheduled, ticketed arrivals last year solved the traffic problems that had long made Holiday Lights a dirty word in the neighborhood around Washington Park. David Bauer, head of the Albany's Police Athletic League, says the annual event could still go forward if Mayor Kathy Sheehan gives the OK.
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