Cortland street closings for New Year's Eve Celebration

CORTLAND, N.Y. — The city is set to celebrate the New Year with a ball drop tonight from the top of the Clocktower and Cortland police will close downtown streets and parking lots to facilitate the festivities.

With the First Night fireworks scheduled to be launched from the Youth Bureau parking lot on Port Watson Street, police will close the lot to parking at 5 p.m. All vehicles must be removed by 7 p.m. so workers can start setting up the display, police said in a press release today.

At 8 p.m., police are set to close Main Street between the William Street intersection and the Tompkins and Port Watson streets intersection of Main Street. Police ask that parked vehicles be removed from that section of Main Street by 10 p.m. so that pedestrians enjoying the celebration can fill the street.

Vehicles that parked in the Youth Bureau lot after 7 p.m. and in the closed section of Main Street after 10 p.m. may be towed, police warned.

Fifteen minutes to midnight, city police will close Tompkins and Port Watson streets between Owego Street and Church Street while the city rings in 2019.

All roadways and parking lots are set to reopen at 12:30 a.m. Jan. 1.