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Holiday cheer
Park for free in metered lots, but on-street time limits still enforced
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As a concession to the slow economy and in recognition of Port Jefferson's traditional off season, Village Hall has for the second year running created a parking holiday. Parking in the metered lots is free through March 15.
Those lots were about 20 percent full Tuesday afternoon when Bruce Schery of Setauket parked near Mariners Way to stop in at Ecolin Jewelers. Schery said he rarely comes into the village and was not even aware managed parking had been instituted. A physician's assistant at the county medical examiner's office, Schery recalled darker days in Port Jefferson during the late 1970s when he was called frequently to the apartments above Main Street to pronounce victims of fatal drug overdoses. Port Jefferson has improved a lot since then, Schery observed. As for free parking, "This is great."
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| | | Ivan Costello of Mr. Sign attached a reusable sleeve to the permanent sign at the Barnum Avenue entrance to the metered Meadow lot last week, advising nonresidents of the parking holiday. Inserts on each pay station carry the same message. But motorists who park on the street in Port Jefferson Village still need to obey the time limits this winter or risk a ticket. Photos by D. Willinger. (click for larger version) | |
Alfonso Cernadas Mas of Barcelona is in Port Jefferson this week to visit his daughter, Sara Cernadas, a graduate student in marine biology at Stony Brook University. Cernadas Mas may be from Spain but he knew about the meters and said he remembered last year's parking holiday from a previous visit. "For me it's perfect," he said, as he and his wife, Maria Martin, unloaded purchases from their car in the Gap lot. Free parking would serve as "motivation for people to do more shopping," Cernadas Mas said.
Ruvo restaurant owner Joe DeNicola also likes the parking holiday. "I think it's fantastic. It's good for business and for the community," said DeNicola, who was involved in a controversy last February involving about a dozen of his patrons who were ticketed on Valentine's Day. That situation was handled in Village Court. "We ended up settling. It's settled," DeNicola said Tuesday.
DeNicola said he was in favor of managed parking when it was first introduced. "I thought it would be reasonable." But after two and a half years, the restaurant owner is still waiting for village leaders to tell him what Port Jefferson is "trying to accomplish" with the managed parking system: "Is it to create spots or to control the riffraff?"
DeNicola also questioned proposals to extend the hours of enforcement to 2 am when the parking holiday ends in mid-March. DeNicola said an extension would not affect him — his restaurant closes at midnight — but he questioned the potential ramifications it could have on drunk driving. "Why would we intimidate people into not taking a cab home? How is MADD going to feel about that?" he asked.
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| | | | Maria Martin and Alfonso Cernadas Mas of Barcelona, Spain, were pleased this week to find free parking in a lot near their daughter’s residence in Port Jefferson. (click for larger version) | | |
And while the restaurateur credits Mayor Margot Garant with having alleviated, in the four and a half months she has been in office, the negative perception many nonresidents have of the managed parking system, that "perception is the reality" for many visitors, he said. As for the promised improvements in parking lot lighting, DeNicola said he has heard improvements are coming, but noted, "We're approaching D1. It's still very dark in that lot."
New Parking committee
Village Clerk Bob Juliano confirmed that the Village Board, at its business meeting Monday, approved a new Parking Committee. At the suggestion of Trustee Joe Erland, who will continue to serve as liaison, the new advisory body will comprise eight residents. Named to the committee by Monday's vote are: Michael Mart, Michael Lee, Dr. George Westbay, Dom Famularo, John Mutch, Marge McCuen, John Springer and Dan Tessler. In addition, one nonvoting member each from the BID and the Chamber are to be named by those respective organizations, Juliano said.
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