47.0°,
Mostly Cloudy Talking traffic, commerce in East Rockaway
Residents met for an informal meeting at Reel restaurant on July 6, the second in a series of discussions centered on attracting new businesses and foot traffic to Main Street.
“I left the meeting thinking, ‘East Rockaway is definitely heading in the right direction,’” said resident Joe Forgione. “Because all it takes is one little idea, and the success of our waterfront can spread to Main Street and beyond.”
The group discussed things such as introducing an art presence in the village; making Main Street more walker-friendly; and coming up with creative ideas to help increase foot traffic to attract more new businesses.
Village Trustee Rich Bilello, Deputy Mayor Theresa Gaffney, and Superintendent of Buildings Tom Smith said that they attended the meeting after learning about it on Facebook.
With the recent opening of Greek Xpress and plans for the Lazy Lobster to open soon, residents wondered if the village could waive metered parking restrictions after 6 p.m. to draw people to the downtown area during peak dining hours.
“I think what I’m hearing is that the parking, per se, is not a barrier [to commerce],” Bilello said. “But it could send a message about being more business-friendly if we make that free [after 6 p.m.].” Gaffney said that revenue from parking meters helped maintain the village, and in lieu of waiving meters, she’d recommended that local businesses rent municipal lots, and hire a valet company.
Resident Mike Killarney said that he thought the bigger problem was that there was not enough to attract people to the area. He suggested incorporating food trucks and vendors to come to the area more frequently, to draw people in.
Bilello said that he agreed with residents’ concerns that the empty storefronts throughout the village were undesirable, and that he thought East Rockaway could potentially emulate Freeport’s Nautical Mile with the success of the village’s new restaurants.
Resident Dan Caracciolo, who organized the meeting at Reel, said he was pleased with the turnout and interest of residents. “I thought it was exactly what needed to happen,” he said. “I was very happy with Theresa and Richard’s enthusiasm and willingness to listen to us.”
Village officials talk about commerce
Bilello continued discussing tactics to improve commerce at Village Hall the village’s work session the following day, on July 7, and wondered if laws to enforce landlords to keep storefront windows presentable and attractive could be written. Mayor Bruno Romano agreed that many landlords don’t maintain the buildings while they’re seeking occupants.
“We have a lot of empty storefronts,” Romano said. “Some of them are really raggedy. There’s nothing in there. It looks terrible.”
Romano also said that he liked the idea of legislating façade requirements for the area to give the village a streamlined look, which was something residents discussed at previous downtown revitalization forums. To deal with the empty storefronts, he said he wanted to meet with local landlords to try to get them to provide incentives for new businesses to come in, such as making the first three months rent-free.
Smith agreed with Romano that incentives allow business owners to “get their feet set on the ground, and get started.”
Last month, The Beechwood Organization and the Village of East Rockaway were honored at Vision Long Island’s Smart Growth Awards ceremony for the transit-oriented Marina Pointe development project coming to Atlantic Avenue, where the Davison Boatyard marina once stood.
Village Clerk-Treasurer Patricia Renner said she was impressed with what she saw other municipalities were doing after attending the ceremony. “They had a whole lot of good ideas, and things that other villages do,” she said, adding that it could be effective. She cited Westbury’s annual street fair, which featured sidewalk chalk contests, food trucks and tents. “That would be, I think, such a great idea … we could reach out to the village that does it, and just plan it for a different time of the year. I’m sure you could bring in a whole group of people.”
