Parking changes stir complaints

What is better for parking may not be better for residents.

For Seaman Avenue, off of Long Beach Road’s business district, lessening street parking restrictions made their side street more dangerous, according to residents Gail Bennett and Monique Williams, who spoke to the board of trustees at both the May and July meetings.

They say that six months ago, without any warning, the Monday through Saturday regulations were changed from no street parking from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to two-hour parking from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the south side of the street.

“Now our street has gone from a relatively quiet residential street to a very busy, dangerous street,” said Bennett. “With bumper-to-bumper parking up to driveway aprons and sometimes within the driveway apron.”

The main cause of the traffic, they said, are customers at nearby restaurants, especially George Martin Burger Bar. While the restaurant has an agreement with Exit Links Realty and K & K Auto and Tire to borrow 10 spots in the afternoon and 21 spots in the evening, it does not have off-street parking. It received a parking variance because there are four municipal lots nearby.

“This is not being enforced at all,” Bennett said. “There are chains and a tow away sign at Exit, and a near-full lot of used cars at K & K at pretty much all hours. There are no signs saying that customers can park at either place.”

The earlier parking rules only affected the houses between Long Beach Road and Greenway on Seaman Avenue. Deputy Mayor Nancy Howard said that many neighboring streets have 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. two hour parking, and that restaurant employees must park in municipal lots. Residents should call the police if they see a repeat offender, she said.

According to Village Administrator Keith Spadaro, the earlier regulation was only in place because a resident kept complaining to an earlier mayor and board of trustees, resulting in what he called a bad decision.

“The reason we [changed the parking rules] was because on Saturday mornings we were getting people double parking, parking on all the hydrants and parking in all the standing zones, because there is no where else to go, quite frankly,” he said. “And that’s why we had to open up those spots.”

Spadaro also said that since their first appearance at the board of trustees meetings, he has continued to drive past their street several times a day and does not see the kind of traffic the residents have described, but he invited them to send pictures.

The board of trustees promised it would continue to look into the parking issue and work with the Seaman Avenue residents.