Claudia Borecky, president of the North and Central Merrick Civic Association, and Dave Denenberg, a Nassau County legislator who lives in Merrick, have repeatedly lobbied the town for permit parking at the Merrick train station in recent years. In several letters to the town board, Borecky requested that the town hold an evening meeting on the issue in Merrick so that local commuters could attend. The board, however, voted to implement permit parking during a hearing that began at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Town Hall in Hempstead. Nevertheless, Borecky said, she was “elated” that the board acted.
“It’s something we’ve been fighting for for a long time,” she said.

The parking change came after the town instituted a similar pilot permit-parking program in Bellmore in September 2012. Town Councilwoman Angie Cullin and Councilman Gary Hudes, who both represent parts of Bellmore and Merrick, along with Murray, took credit for creating these programs.

Borecky said that, for now, she would drop her repeated requests to the town to disallow all parking at the Merrick station before 7 a.m. and to eliminate a ban on parking for longer than 12 hours.

“I didn’t even bring that up now, because I’m understanding that [permit parking is] working in Bellmore,” she said. “I don’t want to drag this out anymore.”