Parking problems persist for residents near NUMC

Nassau University Medical Center employees and visitors continue to park on residential streets near the hospital, which, locals say, continues to be a problem, often leaving them unable to park in front of their own homes.

NUMC President Arthur Gianelli acknowledges that parking has always been a problem, and that it was exacerbated when the facility’s parking garage was deemed structurally unsafe last summer. (It will soon be demolished.) Since then, Gianelli said, he has talked with community members at regular meetings, most recently on Monday at the hospital, where he reminded residents that he has kept his promises to increase the number of parking areas, to remove mechanical parking lifts in the garage that employees and visitors refused to use and to move administrative personnel to the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care facility in Uniondale.

Since last summer, Gianelli said, he has reduced the demand for parking by several hundred spots. And gates and signs designating employee-only parking lots are expected to be in place by the end of this month.

Residents said that the same employees are parking in their neighborhoods every day. “You’ve done a lot,” said Yvonne Amato, “but they just don’t want to park on campus. It’s as simple as that.”

“Can you explain to me why patron parking here is so unattractive that people park in front of our houses and block our driveways … and cross one of the most dangerous roads in Nassau County instead of parking where they’re supposed to?” asked Roosevelt Avenue resident Ken Lane, referring to Hempstead Turnpike.

“The only answer is that they don’t want to pay,” Gianelli responded. Parking at the hospital ranges from $5 to $8 per day, which he said is similar to other hospitals on Long Island.

In addition to the current parking problems, residents like PTA President Roxanne Rose, who lives on Second Avenue, are worried that the situation will only deteriorate as NUMC begins offering more outpatient services, which it plans to do. “If today is an issue and this is where we’re sitting, it’s only going to get worse,” Rose said. “It’s never going to get better.”

Gianelli said, however, that as outpatient treatment increases, and as the hospital looks to repair and expand student housing and add a wellness facility, parking will be a top priority. “What would happen for any of those to occur is they would have to come with a parking solution,” he said. He added that dialogue with residents would continue, and concerns would be addressed as they arose.

In addition to NUMC representatives, residents have also met with Hempstead Town Councilman Gary Hudes, who was at the meeting, to discuss other ways to regulate parking near their homes.

While going door to door, Hudes learned that they overwhelmingly opposed time-limit parking signs but were interested in resident-only parking. While Amato collected signatures from neighbors who were in favor of resident-only parking, Hudes met with Chief Deputy Town Attorney Charles Kovit to determine if designating this type of parking was possible.

Kovit told the residents at the meeting that the State Court of Appeals denied the Village of Bellrose residential parking in a similar situation, stating that it would need state approval. In order to secure resident-only parking, Kovit said, East Meadow residents would need the state to either amend its vehicle and traffic laws or craft special legislation that would zero in on their specific situation.

Kovit added that he had spoken with a representative of State Sen. Kemp Hannon and would continue working with Hannon’s office to get a bill introduced.

Since parking first became a problem, County Legislator Norma Gonsalves has spoken with police officers from the 1st and 3rd precincts about illegal parking, and it was announced at the meeting that more than 350 parking tickets have been issued in the 3rd Precinct in the past six months, and that 520 have been issued in the 1st Precinct since January. Officers acknowledged that parking complaints are a low priority but urged residents to call 911, saying that someone would respond as soon as possible.

More than 20 residents attended the meeting, and most said that while problems continue to arise, they were pleased with the productive gathering. “[Gianelli] has owned this problem since day one of these meetings,” Hudes said. “He didn’t push it off to somebody else. He recognized that this is where the problem began, and every commitment he has made to this group throughout every meeting, he has followed through for.”