Parking still vexes residents near hospital

People who live near Nassau University Medical Center have been frustrated with hospital employees who park near their homes since June, when the hospital’s parking garage was deemed unsafe and closed temporarily. The garage remains closed, but in the months since, NUMC President Arthur Gianelli has taken steps to reduce the parking problems.

Tensions increased over the summer, when the garage was declared unsafe and mechanical parking lifts were set up near the hospital entrance to create additional spots. “In theory, if everyone used the stackers, there would be enough spaces,” Gianelli told residents at a September meeting at which the parking problem was addressed. But he admitted that option had not been as effective as he had hoped: Almost 25 percent of hospital employees were parking on neighborhood streets instead of using the lifts, he said.

Since the meeting, Gianelli has instituted a two-phase plan to create additional parking near the hospital. He told residents at another parking-focused meeting Monday night that by the end of December, unused structures will be demolished to create 308 parking spots, and an additional 120 spots will be available by mid-January. The hospital will also be moving 70 employees from the East Meadow location to the A. Holly Patterson Extended Care Facility in Uniondale, which will free up more parking.

Additionally, Gianelli was forced to lay off 175 employees this week. “Due to extensive pension costs, I really have no choice but to downsize,” he said. “A reduction in staff is not related to parking, but it affects parking.”

Nearby residents said they were pleased with the actions the hospital is taking, but they voiced their disappointment with inconsistent parking enforcement by police.

Hempstead Town Councilman Gary Hudes and Nassau County Legislator Norma Gonsalves met with inspectors from the Nassau County Police Department’s 1st and 3rd precincts on Oct. 20, to discuss residents’ concerns, and Hudes, Gonsalves and the inspectors also attended Monday’s meeting. When Gonsalves told residents that tickets were being issued, however, they were not shy about interrupting her to argue their point. “Don’t shoot the messenger,” she said. “This is not something that is going to go away overnight.”

“We’ve always had a parking problem,” said Angelo Caiuso, whose family recently received three tickets in front of their home on the corner of Lincoln and Roosevelt avenues. “We’re always going to have a parking problem.” Caiuso said that since police started to more stringently enforce parking laws, he has a new problem: He is unable to legally park in front of his house because of the placement of a stop sign. He asked — as he has previously — for residential parking permits.

“If you want legislation like this passed, it happens at the state level,” Hudes responded. “It will take a long time. Tell me about your specific problem. If, by law, the traffic department can move that stop sign up, we will work that out.”

Residents who attended the meeting agreed that while more parking spaces at the hospital and better parking enforcement are good short-term goals, residential parking permits are essential for long-term success. To that end, they initiated a petition. Yvonne Amato quickly agreed to walk the neighborhood and ask for signatures. “I’m very proactive,” she said. “When something’s got to be done, it’s got to be done.”

First Precinct Inspector Mike Studdert told the gathering that since his meeting with Gonsalves and Hudes in October, the precincts have issued 155 parking summonses in the neighborhoods surrounding NUMC and urged residents not to place cones in front of their homes to deter NUMC employee parking. “There’s no place for that,” Studdert said. “It’s just going to cause a problem. It’s not your personal parking spot, regardless of what you believe.”

Longtime East Meadow resident Anthony Castellano, who lives on 3rd Street, between Lincoln and Roosevelt avenues, said he has been using cones, and that it has been a successful strategy. “At first [NUMC employees] would move them,” he said, “but it’s been working.”

While Castellano said he plans to continue his cone enforcement, he still wants the police to deter NUMC employees from parking in residential neighborhoods because the street sweepers are no longer cleaning his block. “They used to come and the block was beautiful,” he said. “Then they used to come down the middle. Now they don’t even come down the block.”

Similarly, Caiuso said he is taking a proactive approach to the parking problem: This weekend he will be pouring cement to create a two-car driveway. He is also thinking about moving a stop sign himself. “If I move it just a few feet, I won’t have a problem anymore,” he said.

According to Gianelli, the NUMC parking plan will create enough spaces for all employees by January, and the problems should continue to subside. “In a few months,” he said, “if people are still parking in the street, there’s something wrong with them.” He agreed to meet with residents in the coming months if the issues are not resolved.