By:Jeff Lipton
Steven Schneider, chairman of the Cedarhurst Business Improvement District, Norman Steen, the BID's executive director, and Lino Viola, owner of LaViola Restaurant, appeared before the mayor and village board of trustees at Monday's meeting in an attempt to convince the board not to implement the proposal.
The board has proposed extending the hours the meters are in effect from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. instead of 6 p.m., and held a public hearing on the proposal at Monday's meeting.
Board members said they are taking a cue from neighboring Lawrence, where the meters are in effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
"I would urge you not to extend the hours," Schneider told the board. "Cedarhurst is already known to have a bad reputation for being overly aggressive in giving out [parking] tickets.
"Extending the hours from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. would be very detrimental to the restaurants," Schneider added.
He said it would be extremely difficult for those patrons who are attending a night party at a village restaurant that goes on for two hours to constantly check the time and remember to feed the meter.
Schneider pointed out that the village recently raised the sewer tax by more than 15 percent, and village taxes were increased by more than 13 percent. "Giving restaurants this additional burden is like a triple whammy," he said.
Mayor Andrew Parise said the idea of extending the hours the meters are in operation came up during budget hearings this year, as a means of increasing revenues without further increasing taxes. "It's difficult to always put it on the taxpayer," said Parise. "We checked around, and many villages [extend parking meter hours]."
Viola asked the board how it arrived at the proposal to extend meter hours. "How did this come about?" he asked.
Village trustee Benjamin Weinstock responded, "We took a look at Lawrence, where the meters are in operation 24 hours, seven days a week. We took a look at what they are doing."
Business leaders said parking is not a problem at night, so extending the hours may not be such a good idea.
Steen said that ticketing patrons more would only increase the hardships in the business community, discouraging customers from spending their money in the neighborhood shops. "Business has not been good for some time," Steen said. "Blame it on the economy or whatever you want. On Wednesday nights, business is so bad that half the stores are closed. There's no traffic, so there's no reason to put money in the meters."
He said Lawrence's meters are in effect mostly for residential parking, not commercial parking.
"I think it's a bad idea and should be scrapped," Steen said.
Village trustee Ari Brown disagreed, and said that the commercial vacancy rate is at 1 or 2 percent, which is an all-time low, and that businesses are "doing phenomenally. We're doing great retail-wise."
Bernard Flaton, owner of commercial property in Cedarhurst, who also attended the hearing, said the main purpose of parking meters should be to move traffic along so that spots are not hogged, and not to raise revenue. He said that if a restaurant patron gets a parking ticket, it may discourage him from returning to the restaurant. "If he gets a ticket, you may not see him for another three months," Flaton said. "What you are saying to them is, Don't come back."
Following the public hearing, the board voted to reserve, or postpone until further notice, its decision on the parking meter proposal. "We want to work with BID," Parise said. "I'm inclined to go along with them."
