By Andrew Coen
The meters were first adjusted on Central Avenue beginning last Friday morning, and those who park there will now have to pay a quarter for every 30 minutes. The rate for the parking spaces on the north side of parking lot No. 3, between Frost Lane and Rockaway Turnpike, has quadrupled, from a quarter for every two hours to a quarter for every 30 minutes, while the rate for the spaces on the lot's south side has doubled, to a quarter per hour.
We are trying to create more short-term parking, said Lawrence Mayor Jack Levenbrown of the dramatic fee increase on the north side of lot No. 3. Those are the meters right behind the [Central Avenue] stores, so we decided to make those short-term parking and [kept] the other side long-term parking, he said.
Before the switch, the lot's north side offered both short- and long-term parking, for either a dime per half hour or a quarter for every two hours.
Many workers at businesses along Central Avenue expressed outrage about how much more money it will now cost them to park. Some of the store owners and workers have to feed the meter throughout the day or risk getting a ticket.
We are very disgusted at this, said Dovid Gross, the manager of Super Sol Super Market. We're laying out hundreds of dollars in parking and have to keep running out to make sure we don't get a ticket, and now we will have to run out even more with this increase.
It's crazy, said Rafael Aldape, who commutes from Queens to wait tables at Primavera Kosher Italian Restaurant. It's too much.
Dan Manchroff, manager of Jerusalem Famous Kosher Pizza, said the increase does not affect his employees that much, but the hike has upset many of his customers. I hear them complain all over that they have to pay more, said Manchroff. I understand the village needs the money, but ... maybe they can find different resources for it.
It's going to cost me double, said 78-year-old Edith Einhorn, who commutes from Far Rockaway to work at Mauzone Kosher Take Out. I'll need a lot more money because instead of costing me $7.50 a week it's going to cost me $15. It's too much money.
Einhorn's assistant manager, Rosale Lopiccolo, is not upset about the increase, since she thinks it will open up more spaces for her customers. I think it's going to be a plus because it's going to move the parking, said Lopiccolo. The biggest complaint we get from our customers is that there is no place to park. We mind on a personal basis, but for us as store owners, to have a better flow of traffic is a plus.
Yunice Yan, assistant manager of Cho Sen Island Kosher Chinese Restaurant, is also not upset about the increase, since she is used to paying more for parking in her hometown of Flushing, Queens. I think it's reasonable, said Yan. In Flushing we need 50 cents for a half hour. Here, for a quarter, is pretty reasonable.
The increase comes after the Lawrence Village trustees unanimously approved a resolution to increase the parking meter fees at their Sept. 10 meeting. In July, the trustees approved an increase in fines for parking violations, from $10 to $15 for an expired meter, along with a host of other penalty increases for different parking violations.
In another parking-related matter, the trustees passed an ordinance at their Oct. 8 meeting to protect meter maids as a result of recent incidents of harassment when they have issued parking tickets.
We have a person who manages the meters who has been harassed from time to time, and we want to have legislation in place to protect her, said Lawrence Village Administrator Peter Overs.
The impetus for [the ordinance] was a small number of people that were being disrespectful and very abusive towards our village inspectors, said Levenbrown. It's been an ongoing problem.
The Lawrence meter maid, who wished to not be identified, acknowledged that she is often verbally abused. I do get harassed, yeah, she said. But the woman said she is not concerned about an increase in harassment with the increase in parking meter fees. I'm not afraid, she said. Everything goes up in this world.
Neighboring Cedarhurst also has a village ordinance on disorderly conduct that allows tickets to be issued for the harassment of village inspectors. According to Village Justice Clerk Sandy Gewanter, five or six tickets have been issued in two years for disorderly conduct toward village inspectors, with fines ranging from $250 to $500. [The law] has been here for a long time. We've just never had to use it, said Gewanter. You have to really be up in one of the inspector's faces for you to get a ticket.
Another parking-related village ordinance was passed at Lawrence's Oct. 8 meeting, stating that all cars parked on a two-way street must be parked in the direction that traffic is flowing. The penalty for that violation is $35.
The next Lawrence Village meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, Nov. 5 at 8:30 p.m. in Lawrence Village Hall.
