By Andrew Hackmack
Homeowners came out in full force to Monday night's village board meeting to complain about Kaz Automotive, located at the corner of Merrick Road and S. Waldinger Street.
There were a host of complaints made against the auto dealership including illegal parking, speeding, confrontations with neighbors and littering. Residents say that employees of Kaz frequently speed down the block, creating a very dangerous situation.
Caridad Powell, who lives on S. Waldinger Street, said she moved from Queens to be in a quiet neighborhood but this is not what she expected. Her grandchildren often come to visit and in the past would ride their bikes around the neighborhood. "I can't let them go out anymore," she said. "It's really scary."
Powell said saying something to the people driving recklessly down the street doesn't do any good.
Rafael Suriel said he moved to the neighborhood two years ago and has five children between the ages of 3 and 15. "I'm getting tired of it," he said. "We don't deserve this."
Edwin Knightly is a 15-year resident of S. Waldinger Street and simply described the last two years as "Hell." He said fortunately, the police are very responsive when he calls, but said the response time from the village code enforcement department has been inconsistent. Mayor Ed Cahill responded that he would make sure when a complaint is made, code enforcement officers respond in a timely manner.
Knightly said the street is constantly packed with cars because of the business. "They don't provide customer parking," he said. "It's on my block."
Omar Wilson, manager of Kaz Automotive, tried to answer some of the complaints but said he is unaware of a lot of this activity. "We try our best not to disturb the residents in the area," he said.
Wilson said that the employees are told only to test drive cars on Merrick Road. He also disputed claims that Kaz parks unregistered cars along S. Waldinger Street. "Usually our cars are never on the block," he said. "Our cars are inside the lot."
Village Clerk Vinny Ang then disputed that claim, saying the village has issued more than 50 parking violations to cars owned by Kaz in the last few weeks. Violations include parking in no parking zones, double parking, parking on sidewalks and cars on the street with no plates. The village has also issued some code violations while the police have also given out numerous tickets as well, Ang said.
While the village does not want to drive a successful business out of town, Ang said a business does have a responsibility to be a good neighbor. If nothing improves, Ang said the village could decide against renewing Kaz Automotive's used car sales permit. "The village will review the situation," he said, "and make a decision on their license, if that's what it takes."
Wilson asked the homeowners that if there is a problem, come down to Kaz and speak to him directly. However, some residents say they have stopped by and have never seen Wilson there before.
Village attorney Michael McKenna had a suggestion for Wilson -- lay down the law with employees. He said Wilson should go back to the business, tell the employees what happened at the village board meeting and say these actions will no longer be tolerated.
McKenna said firing employees who break the rules would certainly send a message that Kaz management means business and wants to be a good neighbor. "The responsibility lies with you," McKenna told Wilson.
Officer John Miller of the Nassau County Police Department said police have been there numerous times, as has the Consumer Affairs department. "There is a problem here," he said, adding that the police will step up enforcement.
Miller suggested making S. Waldinger a one-way street heading toward Merrick Road. In order for that happen, village officials said a majority of residents would have to petition for that change.
Although no solutions were reached Monday night, village officials promised residents that they would keep on top of this. The mayor noted that the amount of complaints prove that this issue needs to be dealt with. "It's not just one or two people," he said. "It's the whole block so there's definitely something wrong down there."
Ang said complaints from neighbors started more than a year ago. He said the village, police and Consumer Affairs issued numerous citations at that point, and things quieted down for a while. The quiet didn't last for long and Ang said action will be taken. "The neighbors have every right to expect some peace in their neighborhood," he said, "and the village is going to make sure they get it."
