By KEITH GRANT
Seasonal banners tell the story from atop lamp posts, and holiday lights are expected to follow shortly. Most storefronts have been decorated for the season, and officials hope the local merchants will be rewarded with a strong shopper turnout.
"We had a very good holiday season last year. Weather holding, we can have a good one again," said Larry Elovich, president of the Long Beach Chamber of Commerce.
Some store owners reported a strong start, but cautioned that most Long Beach shoppers tend to turn up late in the season, particularly the final two weeks before Christmas. Steve Sedlick, part-owner of Tilben Photo & Electronics on Park Avenue, said sales last Friday, following Thanskgiving, were very good. But, he added, "Long Beach shoppers are notoriously last-minute shoppers over the years. I've been doing this for 30 years. I can tell you that the last two weeks [before Christmas] are hectic."
Mr. Elovich said the Chamber has placed ads in a number of publications throughout Long Island inviting out-of-town shoppers to patronize the barrier island. However, he acknowledges at least one age-old problem that doesn't change with the seasons: where to park on Park.
"No question that parking has always been a major obstacle to shopping in Long Beach," he said. Referring to the two-tier parking garage to go up adjacent to City Hall, Mr. Elovich said, "When we have this parking facility built, hopefully the merchants and employees will use it to open up more of the [street] spaces for shoppers."
The parking situation in the center of town is a year-round problem for the city, but weighs heaviest during the Christmas and Chanukah shopping month when even Long Beach residents are deterred from attempting to shop locally by the frustrating situation.
"The City Fathers didn't exactly foresee the type of city Long Beach has become," commented City Manager Bruce Nyman. Short of going back in time 70 or 80 years and redesigning the downtown business area, Mr. Nyman suggested the city's options in solving the parking problem are fairly limited. The long-term answer, he says, will be the garage.
In the short term, just about the best the city can do to free up spaces is to strictly enforce two-hour parking limits, which police have been doing over the past few months.
"The last couple of years, we kind of got lax," Mr. Nyman said of the two-hour enforcement. When a traffic study found that one-third of the downtown spaces were taken up by merchants or employees of business-district offices, the city began enforcing the regulation more aggressively, which Mr. Nyman said has had a positive impact. Though the situation is a long way from perfect, the City Manager suggested worse things could befall the city.
"The bad news is we have a parking problem," he said. "The good news is ... we have a parking problem. There are a lot of communities on the south shore that don't have a parking problem because there are no stores. It's easier to solve a parking problem than that one."
In the meantime, police will be doing more in the business area than writing tickets over the next month. To ensure that the only "Grinch" in town is the one appearing at the Park Ave. Theatre, Sgt. John O'Toole said the LBPD was finalizing its holiday-season plan for patrolling the shopping areas, and the plan would be ready to go within days.
A rise in crime is usually seen during the holiday season, as shoppers are more likely to be targeted by robbers, pickpockets and con artists. Just last week, a man and his wife were robbed at gunpoint after completing their shopping at Costco Wholesale on Rockaway Turnpike in North Lawrence. A 65-year-old man was loading packages into his car in the parking lot when a man pulled into the parking space alongside him and opened his car door, striking the victim's vehicle, police said. As the victim and the robber became involved in a discussion, the robber pushed the victim's door against his leg, put a gun to his head and demanded money, police said. The victim and his wife handed over $800 and the robber escaped in a red car.
Police from Nassau County's Fourth Precinct have already stepped up patrols in all major area shopping centers this holiday season, including the Lincoln and Sands Shopping Centers on Long Beach in Oceanside.
Police have suggested certain tips to holiday shoppers to avoid becoming a crime victim:
*Park cars in well-lit areas.
*Always lock car doors and windows.
*Lock all packages in the trunk of the car, keeping them off the seats of the car, where they can be seen in plain view.
*Constantly be aware of one's surroundings. Never carry more packages than you can handle without obstructing your view.
*Secure cell phones inside cars.
*Never carry large sums of cash and use credit cards whenever possible.
*If approached by a robber, do not resist but hand over property and then seek help from police.
