By ARIELLA MONTI
The Aug. 28 meeting, hosted by the West End Neighbors Civic Association, featured two guest speakers, City Manager Charles Theofan and Gerry Giosa, a parking consultant hired by the city.
Theofan said that parking issues in the West End could not be solved until the area is cleared of illegal renters, a statement that drew loud applause from residents. He added that letters would be mailed to all homes in the West End warning homeowners that they would have four months to evict their illegal tenants. Theofan asked that neighbors contact the city if they are aware of any illegal renters after that time.
Giosa detailed the findings of a study he conducted and spelled out his proposed solutions. The owner of Level G Associates in Bethpage, Giosa has been a consultant for a number of large municipalities, including Des Moines, Iowa, St. Petersburg and Miami Beach, Fla., and coastal towns in New Jersey that have parking problems similar to those in Long Beach. He has studied parking issues in the West End for several months, along with a committee that includes civic association President Rick Hoffman, Vice President Maria Fitzgerald and Theofan. The group developed a four-point strategy to alleviate parking problems faced by business owners and residents.
The plan includes increasing the number of parking spaces, encouraging off-site parking and shuttle bus use, promoting bicycle use and changing parking regulations. Some of the ideas proposed by the committee, however, raised concerns and were met with some resistance.
The group suggested establishing residential parking zones, for which each legal household would be issued two stickers allowing its residents to park on that block. Each legal apartment would receive one sticker, as would homes with only one registered vehicle. Vehicles without stickers, or those with stickers for a different zone, would not be permitted to park along that street. Visitors — beach-goers, shoppers, bar patrons — would be barred from parking there, thus limiting the number of vehicles on that block as well as the number of people walking through the neighborhood late at night.
Residents complained that the two-sticker regulation would mean that their children who still live at home and own cars would not be allowed to park on their own blocks. "What do I tell my kids?" asked one resident. "Where are the children supposed to park?"
Giosa explained that a two-stickers-per-household limit would be necessary at first, but eventually more permits could be added as needed. "Once you start to add residential parking passes [from the start], the whole thing falls apart," he said. Theofan reminded residents that they still had the option of using the existing residential lots.
The committee also proposed the implementation of paid parking on Beech Street, with multi-space meters. Parking along this primarily commercial street is now free, which allows drivers to park for extended periods and limits the number of spaces for shoppers. According to Giosa, charging for parking would generate revenue from visitors, which would offset the additional costs of the plan and help finance other improvements in the city. Parking fees would be in effect from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week during the summer months and six days a week in the offseason.
"The current parking situation pits commercial stores and residents against each other," Giosa said.
One resident said she was appalled by the idea of paying for parking on Beech Street. "This is not the city," she said, referring to Manhattan.
"It serves a very necessary purpose," Theofan said of metered parking, "to get parking to turn over."
Under the committee’s proposal, the city would also increase the number of parking spaces by building new lots, reconfiguring existing lots, seeking leasing opportunities with private landowners and combining bus stops with fire hydrant locations.
"Enforcement is the key to making this thing work," Giosa said of the West End plan.
While some residents expressed concern with the logistics and enforcement of the proposed changes, most were thankful that the issue was finally being addressed proactively. "This is the first real positive step I'm seeing," said Mike Leddy, who has been attending civic association meetings since he and his wife, Patricia, moved to the West End. "Let's work with it," he told his neighbors.
At an earlier City Council meeting, some residents asked the city to request that Nassau County conduct a study. Theofan said that a private consultant can provide a more detailed and thorough analysis of parking problems in communities like Long Beach. The West End study is part of a broader plan for Giosa to examine other areas of Long Beach as well, including Park Avenue and Broadway. The city plans to pay him a maximum of $25,000, at an hourly rate of $135 over a 12- to 15-month span.
Comments about this story? JKellard@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
Photos By Jeff Wilson/Herald
