I bought my commercial space on Canterbury Road over 10 years ago and for 10 years I have been forced to leave my desk twice a day to check to see if my tires have been marked by the Village Of Great Neck Plaza parking enforcement staff.
If they are, I am forced to move my car to another spot, which is both time consuming and costly.
It cuts down on my work time and sometimes results in tickets if I am not vigilant enough.
Although the Village of Great Neck Plaza does offer parking for the owners of commercial co-ops in the village in the two parking garages in the heart of town, the policy does not adequately address the needs of the commercial owners on Canterbury Road, who are five blocks from the garages. The bottom line is that I am not going to walk five blocks in the wintertime to park my car, nor should I be expected to when the answer is so obvious and easy.
As a commercial co-op owner, I pay more maintenance than the residential tenants in my building, which means I am paying more toward the taxes collected by the village. Therefore, when I am denied access to a proper street parking pass, it befuddles me as to why.
As I am too far from the garages, I am going to park on the street anyway, and the village forcing me to move my car once a day simply means I am going to take up a different spot which in no way alleviates the inventory of spots available. If I could apply for a permit as a tax paying “resident” of the village, I would be taking up the same spot I do now, generate revenue for the town and put an end to the harassment of having to go outside twice a day.
Now the village has doubled the fine for parking to $30 from $15 as a way to prevent people from taking up these spots to take the train to the city. Although I firmly agree with this increased deterrent as $15 is almost a deal for train station parking, I am now faced with even more financial pressure to make sure I am not caught up in this parking dragnet.
Why?
Why am I treated like a second class citizen in the village? I buy my lunch and do my shopping in town, adding to the falling revenues of the stores that face so many other financial hurdles in this town.
I have thought of selling my office and moving to Roslyn or some other town that doesn’t have such unfriendly practices toward tax paying members of the community. All the village needs to do is issue us the same street parking passes that the residents get. This would be a maximum of 10 permits!
This story gets even more disgusting as I have reached out to the village to inquire if I would be able to speak with someone about the matter. I was immediately spoken down to, told that I was “crazy” and hung up on as I tried to plead my case for simply the ability to address the issue.
This letter is really the only place I could find a forum to put forth what I think is a rational argument for a change in the village’s policy with regard to the handful of taxpaying commercial owners that are simply too far from the garages for them to be a viable option.
I am going to take up the space regardless of the outcome, so why not do the right thing and address the issue instead of asking me condescendingly if, “I am disabled and unable to walk the five blocks.” That kind of attitude is exactly why this town is becoming a shell of what it used to be.
Instead of doing the right thing for the taxpayers, the village is only concerned with increasing it’s ticket revenue at the expense of the very people who are supporting the store owners as they get squeezed by high rents and dwindling shoppers.
Hopefully this can be addressed by Mayor Celender as a rational policy so we are not tax paying victims in her fight against commuter parking.
Steve Einzig
Great Neck
