Possible solution to Village parking woes: resident-only stickers?
“It’s not secret that Greenport Village has been discovered, and it will only grow to become more of a destination,” resident Rachel Bosworth said at Monday’s Village Board meeting. “Media outlets continually cover the area, specifically the New York Times,” which has written many articles about the village, including some suggesting it as an alternative to the Hamptons.
But a downside of this, she said, is that for people who live in the village, specifically those who live in apartments on Front and Main streets, there’s no place to park.
That’s why Ms. Bosworth and fellow villager Kelly Franke suggested the enacting a resident-only parking sticker and/or resident-only parking spaces.
The village recently proposed creating additional 30-minute parking spaces in the IGA parking lot, which is village owned. A public hearing on that proposal will take place during the Dec. 28 Village Board meeting at 7 p.m.
Ms. Bosworth said many people who rent in downtown Greenport have no parking spaces and no access to a driveway or to parking lots, particularly in the summer.
The village, she said, “seems to be more accommodating to tourists who are only here for a short time than the people that live here year-round.”
She said she likes Trustee Doug Roberts’ recent idea of creating parking on Long Island Rail Road-owned land on Fourth Street, and suggested that the Railroad Museum of Long Island’s historic turntable, one of only three remaining on Long Island, be converted for parking. She also suggested other areas for possible resident-only parking.
“We cannot touch that turntable,” resident Chatty Allen said. “That a part of my history.”
Ms. Franke said she’s talked to many of her neighbors who live in the Greenport business district and they all feel the same way.
“We have to figure something out,” she said. “I can’t park on the street long-term, I can’t park at Claudio’s and I keep getting tickets.”
She said she’s gotten about five parking tickets.
“I think my neighbors would really be in favor of a sticker just to say, ‘I live here; give me a little courtesy.’ ”
She said people who live downtown are being penalized.
Ms. Allen, who also rents an apartment in the downtown village area, said she has an assigned spot where she’s supposed to park, but she often finds other people have parked in it.
Ms. Allen said she sometimes has to park in the IGA lot, a few blocks from her Third Street apartment, and has to leave some of the items she bought in the car because she can’t carry them.
“Yes, we do need to come up with a solution,” she said.
But she said she wasn’t sure a resident-only parking sticker was the answer, because village residents who live outside the downtown area will probably be upset.
“I think it’s really good that everyone is having this discussion,” Mayor George Hubbard Jr. said. “We all realize that it’s an issue and a problem and we’re trying to come up with solutions. Everybody’s input is beneficial to us all. We’re gonna work and try do something.”
Photo credit: file photo
