I, too, would like to echo Elaine Paris’s letter, “Metered Street Parking,” in the Feb. 6 issue.
Bravo, Elaine. You said it well in your letter. Our town is an embarrassment to me and clearly others.
Who would want to shop in our village knowing if you are two seconds over your meter you get a ticket—or, that many meters are broken and it becomes “our” fault?
And to add to the problems, the garbage in The Gardens at Great Neck Plaza shopping center is a disgrace—and that parking lot is incredibly dangerous. Maybe we will finally get a real market, but parking there is scary regardless of who takes over the present market. Whoever is involved in village planning is not doing a very good job.
And given half the shops are empty, maybe the shop owners have some responsibility to fight the village over the ridiculous unfriendly parking situation.
Clearly, other people in this village feel the same way. Another letter agreeing with Mrs. Paris and also addressing the types of stores we have in our town says a lot about how residents feel: too many nail salons, too many of the same types of restaurants and then shoe stores and a few clothing stores for the ultra rich.
When you go to other towns, the shops seem inviting and creative, and fun to walk into. Except for the bagel store in the middle of town and Kensington Deli, I can’t think of any reason to go to town and risk parking in the unfriendly village.
—Anne Summers
I agree with Elaine Paris, meters have not been fixed for a long time, the owner of the Gardens Shopping Center is now bringing in a market that has had so many violations in Greece, Germany, and Lithuania running the gamut of poisoning homeless people in a store in Sweden, selling cheese containing listeria, meat found with e. coli, poor working conditions and mistreatment of employees.
Our town used to be a magnet for shoppers and people window shopping, now we are swelling with cheap stores on Middle Neck Road or empty ones.
This, of course, impacts on our house or real estate values.