Storeowners and employees along the Village of Roslyn’s main business street, Old Northern Boulevard, recently complained that malfunctioning meters, a lengthy list of parking regulations and strict enforcement are threatening both businesses and the business district.
“I would say our sales are down 10 percent year over year and mostly it’s pretty much because of parking,” one business owner who requested anonymity was recently quoted as saying in the Roslyn Times.
Business owners said that customers who received tickets were often angry when they entered their stores. Some, they said, vowed never to shop in the village again.
In Mineola, the owner of Venezia Garden Center, said his and fellow business owners’ sales have been harmed by the village’s increased enforcement of parking regulations on Saturdays.
The owner, Frank Venezia, called on the village to eliminate metered parking on Saturdays or at least make the metered parking cutoff earlier than 9 p.m.
Complaints by motorists and business owners about parking tickets is nothing new. They have existed since the enforcing of parking regulations began.
What is new is the growth of online shopping and the decline of brick-and-mortar stores as well as downtown shopping districts.
One question this has raised is how much is this decline in downtown stores and the shopping district related to parking and parking tickets? And what should local town and villages where shopping districts are located do in response?
There is a strong body of evidence that consumers who have become accustomed to shopping in various forms of attire from home have less patience for looking for parking. Let alone getting a ticket. Let alone getting a ticket from a less-than-friendly meter agent.
The good news is that many consumers still like shopping in the flesh. But they want to do it with the least bother and the least expense. In this age of Amazon, this is known as frictionless shopping.
Online is not the only place that brick-and-mortar stores in local shopping districts have to compete. And there, too, parking is an issue.
Nassau County has no shortage of malls and businesses along roadways where the parking is free and often plentiful.
The Village of Roslyn is just minutes away from the high-end stores and restaurants located in the Wheatley Plaza and Americana shopping malls as well as shopping along nearby roadways and, just minutes further away, Roosevelt Field.
The same is true for the Village of Mineola and every other village in the area.
It is true that not all stores are suitable for a shopping mall and sometimes rent can be a deterrent.
It is also true that many people still enjoy shopping in local business districts, with helpful storeowners and less hubbub than going to a mall. That explains why Macy’s has teamed with Brookfield Properties to spend $1 billion in seeking to create a “Main Street” feel to the retailer’s Manhasset location.
But there are enough stores in places where the parking is plentiful and free – and the guys dressed in uniforms are there to direct traffic not give tickets – to make a difference to stores in local shopping districts.
Most village officials would tell you that metered parking is needed to keep employees or commuters from parking all day in front of a store. Others would tell you that they need the revenue from meters to pay for the meters and the meter agents and to keep taxes down.
Roslyn trustees cited this need for money last year when the Roslyn Chamber of Commerce and other local merchants came before the village asking for changes in parking regulations as well as additional parking.
The trustees agreed to some changes but said they could not go further in some cases because of concerns about lost revenue.
This can be explained by the village’s 2019-20 budget, which projected $594,000 in parking lot permits, meters and justice court fines – out of $1.56 million in revenue other than real property taxes.
But for the village of Roslyn and many other villages on the North Shore a reliance on meters and parking tickets for revenue may no longer be compatible with healthy shopping districts.
Social media is filled with village residents and their neighbors swearing they will never shop or dine in a particular shopping district because of problems parking – especially after they have received tickets.
The time has arrived when village officials should at least begin consideration of how they can operate without relying so heavily on meters and parking tickets. If they don’t, they may soon lose that revenue anyway as stores close and their downtown declines.
As part of this process, village officials also need to consider whether there is sufficient parking for people shopping or dining in downtown districts. Often there isn’t. When there isn’t enough parking, the officials should determine how to increase parking.
This process would benefit greatly from the assistance of the Town of North Hempstead or Nassau County. Rather than have financially limited villages hire their own consultants, either the county or the town could hire a consultant to determine best parking practices.
The town and county could also help villages locate and, if needed, finance additional parking.
Retailers across this country have been learning the hard way that what once worked no longer does. Those who reinvented themselves in this new world order have often done well. Those who haven’t changed have often been forced to shut their doors.
The same seems to be true for local shopping districts.
