I read your story about the parking problems in Roslyn and found the situation to be a typical political screw-up. What a good idea, we will put in metered parking and the motorist will make up the town’s money shortfall. The reality of this is people have had it with fees, fines and government overreach. You will notice that the revenue has dropped precipitously and I predict that the trend will continue.
If a store goes under, and that is a likelihood, there will be fewer people trying to park. The big draws like the deli have a competitor, Kitchen Kabaret with free parking, no tickets, no meters, no refunds, only a mile away. Need a bank, a drugstore – right next door, along with a hair dresser. There are no goods or services that aren’t available elsewhere without the parking hassle. The restaurants aren’t to die for, which leaves the ice cream spot and a few other small draws.
The town bought the meters and paid for them. They just paid for a maintenance contract and don’t want to declare this a loss. So the small merchants are left to work for less, move, or go out of business. This is a bad decision since the town itself has little to offer and the tickets, refunds and fines makes this a non-starter. The town should change its name from the Village of Roslyn to the Roslyn Ghost Town.
It should also be remembered that in this town, our children, when they grow up, can’t afford to live here because of the taxes. Good work!
Cary Ratner
East Hills
