In an effort to answer the needs of the merchants in the Plaza, Mayor Jean Celender announced that there will be thirty parking spaces allocated for "Daily Meter Parking by Special Permit Only" available now at Village Hall. This is a pilot program starting with thirty metered parking spaces in a designated section on the roof top of the Plaza Center garage. This reserved metered parking will be available on a first come, first served basis and are only available to seasonal and part time employees of merchants in the Village of Great Neck Plaza.

These employees must first come to Village Hall and obtain a permit to allow them to park in this area. The permit, which will be free of charge, will allow parking up to a maximum of 10 hours daily, at designated meters at a rate of 25 cents per hour. This is the same rate charged for the 2 and 4-hour meters. The employee will be responsible for putting the correct amount of quarters in the meter daily or they will be subject to a summons. Likewise, only vehicles with the special permit displayed will be allowed to park in these metered spaces or be subject to a summons as well.

This program was established at the request of merchants whose part-time/seasonal workers find it difficult to utilize the quarterly permit parking program. Plaza officials are hopeful that this pilot program will result in less feeding of the meters at the parking spaces meant for customers. The convenience of an employee parking their vehicle on the roof and not having to "feed the meter" several times a day, will provide peace of mind and no fear of expired meter parking fines for the employees. It will also represent fewer "quarter" breaks away from the shop, which will benefit the employer.

The village anticipates that this will be a successful answer to the ongoing problem of available customer parking, but also recognizes that adjustments may be needed through the implementation stage to fine tune this pilot program.

Employees who want to utilize this special daily metered parking should first go into Village Hall and complete an application to obtain the permit sticker. These permits are only processed between the hours of 9 to10 a.m. and noon to 1 p.m. For further information, please contact Beverly Safian at 482-4500.