Oyster Bay's downtown parking problems are expected to air on Channel 12. The television station called Oyster Bay Civic Association President Marie Knight. She said it appeared they had read the story in the Enterprise Pilot about the parking problems in the hamlet. Ms. Knight was invited to be interviewed. When she saw the resulting video she asked them to re-do the interview because "it sounded like only town hall people were the problem and it's a bigger project. There are a lot of all-day parkers and the biggest employee in the hamlet is the town," she said.

Vangie Kohn of Second Impressions & 'Tiques, Judy Barnett, OBCA secretary and Tom Vieweg, president of the Oyster Bay Chamber of Commerce are expected to be on the program.

Ms. Knight said she will be talking about the reason the parking problems have to be resolved - to allow for the revitalization of the downtown area. She said there are a lot of employees who park all day and the biggest employer in town is Town Hall. She said that with town hall in the center of town, the hub area as it is called in engineering studies, that it creates a problem.

Ms. Knight said the engineering studies done say there is not a lack of parking spaces, just the problem of managing them. "If we can get that under control, we can have our village back. When the Joint Marketing Committee has someone who is interested in coming to town and they arrange to meet with Brown, Harris, the real estate brokers working to fill the village, the prospective store owners can't even find a parking space. So it is a major concern and we are going to work on it," she said.

From our experience, the problem is in the lot where they have marked out reserved parking. At one time the office holder's position was on the spot, now the town has softened the statement and uses numbered and alphabetic signs to reserve the spots.

Whatever system they use, when you drive around and see several empty reserved spots and nowhere to park to let you take care of a small errand, the feeling you get is frustration, anger and resentment. There is also resentment on the part of town workers when they see business owners parking in front of their own stores, or when store employees park there too. It's a small town and everyone sees what is going on.

Additionally, Ms. Knight said they also want something done about the reserved spots in the lot on Audrey Avenue across from what was the Barnao's Carpet location. They want a user-friendly walkway leading to Firemen's Field.

Our hope is that employers and employees decide it is far, far better to park and walk to their destinations. Let's leave room for people coming here for business.