Reported on June 9, 2009

Leah Lenney trekked up the hill to her North Chatsworth Avenue apartment, doing the best she could in her leg brace. The designated parking space she purchased from the town had been taken by another vehicle, and for days the 73-year-old Washington Square resident found herself looking for parking on the street, near enough to her home to save a walk on her left leg, which had undergone several surgeries.

Home rule legislation passed by the Senate and Assembly would allow the town of Mamaroneck to turn street parking here in Washington Square into resident-only spaces. Photo: Paige Rentz

For Lenney and other neighborhood seniors, the designated parking spaces they enjoyed in the Town of Mamaroneck parking lots were a reassurance, a guarantee of easy access to their homes when mobility is a concern.

“You take away a civil right from an elderly person when you take away their ability to function,” Lenney said.

Lenney and other seniors fear they will be left with no guaranteed space and the potential for a long and difficult walk to their homes as the town prepares to eliminate the system of designated spaces in the new parking deck on Myrtle Boulevard. The more modern and efficient system, they worry, will lend an air of anonymity to the parking lot and increase the chances of non-permitted drivers taking their spaces in the lot.

While local officials remain immovable about the elimination of designated spaces, the Town Council is considering adopting a local towing law so residents like Lenney will never have to go more than 30 minutes without their space.

Though the proposed law would be in effect town-wide, enforcement would be focused primarily on the town’s parking lots, said Town Administrator Steve Altieri. The town will not be overzealous in towing, he said, but will instead look at the detriment to other citizens caused by the infraction. As is custom in the town, police will first attempt to contact the owner of an illegally parked vehicle before they tow it away.

“I think having the law on the books is great,” said self-described hardliner Ron Fass, 71. “If someone parks illegally in the lot, tow them away. They won’t do it again after that.”

Julie Chateauvert, 58, thinks a towing law—while a positive step—is a peripheral issue compared to the broader parking problem in Washington Square. The creation of a residential parking district in coordination with the removal of street cleaning regulations is “really the only good way to resolve the problem,” she said.

Lenney also said there needs to be a “distinction made between residents and transients” in the form of residential parking decals.

The Town Council is stalled on that front, however. The Senate and Assembly have both passed home rule legislation that enables the town council to establish a residential parking district, but it must be signed into law by Gov. David Paterson before any action can be taken.

Town Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe said that no matter how quickly the legislation is signed into law, it would likely be fall before the town takes any action on the residential parking district. Council members want to evaluate the changes they have already made, and traffic surveys during summer months tend to be skewed because there are fewer cars.

Meanwhile, the Town Council can put its efforts into keeping town parking lots free for permitted parkers. The council will host a public hearing at 8:15 p.m. on July 7 in the Town Center to take input from local residents.

“I think [towing] should be part of any ongoing deal, especially since we won’t have designated spaces,” said Lenney. “You have to put teeth in the law, and how else are you going to do that if you don’t tow?”