Trustee Peter Bee, after stating "I still have some impulse to move forward and acquire the houses," made a motion at the Thursday, June 3 Village Board meeting to send the houses-for-parking issue to a planner to be engaged by the Village. When several trustees recommended modifications he stated, "At this time I am declining to modify the motion further." His motion states:

"Given the need to preserve the essentially residential character of the Village in harmony with an appropriate commercial district,

"Be It Resolved that the mayor is authorized to enter into an agreement with BF & J to review the overall 'Parking and Buffer Strip Plan' and recommend its viability at the current time, with specific attention to the desirability of acquiring properties on the west side of Franklin Avenue as they become available, after receiving such input from the Village Planning Commission (and/or other Village representatives) as shall be deemed appropriate;

"said report and recommendation to be presented to this Board not later than 9/1/99;

in a contract amount not to exceed $5,000."

Residents will recall this issue as the Houses-for-Parking debate that raged in Village Hall and the letters to the editor columns of the local papers. The point of contention between Garden City Center Associates and the Village has been the Board of Trustees' March 20, 1997 vote, under Mayor Richard Benack, against acquiring two houses -- 114 Tenth Street and 116 Eleventh Street -- to be demolished and converted into parking and a landscaped parking buffer for Garden City Center Associates' two buildings at 1010 and 1050 Franklin Avenue. When the Village sided with residents who opposed the purchase of the land by the Village for parking and voted not to follow plans laid out in the approximately 40-year-old Parking and Buffer Strip Plan, Garden City Center Associates argued that a promise to them had been broken.

Garden City Center Associates, a subsidiary of the Albanese Organizations, began several attempts to sue the Village of Garden City for damages, which they would only drop if they receive a "settlement" regarding the Village's refusal to purchase 114 Tenth Street and 116 Eleventh Street, which they wanted converted into additional parking for lot 10.

The most recent claim was filed on June 13, 1997. It states that damages were incurred by the Garden City Center Associates as a result of "the deprivation of claimant's constitutionally protected property interest by Judith A. Asselta, Eileen J. Collins, Harold P. Hecken, Jr., Laurence J. Kettner, Robert H. Lewis, and Frank A. Tauches, Jr., six of the eight elected Trustees" who were in office at the time the decision was made by the Village not to acquire said properties. They claim that the trustees acted "under color of law" and arbitrarily, capriciously and without any legal justification, refused to acquire the houses.

According to a press release issued by the Garden City Center Associates, "political pressure, led by Village residents Russell and Barbara Miller, caused the Board of Trustees to disregard its long-standing commitments to provide the parking and deprived Garden City Center Associates of equal and fair treatment under the law. The Millers live next to Block 10 and enjoy exclusive use of a Village owned property, which they now seek to buy, that was acquired for parking and park buffer strip purposes."

The claim lists several examples from Village history to attempt to demonstrate that the Village breached a legal commitment to purchase the two houses and create parking for the Garden City Center Associates and that the Village is now responsible for the "harm" to their business because of a lack of "much-needed parking." They claim that "since at least 1930" the Village pursued the creation of other parking areas and "implemented a distinctive policy of providing adequate, safe, and convenient off-street" parking in the Village. The entire document is 34 pages long.

The Village Board declined to take the houses as early as the late 1980s. On Dec. 19, 1989 Garden City Center Associates petitioned the NYS Supreme Court. On Jan. 16, 1990, Justice Francis X. Becker heard the motion and ruled on March 8, 1991 that the decision of the Village board represented a legislative act and is not subject to judicial review. Their appeal was denied on Oct. 14, 1993. The Danth report of 1996 resurrected the issue and thus the board was brought to decide again on the properties which they refused in their latest decision this year.

On Nov. 9, 1998 Deputy Clerk-in-Charge Joseph Di Talia for the United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, released the Nov. 6 decision of Honorable Thomas C. Platt, district judge, denying the Albaneses' motion for summary judgment, instead granting the Village's motion to dismiss. It states, "...it is ordered and adjudged that plaintiff Garden City Center Associates take nothing of the defendant Incorporated Village of Garden City; and that this action is hereby dismissed."

The Albaneses have appealed the Platt decision and attorney Mastaglio is awaiting a response from the Appeals Court. The Village has spent a considerable amount of time and money fighting the Albaneses and backing their position to not take the houses, making it all the more ironic that now the Village is considering changing its position.

Residents spoke out in anger and frustration at seeing this issue under consideration again by the Board. Susan Williams said that she was concerned that when the matter came up at the last meeting she was assured that no action would be taken without the issue being on the agenda, affording people notice to come to the meeting to share their views, but this motion was not on the agenda. She said the motion was written for the commercial property owners and not the residents, who she says do not believe that there is a parking problem. She added that one of the homes the Albaneses want acquired, that they do not own is hers. She noted, "You can't buy a house in Garden City and now we're tearing them down!" She added that she was "very offended as to the way this was handled."

The CPOA's parking subcommittee president expressed its opposition to the motion and argued that it assumes there is a parking problem when they argue there is not. He urged the Board to give the streetscape a chance to work and not go ahead and start taking houses for parking.

Peter Negri asked what has changed since the Village last considered taking homes for parking. Trustee Bee argued that he has always supported taking the homes, and would be pushing for that now if he had not been persuaded to slow down and engage a consultant. Dr. Russell Millernoted that when the issue was raised before the Board in 1996 and the vote was taken in 1997, that he felt that was "one of the most emotioanl times here." He also noted that Trustee Bee had said then that he would not bring this issue up again and that he had thought about the issue from the perspective of someone living on the block where the house would become parking. Bee said he had said he wouldn't bring it up again unless he felt the Village was ready to go forward and he believes they are now.

CPOA President Dr. Barbara Miller noted that residents call her every year, upset at being, what she described as, "bombarded" by pressure to support houses for parking. She added, "Think about the residents, not just the commercial property owners." She noted, "It would be nice if we had a summer where we didn't have to worry about this."

Don Costello noted that he was before the Board three years ago explaining that he didn't want to live next to a parking lot. He said he thanks God for the Millers and the other residents who have worked so hard to oppose this all of these years. He urged the Board members to each think about how they'd feel living next to a parking lot.

Russell Matthews of the Albanese Corporation and Estates President Bob Rothchild, which voted to approve plans to investigate taking the houses, both stated separately that they were on the Business Planning Coalition which recommended the taking of the houses. They argued with statements made by Dorothy Episcopia stating that strong lobbying was going on by the Albaneses, pointing to lobbying on the side of the opponents. Matthews repeated much of the claims in the Albanese claim discussed above.

Dorothy Episcopia also pointed out that the Garden City Center Asosiciates just were awarded tax certiorari money -- $750,000 for 1050 Franklin Avenue and $65,000 at 1461 Franklin Avenue. She argued that the lobbyists claiming that if the houses were taken for parking there would be less tax certiorari suits were the very ones suing the Village for tax certiorari settlements. She urged the Board to not be swayed by the pressure of these lobbyists. It was also noted after the meeting that Russell Matthews has said publicly that both 1050 and 1461 are to full occupancy now, without the additional parking in existence.

Trustee Judith Asselta expressed strong opposition to both the motion made by her fellow trustee and the idea of taking the houses at all. She noted, "The worst parking situation is in 7S and all of the stores there are occupied. If parking is what drives this then explain that." She added that BID expert Ron Edelson was before the Board saying that people essentially want to park in the stores and that there are other alternatives to this plan. She urged looking into valet parking, which other upscale communities use. She pointed to the Minority Opinion, of which she was a co-author, that disagreed with the Business Planning Coalition's findings.

Bee's motion ultimately failed with a vote of 6 to 2 with only Mayor Hal Hecken and Trustee Bee voting in approval.

Just because this motion failed does not mean that the issue is resolved, however. The houses for parking issue will certainly come up at the June 17 meeting.