Locust Place, the street that runs from Bayview Avenue on the south to Colonial Parkway on the north, parallel to Plandome Road, is gaily decorated for Halloween at this time of year. Witches and ghosts share places with pumpkins and wheat sheaves but last week neighbors were stunned to see a new sign appear on the east side of the street. There are three houses on this side of Locust Place. The southernmost is adjacent to the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department Bayview Avenue station and the northernmost adjacent to the parking behind the Plandome Road stores.The sign read: "Coming soon : Shopper Parking : Courtesy of Plandome Road Commission." The residents of the block, some of whom own their houses and some of whom are renters, were taken completely by surprise. They called the Manhasset Park District, they called Supervisor May Newburger at North Hempstead Town Hall. No one seemed to know anything about the sign. What the park district and the town government did know was that the chairman of the Plandome Road Commission is Plandome resident Bruce Bent and Mr. Bent has expressed dissatisfaction with his commission's inability to get action on new shopper parking in Manhasset.

"I spoke to May Newburger," said Locust Place resident Maria Tompkins, "She said it's zoned residential and it can't be done. The next day the signs were down and I don't know who took them down. Bruce owns the two houses on either end but he can't just come in here and disrupt our life." Locust Place resident Gail Ruggiero said of Mr. Bent: "He's trying to make decisions about our block. It's not his block."

Supervisor Newburger said that the North Hempstead Building Commissioner would take the sign down. "Mr. Bent would need a conditional use permit to create parking in that location," she said, "and he has not applied for one. Even if he owns the property he would need a demolition permit to take down the buildings and he hasn't applied for that either."

The Plandome Road Commission was created by the Manhasset Park District after the district was unsuccessful in its attempt to take the former Wright Hardware Bayview parking lot for shopper parking. The commission was charged with devising plans to solve Manhasset's chronic downtown parking problem. Members of the commission include attorneys William DiConza, Donald Higgins Jr., Robert Tadler and William Geoghan; architect Norman Nemec; William Baxter, former American Legion Post Commander and John Minogue, president of the Council of Greater Manhasset Civic Associations. Mr. Minogue said that the commission had met frequently in its early days but has not met recently. "The commission has no official authority," Mr. Minogue said," but we have had all kinds of ideas. He said that he would be willing to listen to any proposal to improve the current situation.

When the Manhasset Press spoke with Mr. Bent, he began by saying: "We'll have to go back to the Origin of the Species. Two years ago after the Wright Hardware failure, the Park District set up the Plandome Road Commission to see if we could come up with something. We did an analysis but nothing came of it. I'm trying to save or revive the commission. Twenty-eight years ago, when I moved here, there were two supermarkets, two hardware stores. Now you have neither."

Mr. Bent offered two plans. One he called his "Robert Moses plan." This consists of razing everything from the Long Island Rail Road tracks south to George Street and back to the Manhasset High School property. "We could create a new downtown," he said, similar in style to Munsey Center. We would build a building on four levels--in the basement we would re-locate the movie theater and have parking. The ground level would have shops and the upper level offices." (He envisions North Hempstead possibly moving its Town Hall Annex to this building. The top floor would have parking for employees of the building and visitors to those offices."

In addition. Mr. Bent sees a three-tier parking garage located next to the current commuter parking at the station at the western end.

This plan would call for the relocation of the new playground and Memorial Field ball fields. He would create a new village green running from Plandome Road to Locust Place, from Bayview Avenue to Colonial Parkway.

Mr. Bent said that he has spoken to the manager of the Manhasset Theatre who is enthusiastic about his plan and to the doctor who owns two medical office buildings on Plandome Road. According to Mr. Bent, "he said he'd trade in a minute."

There's more. The west side of Plandome Road, from the present Pizza parlor to Genovese would be the site of newly built town houses which would be built in harmony with Manhasset's architecture. "No high rises," he said. "You could sell them in two seconds."

Mr. Bent is no idle dreamer. "In view of Manhasset's historic pattern of not doing anything," he said, "and failing Plan One, we did a quantitative analysis of parking spaces and usage. The area behind the Bayview Avenue shops is partly owned by the Park District and partly by merchants. We should tear down the little fences and work some sort of deal with the American Legion." Mr. Bent says that he is trying to do the greatest good for the greatest number. "The people across the street are being short-sighted," he said. "A parking lot, properly shrubbed, could be very attractive. Rainbow is now coming in (where Nassau Stores used to be) and they could be the catalyst. We should create a cut through to Plandome Road from the current parking lot to serve stores on the East side of Plandome Road." He also believes that King Kullen could be persuaded to locate in the Plandome Road area, rather than on Northern Boulevard.

According to Michael C. Adams, commissioner of the Manhasset Park District, the district was totally unaware of Mr. Bent's new plans. He acknowledged that the park district appointed the members of the Plandome Road Commission. "We have not met with them in a year and a half," he said.

Stay tuned.