MAY 30, 2019 • THE PORT TIMES RECORD • PAGE A5
Village of Port Jefferson
Port Jeff trustee candidates address village issues
Tom Meehan
Meehan currently works as the elementary school principal where he has been for eight years. He is a commissioner of the Port Jefferson Fire Department and boasts about his lifetime of living in Port Jefferson and being involved in local projects and programs for more than 50 years, from working in businesses uptown to caddying at the golf course to working emergency medical with the fire department. He said that experience in the multitude of village life, from the country club to the school to the beaches, gives him an edge in helping to run a village with many different facets. “I’ve seen everything, and I don’t hesitate to get my hands on issues,” he said. BY KYLE BARR KYLE@TBRNEWSMEDIA.COM Less than a month from now, Port Jefferson residents will be lining up to vote for village mayor and trustees. Veteran of local politics John Jay LaValle, the head of the Residents First Party which includes newcomer trustee candidates Tracy Stapleton and Tom Meehan, is facing off against multiterm Mayor Margot Garant and the Unity Party, featuring newcomer Kathianne Snaden and incumbent trustee Stan Loucks. The four trustee candidates stopped in at the TBR News Media offices to share what their plans for the village would be if elected.
Bringing business to Port Jefferson
Perhaps the most controversial point of the current village board race is the need to build business within Port Jeff. Residents First Party candidates said there is a need for the village to streamline the process of setting up a business within the village and a need to not hamstring those businesses with permitting or high rents. “There has to be a way to streamline these projects,” Stapleton said. “They have had to jump through so many hoops.” She added she feels the village needs to be beautified and made more cohesive with flowers and painting. Snaden said that as many stores have closed their doors, more have moved in to take their place. She cites new restaurants like Prohibition Kitchen, which worked with the village
Kathianne Snaden
Stan Loucks
Tracy Stapleton
government to change code allowing them to work around the previous parking requirements of their small bar space. Though the Gap downtown has closed its doors, she said the current village administration is already working with the landlord to aid in finding a new tenant. “Everybody wants a successful downtown — without a downtown you don’t have a village,” she said. “I am all for helping those small businesses out if code changes need to be made and updated.” Meehan was concerned with the experience of some businesses like Ruvo East, which he said has told the Residents First Party candidates they have had a terrible time with permitting by the village government. Loucks said there is a difference between how successful a business is if they own the property versus if they rent, with renters getting the short end of the stick. He said the Gap was paying $37,000 a month for the space. He added there is need for more apartments in the village to add foot traffic. “Rents are really beyond the market,” he said. “Business needs people, and apartments bring in people.” While rents are beyond the scope of the village to be directly involved, he said the trustees can get the Business Improvement District to set up some kind of rent control. Both Meehan and Stapleton said much of the loss of business has to deal with parking issues.
Stapleton said one of the largest inhibiting factors to bringing more foot traffic into the village is parking enforcement, which she said is much too strict and inconsiderate, with officers “waiting” to write tickets on cars. “I hear people saying they will never go to Port Jeff again, and I think a lot of that is the overenforcement of the parking tickets and the way they’re given,” Stapleton said. “I don’t feel residents and visitors are made to feel welcome. I think code enforcement needs a course in civility.” On any given day, a large percentage of spots in the village are taken up by employees of the local shops. Meehan said the village can work with the school district and St. Charles Hospital in helping to mitigate parking issues with their lots. He said some of the larger businesses like Danfords Hotel, Marina and Spa can start to require that employees park in further lots if they take the Port Jefferson Jitney over to their workplace. “There is such limited parking, and we’re not expanding it any place,” said Meehan. Loucks countered Meehan and Stapleton, saying much of what they suggested has been tried unsuccessfully as employees just prefer to park closer and valet parking died off. Snaden, a member of the parking committee, said it’s difficult to get businesses to make their employees use the jitney. She said the board can incentivize the Business Improvement District to come together again and find ways to incentivize parking in outer village lots, adding that she believes the committee has already done good work with managed parking and the new parking mobile app the village has instituted. She said she would also like to see code enforcement have ambassador training where they
could talk to visitors about the best stores to eat at or the best lots in which to park. “Purchasing the lot at Barnum, that’s going to add another 40 plus spaces, but you have to remember we’re in a bowl,” Snaden said. “You can’t add parking lots on hills — we have what we have.”
Snaden worked as a paralegal for over 20 years, then became a stay-at-home mom before running a freelance photography business from her home in Port Jeff. She ran last year for trustee when she lost by only two votes and said she has since become extremely active in the village to where she now sits on the parking committee, public safety committee and she regularly attends village meetings. She said she brings a fresh set of eyes and the perspective of the young families. “I can make that connection between the school district and the village board,” the freelance photographer said. “A lot of families don’t have the time to attend meetings or don’t believe their voice will be heard.”
Parking issues
All candidates agreed there are major issues with parking in Port Jeff, for both residents and visitors to downtown, though several disagreed on how it could be amended with a lack of available space for new lots.
Loucks has been a member of the board of trustees for four years where he says he works full time, having since retired from athletics director position at a Long Island school district. He is the current liaison for the country club and the parks department. He said he brings to the table more than 20 years of experience of the country club and the recreation department, citing dozens of new programs he brought to the club that have become popular. Otherwise he says he is one of the hardest workers currently on the village board. “I’m a tireless worker,” Loucks said. “Nobody works more hours than I do.”
Stapleton is an attorney who currently works from home part time specializing in buying business licensing and house closing. She said she could offer a new, fresh perspective to the village board. She said she has a reputation of bringing people together to solve problems, where if she herself doesn’t have the particular answer that she will ask other experts to become involved. Otherwise she said she works relentlessly at a problem until it is solved. “I’m diligent, I keep working hard until we get the job done,” she said.
What needs to be accomplished with uptown Port Jefferson
“When I was a kid, uptown was more happening, and downtown was more of a depressed area,” said Meehan. “What kind of area doesn’t have a pizza place, a bagel store, a Starbucks?” The elementary principal said one of the problems is safety uptown, and he suggested code enforcement or Suffolk County Police should be around for every train arrival. Snaden said there is a problem of filling up the blighted buildings uptown since the owners of those buildings are awaiting some large business to come in and are unwilling to rent out to small tenants. Though in the meantime, she said the Uptown Funk project, headed by the current village administration, has already done well to attract businesses like new proposed apartments in that uptown area. “Emptiness is a sign that things are moving along,” she said. “We are well on our way to getting that place cleaned up.” Stapleton said she fears a glut of apartments uptown without signs of new small businesses moving in. Though these apartment projects are still in the planning process, she has not yet heard of new businesses coming in underneath the apartments. TRUSTEE DEBATE Continued on A6