Port Jeff offers motorcycle parking plan

Port Jefferson's Main Street has the requisite elements of a picturesque downtown: charming boutiques and eateries, shoppers clutching coffees and ice cream cones, and a beautiful harbor backdrop.

On summer weekends add to the scene dozens upon dozens of motorcyclists throttling their bikes on Main Street, which some say exacerbates the village's ongoing parking problem.

Some Main Street vendors have complained to village officials that bikers park in the coveted free spots in front of their stores and ignore 30-minute parking limits posted on the street, said the president of the village's Business Improvement District.

"Generally people are parking on Main Street to pick up something or drop something off or to meet someone," said Tom Schafer. "With the bikes, people have a party and start gathering there."

Not only do the free parking spaces remain occupied, but the bikers block pedestrian traffic on the narrow sidewalks, he said.

Schafer has a solution: encouraging bikers to move to the nearby marina's parking lot, owned by the Town of Brookhaven and free to residents.

Out-of-town drivers pay to park there -- for motorcycles, it's $10 a day -- but the district will pay the fee for bikers who don't live in Brookhaven.

"I think it's a fantastic idea," said Marianne Ketcham, the owner of the Home Kingdom gift shop and a member of the district and the village's parking committee. She said she welcomed the bikers. "They're always polite, and they spend money in the store."

Bikers have been visiting Port Jefferson, with its tree-lined roads snaking to the harbor, for years, said Barbara Ransome, director of operations for the local Chamber of Commerce.

Ken Veale, owner of the Port Jeff Motorcycle Store near Main Street, praised the plan but said he was worried the district reserved the right to cancel it on short notice.

"I'm behind the idea as long as they don't renege," he said. "You want the bikers off Main Street? Give them a place to go, and a place that's free, because parking on Main Street is free."

The district has set aside $3,000 to pay for bikers' parking fees, but if funds run out before summer's end, Schafer might cancel the plan. He hopes to implement it this weekend.

Ransome called the plan "very generous and creative . . . I hope it works."

The handful of bikers sitting in the town lot on a recent sunny afternoon were skeptical about officials' stated intentions. "They don't want us on the street," said Harry Leitch, leaning on his red and black Harley-Davidson. "It's just a moneymaking thing for the village."

Several Main Street merchants declined to comment on the parking issues. But an operator of the new deli Eat Piada said she'd heard plenty of talk. "We've heard it's a big issue," said Justine Marcello, whose fiance owns the store. "It's hard for us to tell just yet."

For Lisa Cast, manager of the restaurant Village Way, the motorcyclists were the least of the problem for Main Street businesses. "The metered parking is the problem here," she said. "Not the motorcyclists."