Residents have been clammoring for weeks about the employees of (NUMC) parking on local streets, and Arthur Gianelli, president and CEO of NuHealth has responded.
The hospital recently deemed its parking garage old and unsafe, and as a result, closed the structure. Many of its employees have been forced to find parking alternatives, which means leaving their cars lined along 1st and 2nd Streets and Roosevelt Avenue during the day.
"I am aware that, with the closure of the parking garage, parking cars on campus is challenging," Gianelli says in a letter to the hospital's employees. "Many of you have elected instead to park on the streets in the surrounding neighborhood. This has resulted, unfortunately, in significant community outrage, altercations between staff and residents in the community, and even acts of vandalism perpetrated by our employees."
Legis. Norma Gonsalves, R-East Meadow, says that the hospital is struggling to make room for all of the employees that need spaces for their vehicles.
"The garage had parking spots for at least 1,000 of the hospital's employees," Gonsalves said. "But the stackers can only fit 200-300 cars at a time."
Gianelli says that interim solutions will be put in place shortly to increase the parking capacity on campus, and a shuttle service will be available for employees who park their vehicles at (or some nearby location) to be transported to NUMC.
"Employees must take advantage of one of these options to park their cars," Gianelli said. "Employees should not park their cars in the surrounding neighborhood."
Police have been advised to ticket cars that are parked illegally, Gianelli said, and residents are encouraged to call Gianelli's office if NUMC employees park on their streets.
"I ask everyone to heed these warnings and bear with us as we create increased capacity on our campus to park cars without having to rely on stackers," Gianelli said. "None of us can fix the fact that no investments were made in the old parking garage for generations. We can, however, work together to make the best of a challenging situation."
