RSS 2.0 FeedJuly 15, 2010, Bellmore Life
Bellmore chamber to run car show Liability no issue; looks to break even
The Friday Night Cruisers looks to be taken over by the Bellmore Chamber of Commerce.
Brushing aside concerns of liability that plagued the Friday Night Cruisers during its three-year tenure at the Long Island Rail Road parking lot several years ago, the Chamber of Commerce of the Bellmores will take over the car show as quickly as it can get a permit from the town to do so.
“Members of the board discussed the possibility of liability” in taking over the car show, remarked chamber President Ron Mare to Bellmore Life, “but we also discussed the fact that we believe we run one of the most successful street fairs in the county.” Armed with that history, the chamber is moving full-speed ahead to get a permit from the town to use a parking field on Friday nights, and to get insurance, portable sanitary toilets and cleanup crews to clean up the lot after the show.
Joe Verdi, Greg Conneely and Gene Judd of the chamber have been designated to oversee and coordinate the car show on a day-to-day basis. Mr. Conneely said the job would entail watching closely the logistics of the show, such as maintenance of the portable sanitary toilets and seeing that the parking lot is cleaned up after the show.
The liability issue ran strong with the Friday Night Cruisers during their time at the lot at the beginning of the decade because local opposition was high, particularly from the then-Bellmore Homeowners Association, which has since disbanded. Jeff Lovering, president of the now-defunct Bellmore Village Merchants Association, also came out against the car show, saying that the throngs of people who came to the show – including families – took parking spaces away from legitimate patrons of businesses on Bedford Avenue, depriving those businesses of their patrons.
One source, who asked to remain anonymous, said that several years ago a serious incident in Merrick concerning a pedestrian was attributed to a car that had come from the Friday Night Cruisers, but that information was never confirmed. Pat Capetti, then president of the FNC, told Bellmore Life during his show’s tenure that he would disband the legal name Friday Night Cruisers and not request a new permit because opposition was running high. He inferred he was concerned with liability issues. But Mr. Mare said that when he walked down Bedford Avenue after the board had made its decision, “everyone I talked to was thrilled to death” about new ownership of the car show.
Over the last several weeks the car show has been closed to more cars coming in because commuters have been unable to get out of the parking lot. Police closed the lot to assist commuters exiting of the parking lot. Mr. Mare told Bellmore Life the prevailing thought is to run the car show from 6-10 p.m. to give commuters time to exit the parking lot before the show starts. He wished to thank members of several car clubs that frequent the show, including the South Side Boys, Back-In-Time, and the Long Island Roadsters for their offer of assistance to help any commuters who come in during the car show to get their cars out.
During a meeting among board members and other groups recently at the Mediterranean Grill, Mr. Mare was confronted with questions of cost, especially from those who believed that charging a fee to get in would be in bad faith. “This is a tough economy, and we don’t want to have to come to a car show if we have to pay,” was the sentiment of one attendee. Mr. Mare said the cost of insurance, of the permit and for cleanup could run upwards of $500-600 for each day of the car show.
He also dismissed a source’s figure in last week’s Bellmore Life suggesting that between $3,000-6,000 per month could be generated by the car show. “Our aim at present would be to break even on this car show.” He said there is preliminary discussion to consider creating a new association next year that would charge car owners a yearly fee for joining the association – under the chamber umbrella – to help defray costs. “Families coming for a night out to see the cars wouldn’t be charged,” he said. Joey Congema, one of six charter members who run the South Side Boys Car Club, a 600-650-member car club, told Bellmore Life he was not against charging a fee if it would help defray costs.
“I can see charging cars who want to come into the parking lot $10 to display their car, and I would pay $100 for the privilege of being a member of any association that would run the car club in Bellmore,” Mr. Congema said. Mr. Congema is an original car enthusiast from the Friday Night Cruisers going back 15 years at the parking lot. Reaction from retailers on Bedford Avenue was, as Mr. Mare contended, favorable. “The food establishments will be appreciative,” said Kevin MacKinnon, owner of Days Gone Bye candy store. Roy and Myrna Weinman of Weinman’s Hardware agreed it was “a positive step for the whole community.”