By Jared Cantor
On Sunday, Huntington’s Heckscher Park ball field was home to classic cars of all types at the annual Robert J. Bohaty Memorial Classic Auto Show. From Rat Rods to Muscle cars, there was a vehicle for everyone’s liking. The event is hosted by the Northport Centerport Lions Club.
By Talia Amorosano
Despite 95-degree weather, car enthusiasts young and old gathered at Heritage Park in Mount Sinai on Saturday to get up close and personal with old and new local cars.
Cars displayed were in pristine condition and many had been refurbished or restored. Attendees were able to view parts of the cars that they wouldn’t normally see, as many owners propped the trunks and hoods open to enable full viewing. Because some cars were accompanied by informative signs with origin stories, or were staged with time-period-appropriate memorabilia, the car show was surely a learning experience even for already knowledgeable viewers.
Petrone: RFP for parking garage coming soon
Huntington village’s parking pickle may soon become a little less of one.
On Tuesday, the town board green-lighted a $1.6 million purchase of property on West Carver Street to create about 66 new parking spaces in the village.
The board unanimously authorized Supervisor Frank Petrone or his representative to execute a contract to purchase a portion of the property at 24 West Carver St. from owner Anna Louise Realty II, LLC— right across the road from the New Street municipal parking lot. The money will be bonded for over a 10-year period, Petrone told reporters after the meeting.
It won’t be the only parking update in Huntington village this season. Petrone said the town is working with the Huntington Township Chamber of Commerce and the Huntington Station Business Improvement District to draft a request for proposals to build a parking garage in town — an idea town officials and residents have mulled for years.
“It’s a beginning,” Petrone said. “We made a commitment that parking is a continuum. We changed the meters. We have a different approach. We restriped, we added more spots, we redid lots. And now this is adding like 66 more additional spots, which is pretty substantial given the fact of the needs in the town.”
Town officials are hoping to get the RFP out by the end of summer, Petrone said. Asked where the structure would be sited, the supervisor said there have been discussions about locating it at the New Street lot, right across from the 66 additional spaces.
If a parking structure is to be built, it is likely current spots would be closed down in the construction process. Part of the idea of purchasing the 66 spaces would be to help mitigate parking during the building of a structure, he said.
Town officials had explored creating a parking facility on Elm Street for years. Those ideas aren’t dead, Petrone said, but the feeling is the town might be able to get more spots out of the New Street location. “We begin with New Street,” he said. “I’m not saying Elm will not be looked at.”
Petrone said the town’s been thinking up creative ways to finance a parking structure. Asked how the town would pay for such a facility, Petrone said it could be a private project, with the town providing the developer with a lease to the land, or it could be a public-private partnership. If a private entity were to come in, it would have to be worthwhile to them financially. To that end, he said “we’ve heard all sorts of ideas,” like building apartments or shops into the structure — properties that could be rented out. He said officials have also explored whether the cost of parking in the structure would suffice in terms of paying the debt service on the bond off.
The supervisor said he’s also weighed creating a parking district for the whole village area, with businesses paying into it, “because it’s the cost of doing business, it basically will provide better parking in the village.”
The chamber of commerce has “played an integral part in the push for increased parking options” in the town over the last three years, according to David Walsdorf, a chamber board member and member of the Huntington Village Parking Consortium.
“We view the parking challenge as a positive reflection of the growth and vitality of our flourishing businesses and we continue to support further improvement in our infrastructure to meet the needs and sustainability of our community,” he said in a statement.
Chamber chairman Bob Scheiner praised the news.
“The Huntington Chamber of Commerce is proud to be a part of this parking consortium and we fully support the supervisor and town board in this acquisition, which will go a long way to help the parking situation in downtown,” he said in a statement “The chamber looks forward to the release of the RFP and thanks the board for their efforts.”
With warmer weather comes an urge to leave the house, and we expect, as usual, there will be a lot more cars on the road, so now is a good time to remind our readers not to lose their cool behind the wheel.
Whether a driver made a mistake — as we all do from time to time — or not, it can be terrifying for that person when another motorist becomes enraged and takes it out on them. We’ve all experienced tailgating or obnoxious horn-honking, and some of us have been victims of more dire cases of road rage, like prolonged following and actual physical violence or threats. In the less confrontational incidents, frustrated and angry drivers often lash out because it’s easy to hide in the anonymous bubble of a car, when they would not have been so bold to display such anger in person. In the more extreme cases, the mad drivers may have had a screw or two loose to begin with and might have acted out no matter the location or circumstance.
We understand that daily stresses factor into this problem, and Long Island’s immense traffic congestion doesn’t help the frustration we might already be feeling while in the car. But consider this: The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety reports that aggressive driving is a factor in more than half of all traffic fatalities, according to 2009 data. In those cases, “motorists are concerned with the others’ aggressive driving while many are guilty themselves.”
Terrible accidents involving mangled cars happen all the time, but they don’t have to happen over things as petty as payback for being cut off or revenge on a slow-moving vehicle. We urge our readers to slow down when they’re seeing red behind the wheel and take some time to think about what the other person’s situation might be before lashing out. Give each other the benefit of the doubt because we are all humans who make mistakes. Let small road infractions go with a deep exhale. Rising tempers don’t give us license to rage on the road. And the consequences can be deadly.
What began as a family conversation is now an annual event that car enthusiasts across Long Island look forward to.
It was 10 years ago when John Forlenza and his wife Cindy had two children attending St. Patrick School. Their daughter Jessica was in second grade and their son John in preschool. As parents of Catholic school children, John and Cindy Forlenza said they knew well the need for fundraising. They struggled to come up with new fundraising ideas for the school, but it was their children who came up with an idea that was near and dear to their father’s heart — a car show.
John Forlenza said he was always an avid car enthusiast. His interest in cars began when he was younger when he attended car shows with his father and spent many nights as a teenager in the garage with a kerosene heater working on his car. He is also currently the proud owner of a 1957 Chevy Bel Air two-door sedan.
So with the school administration’s approval and the backing of St. Patrick’s pastor, Msgr. Ellsworth R. Walden, John Forlenza proceeded with the car show idea, starting the St. Patrick School Car Show from scratch.
Now, 10 years later, the St. Patrick School Car Show is a favorite among Long Island car enthusiasts.
This year’s Car Show is set for Sunday, April 26, with a rain date scheduled for May 3, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on the grounds of St. Patrick Church. It will include a huge variety of cars, trucks and motorcycles as well as a large section of movie replica cars and monster trucks.
Admission is $5 for adults, children free. Show car admission is $15 and motorcycles $5.
This year’s show will also feature the actual U.S. National Broadway Chitty Chitty Bang Bang touring car from the stage production of the “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” musical, the 9-11 Veterans Car, the Mach 5 Speed Racer, the Christine 1958 Plymouth Fury with the original screen used engine, interior and body parts, and the Suffolk Sheriff’s Department.
In keeping with its tradition of being a day of fun for the whole family, the show will also offer a rock climbing wall and a video game truck from Jump Around Entertainment for children and young people. A variety of vendors offer shopping opportunities for the shoppers in the family.
DJ Night Train will provide music, “blowing the dust of your most fondest memories,” the entertainer promised.
Raffles, giveaways and food will be available and, as the show takes place on the grounds of a church, a special blessing will be offered for all vehicles present.
St. Patrick Church is located at 280 East Main St. in Smithtown. For more information or if you would like to display your car or reserve vendor space, call John Forlenza at 631-588-2696.
There’s no better way to spend a week off from school than watching some of the best Disney movies around on the big screen.
The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts is hosting a Disney classic movie week that takes place during many districts’ spring breaks April 4 to 12. Each day, a different movie that caters to both boys and girls will be shown.
“The kids are off from school [and] we always try to do something for when kids are off from school,” owner Ken Washington said.
The movies include “Frozen” (sing along version) on April 4, “Wreck-It Ralph” on April 6, “Tangled” on April 7, “Cars” on April 8, “Sleeping Beauty” on April 9, “Brave” on April 10 and “Toy Story” on April 12.
“The biggest response so far has to be Disney’s ‘Frozen,’” Washington said.
Each movie starts at 1:30 p.m. and tickets are $5 each. Advance tickets are on sale now.
But it’s not just Disney the center is celebrating. On select dates through October, classic movies are being shown at the theater. Coming up in April is “A League of Their Own,” “Rebel Without a Cause,” “Cool Hand Luke,” “The Sting,” “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “As Good As It Gets.”
Since bringing the classic movies back to the theater in November 2014, the theater has experienced a very positive response, Washington said.
In June, the theater will be showing “E.T.” and “Jaws,” which Washington expects to be the biggest movies of the season.
Washington had a hand at picking all the classic movies that will play and he worked hard to find movies that everyone would like. “I kind of picked the whole roster,” Washington said. “I started at the top 100 films of all time.”
Another big weekend at the theater will be superhero weekend in May, where movie lovers can see “The Amazing Spiderman” 1 and 2, “Superman” 1 and 2, “Batman” and “Batman Begins” as well as “Ironman” 1 and 2. The theater will also host a Lord of the Ring trilogy, which is expected to be a 12-hour adventure.
Part of the reason the theater is taking part in the movie events is because the town is celebrating its 350th anniversary and Washington wanted the theater to be a part of that.
“I think it’s been enough of a response that we are looking to continue [the classic movie series] next year,” Washington said.
The Smithtown Center for the Performing Arts is located at 2 E. Main St., Smithtown. For more information on the theater’s classic movies, call 631-724-3700 or visit www.smithtownpac.org/show-schedule/movie-nights.
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