At a recent board meeting, Trustee Tom Lamberti proposed to impose a $100 parking fee for tenants whose premises abut both municipal parking Field 5 (behind the medical center at 520 Franklin Avenue) and Fair Court (behind the premises on the south side of Old Country Road).

Trustee Lamberti argued, "I deplore the unfairness of charging our residents $100 for a permit to park at stations to commute into New York and not charge the same amount for employees who use our parking fields at the present time for free who have reserved space."

The proposal, however, was defeated 7-1.

While Garden City Chamber of Commerce officers, directors and members appreciate Trustee Lamberti's attempt to tap resources for the village, they vehemently opposed the proposal, stating that the additional fee for tenants - who they believe are already overburdened by both high real estate taxes and rents - is grossly unfair.

"Why make it more difficult to park in areas where parking is already limited?" Althea Robinson, parking/traffic committee co-chair, read from a letter she and chamber president Roger Eltringham sent to Mayor Peter Bee and trustees.

According to the letter, the chamber of commerce was the catalyst in the creation of the first municipal parking fields in the late 1930s. The chamber and village celebrated the official openings of the fields with great "hoopla" back in 1937, the letter stated. "People came from as far as California to see how Garden City had pioneered this unique parking concept."

Over the last 70-plus years, chamber representatives said they have strived to work in concert with the village, and its Traffic Commission when and where necessary, to retain and expand Garden City's parking plan (as set forth in the 1969 Village Facts).

Garden City boasts more than 7,000 free parking spaces in municipal fields behind all business firms and public buildings in the village, plus an additional 3,423 free spaces in private fields within the central business district. Quite frankly, the chamber does not - nor will they ever, representatives said, envision a single parking meter in the village.