Village Considers Extending Future Taxi Contracts Terms

Written by Chris Boyle

Massapequa Park is entertaining the possibility of lengthening the Village’s standard one-year taxi service contract when the current one is up, Mayor Jeffrey Pravato said at this week’s Board of Trustees meeting.

The Board will be holding a public hearing on Monday, August 26 at 8 p.m. to amend the section of the Village Code to extend the taxi service contracts to three years when it is next bid in September. This, Pravato, said, would add an extra enticement to companies vying for Massapequa Park’s business.

“We had changed the contract a couple of years ago from four years down to one...we’re going to bring it back to three,” he said. “For a company to invest their time and effort into the village, to give them a longer period of time on the contract is fair. For a one year contract, some people might not want to invest if they have a chance of losing the bid in just a year, but when you know you’re going to be here for three years, you know you can invest the time and effort and get a return on it.”

The current taxi company currently serving Massapequa Park is Long Island Checker Cab. 

The Board of Trustees also granted several Cabaret Licenses for live music to three Park Boulevard bars and restaurants at the meeting; two of the establishments, The Irish Cottage and Maggie’s On Park, were awarded their licenses outright."

However, the license of another business, Woody’s Village Saloon, was temporally withheld pending the first payment of a fine levied for several violations, Pravato said. 

“We’ve set up a payment program with his fines,” he said. “As long as he makes his first payment, starting August 16th or before, he’ll get his Cabaret License.”

Pravato said that the violations committed by Woody’s Village Saloon involved a number of summonses for parking and a summons for property maintenance.

“He had a number of unregistered cars parked in Village Employee parking spaces in the municipal parking lot behind his bar,” he said. “However, everything’s been cleared up now.” 

The Board also announced that an agreement had been signed with Dr. Mark Safford, who will be training Village employees on Automated External Defibrillator (AED) use, Pravato said.

"We bring in an outside doctor to train our staff on AEDs that we have for use during baseball and soccer games, so that they know how to properly use them,” he said.