By ROD HIRSCH

It’s the kind of store where regular customers soon become family. They stop in and swap stories, catch up on the latest, browse through the clothes racks and more often than not, sit down and spend more than a few minutes with Lorraine Sarra, longtime owner of Beneath It All at 72 W. Main St.

The coffee pot is always on, and there are a couple of comfortable upholstered chairs in front of the counter.

When some of the regulars found out around Christmas that Lorriane had finally decided to close the women’s clothing store to spend more time with her extended family, they cried.

“I started telling my customers right after Christmas; some of them burst out in tears,” said the self-described mother hen. “A lot of these people go back 30 years with me.

“These are women whose kids went to school with mine, some I went to college with, there’s PTA mothers, we have a history,” she explained. “I plan to stay in touch, go to dinner, for coffee, the movies, I’ll  have more time for that.”

However, despite the friendships and her affinity for Somerville, it was time.
Lorraine said her brother has been after her for years to close the store and retire; she’s resisted, but the lingering economic slump made the decision easier.

“The economy is so bad, it’s just a good time for me to do this,” she explained.

Beneath It All is holding a Retirement Sale, with 50 to 70 percent off all merchandise. She expects the sale will extend through May after which she plans an extended vacation in Tuscany.

“But first, I’ll probably sleep for a week,” she joked.

A top priority is to work with her brother to find a suitable vacation compound for the extended family, which she numbers around 300 aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.

Sarra has been a member of the Somerville Business & Professional Association for over 30 years and has served as its secretary and treasurer; her husband Bill Sarra, who died in 2007, was executive director and guiding force of the organization for many years.

Though she will close the business, Sarra intends to remain active with the SBPA.

Parking fines will increase 25 percent in Somerville

The last thing Somerville needs is an increase in parking fines for those who fail to feed the meter, according to the president of the Somerville Business & Professional Association.

However, despite the SBPA’s protests, the borough has approved a 25 percent increase from $18 to $24.

“Meters and summons do not promote business in downtown Somerville,” said Paul Sanford, SBPA president. “In fact, it deters people from shopping in town.”

Street side meters and the newly-installed parking lot pay stations are the antithesis of encouraging shoppers to come downtown; increasing the fine for overtime parking exacerbates the situation, according to Sanford.

“The economy is so terrible,” Sanford said several months ago when the borough’s Parking and Traffic Committee first proposed the increase. “There are shop owners here who have tapped out their $100,000 line of credit just to keep going, trying to survive until the economy turns around, just to get that money back. I don’t think borough hall understands just how bad it is; we’re sitting here tapping out our life savings and now they want to scare away the few customers we have. Why not wait until things turn around, raise it then.”

According to Kevin Sluka, borough clerk and administrator, the 25 percent increase will translate to an additional $28,000 for the borough annually. Somerville issues about 4,800 parking tickets each year, but because of mandated state fees imposed on local municipalities, has to send half of the money collected from parking fines to Trenton.  Before the increase, Somerville’s parking fines were the least expensive of any town in New Jersey of comparable size, according to Sluka.

“It’s unfortunate the state has tacked on all these fees; we have no control over that,” Sluka said. “It’s been going on for years. It just seems like every year the state legislature comes up with another one.”

Sluka said the borough sends $12 from each $18 fine collected to Trenton to fund autism research, the police body armor replacement fund, spinal cord research, the brain injury fund and the state police Forensics Lab fund.

“The fines are less expensive than most towns and are in line with summons in the rest of the state,” Sanford conceded, suggesting Somerville create a separate utility to manage parking.
“Trying to support the town’s budget with summons is poor planning on the town’s part,” Sanford said,  

Sanford contends a self-supporting parking utility could generate revenue and issue bonds to eventually build a parking deck instead of the parking fee revenue being deposited into the borough’s general revenue fund.

“What’s done is done, we can’t fight it anymore, they’re going to raise the amount of the fine and that’s it,” Sanford said.

The borough council unanimously passed the first reading of the ordinance Monday night. A second reading and public hearing of the proposed ordinance is needed before the ordinance becomes law. If approved, as expected, the parking fine increase will be effective in July.