10/03/07 - Desperately seeking parking

BY SYLVIA E. KING-COHEN
October 3, 2007

You many not be able to dress like a desperate housewife. You may not live in a big house on Wisteria Lane. But, you can at least park like one.
In select parking lots on Long Island for the next few weeks, approximately 250 stripes (per lot) separating parking spaces have been given over to the hit ABC show. Drivers, if they dare, can park their cars beside the words "Parking for Desperate Housewives." The show had its season opener Sunday, when gossip flew about Edie, Lynette underwent chemotherapy and a new family moved into the neighborhood.

The stripes (decals rolled out over the existing parking lines) are the work of Painting Stripes Inc., based in Denver, but the idea comes from Alloy Media and Marketing out of Manhattan. It's a three-layer process that involves the message, a laminate and a non-slip conponent. And, at the end of the 30-day run, which began nationally in mid-September, it is removed and none is the worse for wear.
Becky Osborne, president of Painting Stripes, said the average cost for a single stripe is $40. In addition to King Kullen Plaza in Commack, the stripes can be seen at locations including the Waldbaum's in Merrick Common, Merrick; King Kullen, Gardiner Manor, Bay Shore; Waldbaum's, Greenridge Plaza, Staten Island; Fairway, Manetto Hill Plaza, Plainview and King Kullen, Manhasset Center, Manhasset.
"We put them on the driver side so that when you open the car door ... everyone looks down before they step down to avoid stepping in anything.
"They're engaging," Osborne said. "They catch people off guard."

BY SYLVIA E. KING-COHEN
sylvia.king-cohen@newsday.com

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