“I am contemplating retirement in a few years.
I am not rich, but I saved a few bucks and have no mortgage .
I actually like it here and lived in NJ all my life.
For those of us who do not have children in public schools (and never did) the biggest expense is the schools portion of the real estate tax.
If you want to keep us here to subsidize your kids, you better figure out a way to limit our tax increase.
If we leave, you can be certain our home will be purchased by a young family with children requiring an education
In the old days, many long time Ridgewood families stayed here for generations (and thanks to them it’s a nice town – before the vinyl siding and and lawn sign crowd moved here from NYC)
There has always been a “turnover ” of residents but taxes will chase us out faster, and your taxes will go up exponentially .
Residents with no kids in school get NOTHING in return while SUBSIDIZING those who do. “
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
Ridgewood would be much better off without your kind. We would be much better off with more families paying their property taxes with children who actually care.
Your Kind ? Doth Hateth thy former morgaged but still a taxpaying neighbor ..jealous perhaps ..he ran the race with the banks and won..he payed his debt..deserves kudos…
sacrificed vacations etc to pay his bills and secure a future..
My kind? That subsidizes you arrogant liberal NYC wannabes with your big mortgage ?
This used to be a nice respectful town without abrasive ny people who move here and try to Change everything .
If you can’t afford your own nanny, don’t ask me to pay for your all day kindergarten .
A perfect example of the arrogant helicopter parents from NYC can be seen every day when they ignore the parking rules and block traffic at the elementary school.
We don’t care what you used to do in Brooklyn.
Take your NY piss poor attitude back to NYC.
When Ridgewood was a reliably republican town people were much nicer.
When it started to lean Democrat is when the quality of respectful residents began its decline.
The village of Ridgewood has become so overrated. There are so many great other towns right around us open up your eyes and look. Yes the village offers a lot of shopping big deal, like I said big damn deal you can keep it.
From what I see the population hasn’t been declining. Times change. Ridgewood is still attractive to many people. Supply and demand for housing still seems pretty much business as usual.
The Village offers a lot of shopping? Where? I don’t think your choice of restaurants, banks, and nail salons quite equals that statement. Yes, we do have speciality stores that can let you pay almost $100 for an outfit for a 3 month old and mega mega bucks for jeans, but not everyone has the income, or the wish to waste money on such products. Lucky Jeans are discounted at the Bergen Outlets.
“When Ridgewood was a reliably republican town people were much nicer.
When it started to lean Democrat is when the quality of respectful residents began its decline.”
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This is very true, but so few want to face up to these facts…
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My relatives came to visit for Easter weekend from the Midwest.
They haven’t been here in 10 years.
They have always admired how we were a bit nicer than some of the surrounding towns (such as midland park and waldwick) with respect to not having rubbish barrels at the curb, commercial vehicles parked at residences, well manicured lawns etc.
They were horrified by the stupid lawn signs about “music lives here ”
I told them that unfortunately the newbies bring their bad habits. I told them generally the same homes had their “Josh” signs littering the properties since June almost 6 months before the election,
They recalled years ago when the for sale signs by realtors were prohibited
Very true. In my neighborhood, the majority of the homes are empty nesters, or owners who never had children in the public schools. Once these owners sell their home, you can be sure that their homes will be purchased by families with school age children. And that will be an additional burden to the school budget. The property taxes are just increasing too much to keep all these long time homeowners here (20-60 years).
Let’s face it, empty nesters won’t be moving to Ridgewood, but they’ll be moving out. The village would need to accommodate more kids either way. It’s therefore reasonable that property taxes would keep creeping up. The best residents can do is closely monitor and influence village spending… and welcome newcomers by sharing best practices that made this place a desirable upper middle class destination in the first place. A passive aggressive approach doesn’t help anyone. And btw, many of NYC newcomers are conservatives, escaping liberal paradise of urban sprawl! You’ll be surprised – you may make some good friends with newcomers!
This town and the schools are WAY overrated