JULY 31, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Who will benefit from high-density housing plans?
To the Editor:
My family moved to Ridgewood in the early 1950s, living first on Lincoln Avenue then buying our family home in 1957. I was born here and went through the public schools, for which my father worked most of his adult life. So if anyone has seen “change” in this town, I have.
Some change has been for the better; for instance, the ethnic and racial mix is a bit more diverse. Some has not. While superficially we are more varied, with a wider range of skin tones and ancestry than in my youth, Ridgewood is increasingly homogenized economically. Growing up, I knew families from all socioeconomic levels. Now, blue-collar and other regular working folks — people who made things — are crowded out, and only investment bankers, hedge fund managers, and others who “make” only money dominate. With that comes a certain mindset, one which, to borrow Oscar Wilde’s quip, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. Of that group, some may have come for good schools or even because they like it here. Others may have moved here for the cachet of a “golden zip code” or snob appeal, or as a rung on the ladder toward someplace more exclusive, say Alpine or Short Hills, or with the hope of making some money in a town where housing values have held steady even in downturns, due to the precise thing that high-density housing would destroy, namely, Ridgewood’s small-town ambiance.
It’s no mystery why the advocates of high-density housing would want it: this being Ridgewood, it will be high-priced, and there will be lots of money to be made in the short run. Unfortunately, when Ridgewood loses the character that made it desirable in the first place and becomes just Fort Lee with a longer commute, values will drop; but by that time, they will have pocketed their profits and have no reason to care.
To discuss in detail all the reasons high-density housing is wrong for Ridgewood would expand this letter to un-publishable length. I will simply end by quoting two Latin maxims: “cui bono?” (Who benefits?) and “res ipsa loquitur” (the thing speaks for itself).
A.C. Willment
Ridgewood
Thank You Mr. Willment
Bravo well stated!!
Who will benefit? Hint….hint…..starts with BIg Al and it ends with Developer’s Pal.
We live in the Hawes district but on the other side of Rt 17N. The school is so crowded that our new neighbors have been told that their Kindergarden daughter cannot go to Hawes but will be bussed to yet another school. If Ridgewood is so overcrowded WITHOUT those apartments, what will happen when they come in? And the school children inventory was not done in any of the garden apartments in town, just the one high rise on Maple. We all know the reason for that! Taking a population count in the garden apartments would prove that the builder’s have no idea how many children would live in the new apartments, as a good number live in the garden apartments. I really don’t understand why our Planning Board, and now our Council, have not bothered to make our town Planner do something other than” the devil is in the details.”
On need only look at the RHS telephone book to see how many children attending RHS live in rental units. It seems like almost all of the rental units in Ridgewood, be they apartments, homes, etc, are occupied by families with school aged children, not empty nesters or young professionals. I’m not sure what protocols the developers used for their survey but I am suspect of the findings.