February 16,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, after years of subtle move it looks like developers will get there “Transit Hub” in Ridgewood once and for all.Since 2012 the Ridgewood blog was featuring stories on the urban transit hub idea and now with the County Garage on Hudson Street plans can move forward with high density housing and a further transformation of Ridgewood into a small city and commuter access point to New York City. The idea seems to have been in play since the Ridgewood Train Station ,$40 million dollar remodeling job and NJT looked to build a parking garage in Ridgewood .
Residential developers aim for piece of proposed $1B Urban Transit Hub expansion
Readers ask Why did Senator Menendez Pick the Ridgewood Train Station to to Launch a Mass Transit Policy Initiative?
Yep – – this is such a complete sell out of Ridgewood by Aronsohn, Hauck and Puccerelli. It is really sickening to think of how they have destroyed the Village. All the more important to get people out to sign the petition floating around.
Without a one seat ride into Manhattan, it’s not gonna happen.
What “Village”? If you think this madhouse is a village you got your head some keester. And what make you think Ridgewood IS NOT a transit hub?
It has been for quite some time (bus station?) you people are dinosaurs…soon to be extinct.
The fact is Ridgewood was designated by NJT as a major transit hub several years ago and to a large extent that is why so many residents who work on Wall St have chosen to live here. Ridgewood has the reputation as the town that “has it all” great schools, charming neighborhoods, a lively downtown……and an easy commute to the city. When one gets past all the current rhetoric the three amigos are simply executing a plan and a vision for Ridgewood that was put in place long before they arrived on the scene.
Perhaps to become extinct by an out of control transportation expansion –
In a corner of the villages small and antique street grid , while destroying the very street where an historic church and community lives walks and dines.
No thanks ..stop the oversized COUNTY garagescam
12:52 – I guess the Council majority and their couple of apologists are getting desperate. “The town is already destroyed so why do you care if we destroy it more?” The only people that have come out in favor of this disaster so far are the Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Mrs Hauck, the developers and their families. So which are you?
Seriously, outside of the stakeholders, show me one person that supports this project and I’ll show you someone that either doesn’t understand the facts or someone that stands to gain personally from a huge parking deck getting built next to a church.
1:38
Your problem is that you live inside your NIMBY bubble with the anti-Valley, no mix use for Schedler, no lights at the High school, no development crowd. Your property value is a direct reflection of the ease of commuting to New York City. Yes the schools are good but, there are good schools in many other towns. The Village is destroyed? C’mon chicken little.
Red, you have it backward. There are many towns along the train line closer to NYC. People choose Ridgewood for the schools and other small town qualities that are slowly disappearing.
2:08pm.. lets talk facts. Do you mean commuter garage for the county or commuter garage for ridgewood? also why are your dear representatives lying? why are gwen and paul spreading the word that ‘we are getting county help’? There is no “help” coming from them. County is making money in this transaction and gwen, albert, paul and roberta are making it a COUNTY commuter garage. Those are the facts.
1.38. Yes a thing is destroyed once that thing or town has been overdeveloped and implants oversized non conforming structures into the Streetscape …which is also a key judgement by our planning board that they take into consideration with every home expansion application.,,..our current town..altho imperfect ,is just fine…and once it’s ruined ..it can never be put back into place again.. a way of life is one of those Ireversible things…not that this is cared about by the County Agents in our midst..
Red – You and the other Ridgewood commuters will find yourselves stuck in traffic every day on a one way street competing with people from other towns for over priced parking. You are right about Valley though in that you’re advocating that Ridgewood pay the price for “the greater good” as one of our Council majority likes to say. You seem to be stuck in the “don’t know all the facts” bucket – do some homework.
Ridgewood has multiple express trains during morning and evening rush hours as well as 2 lines. After 40 million spent on station renovations, seems to make sense. It could be worse, as in closer to single home residential areas. The other eventuality unfortunately will be the need for security there or it’ll be a better place for dealing weed than the back of Starbucks…
Paul..you can count on the drug dealing..it will be more than weed as those large mass transit facilities offer the perfect place to many of the issues we have worked hard to avoid in our village..I see more panhandlers already in our town ; and that transportation District including the Bus terminal on the same street down from the planned garage makes it a perfect zone for increased crime and loitering..Police can’t consistently
deal with vagrancy loitering and drug dealing.once unsafe won’t be turned around easily..Look at the next parking garage you see..its a muggers and dealers dream..
Speaking of mis-use of Village assets, is our erstwhile Council incumbent still using the Village Hall as campaign headquarters?
We are compeating with Hackensack
https://www.northjersey.com/news/hackensack-named-an-official-transit-village-by-n-j-transportation-department-1.1513275
From today’s Record. Sound familiar?
“That vision is focused on the downtown bus terminal on River Street. The city has rewritten its zoning laws to allow taller, mixed-use commercial and residential buildings to be constructed within a half-mile of the terminal, Canestrino said, including much of Main Street. Developers have proposed or started construction on eight different projects within that zone, which city leaders hope will transform Hackensack’s long-suffering downtown into a hub for professionals commuting into New York City.”
Where do these pro BCIA / pro Paul people disappear when you ask them any factual questions?
From
https://www.state.nj.us/transportation/community/village/faq.shtm
Transit Village Initiative Overview
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is a designated Transit Village?
A. A designated Transit Village is a municipality that has been recommended for designation by the interagency Transit Village Task Force. These municipalities have demonstrated a commitment to revitalizing and redeveloping the area around their transit facilities into compact, mixed-use neighborhoods with a strong residential component.
A municipality can be designated a Transit Village only after much of the planning and background work has already been done on the municipal level. It may only be designated a Transit Village after the Transit Village Criteria have been met.
Q. How many designated Transit Villages are there?
A. There are currently 30 designated Transit Villages. They are Pleasantville (1999), Morristown (1999), Rutherford (1999), South Amboy (1999), South Orange (1999), Riverside (2001), Rahway (2002), Metuchen (2003), Belmar (2003), Bloomfield (2003), Bound Brook (2003), Collingswood (2003), Cranford (2003), Matawan (2003), New Brunswick (2005), Journal Square/Jersey City (2005), Netcong (2005), Elizabeth/Midtown (2007), Burlington City (2007), City of Orange Township (2009), Montclair (2010), Somerville (2010), Linden (2010), West Windsor (2012), East Orange (2012), Dunellen (2012), Summit (2013), Plainfield (2014), Borough of Park Ridge (2015) and Irvington Township (2015).
7:10, have you ever commuted to NYC one day in your life? There is a huge silent majority that spends 2+ hours a day commuting to work. They neither have the time, nor the energy to respond to your confusion over Ridgewood’s transit hub status. Try taking the bus at 6am to the Port Authority, or the train to Secaucus or Jersey City. Spend the day working in NYC and then commute home at 6pm. Repeat five days a week for 20 years. Who do you think forms the bulk of Ridgewood’s property tax base?
8:30 – really? You work? We thought our deputy mayor was the only one who works.