
“Just imagine spending $30.99 per person at Mike’s ice cream? There are very few restaurants on the list that would be able to say that $30.99 without tax and tip would be a bargain. Add in several dollars for parking and no one will come. It was fair years ago when it was $20.00 and up and real dining places were included. Now it is a real joke! The old quote “Build a better mousetrap and they will come” fits here. The thought frequently expressed recently by The Chamber of Commerce–that Apple, Trader Joe’s etc. may happily come to Ridgewood now that we have a costly parking garage for their customers is really a pipe dream. Number one, where would they build “near the garage” and two, what incentive is a garage, or a street, with high parking costs for anyone’s potential customers? Someone, not naming name, has a serious problem if he thinks the garage is “The perfect solution to all of Ridgewood’s parking problems.” I think that instead of a “solution” the high costs of parking will actually drive customers and businesses away. Now we still have new stores leaving in a year or less and that trend will only be intensified by the higher cost in parking when all the near by towns have all we have to offer at no addition costs like parking!”