Category: village of ridgewood

December 8,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ten points to ponder from the Village Council Work Session of December 7

1. The Pomander Walk war continues, with people from all sides arguing loudly about why parking should or should not be permitted on this PUBLIC STREET. The Sherman Place residents are totally disgusted that all the cars are now on their street. The Pomander Walk people are as happy as can be with their private street.  For now Pomander remains no parking, but a study is commencing that will assess the entire neighborhood in terms of parking, safety, traffic flow, etc.

2. Everyone should order pizza from Santonis Pizzeria and Restaurant at 88 Godwin Avenue. This guy has really gotten the shaft from the NIMBY’s in his neighborhood; his business has been unjustly and unfairly affected by the privatization of precious Pomander Walk. His food is delicious, and he is a really nice guy who is just trying to run his business.   Call 201-389-6810  Show him that the rest of Ridgewood is filled with nice people who appreciate good food and hard-working shop owners. https://www.santonispizza.com/menus/ridgewood-menu/

3. FORMER (with emphasis on the former) Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck showed up to speak about seniors and to refresh everyone’s memories that she is the savior of all elderly residents. And she indicated that seniors cannot really manage using UBER, you know, because they are old and addled.

4. A grant is being applied for to finally get the N. Walnut St. lot remediated.  Kudos to this council for getting this going.Wonder if a parking deck could go there?5. Councilman Voigt presented a detailed spreadsheet itemizing the restaurants, numbers of employees, numbers of seats in the restaurants, and more.  He entitled it Councilman Voigt’s Parking Analysis…..just to make sure that everyone knows that he did this.  Listening to him one might have the impression that several hundred cars are prowling the streets of Ridgewood on Saturday nights looking for a parking space, which we all know is far from reality.  The mayor indicated that more than a year ago a request was made of the Chamber of Commerce to provide the information presented in Councilman  Voigt’s document.  The Chamber would not, or at least did not, provide this information; what was with the Chamber’s lack of cooperation?  Paul Vaggianos???

6. Deputy Mayor Sedon talked about smaller parking garage options for Hudson.   A long-ago, quickly discarded plan that actually fit on the Hudson Street lot was dug out of the archives, and is now being revisited.Father Ron of Mt. Carmel was contacted and his position reportedly remains the same (not too big, not too intrusive, not messing up the traffic flow, not removing street parking by the church).  Question:  if they are remediating North Walnut, why not put a garage there?

7. Councilman Hache talked of all the parking improvements that are being made. The Central Valet plan is moving forward, which will enable people to leave their cars and go shopping, dining, whatever they wish. Drivers will not be restricted to just going to a certain restaurant, but will have the freedom to go anywhere in town.  There are plenty of spaces where the valet cars will be parked….including Cottage Place…..because, you know, there ARE plenty of parking spaces in Ridgewood if you are willing to walk a block or two.  Councilman Hache also indicated that signs now direct people to lots, a huge and simple improvement.  Enforcement is being stepped up to keep employees of the shops from parking on the streets.  Lower-priced parking will be available at the Cottage and Walnut lots, with blocks of spots designated just for employees.  The UBER-at-the-train plan is still underway, but it promises to be a congestion problem since no area has been assigned for all the anticipated cars.

8. Mayor Knudsen suggested that the missions and bylaws of boards and committees be reviewed.  Some have cumbersome bylaws.  Some have none.  Some overstep beyond the original intent.  Some, most notably the Financial Advisory Committee, border on performing management functions.  While the volunteer efforts of committee and board members is greatly appreciated and was duly acknowledged, the fact remains that these hard-working individuals need guidelines under which to function. This resulted in an angry, nasty, vituperative outburst from Councilman Voigt, who made wild accusations about Mayor Knudsen.   One could close one’s eyes and think, for a horrifying moment, that the angry quartet of Aronsohn-Pucciarelli-Hauck-Sonenfeld had returned to the dais.  Really, Mr. Voigt, cool your jets.  You were obnoxious and completely inappropriate and you came off as a total jerk.  In particular, Mr. Voigt was desperately defending the Financial Advisory Committee, just going on and on about it.  Paraphrasing Shakespeare…….methinks thou dost protest too much.  Who is pulling your strings to protect the FAC with such venom??? (and the Jeopardy answer to that question is……).  The other four elected officials (you know, the four that are level headed and do not have people behind the scenes telling them what to do) agreed that Mayor Knudsen’s suggestion is valid and that the review of committee and board bylaws will be worthwhile…..all while Councilman Voigt continued to spew his objections.  A template for committee bylaws will be developed, thus providing a framework for each group.

9. The Ridge School Traffic Study was presented.  Could the subject of sidewalks on Clinton Avenue be reading its head once again?

10. No word from Mr. Halaby, guessing he was not there or surely he would have pontificated. Former candidate and current FAC member Evan Weitz was clearly visible on camera…..maybe he is planning to run again in 2018?