fle photo by Boyd Loving
East Side residents ask for equality
OCTOBER 22, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
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No ‘equality’ for residents living on village’s East Side
To the Editor:
At an Oct. 7 Ridgewood Council meeting, former resident Mr. Giordano made what I thought was the most important point. He stated that the sports groups met often with neighbors to assure them about a project on Maple East. They also met with neighbors about other projects. We know that the village met with neighbors of Habernickel.
What is the difference between these and the East Side residents regarding the future development of the Schedler property? Since 2008, I believe there have not been sufficient sit-down meetings between East Side neighbors and the village.
The East Side was presented with a 1997 schematic in 2008. From that date forward, all the residents saw were renderings by the village/Parks and Recreation/Fields/sports groups. Nobody met the east side residents and asked for input and suggestions specifically about the schematics.
To say that the three open public forums in 2012 were sufficient is incorrect. I have minutes from those meetings — the neighbors did complain about proposed traffic, loss of trees, size of fields. That is the last time they had anything to do with the three plans since then. But were they shown a plan that is shown today?
One day they saw a concession stand when a recent schematic was presented (presented, to the public, without any consideration or input by the neighbors), one day they saw a turnaround, one day they saw 24 extra parking spaces, on and on. At the Oct. 7 meeting, they saw that the turnaround was gone, a left turn lane put in its place.
Is this any way to treat a neighborhood, when other projects spent time with neighbors?
To equate Schedler with Habernickel, as is done with pride by the village, is not a fair equation.
To equate Schedler with other fields abutting highways is also not a fair comparison, as the neighborhoods are different.
And to talk about very small amounts of traffic misses an important point: What is going to happen to the “light” traffic when 70 or more cars are coming to a game and will arrive at the same time?
The Engineering Department draws plans satisfying sports’ groups needs, but they do not draw plans satisfying the residents of the East Side. Where is the equality?
Eleanor Gruber
Ridgewood
