file photos courtesy of Boyd A. Loving
the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, Village Council members will reportedly discuss the longstanding pedestrian safety issues on Clinton Avenue during their scheduled February 7th Work Session. The safety issues are related to school children walking in the street on their way to and from the nearby Ridge Elementary School. Currently, there are no public sidewalks on Clinton Avenue.
Councilwoman Lorraine Reynolds, Council liaison to the Citizen’s Safety Advisory Committee, reported publicly on January 31st that both the Village’s Engineering and Police Departments have recommended the installation of sidewalks on one side of Clinton Avenue.
In 2014, Village Council members sided with Clinton Avenue residents and rejected the Engineering Department’s plan to install sidewalks there (on one side of the street only). The street continued to remain closed to through traffic all day long following the Council’s decision. However, the switch to full day kindergarten in 2017 resulted in the street being closed to through traffic only during limited morning and afternoon times as opposed to all day long.
Recently, several residents have come forward publicly and complained that Ridgewood’s current Clinton Avenue limited street closure ordinance violates a ruling by the NJ State Attorney General’s (AG’s) Office. The AG’s ruling, issued in response to traffic limiting ordinances in Leonia and Weehawken, forbids local communities from limiting through traffic to local residents at certain times of the day.
Fun fact: Clinton Avenue resident Robert Fuhrman, one of the most vocal opponents to the sidewalk installation plan, served as Treasurer of Councilwoman Siobhan Winograd’s 2022 election campaign. Along with Ms. Winograd, Mr. Fuhrman was also one of the five petitioners of record for the successful 2020 “One Village one Vote” initiative.
The staff of The Ridgewood Blog is anxious to see if the current Village Council sides with a politically connected Clinton Avenue resident or makes the right decision and follows the recommendation of its professional staff members.
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So, the Village isn’t satisfied with having just NJDEP up their butt, now they are going to piss off the AG’s Office? WTF!
Clinton Ave – Residences of the prima-donnas.
Winograd and company have no interest in approving and funding safety related initiatives. Just ask the people who live on West Glen Ave or Kingsbridge Ln.
And West Saddle River Rd. Residents have been warning how dangerous it is when over trafficked and several kids were hit by cars but they don’t care.
The residents want a private street so the current status quo suits them.
Its time to put sidewalks there. Both sides of the street. Same for South Murray
S. Murray is too narrow for sidewalks on even one side.
What happened to “DO IT FOR THE KIDS” ?
Or is that just BS (aka: Do as I say, but not in my neighborhood)
Sidewalks are a no-brainer, it is a walking route to Ridge School for the kids who live across Lincoln Ave. What the residents of that street are really concerned about are people parking in front of their houses when school is in session. This can easily be remedied by signs stating parking regulations such as 1 hr parking, 2 hr parking, etc preventing people from doing the full day parking in front of their houses. Furthermore, even with the current ‘closing’ of the street during walking times, there are still Fed Ex, Amazon, maintenance vans using the street to get to the houses on that block. It is not really closed during those times. Let’s prioritize the kid’s safety. Let the residents of Clinton St. fight it out over which side of the block will get the sidewalks. This is long overdue.
You are all missing the point. It’s not about sidewalks, it’s about parking for Ridge school disguised as a sidewalk issue.
Make it metered parking and we have a deal.
You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Kids safety WILL be compromised with a sidewalk and Ridge parent parking on the street. Do you think kids stay on the sidewalk and don’t dart into the street between parked cars. Almost every resident of Clinton has had children attend Ridge and are acutely aware that the simplistic solution of sidewalks does not work.
Gotta say, “putting in sidewalks will endanger pedestrians” is not a take I was expecting to see.
This discussion has been an endless source of entertainment.
The true colors of some residents are showing…
So you think kids will be darting between cars just on Clinton Ave but not in the Central biz district? The only people I see darting between cars on the daily are those carrying coffee and bagels on Broad St. rushing back to their cars not even bothering to look both ways. Or, those grabbing coffee at Starbucks on E Ridgewood doing the same. I think the kids will stay on the sidewalks on Clinton.
Sidewalks here are completely unnecessary and a lack of them doesn’t make Clinton a private street. What it does, however, is make the properties more accessible to the kinds of people we’d rather not have walking around our homes. Same is true for the rest of the village yet you’ll all complain about this place becoming more and more of a city. Well?
We are not a rural town. We should encourage everyone to walk rather than drive. Sidewalks are the responsible way to walk, safety for both pedestrians and drivers.
Who is this “we?” Go take a hike. Harriman is 20 min away.
No sidewalk on Clinton won’t undermine your supposed walk-ability of this town.
“. . . the kinds of people we’d rather not have walking around our homes?” WTF!
And exactly what “kinds of people” are you referring to?
Bigotry is alive and well on Clinton Ave.
kinds of people ” =assholes like you
here fixed that fer ya:
kinds of people ” =assholes like those who live on Clinton
The “kinds of people” involved in the increasing number of home invasions in Bergen County and right here in your own precious little Potemkin village, in case you haven’t noticed.
But perhaps you believe painting “I’m not a bigot” on your front door in lamb’s blood will spare you?
The absence of sidewalks will not deter criminals. Home invasions are not random. They are targeted at individuals who are known to have loads of cash or easily sold valuables in their homes. There is no correlation between the existence of sidewalks and higher crime rates.
Did you spend all morning in the school library researching that?
Good thing Ridgewood is just above the poverty line. Be a shame if someone walked off with one of your chickens.
“the kind of people we dont want walking around our homes.” Yes, not having a sidewalk will definitely stop trespassers….NOT!!! And just what kind of people are we talking about here? Walkers? Joggers? Moms pushing strollers?
Up the threat level!!! OMG Karen.
“We want the public roadway, which everyone’s taxes pay for upkeep of, to be treated as our own private property.”
Got it.
Years ago the council insisted on sidewalks on one side of a dead end street. The street was 5 houses long.
Hawthorne place right off of S. Irving? Yes, that was ridiculous. But I think apples to oranges comparison with Clinton which is a well travelled through street that children and their parents travel when walking to school.
Point was that if they required sidewalks on a dead-end street they could require a sidewalk on a busy street.
Glad its not my neighborhood. Sounds like a bunch of clowns that peaked in high school preaching rules for thee but not for me.
Even with sidewalks on both sides many kids walk in the street. I see it every school day around the high school.
Put in a sidewalk. South Murray needs one too. Also Monroe and Morningside up by Park Wood
I have a sidewalk on my street and most people avoid it. Those who walk on the sidewalk are dog owners who have multiplied in the last couple of years. They are new residents and unfriendly and sometime I find dog poop on the sidewalk or my lawn. I even see cigarette butts here and there. As this town becomes more urban there will be more people like this and I wish I had no sidewalk at all.
I guess this all explains why the World Peripatetics Society was founded in Ridgewood in 335BC. Funny. I sincerely doubt the people screeching about no sidewalks on a relatively small stretch of road could ever be bothered to walk twenty feet out of their own front doors on any given day.
Actually I cut down that street daily, not for the school. I wish that they had sidewalks for the pedestrians. I like my shortcut, everyone has favorite shortcuts in town. The streets are public. .
I go out of my way to drive down that street when I am in the area since it annoys the residents so much.
But do you ever feel in danger because there’s no sidewalk? Because I walk through a lot of the side streets that have no sidewalks, even at night, and I have never been in danger of being hit, unlike sometimes walking through paved town in broad daylight. With stop signs even. I think if the village is actually concerned about public safety it has way bigger fish to fry.
OK lovely neighbors I think everyone might be going a little astray here.
First, if you don’t live on Clinton, why do you have an opinion and why do you think your opinion matters?
Second, the council is meeting to discuss safety issues. Not whether you think it would be nice if there was a sidewalk where you never visit, or if sidewalks are like red carpets for hoodlums, and so on. Are kids actually getting plowed over here or not? Who is actually reporting the safety concerns or is the Village engineering department just bored and need to justify their existence?
Admittedly, I don’t live on Clinton Ave, but my opinion does matter as I have children who attend Ridge School.
So then you’re aware that the avenue is already closed to thru-traffic during pre- and post-school commuting hours, and most importantly, a crossing guard is stationed on Godwin.
It is not really closed. Work vans, fed ex, amazon etc still go up and down the street when it is ‘closed’. It has always been this way, at least for the 15+ years I have lived in the neighborhood. The residents don’t want anyone parking in front of their houses for business at Ridge School. I get it, I also live near Ridge and have cars parked on my street during pick up and drop off times and when there are bigger events taking place. The good news is, the cars are there briefly, then they leave. They are parents and residents of the town that will bring no harm to your property. You can’t possibly tell me that you bought a house near a school and don’t want to have any impact on your life from said school.
Sidewalks always lead to violent home invasions. Known fact.
No kids plowed over yet, thank goodness. But where does it say that someone has to get run over in order for the street to qualify for sidewalks?
Is this a trick question? Because it says it right here, next to line that says there should be sidewalks on Clinton because some rando thinks it would be nice.
Police Chief is a “rando?”
Are you the police chief? And this isn’t exactly a police matter is it? Can you identify the crime and the victim?
We’re talking about sidewalks. Everyone has them, every town has them. Clinton Ave isn’t special — aside from being directly across from an elementary school, which one would think sidewalks would be non-debatable.
What did the smartest man in three states say we should do about this. our great engineering.
Safety is important (if debatable), but not the only issue at play here.
1. If you have a sidewalk in front of your property you are required to shovel the snow and ice from it within a certain time. That’s a good reason not to want one.
2. The property owner is responsible for replacing a broken sidewalk when it inevitably cracks. This takes time, but it happens, and isn’t cheap.
3. New sidewalks would be likely to encroach upon the front yard, with footage taken under eminent domain. So the property size shrinks a bit. And quite possibly the street itself becomes narrower, which is never good for two-way traffic.
Do you mean, like everyone else in Ridgewood?