file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, it looks like the Village Council has solved the parking problems in the Central Business District once and for all . Since the new meter rates went into effect and the Ridgewood Police became more active in ticketing repeat parkers and employees taking up street parking , parking spots now abound .
Several recent trips to the Central Business District we have noticed plenty of parking even on Chestnut street a notoriously difficult street to park .
One reader suggests that perhaps some employees are parking father away searching for free parking or finally using the employee parking .
Employee parking has been a major point of contention during all the attempts to solve the parking problems .
Effective September 4, 2018, the following changes will be in effect for all parking meters in the Central Business District, both on the streets and in the parking lots:
Meter Times: Monday through Friday – 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Saturday – 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
Meter Rates for All Meters: 75 cents per hour (including the Cottage Place CBD Employee Parking Spaces)
Duration of Meters: 3 hours for all parking meters, except the Cottage Place parking lot, which will be 11 hours.
CBD Employee Parking Spaces: These spaces require a CBD Employee Parking Permit and are located in the Walnut Street parking lot and the Cottage Place parking lot, and are delineated by signage. CBD Employee Parking Permits and monthly hang tags for CBD Employee parking may be purchased at the Reception Desk in Village Hall or daily parking may be paid for through Parkmobile or in Cottage Place, at the parking kiosks.
We are extending our Parking Kiosk Pilot Program. In addition to the Chestnut Street parking lot, parking kiosks will be placed in the following locations:
Cottage Place parking lot
Cottage Place Annex parking lot (between The Gap and Gilsenan & Co. Real Estate)
Both sides of North Broad Street, between Franklin Avenue and East Ridgewood Avenue
The parking kiosks will accept coins, dollar bills, and credit cards (Visa, Master Card and American Express). Parkmobile is also available to pay for parking, by downloading the Parkmobile app to your Smartphone.
Effective September 25, 2018, the new meter times for the train station parking lot and the Park and Ride parking lot will be:
Monday through Friday – 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. (14-hour meter duration)
Saturday – 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. (8-hour meter duration)
Overnight parking is available in select parking lots for residents living in the CBD. Permits for overnight parking may be purchased at the Reception Desk in Village Hall. Other than the overnight parking lots, parking is prohibited in all other parking lots, including the train station lot and the Park and Ride lot, from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m
What part of this equation don’t you understand?
Employees are not parking any further away. The empty spots are a direct result of the increased meter rates. any merchant in town can tell you how bad the numbers are of late. We understand that the social gadflys are aghast at the sight of a parking garage and the above article tries to float the issue without directly addressing it. Cute. Boneheaded move for the village as usual as they simply drove all the customers away. Lots of options out there and Downtown Ridgewood is not one of them.
it would seem so
The merchants I’ve spoken with in the Broad Street area have said business is off since the kiosks came in. In my experience, I see drivers u-turning all over the place into and out of spots – in front of cops, to boot. Safety has dropped below meter revenue & leaf fines in priorities of the VH and police department.
Guess what they don’t care. This is one big scam ! We the tax payers will flip the bill in the end. That’s why you see so many homes for sale in town. This town is going down. Just you wait. Remember the last bubble. Yes that was bad. This time it will be worse. Why you all ask, well last time you had saving’s . This time most of you fools do not. I know because I see your back accounts. Over spending on garbage. The c b d is full of bull s.!,t store ‘s and restaurant ‘s . Retailers are done. 70’ percentage of us buy on line. And for food, well dominos will be booming again. Can’t you see the light. Wake up. You are living in a b s bubble.
I park where it is free like on Union Street and walk.
The increase in rates for a resident to park daily at the train station is the ‘straw that broke me”
A full day of parking at the station is now $11.00 , $55 a week, $220 a month. All this to wait for a train that will most likely be late or get cancelled. Add the parking fees, to my taxes and I give up.
There is no way to win in RW. I will not be here to see the new garage, visit the new water building, see the next $110M school budget or any of the other financial initiatives. Hate to go, wish you all well.
Getting owners and employees out of the CBD should have been tried long long long ago. They should have been offered the “carrot” of discount parking in underutilized lots and the “stick” of increased fines for repeat parking.
As for “customers” not being happy with increased meter rates, boy you could see that coming from 10 miles away.
So if increased meter rates are driving shoppers away, the new garage will be empty. But wait, the higher rates were to pay for the garage. Any suggestions on what we can do with the new (but empty) garage?
….. Per the financial projections meter rates need to go up an additional $.50 per hour once the garage opens in order to pay the debt service.
I think it’s an additional 25 cents per hour for a total hourly rate of $1. Adding 50 cents would make it $1.25 and in anybody’s book that will scare people away. Keep in mind also that the same rates apply at the Short Line Park & Ride because those are Ridgewood meters with the same fees. Going into the city for the day other than on Sunday now costs a fortune unless you can find an empty unmetered spot after the morning rush hour and the woman in the building is willing to sell you a day parking form to put inside your car facing the windshield. At least the meters there are not for three hours. If you are taking the train and can’t find a 14-hour (no longer 12-hour) meter, you have to use a 3-hour meter and cross your fingers that no one will know when it runs out, or park on a side street all day, annoying local residents, and have a hefty walk to and from the train. Truly ironic that the Saturday meter times end at 6 when that is precisely when nonresidents are most likely to be in town for dinner. This must have been the result of lobbying by the Chamber of Commerce, whose own perceived needs aren’t even realistic. Saturday meters should go to 8 PM also.
it’s a total fiasco
RIDGEWOOD blog LAYED this out over and over again from those who own annual
bleacher passes for cottage was 750 now a thousand GRAND THEFT NON AUTO..O
complete butchers festival on the customers of the commuter passes for years
BUSSES ARE PACKED..A BIG FU GO VOR VIA THE NJT BUS OPERATIONS WHICH
IS ROUGH BUT TOLERABLE IF YOU CAN LEAVE EARLY OR WORK FROM HOME
DUE TO THIS BANDITRY.
I attended a luncheon in Westwood last week and paid 25 cents to park at a public meter for 2 hours.
re commenter above
But wait, the higher rates were to pay for the garage. Any suggestions on what we can do with the new (but empty) garage?
slum dirty filthy rental car operations on ramps and floor two
in a rush car renters slamming down the Ramps to make up time for their late meeting
drive up walk up-drug sale operations under shredded dormers
rental to low height small business trucks or out of towners vehicle storage
uber cocktail carts with fanboy banners..
ambulance storage or cat napping by tired employees..
auto detailing mobile units trawling the Ramps
Assisted sleep areas..
those ticket books are so heavy to slog around to hammer the saps who move here..
need to cop some zees on floor 4 where the quiet is deafening ..Despite the drug dealers on 5
or
political signage on town facing walls ..vote for me I’ll set you free with use of your savings accounts
or perhaps I’ll sell your house to some striver rube for a 10 percent VIG..
MOVING TRUCKS …START YOUR ENGINES
LOVE TO BE WRONG IT HAPPENS TO THE BEST OF us
My reading of the 2/18 Walker report is a $.50 increase to $1.25 will be needed. However I believe the council is hoping that such an increase will not be needed in part from better enforcement and the kiosks eliminating the benefit of “extra time” being left on a meter.
The financing of the garage via the significant increase in street meter rates made no fiscal sense.
Drive by Bagelicious tomorrow morning. The best spot to park to buy bagels there will be used by a truck with the name….Bagelicious… plastered on the side. That is sooooo customer focused.
you could not find a more flawed plan to serve the small business politicos and shaft the commuters and shoppers who really built the town and pay the largest share of the overall budget expenditures…Glen Rock is customer friendly ,I see my RIDGEWOOD neighbors there shopping and in hair salons barber shops drug stores and restaurants and pizza shops owned by families for over 30 years second generation operations.
first name basis merchants..VOR you screwed it up
parking lots all gone to seed and weeds concrete surfaces a sea of potholes..stuff needs upkeep or it dies..