February 9,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood Nj, We continue to hear this argument time and time again from the Mayors friends , “Those who are opposed to the garage should make a fact filled and compelling financial study of the project on their own to support the notion that it should not be built. No one has done this so far and hence a level of confusion exists that the people who are against it have not presented any concrete data to support their position that it will be bad for the village and will not sustain itself. Show me that data so all can make a rational and informed decision, My hunch is the data does not exist. In all likelihood the garage will loose some money during the first and possibly the second year of operation and then it will get up to full capacity and from there on will earn far above its projected break-even point. The demand clearly exists, there is not a lot you can do to screw it up so it should make a lot of money for the Village. Clearly if we adopted some of the earlier proposals the garages proposed would now be all paid off and we would be swimming in profits of a huge magnitude. Remember when the cost / space was calculated to be $1500/space. for a 580 car garage over Ken Smith. if only that were build we would be swimming in money today…..and all of our taxes would be far lower due to the huge cash flow thrown off from that project. Do not defame the garage project. It could turn out to be a real winner.!!.”
Nice dream….
In reality , “love an optimist! But, we have gone through the numbers and questioned the council numerous times. Read the Walker Report, which can be found on the Village Website. It says, perhaps on page 2, that the garage will not be self-funding. It will, as has always been the plan, be funded by increased meter rates all throughout downtown. That exact scheme has been asked for by Mr. Sedon and others, but nothing concrete has been said. Walker mentions eventually raising rates to !.00, increased hours until 9pm, increasing enforcement, not allowing meters to carry over, etc The council will be taking away some of their tools by saying they won’t raise rates saturday night (so as not to punish 5:30 Mass at Mt. Carmel) and now with BCIA you can’t charge commuters more than Ridgewood residents.”
“Furthermore, the actual bonding through BCIA is more expensive than Ridgewood bonding ourselves, and many in municipal finance question the assumptions used. Also, the building will go over budget as Albert promised himself. Lastly, there is demand for parking but currently you can always – always- find parking on street in that area of town. (in front of NY SPorts, up prospect etc.). The garage is not that much closer and it is a shame businesses were never able to convince their employees to park over there as that is what really takes street parking.”
Of coarse there is also the county politics and perhaps the real story;
“The answer is simple if we step back and look from a higher level. The garage will be built near the old Cadillac dealership to provide parking for the apartments that will be built there. The village mayor needs the support of those developers to fund his political aspirations and to do so needs to get the garage built as big as possible in that location to show his compliance and ensure donations for his next office run.
The apartments will be built as soon as the lawsuits begin, COHA judgements line up, and the remaining council fall in place. Makes some sense”
The problem is simply the enabled people who work and come to Ridgewood are too lazy to walk a block or so. They want a spot right in front of where they are going. It is surprising that these same people will walk a half mile when going to the malls.
No one except morning NYC commuters will use garage. The area is too congested as is.
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But NYC commuters may pay for cost of bonding it. Ridgewood residents and others who commute to NYC.
Day pass people who use it for NYC trips.
But who wants to be stuck up on third floor of the garage and even higher. People won’t park up there.
Note: Paul Aronsohn is ” re-branding” himself. He has squeezed all he could from the VC. Now, on to the next gig where he will talk about his inflated resume.
screw it , build it real big. if people don’t use it , O well.
Let’s call this what it is ..A huge monument to our Towns Mismanagement.
These people will be long gone and we the taxpayers left holding the Bag..
Same old..Watch those REALESTATE signs as we head for a top of the demand curve for schools and low unemployment plus rising interest rates.Complete Fail Ridgewood..
The big risk for residents is NOT building the garage. If the garage is not built the CBD will continue to falter, rents will continue to fall, the value of commercial real estate will continue to plummet, landlords will continue to contest their RE taxes…. and they will continue to win substantial reductions in their RE taxes based on the declining value of their properties. Real estate taxes on the residential side will rise to offset the decline in tax revenue from the commercial side, residential property values will peak and slowly begin a gradual decline as buyers find a more hospitable tax environment in other upper end towns in Bergen County. The overall effect will be a gradual decline in the desirability of Ridgewood from both a commercial AND residential perspective.
1:28 Nonsense….commercial real estate amounts to 8-11% of the tax base. Big whoop! even a big lot like Brogan, etc. covers what 2 houses on Heights throw into the tax base. Turn those lots into anything but residential, and it’s a plus. The CBD is fine. The whole country just went through a major economic bump, and even then the CBD persevered. The same two business owners crying about needing a parking garage have had successful businesses 15+ years. Maybe not able to buy a shore house but seem to have made some good money in the CBD THROUGH A RECESSION. Stop being so damn greedy. Lower your retail rents, they won’t sit empty in between tenants.
1:28, rents did peak in around 2007 and have settled to a balanced equilibrium.
To “Fed-up” 3:03: You indicate ” the CBD is fine”.. What is your basis for your statement. ? How about giving all of us who are seemingly ignorant about the strength of the CBD some facts and actual statistics to support your contention.
3:24 pm Really? What statistics did you provide in your argument? And most of us are protesting the mis-leading information coming out and the encroaching of the street, and the height and the county’s added expense. Build a right sized garage, that FITS on the lot, and fund it through Ridgewood’s own money. Don’t use these repeated same arguments for every question or else we will have to put in #RobotGH ‘s category.
I am not @3:03, but I am fed up. You can’t have it both ways…a whole article about the downtown. We are back! Vacancies down, stores right-sizing themselves for the way people shop today, etc. Of course, they end with the obligatory paragraphs on parking but the message is clear. This town has been and will be fine without a huge garage.
NORTHJERSEY.COM : NEWS : BUSINESS
Ridgewood’s business district stays on upswing
A renaissance of sorts is taking place in downtown Ridgewood, one of many business districts to nearly bottom out during the recession born in the previous decade.
In late 2009, two years after the collapse of the once-robust housing market, The Ridgewood News identified roughly 40 vacant storefronts in the Central Business District (CBD), and a handful of others teetered financially. That was, however, as low as the times would go.
Fortunes began to change as merchants made smarter business decisions and consumer confidence grew.
“It felt like a whole different time back then, but you could sense a turnaround coming,” according to Joan Groome, executive director of the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce.
Just one year after reaching basement numbers, the amount of downtown vacancies was slashed in half. Groome had accompanied the newspaper on a walking tour of the CBD in late summer of 2010 and counted just 20 empty storefronts.
She was back out there with The Ridgewood News last week, cutting through Tuesday morning humidity to evaluate the downtown business climate on the eve of this weekend’s Summer Sidewalk Sale. During the stroll, she remarked on the business district’s recovery and the community-wide effort to improve the CBD.
“Today,” Groome said, “we only have three [vacant storefronts]. That’s a far cry from what it once was. Both sides, here on East Ridgewood Avenue as well as the west side of the train tracks, are going very well.”
She noted that while more than three stores might appear vacant, “they indeed have tenants.” She explained some storeowners might be waiting for certificates of occupancy from the municipality or might be in the midst of renovations, creating the façade of unrented spaces.
Along the tour was a chance encounter with Councilman Michael Sedon, the former Ridgewood News reporter who accompanied Groome on the 2010 walk. Sedon commented on the new vibrancy of downtown.
“It was a different place [in 2009 and 2010]; there were over 40 vacancies. Things have definitely changed for the better, and everything looks and feels better,” he said.
Sedon was one of several volunteers who Groome credited with boosting the aesthetics in the CBD. As the council liaison to Ridgewood’s environmental boards and commissions, Sedon got his hands dirty while cleaning tree wells and planting flowers in the downtown area.
Groome also praised the work of other volunteer groups, including the Women Gardeners of Ridgewood, the Conservancy for Ridgewood Public Lands, the Ridgewood Guild and Project Pride.
“People are taking pride in downtown again,” she said.
To further beautify the area and assist businesses, the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a campaign that led to the installation of several wayfinding signs at key intersections along East Ridgewood Avenue. The signs direct pedestrians to businesses located on side streets.
Meanwhile, initiatives launched by the Ridgewood Guild have improved the CBD experience. The popular Music in the Night program, where local musicians perform for shoppers each Friday of the summer, is now in its fifth season; while the second-ever Art in the Park evening is scheduled for Aug. 7 at Van Neste Square, weather permitting.
“We thought it would be great to combine both the music and visual art forms,” said Tony Damiano, president of the Ridgewood Guild. “Art in the Park and Music in the Night, we are trying to find more ways to enhance the shopping experience.
“That’s something we’re always working on,” he said.
Online to on line
Ridgewood has once again staked its claim as one of the region’s top destinations for downtown retail and dining, particularly among out-of-town shoppers. Much of the shopping resurgence has been due, in part, to the addition of storefront space by merchants who once dealt solely with Internet sales.
“Many of the mom-and-pop shops are actually people who had an online business first,” Groome said. “Now, they’ve come to Ridgewood and are opening traditional brick-and-mortar stores. It’s interesting to see the many trends over the years, and this is the new, most recent trend.”
She noted the success of Gypsy Warrior, which in 2012 moved from a smaller North Hudson Street boutique to a larger location on East Ridgewood Avenue. The store relocated to a bigger space to give customers a better, in-person look at the online inventory.
Shopettes, another women’s clothing company, also recently opened its first store, with owners Marilyn Temiz and Tanya Bas operating the Chestnut Street space. Little Skye, a children’s boutique, will expand its online operation when it unveils its first storefront later this month.
“People want to use space, and they are definitely using it,” Groome said, pointing out that Little Skye and the recently opened Orange Leaf frozen yogurt store divided the former Venture Photography studio on East Ridgewood Avenue into two separate spaces.
Claudia Rovegno and her husband, Roberto Santagati, started FromScratchRidgewood.com roughly two years ago, featuring authentic Italian cooking that can be ordered online. This year, they opened their first grocery store/bistro, Italia di Gusto, which sells imported Italian foods and offers the couple’s unique and authentic Italian cooking.
“Starting up in Ridgewood has been fantastic,” Rovegno said, adding that daily specials vary in a way that resembles home-cooking. “Everyone who comes in is like family to us.”
Owners of Racefaster expanded their direct-to-customer athletic training to include a new clothing line. To sell their signature Racefaster Apparel gear, owner Aidan Walsh and designer Lindsay Finkel found a space in the lower level of Bookends.
According to Racefaster’s Lindita Limani, the clothing line and race training has grown in popularity and the company plans to organize and host various community runs. Limani, who also leads yoga sessions at Racefaster, noted the company already hosts the Run the Reservoir Half-Marathon, scheduled this year for Aug. 31, and will debut the Ridgewood Thanksgiving Day Run in November.
Moving pieces
Italia di Gusto is located along the western portion of East Ridgewood Avenue, a section of the CBD known traditionally for its restaurants and other dining establishments. In the past 12 months, that area has welcomed several new eateries (Fish Urban Dining) and is anticipating others – Pardi’s Persian Grill on East Ridgewood Avenue, 29 Chestnut and Tori Ramen Chicken on Chestnut Street, among others.
That setup is merely coincidental, Groome suggested, noting that village mainstays such as The Daily Treat and the Country Pancake House and popular retailers like Jekyll and Hide Luggage and Biltmore Tuxedos buck the trend. But one noticeable and recent phenomena is the “moving puzzle pieces” in downtown, she said.
“Whether it’s to get a better rent, bigger space or a better location, more and more stores are moving, but they’re moving to places within the CBD. No one is moving out,” Groome said.
Ridgewood Eyewear, for example, recently moved from the “restaurant area” to the more traditional retail zone. The eye care specialist is now located in the space formerly occupied by The Little Flower Shoppe.
“There is more parking in the more traditional retail zone, with Cottage Place and [The Gap parking lot]. When these stores were built there was parking behind many of the stores,” she said. “Up where the restaurants are, there are fewer places to park.”
Parking, please
Despite the perceived economic recovery in the CBD, Groome said the success of the businesses will depend on parking. Though she was pleased with the continued discussion and current progress of plans for a possible municipal parking garage on Hudson Street, the chamber director offered a skeptic’s “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
“Parking has been a headline in Ridgewood since the 1940s, maybe even earlier. All the studies done have said the same thing, yet nothing has been done,” Groome said.
Other longtime Ridgewood proprietors shared the feeling.
“I’ve had so many customers over the years tell me they love coming to Ridgewood, but the [lack of] parking will prevent others from coming back,” said Saul Gardner, owner of Jekyll and Hide. “We all love Ridgewood, but the parking situation hurts.”
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“That setup is merely coincidental, Groome suggested, noting that village mainstays such as The Daily Treat and the Country Pancake House and popular retailers like Jekyll and Hide Luggage and Biltmore Tuxedos buck the trend. But one noticeable and recent phenomena is the “moving puzzle pieces” in downtown, she said.” No they have a good business plan. Lets see how long Fish, Roots stay in business
Come out, come out where ever you are Rurik Halaby. We need you to add your kind words to this discussion
3:24…its called common sense! I know, it’s an old fashioned idea but something that is severely lacking nowadays. Stores that have a commodity or service that is backed by good business have continued to prosper here in Ridgewood. Hillman, Country Curtains, Jekyl & Hyde, The Art Spot and Panico are examples of a few. Been in business a long time and continue to attract new customers. Mango use to be a good option but the last few years it’s grown stale, not a decline in business because of lack of parking but because the goods are pretty much the same stuff as 5 years ago. A place like Pazzazzed is stealing Mango’s thunder, better, more interesting goods. If you offer a strong commodity or service, people will find parking, it’s worth the effort to walk a block or two. If it’s mediocre or lost its appeal, you won’t last. Some business owners think because it’s Ridgewood, they are guaranteed to make money. As many have learned, that’s not the case. The owners of Novo tried the salad place, it didn’t work, now they have a restaurant that is currently successful. Did the salad place not work because there was no parking garage? No, because status quo with parking and now its success.
People like coming to the Village because it’s charming and for many their own towns don’t have a CBD. The worst thing this village could do would be to jam 4 or 5 massive high density building and an ugly, doesn’t fit on the lot garage. If they build that crap, I hope the 3 amigos have a huge plaque with their names and faces on it so all the people who see it and think “what the hell happened to Ridgewood” they can point to those plaques and go “right there, a very dark period in the Village’s history when the door was opened and a no good politician and his cohorts hijacked the place”.
@6:08, and notice they haven’t left town…
@3:24, how do you think the increase in meter rates will effect businesses?