the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, while Ridgewood salon owners and hairdressers complain about the new license fee , saying it’s just too much for their small businesses. Village officials, claim the fee ensures proper safety inspections. Ridgewood’s 45 barbershops, hairdressers, cosmetology parlors and nail salons are all assessed an annual fee , but this is part of a broader effort by the Village to get the central business district to pat for itself .
In years past we have heard complaints from restaurants of century old fees on ice makers .Shops in the Central Business District have also have been aggressively targeted by a ticket blitz which included tickets for failure to clear sidewalks of snow just hours before the Village had even cleared their own sidewalks and just minutes after Governor Murphy ended the state of emergency . Merchants also complain their cars are even being ticketed for momentarily double parking just to drop something off at their place of business .
Many residents feel merchants did little to support Village efforts to solve parking problems in the central business district. Merchants instead demanded a parking garage from taxpayers .The Village council worked out a compromise garage proposal which included an end to merchant street parking ,raised parking fees and extended parking hours .
In a poor choice of words merchants and landlords from the central business district (CBD) are often posting on this blog reminding residents to be grateful of their contribution to tax collection,”given they get nothing in return for it” .
The Ridgewood blog warned last year that the word was out that the Village would begin a major clamp down on the CBD, raising fees and running ticket blitzes ,merchants in most cases ignored the warnings that garages do not come for free and that the money tree had died at Graydon pool.
While we agree that the garage has to be paid for and the burdens must be shared ,because after all Ridgewood has had a “parking problem” for over 100 years, we hope the council will give in to common sense ,avoid one size fits all solutions without making the Village an even more hostile environment for commerce than it already is.
VC is nickle and diming CBD merchants, residents and pissing off commuters, acting like bullies to the BOE when they haven’t cleaned up their own house. I mean town garage and RW water. But we are planting trees right mike so all is good
These new salon license fees are bad for business. What happens when Satin Dolls opens in the old Town Garage?
Commercial business owners pay about $20 million per year in property taxes, over $13 million of which is to the BOE which they get no direct benefit from. The VC has never tried to subsidize the CBD by asking for payments in lieu of taxes (PILOT) from Valley by using the gift-wrapped precedents from Pequannock and Morristown to challenge their not-for-profit status. Vocal anti-development residents were up in arms about a $20 million garage to help with parking in the CBD which at least this Council did approve. Valley Hospital, a 451-bed, acute-care facility that attracts world-class medical professionals to our community and has been a key member of the Ridgewood community for over 70 years, has been treated like a red-headed stepchild for years. Vocal anti-Valley residents drove them from our Village because they wouldn’t let them change their height variances. And yet these same people continue to rant on these pages as our Village goes down the tubes. Did this Council ever get restitution from quarters thief Tommy Boy Rica, or are current Village employees back in on the scam?
btw when you post stupid ignorant uninformed stuff like this you lose all credibility, lie all you want but the Ridgewood blog has kept a running tally of events in the village over the last 14 years ,its all there no place to hide
“monetarily double parking ” is really momentarily screwing up traffic.
“Vocal anti-Valley residents drove them from our Village because they wouldn’t let them change their height variances ” Thats BS. There was a lot more Valley Hospital wanted to do. Tell your story walking.
Is the Village of Ridgewood Anti Business ?
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Is the Ridgewood BOE anti-education?
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Is the Village of Ridgewood anti-resident?
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The Ridgewood Blog is a waste of internet space!
Last night at the council meeting a rather arrogant cbd employee demanded free employee parking not sure where the attitude comes from but i suggest college or learn a trade
I love the photo of the police car parked illegally in a fire zone. Call mom bro move the car.
“Call mom bro move the car.” ?
It is unfortunate that the salons and spas were targeted. The council has quietly passed the ordinance without consulting any salon or spa, many owners in town have been open for decades too and could have been a valuable resource for this ordinance. The Ridgewood Guild and her Chamber of Commerce were not notified that this was on the calendar to discuss at a meeting either. The state inspects and a fee is paid for that inspection. Charging $150 for a duplicate regulation inspection is too much. It is expensive. What about the barber shoe and threading bars that have one person working all day ? 150 is not acceptable. A salon may have 11 chairs but 3 employees. When asked, the mayor, the council and the inspector could not (would not?) answer how many calls they get a year specific to the salons and spas, that were actual complaints. When asked, the mayor, the council and the inspector could not (would not?) answer what their actual cost would be to inspect a salon or spa. The fee that they came up with was dependent on what they see other towns like HACKENSACK doing. Although Fair Lawn has this fee and charges $35-$50. This ordinance needs to be amended.
Nickel & diming our businesses in the CBD while a Village employee steals almost $1 million in quarters… pure class Village Council, pure class. Commercial property owners pay 13% of our municipal and BOE budget (65% of which they get no direct benefit for), and this is how we treat them? Third world roads, inadequate parking with potholes in the existing lots, etc. janes, why aren’t you shaming the Village Council? Or have you got an agenda?
Our thuggish Council has passed this ordinance under the cover of darkness without ever consulting salon owners, or making them and the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce aware this was an agenda item at Village Council meetings. Shameless. Do you approve of this behavior James ?
Par for the course…follow the money..they are all Hacks
let’s get rid of this Crew