PRESENTATION — FENCING FOR HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE – Village Council Work Session, May 26, 2021
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Village Council has been asked by the Village Manager to consider placing safety fencing along the top level of the Hudson Street Parking Garage. An estimated price tag of $300K+ was mentioned. No detailed Village Council discussion regarding this Manager’s request has taken place as of yet. However, here are the meeting minutes from the last time a Village Council discussed the same issue:
Ridgewood NJ, we’ve received several reports during over the past few weeks about a security guard being stationed nightly on the top floor of the Hudson Street Parking garage. One of the individuals who contacted us said the security guard claimed the Village was paying for the service, which is said to be in place from 7PM until 1AM every day of the week. Adult residents taking photos of the moon, comets, and the Northern Lights from the 4th floor have reported being asked to leave by the security guard.
Ridgewood NJ, with talks of a new performing arts center heating up, our staff predicts that talks of building an additional multi-million dollar parking deck/garage can’t be too far behind.
Ridgewood NJ, come to shop and dine in Ridgewood, and enjoy free Holiday Parking on December 10th, 17th, and 24th at the Hudson Street Garage (corner of Prospect Street and Broad Street), on the 2nd and 3rd floors only. Maximum of 4 hours.
Ridgewood NJ, several Ridgewood police cars were observed rushing into the Hudson Street Parking Garage shortly before 10 PM on Wednesday night, and heading up the ramps to the top floor. Bystanders looking on from the sidewalk in front of Mt. Carmel wondered if there was a serious crime in progress, or worse yet, a distraught person threatening a jump from somewhere on the top floor.
Ridgewood NJ, imagine if the village had looked to the future, not the distant past. CBD garage critics brought up these very trends and were ignored. Now, we have a huge money losing parking garage we’ll likely never fill. A garage that loses nearly $1,000,000 a year in the best of times and who knows how much now.
Ridgewood NJ, Citing their need to preserve the appearance and structural integrity of a “magnificently beautiful structure,” Village Council members have opted not to install protective fencing of any kind at the Hudson Street Parking Garage.
Ridgewood NJ, It is being rumored that when the Ridgewood Streets Department used heavy equipment to remove snow from the roof of the Hudson Street Parking garage earlier this winter, the entire garage started to sway and rumble. Future plans call for the removal of snow on the roof deck using a snow blower, if necessary.
Hasbrouck Heights NJ, Ramon M. Hache, Sr., current Bergen County Board of Commissioners Member and former Mayor of Ridgewood has joined DMR Architects’ growing business development practice area. Gabe Bailer, PP, AICP joined DMR’s planning department and Joelle Nasr joined its interior design team.
Ridgewood NJ, The Village Council has approved free parking, with a 3-hour limit, in all parking lots in the Central Business District and in the Hudson Street Garage, on the Saturdays leading up to Christmas, December 5th, 12th, and 19th. Please be aware that the parking area at the intersection of Broad Street and East Ridgewood Avenue (where the Christmas tree is located) and the parking area on the west side, with the entrance by MacMurphy’s Restaurant, are not considered parking lots, and you must pay to park in these locations. The main parking lot at the train station (with the majority of the parking spaces), going into the parking lot from the traffic light and turning left, is free parking. In addition, if you park on the streets, you must pay to park.
Ridgewood NJ, The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Hudson Street garage took place on November 6, 2020 at 4:00 p.m. at the Hudson/Broad Entrance to the Hudson Street garage.
Ridgewood NJ, Village of Ridgewood Mayor Ramon M Hache , “During last night’s Village Council meeting, I provided some details regarding the planning underway for the reopening of our downtown. While the reopening of businesses in NJ will be gradual, and we still do not have set dates and guidance from the Governor, it is safe to expect that there will be restrictions regarding the number of customers allowed at each business. That means businesses will not be able to fully utilize the interior square footage of their locations. Together with all the Village department heads, the Chamber of Commerce, the Ridgewood Guild, commercial landlords, retailers and restauranteurs, we are working on a reopening plan. That plan will, first and foremost, aim to ensure the safety of our residents and patrons while helping our businesses to have the necessary tools to thrive. With the understanding that the downtown that will reopen will be very different from the one that closed in March, we have to embrace some outside-the-box ideas that probably could have never been considered previously. For example, closing a significant portion of our downtown to vehicles, thereby creating an outdoor pedestrian mall on Saturdays and Sundays. It is the best way to ensure proper social distancing while allowing businesses to make up for the lost indoor square footage. While we encourage residents to walk to the downtown if possible, patrons will still be able to park on some streets as well as Walnut Street Lot, Bus Station Lot, Cottage Place Lot and the soon to open Hudson Street Parking Garage. As you can imagine, this will require a lot of coordination between NJ Transit, Ridgewood Police, Signal Department, commercial landlords, businesses, volunteers and most importantly you the public. We will continue to provide more information. In the meantime, if you have any feedback or suggestions, please email them to: [email protected].”
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood ran a story titled “Ridgewood Council considers parking rate hikes to finance garage, as plans get a face-lift” , in the article the News claimed that , ” As plans for the Hudson Street parking garage received a face-lift, the village is considering additional parking rate increases in the downtown to finance its construction and operation ”
