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Reader says , “The garage loses about a million dollars a year for the life of the garage. Rate increases everywhere are not up for debate”

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The garage loses about a million dollars a year for the life of the garage. Rate increases everywhere are not up for debate- they are the only way to come close to paying for the garage. Wait until the math wizards who voted ‘yes’ see that the garage rate will have to be lower than the street rate just to spur demand for the garage. This is just the start of the self imposed retail implosion from liberals, wait until they get the minimum wage hikes they want. What do you think $15/hr does to the CBD where the stores are tiny and the required revenue per square foot is already sky high to pay the rent? A rent that the village council wants to nearly double which was the whole reason to build the garage, increase the tax haul from the CBD. Only the ‘no’ voters did the math.

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Reader says , “Meter rates will be too high, the majority of retail businesses in town will suffer “

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Everyone should be focused on the rates required in the future to pay the debt service on the garage. Meter rates will be too high, the majority of retail businesses in town will suffer only a few nearby restaurants will benefit. A pending fiscal disaster, being backstopped by residents.
The 2-1 YES vote did not sufficiently outline the costs of the garage. The NO voters likely considered the costs. The majority of the YES voters thought it was “free”, of would be totally self sustaining.

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Mayor Contradicks Ridgewood News ,”Parking Rate Hike” Story

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

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 ”

Continue reading Mayor Contradicks Ridgewood News ,”Parking Rate Hike” Story

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Reader says , ” Our downtown businesses needed to modernize with the times and appreciate the market forces around them in order to save themselves”

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file photo by Boyd Loving

But, but, but . . . didn’t we need more parking becuase there is no where to park and shop in the downtown??
Face it, the regimes of Aronson / Pucciarelli and Knudsen / Hache sold off our downtown to developers. The costs of an overcrowded downtown, the needs for improvements for the hundreds of new families, the needs for more school rooms and teachers, more police and fire fighters, etc. etc., are all being placed on the backs of the taxpayers by these politicians.
We didn’t need parking and hundreds of apartments to “save” our downtown. Our downtown businesses needed to modernize with the times and appreciate the market forces around them in order to save themselves.
Our council needed to take a firm stance in the courts, with the legislature and in all other ways possible against overdevelopment and the destruction of schools, our property values and other attributes. Instead, they chose to pander to a few special interests, tear down paradise and put up a parking lot and leave us all with the tax bill.

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Readers ask ,” What part of this equation don’t you understand? “

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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.

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.