Yes, the opening of Serendipity highlights the fallacy of the current council’s views on our downtown. Albert and Paul in particular kept talking about the parking surveys from 30 to 80 years ago. The “progress” and “2020” movements (which produced the 3 failed candidates) were similarly myopic. The leaders of these groups are all talking about and looking to solve Ridgewood’s problems from the 60’s and 70’s. Developers, land speculators, the owners of Fish and Greek to Me push for housing developments and parking garages solely for their own narrow minded view of increasing their profits over the next few years.
We live in the new millennium and we should plan for our century not the past century. Who and what is going to make use of our downtown. What brings in the most tax dollars with the least amount of expenditures? Is our future developing our downtown as the regions “restaurant row,” or should we be looking to bring more corporate dollars? Are massive parking garages and massive housing developments really the way forward or are they product of staid minds that don’t see or are afraid to look into the future?
This discussion has never been had because our current council “leaders” never asked themselves or challenged the public to debate what is good for Ridgewood as a whole and the future of Ridgewood as a whole. Instead, the “debate,” if one can call it that, has been over how many families should we squeeze into a downtown lot or should a garage be 4 or 5 or 6 stories tall. Let’s depart from this outdated way of thinking and move ourselves beyond the mire of the past. Let’s embrace our future. And to do that, let’s start by having a real discussion on what our future might be.