Tag: parking

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Reader says Here’s some other “simple economics” of the Parking Garage

parking+meters_the+ridgewood+blog

Here’s some other “simple economics”
Parking deck can’t possibly pay for itself.
Will require subsidy from taxpayers for years and years.
Meter rates will rise and infuriate shoppers and store owners.
Meter times will expand and infuriate shoppers and store owners.
None of that seems to matter. The garage is going to be built.
If there are empty spots in the deck, which will almost certainly be the case, they should be rented to commuters for the highest amount the market will bear. Then if parking in the deck becomes a problem, cut back on the out-of-towners permits.
Until then, out-of-towners permits will mitigate the pending financial disaster..

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Reader says A decision to go with resident only parking is not elitist. It is based in simple economics

Hudson garage

A decision to go with resident only parking is not elitist. It is based in simple economics. If Ridgewood taxpayer funds are used for the parking structures and for the lots and on-street parking, why shouldn’t the people who pay those taxes have preferential access to that parking? They have already contributed to the costs. I commuted by train for a while. Parking in Ridgewood anywhere near the station was almost impossible, but it was very easy to park in the HHK lot (not so easy now). Why would we give preference to non-residents? If they pay the same parking fee but do not pay Ridgewood taxes that support the parking, then they pay less for the same usage. That would be unfair to residents.

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Reader says Make the citizens of Ridgewood Great again.Stop this bullshit boondoggle..it’s not too late

Ridgewood 3 amigos

Make the citizens of Ridgewood Great again.Stop this bullshit boondoggle..it’s not too late..the carpetbaggers housing and politicos will be long gone with the cash and moving onto their next victim communities..clear case of others peoples (OUR) money and future higher taxes to pay for the bonding which will have to be paid as a priority obligation to the banks and funding sources..they love town infrastructure debt..they know the taxpayers have to be assessed to Pay them Back,Stop this huge mistake..we are not talking about the health bond or turf fields here..this is a forever damaging proposal.Pave ,insert concrete curbing ,storm sewers lighting and lines for car stalls and get back to work VC

Posted on by — 5 Comments

Readers say Lease the Hudson lot to a developer for 99 years

Hudson garage

VC, listen up. Lease the Hudson lot to a developer for 99 years. Let the developer pay for it completely. Let them charge what they want to make it a profitable. Let them pay the cost of maintenance. Let them cut deals with local merchants, banks and restaurants for validated parking, and take nothing from them except the usual property taxes. Then, see how many developers step up. If the number is ZERO, then you have an indication that the idea is a LOSER. The Village already collects taxes from the CBD property owners, so why LOSE money by going into the garage business?

A land lease is a type of financial arrangement in which the ground under a structure is leased, rather than sold to the builder, meaning that the land and the structure are owned independently.

The Village should enter into a long term land lease with parking garage company who will pay to construct and operate the parking facility.. Since they are an independent business they should be able to charge whatever rates they wish.. Ultimately the market will determine how much people are willing to pay.

Posted on by — 4 Comments

Walker Analysis : There is no parking deficit in Ridgewood

walker 2015

March 2,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, at the Wednesday evening meeting resident Bill McCandless called the Walker analysis deeply flawed , he went on ” the facts are very clear the Walker report is a reference point we all use , page 15 shows multiply lots weekday day time under 85% , page 16 weekday evenings shows open parking throughout the entire Village , page 19 weekend nights we have an empty parking lots , Walker shows large surplus parking exist in the Village .”

“Weekday existing conditions 57% parking occupied , and weekends 194 spaces go empty .There is no parking deficit , we paid for it twice . to hear this from Walker the fact is the parking Garage unnecessary and unneeded in Ridgewood.”

Posted on by — 13 Comments

Reader is tired of the lame excuses for photos showing plenty of parking

parking private lot

I am tired of these lame excuses. If you say you saw plenty of parking on any certain day, the garagaholics like you come back with any of the following:

. it was raining
. it was a holiday and people were out of town
. it was a holiday and people were busy with family
. it was a Monday and some restaurants are closed on Mondays
. it was too early in the day to get a fair estimate
. it was too late in the day and people had already gone home
. it was a Saturday noon and no one goes out until later
. it was a Saturday night and people were using UBER
. it was not raining so people were walking to town
. it was snowing so people were home shoveling
. it was snowing but then it stopped so people went skiing

Get it? There are ALWAYS available spots in town, in spite of Jeff Voigt’s declaration that there are 1000 cars looking for parking on the weekends. There are ALWAYS spots, regardless of whatever excuse you come up with.

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Walker 2015- net new revenue projected for the garage is not projected to offset its expenses

walker 2015

February 27,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, walker report 2015-It is typical in downtowns that the revenue stream in a given garage is not sufficient to cover its operating costs and debt service. Downtown parking systems are just that – systems – that rely on pooled revenue from all resources, and especially the on-street meters (which tend to have the highest turnover), to cover the higher cost associated with building and operating a garage. This is the case in Ridgewood, where the net new revenue projected for the garage is not projected to offset its expenses. Therefore, our revenue projection includes all  bottom of page 1

Full report from 2015

https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2015walkerFinal.pdf

Posted on by — 1 Comment

2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS”The key findings, we do not use the parking we have on weekdays and most importantly, on Saturday nights

ParkingCBD2 theridgewoodblog.net

 

February 26,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The village has paid tens of thousands of dollars to gather parking facts. We have more parking than we use. The 2015 Walker “HUDSON STREET PARKING GARAGE PRELIMINARY FINANCIAL ANALYSIS” found here: https://mods.ridgewoodnj.net/pdf/manager/2015walkerFinal.pdf is an amazingly comprehensive study of existing village parking. The key findings, on the report pages 15, 16, 17, 19, and appendix page 4 clearly show we do not use the parking we have on weekdays and most importantly, on Saturday nights. On appendix page 4, the bottom table “EXISTING WEEKEND CONDITIONS – PUBLIC” shows 32%, or 194, public parking spaces are available at 7pm on Saturday nights.

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Reader asks The question that i think has failed to be answered is, what benefit, to the residents of Ridgewood does a large parking facility bring?

Hudson garage

Whether you want a garage or not, we all need to come to the realization that in it’s current state, our taxes in this town are going up (from already ridiculously high levels) and that this council and ones before have failed to do what I think most would agree is their primary job..to be fiscally responsible, municipal managers and not politicians with special interests. The question that i think has failed to be answered is, what benefit, to the residents of Ridgewood does a large parking facility bring? Will it bring more shoppers to town to stave off the inevitable doom of retail (which if you’ve picked up a paper in the last 5 years you’d realize is happening), and in the slim chance it does, how much of a benefit would we as tax payers realize? Does it benefit the current RESIDENTS who commute via train into NY, probably…but then again, what size garage would do the trick? In the new tax regime, local tax rates matter now more then ever..so the days of raising taxes with little to no push back are over. The idea of a multi million dollar spend on a garage, without clearly and concisely outlining the benefits to tax payers, just falling back on the argument that this debate has gone on for 30 years, just baffles my mind. I’m not pro or con the current or prior council, i question the motives behind certain positions by some, which have been clearly outlined in past posts. Unfortunately, special interests in this town have come to the forefront, probably due to the fact that we all have very busy jobs, lives etc (contrary to what a previous councilman thinks), and don’t think we have to actively monitor town councils…lets be clear, their job is to run the town as efficiently as possible, balancing the costs of services and the level of taxation that is optimum to keep the influx of new families coming. This garage, will probably be the tipping point. Ignore, the older aggressive guy at the council meetings who thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room, why do we care about his pontificating about conspiracy theories and constitutional interpretations?? Let’s move on, rid the council of politics and vote in residents who make decisions based on the good of the town FOR THE FUTURE, not the past. This council should not be a stepping stone for wannabe politicians that will sell this town out in hopes of furthering their pathetic attempts at a political career.

Posted on by — 7 Comments

Reader says EVERY parking study done over the past 50+ years by objective professional consultants has indicated the need for a parking garage in Ridgewood

Hudson garage

EVERY parking study done over the past 50+ years by objective professional consultants has indicated the need for a parking garage in Ridgewood. It appears the current Village Council is doing something to remedy the longstanding parking deficit. The garage will primarily serve commuters during the day and local businesses afterwards. It will be a boost to all of Ridgewood and despite the naysayers it will not destroy or diminish the character and desirability of the Village. Other higher end towns (particularly Summit and Princeton) have garages and residential property values in these towns have continued to rise. There is not one shred of evidence that the garage will negatively impact residential property values in Ridgewood. To the contrary, it will likely enhance values because prospective homeowners who commute to NY will benefit from the availability of convenient parking. This is a big benefit when you are rushing to catch your regular morning train to the city.

Posted on by — 18 Comments

The Village Council will interview the four companies who responded to the RFP for the Hudson Street parking garage

Hudson garage

file photo by Boyd Loving

February 14,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Village Council will be interviewing the four companies who responded to the RFP for the Hudson Street parking garage on February 21, 2018, beginning at 7:00 p.m. This meeting will be held in the Sydney V. Stoldt, Jr. Court Room on the fourth floor of Village Hall, and will also be televised on the Public Access channel. Each company will summarize their proposals and will present their concept plan(s).

The deadline for the RFPs (Requests For Proposal) for the construction of the garage was January 19 at 10:00 am.  Seventeen potential bidders picked up packets in late 2017, and four submitted proposals.

These were the proposals received, listed from lowest to highest overall:

1. Pike Company Inc:
$9,464,666

2. Terminal Construction Corp:
Version 3 – $10,100,000
Version 2 – $10,900,000
Version 1 – $11,480,000

3. Epic Management Inc:
$12,340,666 to $12,573,738

4. Prismatic Development Corp:
$14,399,000

*compiled by Councilman Ramon M. Hache

 

 

 

Posted on by — 3 Comments

Reader asks How will that garage benefit any of the residents?

Hudson garage

It seems that very few people can even think of a realistic reason to build the garage. Add to Ridgewood taxes so people in other towns can park near the station? Provide extra parking for the builders who refuse to supply what is legally required? (How are they getting by with that, anyway? Did they change the town rules about how much parking is required for any construction? Or do they think their building permits do not require adequate parking? Council, the doctor on Broad Street has plenty of parking and has been struggling for several years to be able to use the 210 building which she owns. Why do outsiders get by with every single thing they want?) This building on Hudson doesn’t do anything for Ridgewood residents, except taking away a large part of the parking for Mt. Carmel’s activities. Two decks might help in separate parts of town but no-one is going to walk from Hudson to Oak, much less further. The only beneficiaries will be the commuters and the apartment dwellers, and for that Ridgewood must have higher and later parking fees as well as an astronomical increase in our taxes? At least the schools benefit OUR children. How will that garage benefit any of the residents?

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Reader says We are in a situation now where we can choose the least worst alternative

Ridgewood 3 amigos

yeah it is the natural outcome. We are in a situation now where we can choose the least worst alternative. If this can gets kicked down the road yet again, the next steps would be the BIG main street proposals that are now taking place in towns like Bogota and Closter… that result would be more mixed use, fewer stores, more restaurants, banks, Gyms and apartments, putting more pressure on parking and schools which would require a bigger parking solution. While the choices now are not great, the building of a garage soon makes sense to curtail further expansion of mixed use stock a la other communities..

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Reader says The Franklin Street “Village Garage” lot was publicly targeted by the Village Council for condemnation as “blighted” as part of a redevelopment plan

town_garage_theridgewoodblog

The Franklin Street “Village Garage” lot was publicly targeted by the Village Council for condemnation as “blighted” as part of a redevelopment plan. The Village would rely on the decision in Kelo v. City of New London, 545 U.S. 469 (2005), a case decided by the U. S. Supreme Court involving the use of eminent domain to transfer land from one private owner to another private owner to further economic development. Construction of a municipal parking garage would then follow. $15 million in bond money was raised for that purpose, but when Village residents objected to the heavy-handed use of the eminent domain power, the plan was dropped and the money spent on other priorities. The current owners bought the property at that time at a relatively low price expecting to make a tidy profit in the near future. Obviously that didn’t exactly pan out for them.

Posted on by — 11 Comments

Reader asks let’s all assume they build this thing, how does that change anything in terms of the parking landscape in this town?

Hudson garage

Wait, so the argument now is… because a previous council approved the building of condos, in order to “save” the Village we need to appease the developers and build a garage for them given that they will obviously not have the needed parking spaces for their new tenants….and if we don’t build this thing, this town will become a glorified Rt 17 strip filled with gyms, banks and more condos? Come on people…..let’s all assume they build this thing, how does that change anything in terms of the parking landscape in this town? Yes, commuters will use it, yes shoppers will use it, but lets be realistic, probably only those looking to shop on Broad St or very close to it. We all know that everyone in this town or those that come here want to park right across the street from where they’re going, as stated in many of the posts before, if you look for parking you will find it, but you may have to walk a bit. So the taxpayers of this town should spend millions of dollars to alleviate a problem that may or may not exist for two to three hours on Friday and Saturday nights?? Do the math, it doesn’t add up and with Uber that problem is going away. Let’s spend money on updating the current run down parking lots we have or reconfigure current parking lanes and see how that goes….what’s the downside? We need to stop looking backward and look forward….Uber and Amazon to name a few are changing how we live our lives….less brick and mortar, less cars being driven for nights out….that’s the future, not building a garage that maybe in 1990 there was a solid argument for.