Kristie Cattafi , Staff Writer, @KristieCattafiPublished 7:22 p.m. ET March 7, 2017 | Updated 11:53 a.m. ET March 8, 2017
GARFIELD — Discussions are underway for a transit village designation around Garfield Station and the possibility of a commuter parking garage.
Plans for the parking garage were unveiled at the Garfield Redevelopment meeting March 6. The garage would be in the 1st Ward rehabilitation area, flanked by Somerset Street, Palisade Avenue, Hepworth Place and Hudson Street, along the train tracks. Plans call for a three-story structure with 468 spaces, said Pike Development’s president, Peter Cornell, who gave the presentation.
garage fiasco tax ahead , shedded space for drug dealers off the trains..police don’t leave their suvs today you think they will blink an eye to patrol any new parking garage..not a chance..will be the new blight magnet for closed retail stores folks..there will be crappy rental car stations and other alternate businesses there to hide this fiasco
Ho Ho Ho , don’t worry folks. Yes, taxes will go up up up because of the garage, but if you buy thousands of dollars of items in the central business district , you will get a discount on your taxes. What $10. Remember, Hache said they are working on a plan to offer rewards for shopping in business district ; you get a property tax discount. My foot !
Ridgewood will lose its distinction of being charming and villagey and quaint. And the garage will need a big police presence. Very muggable at night in the dark. Police cost money ; raised taxes, big time.
And it is a horrible location. That intersection now is the pits to drive through.
Yes, how will the garage be paid for? Raised pricing on parking? I won’t pay more to park and spend in the CBD. Even with the promised discount on my taxes.
They will tell us that the garage will pay for itself, with use? I ain’t usin it. Even in the daylight, it is a trap for muggers.
Huge , no matter what size and ugly for charmin historical Ridgewood.
Ridgewood Nj, in a shocking turn of events the Village Council had almost no public comments on Wednesday night.The Village Council continued to move forward on a variety of issues.
Village Manager Heather Mailander reminded everyone about the Village budget meetings;
Thursday, March 9 Senior Lounge @ 5:30pm
Wednesday, March 15 Court Room @ 5:30pm
Monday, March 27 Court Room @ 5:30pm
Councilmen Voigt said that the Financial Advisory Committee was putting together an analysis of parking garage and how to pay for it, and working on an analysis of Village fees.
Deputy Mayor Michael Sedon in what may come as a surprise to many said the Village council has been looking to advance a Garage on Hudson street for months, the Village council will roll out a 3 story garage plan with a modified conceptual design that fits on the property and takes into account all the criticism of previous Garagezilla.
Councilmen Ramon Hache said the Central business advisory committee floated the idea of a local merchant reward card, earning credits against tax liabilities
Mayor Susan Knudsen reiterated that Village boards are for people invested in the community and to represent the Village of Ridgewood.
In what can be can only be considered a major breakthrough, in parking, the restrictions have been removed from backing into spaces.
Residents will be relieved to note that the fees will remain unchanged for Graydon Pool and Ridgewood Tennis this summer.
And finally the council also passed a new ordinance regulating the “Water Irrigation Schedule and Water Emergencies”. The new ordinance limits watering of lawns for both governmental and non-governmental properties to two days per week, year-round. Irrigation by a hand-held hose or drip/micro irrigation system is allowed any day. Defines the exceptions to this ordinance as well as the hours when watering of lawns is permitted, and enforcement policies and procedures.
Mark Krulish , Staff Writer, @Mark_Krulish6:02 p.m. ET Feb. 15, 2017
There will be a few more places residents on the west side of Ridgewood cannot park if an introduced ordinance is passed next month.
Brought to the table at the Feb. 8 council meeting, the ordinance would prohibit parking at several points along the northern side of Sherman Place – most notably near the corner the curb line of westbound Godwin Avenue, an intersection at which a man and his 10-year-old child were struck last September.
Ridgewood Nj, seems the attempts by the council to reconfigure parking have been met with new calls for “Garagezilla” .
In a recent NJ.com article on struggling downtowns Englewood was mentioned for having over 2000 parking spaces available, including a 345 space garage, many new, upscale downtown housing developments, and still stores are closing. The fact is the retail landscape has changed and it has nothing to do with the lack of parking or limited foot traffic/customer availability.
While in Ridgewood many allies of the former mayor Paul Aronsohn are using any attempt at incrementally adjusting parking allocations to promote a massive parking garage. Aronsohns supporters in the Ridgewood Financial Advisory Committee or FAC continue to use the eerily familiar tactics they used on Mayor Killion and Village Manager Ken Gabbert , blaming all cost increases on the new Village Council.
Remember the Financial Advisory Committee was created by the mayor Aronsohn solely as a breeding ground for future council members willing to live in his shadow. The fact remains that in order for the Financial Advisory Committee to be an effective part of the Village governance the following criteria must be met:
Publish clear and realistic by-laws Post agenda’s of all meetings Post minutes of all meetings promptly All members must sign Financial disclosure forms All members must sign NDA’s or non-disclosure forms
These are professional standards that are used and commonly accepted everywhere in the world. If they are not met in Ridgewood the committee must be closed done otherwise the Village will continue to leave itself open to lawsuits.
There has been a noticeable increase repeat critical comments on the Ridgewood blog mirroring the same lines over and over. The same lines once used against Mayor Killion and Kenn Gabbert are now used against the current mayor and Village council.
“My friend went to park at one of the lots that require an app and was unable to download so couldn’t use the lot. She said the lot was mostly empty and also that there was a fee to use the app. I think the VC made these parking rules so complicated now people are just staying away. I’m not aware that merchants supported this plan. I think the new VC came in with ideas of how to “fix” parking and this is the result. I’m sure merchants would rather have seen a parking garage. Good luck. I stay out of downtown altogether now.”
To bad this poster forgot to mention the “parking app ” was the brainchild of the Aronsohn administration and Former village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld.
“The poster does have a decent point about commuters getting screwed by the vocal, anti-development, municipal-election voting majority in Ridgewood who control the Council agenda. Commuters are too busy to care much despite the fact the Council screws them at every turn, i.e. $250 annual increase to $1000 for a commuter parking space which was moved further away from Ridgewood station after the pass was paid for last Dec. Thanks VoR!”
While complaints about the overpriced commuter parking seem valid blaming the current council for the insane property taxes is a recurrent theme,“So go on blaming Aronsohn for the continued inability of this Council to come up with a viable solution for the commuters who pay the bulk of property taxes in Ridgewood. As 12:43 noted, if Ridgewood is no longer attractive to commuters as a place to raise their families (due to high property taxes versus declining schools despite a $100mn annual BOE budget, etc) then property values fall. As potential revenue sources like Valley leave, those who remain will have to just pay more to cover for the excessively expensive contracts the Village and BOE have agreed to with the public sector unions we contract with. Commuters and taxpayers getting screwed, a declining CBD, and a school system that no longer ranks highly in the nation are all facts”
Again,not sure what the Village Council has to do with the Ridgewood Board of Education, and all the residents voting for constant tax increases ie full day kindergarten and turf fields?
Other comments ecco the same shots taken against Killion ,“What proposals does the new Counxil have James? Rebuild Schedler (no conflicts of interest there, right?). Raise taxes to pay the police even more (again no conflicts, wink, wink)? Are we still studying traffic flow? Where’s the Valley PILOT? What’s the plan to renew the CBD? Commuter parking? How do we replace the potential tax revenues from Valley? Do we need such big, expensive police & fire depts if Valley is leaving in 3 years? Even you know the Village is in decline James, while Summit, Tenafly, Scarsdale and Greenwich all see the increase in their property values outpace ours. Why is that?”
This comment is so full of misinformation it ended up in our spam folder.
It all gets summed over and over by the following comments , The poster does have a decent point about commuters getting screwed by the vocal, anti-development, municipal-election voting majority in Ridgewood who control the Council agenda. Commuters are too busy to care much despite the fact the Council screws them at every turn, i.e. $250 annual increase to $1000 for a commuter parking space which was moved further away from Ridgewood station after the pass was paid for last Dec. Thanks VoR!
Anotherwords if we built the garagezilla and massive high-density housing all problems would be solved …. right that’s the ticket oy vey.
(Walnut lot aside town garage employee spaces less than 33 percent used 330 pm weds feb 8 2017)
Reader says , The commuters are generally the largest class of taxpayers with little voice as proven by the rushed misinformed December hail mary screw job just in time for the January to march slow season store wise.There needs to be accountability here to the homeowners commuters.we got screwed and the merchants did not deliver any actual volume employee pass wise.just parked this morning aside the town garage one employee parked car vs commuters slammed into the bank customers only aisle closer in Theres no accountability as usual. The $1000 vip pass should resign.cover up studies underway rope a dope..what a disgrace to taxpayers…
James – as I said, I am still waiting to hear to official explanation for why already high permit prices were raised even more, while simultaneously slashing slots and limiting access.
You counter by saying that the same would have happened had the garage been built. But at least in that case the justification would have been clear – higher $$ collected —> Garage.
What is the justification now? What is being built? Where is this money going? Who decided to collect this extra amount? Where will this be spent? Why were fees not cut in further out parking spots to attract people?
The Council has chosen to not answer, hoping that eventually people will give up. You seem to be a very vocal and aggressive defender of all Council moves. Looks like you are on the inside. So may be you can answer these questions?
COMMUTER PARKING AVAILABLE IN WYCKOFF – PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT
For Immediate Release
For further information
Contact: Joyce Santimauro Municipal Clerk
201-891-7000 ext. 101
2017 Permits Still Available for Commuter Park and Ride at Cornerstone Church
495 Wyckoff Avenue, Wyckoff
Approximately 50 commuter parking permits remain available on a first come, first served basis.
The fee for a non-resident commuter park and ride permit is $300.00. Non-residents may purchase one (1) permit per household.
Bus service to New York City is provided from the Park and Ride by Coach USA /Shortline bus service. A link to the schedule can be found here: (Please note: Coach USA names the stop as “Russell Ave and Wyckoff Ave P/R)
Parking permits can be purchased from the Township Clerk’s office at Town Hall, 340 Franklin Avenue, Wyckoff.
A current driver’s license must be provided by all commuter park and ride permit applicants.
Purchasing a park and ride permit does not guarantee a parking space.
Parking permits are non-transferable.
Replacement fee for a lost or stolen parking permit is $25.00.
The Cornerstone Church commuter park and ride program allows vehicles to park at this facility Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.
“Limiting demand”?
Really?
ENOUGH of the posturing bullshit.
ENOUGH of the “planning”
ENOUGH of the “studies”
Build the garage and ignore the social gadfly ilk that screwed the pooch the first time around. The CBD needs the garage, it’s not just for the restaurants but it sure as hell is for the commuters. That’s what we all do here…commute. Except for the no life to much time on their hands ambulance chasing news photographers…they have WAY to much time on their hands.
Mark Krulish , Staff Writer, @Mark_Krulish11:38 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2017
RIDGEWOOD — With the growth of online retailing, suburban downtowns have undergone a shift toward more service-based businesses. And with that shift has come a greater demand for parking.
Ridgewood is grappling with that need. Recognizing that changing times call for changing parking strategies, officials are taking a look at the village code.
Car park app offers users £10 reward to snitch on people parking illegally
i-Ticket pays a small commission to users who upload a picture of the vehicle and its registration number
Aatif Sulleyman
A private parking firm has created an app that promises to pay users to report illegally parked cars.
UK Car Park Management’s (UK CPM) i-Ticket app, which is available for free on Google Play and the App Store, pays a £10 commission to users who upload a picture of the vehicle and its registration number.
The company then uses DVLA data to send a £60 fine to the vehicle owner, a fee that rises to £100 if it isn’t paid within two weeks.
Paid $750 last year for a resident parking pass. Always found a parking spot at the either the Train Station, Chestnut or Hudson lots. Bought a $1000 RPP this year to have the same available lot options. Have yet been able to find spots in any of those lots since many of the spaces are now for shoppers. I am relegated to parking at the municipal lot on Walnut which is the furthest from the station. The plan to convert spaces from commuter to shopper spots was never brought up when I wrote my check in December. If this is the strategy going forward I guess we will have to vote in favor of a parking garage.
Ridgewood is a destination. If you park them they will come. Parking is not just for commuters. It’s for restaurant goers, shoppers and patrons of other businesses. But sadly that ship has sailed. So Ridgewood’s reputations as the town with no parking will continue to proliferate, drivers will continue circling as pedestrians continue having accidents, and the types of businesses we would like to attract will avoid us without assurance of parking for customers. Lack of forward thinking is keeping us locked in a past that is no longer viable and now the damage is beginning to show as businesses leave town. Ridgewood is not a mall, and we should not equate failing Macy’s or Sears with Ridgewood’s CBD, which offers a completely different experience of boutique shops and specialty stores, restaurants and pretty park. I don’t come to town to get my shoes fixed or my nails done. I come to Ridgewood because it’s a nice place to go. The parking garage was a good idea, the study was done, the plans were made – it should have moved forward
I do not commute to NYC so naturally I do not see commuter parking as the main problem for the CBD.
Online shopping has cut into the sales at Macy’s, Sears and other large dept stores. They and a lot of other retailers will be closing stores. This business dynamic is hurting local stores and large retailers.
What brings shoppers to town? Maybe it is time to do a CBD survey.
People now come to eat and run errands. I do not buy clothing in town. I go to the post office, bagle store, and drug store. I may not go often but the shoe repair shop is a godsend. I have lunch and dinner in town (not at the restaurants that were aggressively lobbying for the garage). BYOB makes great restaurants affordable.
I don’t know if you can draw shoppers back to town. The malls are having a difficult time keeping customers.
