
photo of Chestnut street
August 1,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blogRidgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog has spent the last couple of months talking to merchants, residents, readers, and insiders in order to get to get a full picture of the parking problems the Village faces. We boiled down the responses to the simplest terms.
Employee parking : At 930 am Chestnut street is full of parked cars , none of the stores are open so one can only assume employees are parking in all the spots,
Ken Smith Employee parking : Most feel $80 bucks a month seems a bit stiff for restaurant and retain workers .
Meter parking enforcement hours : Merchants felt their customers were paying for parking while restaurant guests were not . Some suggested longer meter hours , say till 9 pm with a reduction in parking rates as a way to better spread out the pain.
Valet Parking :Many merchants felt about all the Valet parking only added to the parking problems taking even more spots away from potential customers as well as the general disrespectful attitude or the employees or the Valet Parking companies.
Parking App: Many felt the over 55 set would be resistant , and almost everyone felt it eliminated the quick in and out shoppers by making parking to much work as well as the App made parking even more expensive.
Garage Location : While many merchants liked the idea of a garage they also voiced concerns about the location and the anticipated traffic tie ups when parkers enter and exit.
Garage : NJT Commuters from other towns would take the spots and add nothing to the local economy except more congestion.
Taxpayers : Almost everyone asked why aren’t developers , NJT, merchants and restaurants contributing to paying for parking , they are ones benefiting.
Parking fees : Many felt Ridgewood was pricing itself out ,with fees being to high .