December 4,2015
Boyd A. Loving
Editor, The Ridgewood Blog:
Re: “Planned garage a plus for Ridgewood,” The Ridgewood Blog, November 29.
Mr. Don Delzio’s letter fails to state the obvious; the reason there has been no progress for decades on the construction of a parking garage in downtown Ridgewood is the repeated inability to cost justify such a project. And the current plan to fund a new garage by significantly increasing metered parking rates and extending the times during which municipally provided parking must be paid for, has not yet been fully vetted. This leaves a very strong possibility that Ridgewood’s predominantly residential taxpayer base could wind up footing the bill for a project that would do absolutely nothing to increase residential property values.
With regard to a controversial “anonymous mailer” that opposed construction of the garage, Mr. Delzio failed to mention that the hundreds of lawn signs and flyers promoting construction of the garage, displayed at publicly and privately owned properties throughout Ridgewood, were also anonymous in that no sponsoring individual, organization, nor business name was printed on any of them. Only after Election Day was it revealed that those printed materials were paid for by the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce. And despite Ridgewood Mayor Paul Aronsohn’s claim that “no one was willing to take responsibility for the mailer . . . ,” at least one (1) individual who contributed to its production and distribution has come forward publicly on two (2) separate occasions.
Finally, Mr. Delzio’s suggestion that no member of the Village Council should consider voting anything but yes to bond a parking garage because there was “overwhelming voter support for the project,” implies that there is no room in Ridgewood for dissenting opinions. I say let those who we elected base their decisions on the facts and data at hand and not be swayed by opinions from voters, some of whom may have been misinformed, or who voted based on perceptions, not facts.
