The Village Manager is correct. There currently is a parking surplus on several days during the week and on weekends. This information conflicts with data compiled over the years by trained parrking professionals who performed studies of the parking situation in Ridgewood.
So what has happened ?? Ridgewood did have a severe parking problem as outlined in study after study conducted by professionals over the past 89 years. More recently observations have been made by residents and others that the parking problem is not nearly as severe as heretofore thought. The question then is what has changed ? It is this writers belief there has been a fundamental and dramatic shift the way people shop…..and to a lesser extent how they dine. The web has deciminated retail stores both large and small and this is not going to change.More and more people prefer to shop online and this trend shall remain.
Downtown shopping may become obsolete as virtually anything you desire is only a few clicks away ….and can be delivered. right to your doorstep. The problem we are facing is the death of the traditional “downtown” as we know it. Businesses and restaurants will leave, empty buildings will profilerate and what was once described as a vibrant but “quaint” downtown comprised of older buildings containing a wide mix of tenants will suddenly be preceived as seedy and tired when vacancies rise and business flee town.
What will the new Council do to turn this toxic situation around and restore the vitality of the downtown. Some aergue that a garage would provide the majic cure. While it may help it will not provide the elixir that will get the CBD back on its feet again. It will take a garage AND a lot of work to re-build a downtown that can effectively compete with web providers and mega -stores. We can do it but it will cost money ….lots of it and it will take a comprehensive plan….whcih unfortunately no one seems interested in undertaking and.nor do we even have the skills to create such a plan. At present Ridgewood is in the worst possible position