Not one of the current or former council members have ever stated publicly why they think that the new apartments are good for Ridgewood. These developments are just causing more issues for our already stretched budget and resources.
Last summer, we were forced to obey restrictions on watering our lawns due to a water shortage. Because I followed the rules, my lawn died. What will happen when the water demand is increased because of these new apartments? why is this good for Ridgewood?
why is this good for our schools? (my child’s class class size is close to 30)
why is this good for people who walk or drive through our town? (it is already congested)
why is this good for anyone besides the developers?
WHY DID WE LET THEM IN?
Ridgewood NJ, We are just two days away from our 2018 Gala, and we are definitely feeling the love in the air around us! We can’t wait to share our full concert version of Trial by Jury, along with other Gilbert & Sullivan favorites, with you all!
Help Ridgewood Gilbert & Sullivan celebrate the beginning of their 2018 Season at our annual Gala!
Sunday, February 11 at 3pm at Twin Door Tavern (122 W Pleasant Ave, Maywood, NJ)
Since our Gala is so close to Valentine’s Day, we will be celebrating love in the works of Gilbert & Sullivan. The afternoon will feature a full concert performance of Trial by Jury, which takes place in a world where breaking off an engagement in a crime that can be tried in court! The Gala will also feature love songs from other Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, sung by our all-star cast of company members.
General admission tickets are $25 each, and for $40 you can get a ticket and a full buffet lunch/dinner! A cash bar will also be available at the venue.
Ridgewood NJ, “Fort Paramus”? believe it or not, there almost was. here’s the design submitted to Washington after the British raided the American outpost there repeatedly in 1780. Paramus church is at the center of the main fortifications with outerworks extending to the north and east above the banks of the Saddle River; cross the ravine that Rt 17 now passes through, and coming back in front of the house in front of the church, all to control the approach and bridge in the low ground in front of the church. It could just as well be called “Fort Ridgewood” since that’s where it would have been.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on February 4, patrol units responded to 8 Godwin Avenue on a report of an assault in progress. Upon arrival, patrol located both parties which were involved in the physical altercation. Neither party wanted to sign criminal complaints and both refused medical attention at the scene. While investigating the incident, one involved party was found to have an active warrant for arrest out of North Arlington, N.J. so officers arrested the 19-year-old male from Glen Rock, N.J. The North Arlington Police were notified and the arrestee was later released on his own recognizance after a new court date was provided.
Ridgewood NJ, at last nights council meeting Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser gave an update on the Village of Ridgewood ‘s Complete Streets Program.
“A complete street is a transportation facility that is planned, designed, operated, and maintained to provide safe mobility for all users, including bicyclists, pedestrians, transit vehicles, truckers, and motorists, appropriate to the function and context of the facility.” The idea is to take into account pedestrians, cars and bicycles as well as beauty and ADA requirements .
Councilwoman Bernie Walsh commented that the Village and Citizen safety have to do a better job at disseminating problem areas and what the Village’s response will be to address those problems.
Readers often comment on the poor conditions of the roads in town , Walsh felt that if more residents were informed on what’s going on and why it would help alleviate some confusion.
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.
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?
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Historical Society is looking for sponsors for its next exhibit . Next week the official poster is off to the printer. There is one more week for businesses to join our sponsors to be listed on this poster and other promotional materials.
Join the Ridgewood Historical Society by supporting this exhibit and our mission to provide a place of historic artifacts, history and education to our local schools and families right here in Ridgewood. To sponsor The Thread of Life exhibit, please call 201-447-3242 .
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood water is looking to purchase a new water smart software ,the idea is to create a customer portal to offer better customer service and on demand access to customer account information . While we applaud Ridgewood water for moving into the 20th century ,maybe even the 21st century, issues were raised as to the cost ,integration and maintenance of the system . The mayor cleared up a few things when she realized there were some errors in the draft documents the Village made available to residents .
Mayor Knudsen ,” VC is providing “sunshine” binders allowing unprecedented access to DRAFT documents in the spirit of transparency. Typically there are errors and omissions in DRAFT documents and those are corrected before the public meeting when adopted by resolution. No different in this instance. I immediately noticed the errors and made notes for the Village Manager and Director Calbi. My meeting notes reflect a considerably lower cost based on a three year contract while the draft resolution shows the one time setup cost lumped with the total for the 3 year contract.At the right price the analytic software will provide valuable information and help with conservation efforts.I’m always happy to answer questions and going forward will have ALL binder documents marked as DRAFT. ”
What concerns us is the data collection bills have been know to be inaccurate . If Ridgewood water collects inaccurate data then the ability of the analytics will be compromised . This goes to the root of the problem . Ridgewood Water once again redirected the conversation toward consumer conservation , yet still no word on where the water is going to come from for all the high density projects going up in town.
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..
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Police report that on February 5th, Ptl. Zachary Knudsen responded to Valley National Bank located on 103 Franklin Avenue on a report of the bank discovering damage to the ATM machine on the premise. Upon arrival a bank ATM technician was on scene and reported the ATM was inspected and determined to have been compromised by an unknown actor altering the internal components of the machine between 2/3/18 and 2/5/18.
The Ridgewood Detective Bureau and Valley National Bank are investigating the incident. Any person who utilized the ATM machine at the above location should contact Valley National Bank and monitor your account and report any fraudulent activity.
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.
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.
RIDGEWOOD NJ, Special Properties Real Estate Services, LLC, an exclusive affiliate of Christie’s International Real Estate, welcomes Miriam Barnard to its Ridgewood, NJ office as a Realtor® Associate. The addition of Barnard is part of the agency’s continued expansion in Ridgewood and throughout the region.
Miriam comes to Special Properties with a number of years of hands-on real estate investment experience. This experience has helped her build a respect and appreciation for the entire real estate process, and gives her the benefit of having a dual understanding of the perspectives of the home buyer/seller and now the perspective that comes from being a full-time realtor. She is enthusiastic about the opportunity to help new buyers, as well as sellers, through her access to the Highly regarded marketing and sales resources offered by both Christie’s and Special Properties.
Miriam has been a resident of Bergen County since 1999, when she moved to Ridgewood from Hoboken with her husband and four children. Now a resident of Ho-Ho-Kus, she continues to be active in her community and in her children’s schools. While in Ridgewood, Miriam was a member and served on the board of the village’s Newcomer’s Club and was actively involved with the Ridgewood Public Schools. Currently, she is active in fundraising for Bergen Catholic High School, where her sons are students. Her noted accomplishment for Bergen Catholic is the establishment of the Senior Class Graduation Sign Fundraiser. She is also an active member of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Ridgewood.
In her spare time, Miriam enjoys reading, cooking, and hiking with her family. The family has hiked up and down the east coast and in several locations in Europe. Miriam is a graduate of the College of Saint Elizabeth with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
About Special Properties Real Estate Services
Special Properties Real Estate Services embraces the history and traditions of its flagship brokerage location in Saddle River, NJ, into an expanded, modern presence in Mahwah, Franklin Lakes, and Ridgewood, NJ. With a staff of accomplished real estate brokers, its clients across northern New Jersey and southern New York are provided with customized, personalized services, backed by the luxury real estate brand of Christie’s International Real Estate. Special Properties provides local expertise with global connections. For more information, call (201) 962-9552.
A garage is needed. I’m willing to accept that the size of such a facility is up to debate but in my opinion, as unpopular as it may be in this echo chamber, it is needed. It’s presence will not destroy the character of the town but will improve the quality our visits to downtown and the health of our businesses.There are plenty of other wealthier towns that have such a facility and their characters and/or home values have not be eviscerated.
As to the size of the proposed housing developments. I think there is room for good debate there as to whether the scope of the developments is appropriate for the downtown or whether they should have been allowed in the first place. I will say however that the empty lots that exist now are eyesores.
