February 2,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Village received 4 proposals for the Hudson street garage project. At last Wednesdays council meeting Village Manager Heather Mailander made it clear that the Wednesday review was a quick once over with more in-depth review to follow.
Reader says , “Several months ago Councilman Hache publicly (during an open public meeting of the Village Council) voiced his strong opposition to the construction of any sized parking garage that would result in either increased parking fees, expanded metered parking hours (he cited both of the aforementioned as simply “another form of taxation), and/or an increased property tax burden for homeowners.
Now, all of a sudden, he’s Gung Ho on proceeding with the review of parking garage designs even prior to the financials being discussed. He went so far as to publicly chastise Mayor Knudsen for “stalling” when she suggested that financing arrangements should be discussed first.
WTF Ramon? What gives? Why the sudden about face?”
Many readers pointed out that Councilmen Ramon Hache seemed very focused on pushing the garage project forward for both design and financing . While we are not sure we would agree with that assessment .
The garage issue has be bandied about for the better part of 30 maybe 40 years although some would trace it back to the time when parking meters were first introduced to the Central Business District in Ridgewood making it more like 60 years .
Frankly we think the issues should be moved forward or finally put to rest once and for all .We now 4 proposals coupled with proposals for financing . Either the garage makes sense or it does not .
An anti garage reader summed it up , “Why are we still arguing every week about a garage we don’t need.It’s become the national pastime in Ridgewood. It’s been happening for over 20 years.At this rate it will happen for twenty more. We voted it down and it refuses to die.Politicians continue to ignore the voice of the people and make side deals with developers.There are much better uses of our tax dollars that can be made in our Village’s infrastructure.Is there anyone on the council with some real vision?”
