The Ridgewood Blog Brings a Free Market Laissez-faire Point of View to Local, New Jersey State and National Issues.
A centralized “transit hub” might work for Hoboken, but Ridgewood is better served by having the bus and train stations physically separated because it helps distribute the traffic better.
editors note the picture is as close as we had available
The Corner of Franklin AND Maple Ave is quite narrow and burdened today especally due oncoming traffic who’s lagging
Left turn from light aside the side street real estate office where coming up into the Franklin intersection heading up towards Stop Shop direction
It’s chaos today.Big trucks have to make wide right turns there into waiting cars qued up for the light.
How to busses get back onto Ridgewood Ave towards route 17. Only way is to make another difficult left into straight traffic after queuing up in front on Bank america ..doesn’t work folks..these are country roads built for low volume low length vehicles
April 8,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, It’s often said that all it takes to change a person’s life – or the life of a business – is one big idea.
While it’s true that many individuals and businesses have gone a long way on the strength of a lone idea, plenty of others prospered even further because they are constantly innovating – coming up with one good idea after another.
“Businesses usually start out with an innovative idea,” says Mayur Ramgir (www.mayurramgir.com), president and CEO of Zonopact, Inc. “But they soon lose that innovative edge as they just try to survive with their day-to-day operations.”
Ramgir has seen the problem often while working with the clients of Zonopact, which provides companies with software products that help them streamline their processes, carving out more time for innovation.
“It’s easy to lose sight of your vision, and the kind of innovative thinking that got you to where you are, when you become bogged down in solving each day’s problems,” he says.
So why it is important that companies keep innovating?
• Other companies can claim your market share. Apple has become a perfect example of what a gap in innovation can leave. There hasn’t been much game-changing innovation from Apple since it released the iPad in 2010, thus giving its competition time to make up the ground that separated them from the tech juggernaut. Whether it was the death of Steve Jobs or another factor, there is no doubt that the technology gap has narrowed.
• Failure to meet consumer demands could put a company out of business. It was the late 1980s; hair was big, neon was cool and there was a Blockbuster Video Store on every corner. Fast forward to 2017, where the hairstyles have flattened out and Blockbuster is nowhere to be found. At least neon has made a nice comeback! Blockbuster failed to meet the changing demands of consumers who were going to their local grocery store or pharmacy to rent a movie out of what looked like a vending machine. As a result, the one-time $5 billion company was liquidated and now lives with the VHS tapes that used to fill its shelves.
• Lack of product-storage innovation hurts supply volume. It seems as though we hear the same story every year around Christmas; there is a hot item that every child has to have. The only problem is that there aren’t enough of the toys to go around, leaving plenty of disappointed faces around the tree on Christmas morning. Companies that do not have an innovative supply plan run the risk of falling short on getting products to their customers. This lack of foresight could give those customers an opportunity to walk away and discover other items.
“My advice to businesses out there is don’t stop,” Ramgir says. “Keep innovating and keep moving forward.”
About Mayur Ramgir
Mayur Ramgir (www.mayurramgir.com) is an International award-winning author, speaker, innovator and entrepreneur. Educated at Georgia Tech, MIT, Oxford and the University of Sussex, he currently serves as the President and CEO of the Boston-based Zonopact, Inc. An advocate of innovation, Ramgir’s book, “Unbarred Innovation: A Pathway to Greatest Discoveries,” was published in 2016. The book takes readers on a journey of self discovery and helps them realize that they are more than the sum of their parts.
file photo by Boyd Loving
Keep it two way. The posts asking for better signage are legit. And while the HS student story is sad, making it one way won’t change the danger of crossing the tracks. This is one more case of the Village Engineer’s idiocy! The average vehicle is 6′ wide. North Monroe (25mph) is approximately 29′ from curb to curb, between Fairmont and Patricia Ct – but No Parking on either side (even though there’s 17′ of clearance). Most cars coming up Glenwood from HoHoKus turn onto Hillcrest.. Whether you turn left or right on Hillcrest, between Hamilton and Fairmont the road average 21′ – 23; But there’s Parking on both sides of the street!!!. So if there’s a truck (which is wider than 6′) is parked on both sides of the street (like landscapers do in the summer) you have less than a foot of clearance – God forbid that a fire truck has to get through! So the same “brain trust” that puts this into place now wants to screw around with Glenwood.
photos courtesy of Boyd Lovings Facebook page
January 19,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, A two (2) vehicle collision on Route 17 southbound near the Old Paramus Reformed Church in Ridgewood backed up southbound traffic for miles on Wednesday morning, 01/18. Only one (1) southbound travel lane was open to traffic as crews worked to contain a crash related fluid spill and clear the roadway of wreckage & debris. The adult female driver of a black colored 4-door compact was transported by Ridgewood EMS ambulance to The Valley Hospital with non-life threatening injuries. An unmarked Paramus PD unit was the first on the scene; plain clothes officers provided shelter for the victim until Ridgewood units arrived. Ridgewood PD, FD, and EMS personnel responded to the incident.
file photo by Boyd Loving
So let me get this story straight and see if I have it right. PSEG schedules major work on Broad Street to commence in late September and run through the Christmas season. This is done when Roberta is still employed. The summer comes and goes, and Roberta goes…and goes. Then last week Tony Damiano gets up at a meeting and states that this is the worst possible time for the merchants, as they make most of their money in the 4th quarter. This makes sense, but it is hard to hear the sense in his message since he is all but accusing Mayor Knudsen of doing this on purpose to screw the merchants. As if she would do anything remotely like that, honestly, Damiano is insane. But I digress.
So the meeting ends at midnight or whenever, and Susan goes right to work the next day setting up a meeting with PSEG to see if they will change the time frame away from the Christmas season. In a text exchange with Damiano, she tells him she will be meeting with PSEG and encourages him to give her any input or insights before she meets with them. He does not do so.
On Monday morning at 10:00 she meets with PSEG, along with Rutishauser and (in the absence of Heather who was off) Janet Fricke. Mayor Knudsen manages to accomplish a major victory, because she gets the giant utility company to change their dates. This happens because Susan is very pleasant and diplomatic. We know that the PSEG folks DESPISED Aronsohn because he was such an Atilla the Hun with them, bossing them around through the hurricane aftermath.But now we have a mayor who is pleasant, polite, professional, and easy to get along with.
Mayor Knudsen immediately composes a press release to let everyone know that the dates have been changed, but before she can send it Mr. Damiano in his great arrogance sends out a victory letter taking full credit for accomplishing the date change. Un-effing-believable. He was NOT in the meeting, but he takes full credit for this. He does not acknowledge Mayor Knudsen, he does not thank Mayor Knudsen, and in fact he goes on to write some very snarky and sarcastic comments about her. He accuses the Mayor of trying to stick it to the merchants, instead of thanking her for solving the problem. And then he goes on to posture that he will be doing direct negotiations with PSEG moving forward for any work they want to schedule. What???? Damiano is not an elected official, he is not an employee of the Village. He has ZERO authority to schedule any utility work in this town.
In the end, Mayor Knudsen took the right approach, solved the problem, and took the high road in the face of incredible invective from Tony Damiano as well as Troll Halaby.
We are all so grateful for Mayor Knudsen. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
The bike lane to nowhere was was an idiotic attempt by Roberta to show she could do something, ,anything , constructive and it turned into a nightmare, It was a complete waste of money and it failed to achieve the goals of increased safety and increased vehicle thru-put that were touted by Village Management as a major goal. The fact is this project turned into a giant waste of taxpayer money with no identifiable benefit to the Village, All who were involved in planning ,executing, managing and promoting this stupid project should be let go immediately. We need smart people to solve our problrms not idiots who have no idea what they are doing.
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, PSE&G work in Ridgewood is causing major traffic impact for the Ridgewood and makes the central business district almost inaccessible.
As previously posted on this blog a Traffic Alert “beginning Friday 7/8/16 W.Glen Ave will be closed between Oak Street and Upper Boulevard while PSE&G continues their gas main replacement project from 7am to 4pm Monday through Friday for approximately 2 weeks as the crew works through the train trestle. This will have an impact on traffic traveling west and east through Ridgewood. Traffic will be diverted to the Franklin Ave Underpass for cars. Trucks will be diverted to Wyckoff Ave in Waldwick due to height restrictions. Officers will be deployed to critical intersections to assist the traffic flow. Please plan an alternate route if possible.”
Towns facing these dilemmas have turned to professional planning groups and we need to do the same. One was outlined in the auditions at BF for the multi-family studies the village did. The professional planners from BFJ Planning https://www.bfjplanning.com/ came and talked about how they worked with places like Bedford, NY as they talk about here:https://youtu.be/FEfkeQQJn4I?t=2h5m20s
Our planner is outgunned for the jump, he’s part time, has limited experience and has not seen the scale of assault that this village is under. We need to redirect our spend in planning to real pros who do this work at scale, have far broader experiences and deeper expertise. The answer to the questions is not the same old pap that Al and Paul and others use when they site the 1967 study. The future is coming, our village is lacking the expertise in planning and far too influenced by the local developer and the big CBD landowners to get it right with out outside expertise.
Lawyers for two former associates of Gov. Christie have hit back at government prosecutors, insisting that their clients violated no laws and broke no Port Authority policies when they allegedly closed access lanes to the George Washington Bridge to exact political revenge on a New Jersey mayor. Paul Berger, The Record, Read more
The full page ad from the Garage Cabal was an insult. It had Roberta’s exasperated catch phrase “enough is enough”. Well, I am fed up to, but I am fed up with our local government. Look at the list of signers in the ad. I recognize many of the names of business owners and residents who make their living working for these businesses (architect, PR guy). We also have some Financial Advisory Committee and Historic Preservation members. And then there are the hangers-on Don, Tim and Rurick. They did not make the list alphabetical because you would be able to see that entire families signed the petition just to make it look like a ground swell of supporters.
We are on the cusp of overdevelopment and everyone is grabbing for what they can get. The businesses care only about themselves. If business was not profitable they would have moved on to another town. They stay because they make a buck – good for them. I did not move to Ridgewood 27 years ago for the restaurants and banking opportunities. I moved because I liked the community as a whole.
Build the right-sized garage in downtown Ridgewood and limit high density housing. Thankfully we will soon have a new council and I hope that they can slow things down. I am not against change. Planned development can be a good thing. We are a community first, not a shopping center.
Look carefully at those running for a seat on the council. Two are FAC members (we need a separate thread just about this group – what exactly is their function?) who supported the garage in its original form. A third person seems to have nothing to do with the garage/development issue (The Manchurian Candidate). He is bff with Vaggianos and would like to help out his friend on the development side.
That leaves us with three other candidates. They have posted things on this site and social media. They are explaining their positions. I am listening carefully. We don’t want Englewood and Montclair as our models for a downtown. We have something unique here and we have to be careful not to destroy it.
Ridgewood NJ, We asked Council Candidate Ramon M. Hache on his thoughts on the high density housing and here is what he said ,”I am a proponent of responsible development and protecting our community from the wrong development. We need to carefully decide on projects that will make our town better without sacrificing the corevalues and character that make Ridgewood the special place we are proud to call our home.”
Ramon then gave us more specifics ,”In terms of high density housing, all the zones around our CBD are currently being considered for a density of 35 units per acre. There are currently four areas under consideration and three zoning changes proposed. Although each area is unique and needs to be analyzed individually, I am comfortable with an average density of 20-24 UPA. This is more in line with the total average throughout the CBD. ”
As for the studies ,” Traffic and pedestrian safety are very important when analyzing the various projects. The impact to schools is a different issue and needs to be looked at collectively for all sites. Although the recent studies suggest there would be a minimal impact to the schools, we all know that Ridgewood is known for its schools and exceptional program for special needs children. Therefore, I would be cautious to solely rely on the student enrollment projections which did not take into account the fact that it could cost around $100,000 a year to educate special needs children.”
Ramon went on saying ,”Ideally, I would rather see us approve one of the proposed zoning changes first. It could provide a good ratable and we could get real-world data on the actual amount of new students attending the schools. We need ratables to finance many of the needed improvements and for stabilizing property taxes.”
We also asked about his thoughts on the fact that the issue is being decided by council members who are leaving office ? Ramon
emphasized , “the current council needs to work together for the welfare of the entire community and make decisions as if they were not going to be replaced by a new council.”
One of the highlights of the evening for Gwenn Hauck was when she referred to resident Dana Glazer’s GoPro harness as resembling a ‘terrorist.’ That was fun.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4tu7t64fy0qnge/2016-03-10%2001.25.42.mp4?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/jvpd8a7iiorvp8s/2016-03-10%2001.31.22.mp4?dl=0
So there you have it three council members who are not running again are going to make decisions that will change Ridgewood forever.
file photo by Boyd Loving
JANUARY 14, 2016 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 14, 2016, 3:17 PM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Village Council decided this week to go forward with multifamily housing impact studies on education, municipal planning, fiscal impact and traffic, hiring three firms to complete the work.
Ross Haber Associates (education), RBA Group (traffic) and BFJ Planning/Urbanomics (fiscal and municipal planning) were selected for the studies.
A special public meeting was held in the Benjamin Franklin Middle School auditorium on Tuesday, and featured interviews with five consulting firms.
Presentations
Ross Haber Associates recently conducted a study for the Ridgewood Board of Education on the feasibility of full-day kindergarten.
Haber explained that his studies for the village would be focused on what financial impact the new additions would have on Ridgewood schools.
“Would these new students in any way, shape or form impact the budget?” he asked. “Would it require the hiring of new staff? Might the expansion include construction in the schools if needed? Would you need additional crossing guards?
“This is not to say that any of these things are going to happen,” Haber said, “this is to say these things could happen.”
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Reader says new bike lane by the Ridgewood train station appears very ill-conceived, dangerous and might not be legal in New Jersey
The new bike lane by the Ridgewood train station strikes me as very ill-conceived, and frankly, dangerous. It is the first bike lane I have ever seen that crosses over from the right shoulder into a space between two car lanes. The fact that it is on a sharp decline, just after a hard right turn, and just before a busy intersection, makes it even worse.
https://theridgewoodblog.net/reader-says-new-bike-lane-by-the-ridgewood-train-station-appears-very-ill-conceived-dangerous-and-might-not-be-legal-in-new-jersey/
Ridgewood NJ, Almost one year later the “Traffic Easing “project continues to appear ,”very ill-conceived, and frankly, dangerous”. When this project was initially hatched a project no one in town including some very long term residents had ever heard of until ground was basically broken.
At the time the Village Manager assured us that there were no traffic issues at Garber Square. Where as any resident knows that by 7:15 am on any given day there are cars backed up West Ridgewood Ave, waiting to get through the light or into the train station. The same can be said at the end of the day. With some days heavy traffic extends throughout the morning.
This really was seen by many as the tipping point of “trust factor” for those in charge. Residents organized as a community to challenge this decision and were categorically dismissed as not wanting change, NIMBY’s and not knowing what we were talking about.
Traffic study? Who needs that? We will calibrate the traffic lights to make it all better. We know better than you guys do. Well, unfortunately the bikers ,for fear of their lives have not come but the traffic sure has. Now the projects and the stakes are getting much bigger than a poorly thought out bike lane of death or an obnoxious flashing sign telling passing motorists to eat and shop in Ridgewood. Residents continue to be told , rest assured everything has been carefully thought out and planned by professionals. These projects so far certainly don’t seem to show that and one wonders why some many residents don’t view the town council as having the residents best interests in mind with these projects.
