photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook page
January 12,2018
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, thankfully no injuries were reported following a Thursday morning, 01/11, rollover crash at the intersection of Garber Square and West Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood. The vehicle’s adult female driver was evaluated by Emergency Medical Technicians and declined ambulance transportation to a local hospital. Ridgewood Police, Fire, and EMS personnel responded to the incident. The flipped 4-door passenger sedan was righted and removed from the scene by a flatbed tow truck.
The incident of the flipped car in Wilsey Sguare reflect the hazards predicted to arise from the Arohnson Council’s changes to our Village infrastructure.
Everyone knew the Wilsey sguare changes were a disaster waiting to happen: The bike lane, the wall, the intrusion of the wall into the square and, of course, the 42nd street neon sign falshing messages to already distracted drivers. The traffic back up each morning is horrific. Each day, pedestrians are at risk.
The Arohnson council was also warned of the consequences inherent in its decision to dump a private business into the middle of a public park and playground at Hillcrest park. Other examples abound.
But we haven’t seen anything yet. Pretty soon, the four massive Arohnson Coucil apartment projects will break ground andl begin building at the same time. Dump trucks and construction vehicles will be barreling through our downtown and side streets day after day for the next year. And then, when the projects are completed and hundreds of new families move into our downtown, we will have somewhere between 300 and 900 cars going down our already overcrowded streets.
Its foolish to think those new families and current Village residents won’t be put at risk by these changes. Yet, what are we doing to prepare? What is the current council doing to anticipate and prevent more occurences like the accident we just saw. Pointing fingers at the Arohnson council or at each other doesn’t help. Bad planning decisions have consequences. Yes, blame for the bad planning of the Arohnson council rightfully belong in its lap and on its conscience. However, the blame game doesn’t improve our safety. The current council needs to take affirmative steps now, or the results of its inaction will impinge on the safety of our Village citizens for years to come. It is not clear what it is doing to keep people safe. Moreover, it seems the current council may be headed in the wrong direction. If the current council goes through with a garagemahal in the middle of the new apartment complex, it will only exacerbate the problems by dumping another 200 cars on so into those same narrow, overcrowded streets.
Time for action now.