Frank Geraghty

Ridgewood NJ, on a busy afternoon when a WAGON or another BIG VEHICLE is parked on first spot outside Cafe 37 on S.Broad Street in Ridgewood and when all other parking spots are filled behind, this creates a big problem on a busy day. Cars making left turn from Hudson street will have their vision totally blocked by a BIG vehicle and cannot see fast moving cars approaching from their left & have to hope these cars will not move fast.(see photos). The frightened driver is so preoccupied making the left turn into a blind spot that the motorist completely forgets about pedestrians & traffic coming from the right. The driver always looks like a fool as he or she has to take abuse from motorists in both directions. After failing to find a solution, the town blamed two stores in the intersection. “The Bamboo House” which has a big “Take Out Orders” sign in front window & Super Cellars store next door are now barred from pick-ups & drop offs outside their premises with two big cones attached by tape and a bright yellow paint job which looks so cheap and more like a crime scene from a third world country permanently installed by the village.  Mayor Paul Vagianos who is in the restaurant business should get involved as this would not be allowed to happen next to his restaurant. The bamboo House depends a lot on fast pick ups from outside. Some Mount Carmel parishioners just a few yards away prefer to drive the wrong way into Mt Carmel parking lot for 5;30 mass on a Saturday rather than take a chance on that left turn if a big vehicle is parked in that first spot. The solution to this problem where fender benders have occurred is to remove that first ‘PARKING SPOT” outside Cafe 37. this will give “HUGE VISIBILITY TO  MOTORISTS” making that left turn. The town can then remove all the ugly warning signs from the street outside these two premises in S.Broad street and go back to its elegant self.

Continue reading Hudson Street & Broad Street blind Spot in Ridgewood’s Central Business District