Thank God people spoke. I want to Thank all of those who took the lead on this. Those who so forcefully pushed this monster are the worst enemies of our village. I have been driving around all weekend day or night and have found PLENTY of parking at every corner and not farther than 5 mins away to walk to ant restaurant or store. Our village is lovely the way it is, it just needs improvements but nothing major. I hope the new council identifies the obvious and doesn’t try to reinvent the wheel with monstrous “investments”.
We need a garage. Parking is not a problem All the time but there are peak crunch times that are maddening.
I have lived here 30 years and this has been discussed since I moved here. Build a nice garage. It will not usher in the end of civilization.
Disagree 650. Have lived here 50 years and don’t believe we need a garage at this site at all.
We voted FOR a garage in November, then we voted AGAINST the oversized garage.
We need the right garage in the right location. I think we are done imagining that there is no need at all.
Remember, when put to a vote residents voted for a garage.
6:50
In order to avoid the maddening situation at crunch time, there is technology available that shows where open spots are at every moment. And yes there are open spots at every moment. You just might have to walk a block or two.
Come to think of it, that would be a good site for a firehouse….
Agree with 8:31am i very seldom have a parking problem you just may have to walk a couple of blocks.
Lest. you forget, 8:59, the vote in November was completely tainted because Aronsohn and company misled the voters HUGELY into thinking they were just voting for some sort of parking solution. People who voted yes at that time later admitted they were completely mistaken and did not realize that Aronsohn and his cronies were trying to shove through a monster garage the likes of which could serve Garden State Plaza. The vote in June was honest and transparent, everyone who voted knew exactly what they were voting for. And this was in spite of the fact that Aronsohn, Roberta, and Gwenn went out of their way to spend our money on a propaganda video.
One current council member admitted publicly during the campaign in the spring that he had been among those bamboozled by lies and omissions about the garage (he did not put it quite that way) and voted yes in the November referendum. He was among many. Had a true depiction and description been made available, including the fact that the thing was going to Occupy Hudson Street, and if it had been explained, as was the case, that a “yes” vote was not for a concept, but for the largest drawing–formally “approved,” by mayoral fiat, by the Historic Preservation Commission’s relatively new chair (appointed by the then-mayor), without checking with the members, and by the mayor’s personally created and hand-picked Financial Advisory Committee–how many residents would have agreed to it? Only those with something to gain, those who pay no attention, and those whose finger slipped in the voting booth. I think the “yes” votes would have amounted to about 150, including mistakes.
Screw the Garage propagandists and supporting Garage merchants.
They lined up, lied,and called the towns taxpayers fools .Then they bet big and lost even bigger. The heavy hitting Restauranteurs for the most part have Valet Services in place and those young people seem to be doing a great job .case closed.PS not on my dime…
Parking issue is dead. The anti-development majority doesn’t want it. Let’s move on, there are more pressing issues…
Ridgewood needs a reasonably sized parking “deck”. The standard response seems to be “let them walk a block or two”. If you are elderly, handicapped, or simply have a stroller and a few kids, that is not so easy. Unfortunately, there are people for whom “walking a block or so” is a real problem. Do we need a garage? Unless they can add a lot of handicapped parking places and “only for mothers with children” spots, we may need one. It would clear some of this long-term employee parking (if they were highly penalized for not parking there) and free up spots for others.
5.44 clearly a circular logic in play here.We are a small town,we can’t provide endless parking options for any possible scenario including parents with Kids,Elder parking at most facilities outside of handicap and other legally required accommodations.Im some situations the driver has to drop off the elders or other challenged family member at the events door front ,,example Knights or Columbus Hall or church event,then the driver safely parks the car and returns to the event on foot.
7:56 You are ignoring that many of the drivers themselves are handicapped. And we cannot allot much of our parking to specialized interests. BUT, and this is a big BUT, we must find someway to get the employees off the street and into long term parking places. Ridgewood has tried chalking the tires but employees simply move them to cover the chalk, or even in some cases, have actually wiped the chalk from their tires. Years ago, when we had a more vibrant downtown that one wanted to visit during the day, chalking was much more effective though we still had employees doing the above so “they didn’t have to walk a block or so.”
Tried to find parking 9/17/16 Saturday night for my friends bachelor party dinner. Got to the village at 7:30pm couldn’t find a spot after 40minutes. Went home with out going to the dinner.
should have taken pictures
338…you had a ton of spaces within 1 block of the mammoth garage. South of the park on Broad, Passaic, Prospect and Union
@3:38 I do not believe you at all. Clearly you did not try Cottage lot, lot near the GAP, etc. Circling around the park doesn’t really count