Nice letter in the Ridgewood News from Mr. Halaby…in order to keep the CBD viable in 30 years, we should build the garage, which in turn will revitalize the CBD and make our grandchildren proud. Funny that some are willing to spend $10 million plus on a garage but will debate and attack the Schedler plans to no end( I am neither pro or con at the moment). Give me a break. Welcoming the future is not looking 5 years out sir….even looking out 2 years, it’s very clear that this town needs to adapt to the dominance of online shopping and the increased use of car services like Uber. This garage is not the future. In listening to Mr McCandless at the council meeting, where he clearly and concisely pointed out that this town does not have a parking shortage, i find it incredible how one can argue that this garage will solve an imminent problem in this town. This council needs to deal in the world of facts, not unicorns and rainbows….taxes are already high and agreeing to build this garage on the belief that it will solve a non existent problem is not what you were voted onto the council to do. The argument that this has been debated for 40 years and so we should build it is laughable. In 1980, maybe they should have built one, and we’d probably be arguing today on how to get rid of it. The current and future council members have got to be way more fiscally responsible then they have been, this towns tax base is not a piggy bank for special interests and backdoor dealmakers.
Mr. Halaby, if you still reside in the village 30 years from now, it will be virtually unrecognizable. Unprofitable businesses leave all the time, and now they they are closing their doors for 2 reasons: the rent is too damn high and their goods/services can be bought somewhere else a lot less $$. None have to do with parking. Do you think you’ll still own or drive a car in 2048? Think again. The VC can stop the madness and move on to more important matters, like selling Ridgewood Water.
And repairing roads please. Especially hillcrest
And figuring out where our drinking water will come from over the next 30 years…
You believe he wrote that letter? Came from Mrs. H. for sure. Part of some nefarious Aronsohn-inspired plan to soften the old boy’s image. Won’t work.
We don’t need a garage except to fulfill the new builders’ parking problems. It certainly is not located for the convenience of Ridgewood residents. Other towns’ commuters, probably. New apartment dwellers, definitely. Ridgewood residents, no need at all. Please, council, bring your vision up to date. Quit considering the response that “we want it” from years ago. That was before Uber, before Amazon Prime, before the resources available now that were nonexistent years ago when we last voted. All negate the necessity of a garage both now and especially in the future.
The key questions for garage or no garage need clear answers.
1. What is the real situation with supply and demand of parking in downtown Ridgewood? There has been an abundance of sound and fury about how there is no shortage of parking and just as much about how often there are no parking spaces for consumers. We seem to have nothing more than anecdotal “evidence”. How about actual analysis?
2. How is parking used right now? How much of the parking is used by patrons of Rwood businesses, how much by commuters (resident and non resident), how much by employees of Rwood businesses?
3. How are the current parking spots allocated? Does the current allocation of dedicated employee parking work or is much of that parking going unused, putting a squeeze on available parking for consumers?
4. Which businesses could reasonably be expected to succeed or even grow in downtown Rwood? Will the trend toward restaurants and away from shopping continue?
5. Would a garage end up serving non-residents more than residents? If a garage were built, how could/should the parking fees and rules assure that the main benefit of the parking would go to Rwood taxpayers?
6. Bottom line – Is a garage needed or should the village reconfigure the existing parking?
7. What are the costs and benefits of running the current parking fee system? How much, if any, money is generated? Would Rwood be better off with free downtown parking (a system used by many surrounding towns)?
In my 24 years in Rwood, the village has spent huge sums studying the parking garage situation, without ever fixing anything. The money spent on studies over that time probably exceed the cost of building a parking structure. What a waste.