Reader says,”The main issue seems to be that we are “governed” by provincial thinkers with an employee mindset, and who’ve never had to worry about running an actual business”

“it seems to me that the Ridgewood Village council are hell bent on destroying local businesses. Who would have thought that Ridgewood would have the same, bloody-minded, corrupt and self-destructive “administration” as NYC? Why are they so determined to finish off the local economy?

With the reinstatement of parking meters (and so, ticketing) and the favoritism shown to restaurants such as Greek To Me over others, it is baffling how they think this is any kind of helpful strategy for business development. I use the term business development, as it falls precisely at the Village adminintration’s feet to help develop business, and help businesses flourish – thus this brings more revenue, more prosperity and more taxes for the Village. The local apparatchik, however, sees no such responsibility as part of their duty to serve us.

Someone in the “upper-echelons” of the Village has even instructed the RPD not to enforce overnight parking restrictions on the stretch of E Ridgewood Ave, between Maple and Irving, so as to push the few visitors up into the paid parking zone. Well, it worked. The stretch is now fully parked by lazy E Ridgewood residents who leave their vehicles there for weeks, months, even!
The latest “initiative” by the Village is to “persuade Bank of America on Maple to employ a security detail for their massively underutilized parking lot and, again, drive visitors up into the paid zone.
You would think, as they are so desperate for revenue, that they would want to come up with a better initiative than the sorry one they currently have.

What’s wrong with pedestrianizing the whole of E Ridgewood north of Maple to the train station 24/7, and have the shiny new parking lot free to visitors for 4 hours? This would bring many others in from surrounding towns, and help stop the losses.

The main issue seems to be that we are “governed” by provincial thinkers with an employee mindset, and who’ve never had to worry about running an actual business. The result is siloed “stinking thinking” that spends $51 Million a year, without worrying an ounce where it came from, and where it will come from in the future. Fellow Ridgewood tax-payers, we are being “lead” by a council fastidiously modeled on a poorly run town home owners association. What chance do we have for a good future? Astonishing.”