The 5-6 parking spaces are being deleted because of the sidewalk? No, They are being removed because the new building deleted the old sidewalk.
Storeowners are behind the parking. The HPC member who is a storeowner and former Chamber of Commerce president should not be voting. It is a conflict of interest. Someone in a different post siggested that another HPC member owned the building next to the garage. Is that true and was he allowed to vote? It How do so many people with conflicts get on the HPC?
I did a renovation more than ten years ago needed a variance, the architect suggested that we get planning HPC approval even though we are not in a designated historic area. The HPC agonized about how the addition would fit in with our neighborhood of old homes.
The current committee is very lenient. They do not seem to care about the historic district and what the impact will be on the neighborhood. the garage overwhelms the neighborhood. I am shocked that the HPC cannot see this.
Mr Damiano, you had to use your real name. It would have been hard to defend your mailed-in decision if you posted anonymously. We would have figured it out. It does not matter that the reason that you gave in your letter was wrong, you were still voting yes.
HPC appointed by the Mayor.
This whole thing is a disaster.
Other members of the HPC did not know they were voting that night, did not go to the mtg, and were not asked to write in or attend a private meeting w Desman.
Everything should be put on hold until Aronsohn and his cronies are gone.
Is this the same HPC that was given the job of trying to figure out if Tito’s Burritos color was too dark.
The horrors!
Where do these guys work for their day jobs? We should use Aronsohn’s techniques on them and send out letters to their employers..
I don’t think there was even a proper quorum to even hold a vote at the HPC meeting. And even though the chairman said he had polled a few members who were not in attendance, their views should not have counted as they were not privy to the discussion that occurred that evening which even the mayor and Roberta were not aware of. That being Hudson Street will be encroached upon , that it will only be one lane, spaces will be lost on Broad street affecting small businesses and it will be difficult for emergency vehicles to navigate in the area. A fire truck will have to back out of a lane behind the garage, can’t quite imagine that. Also, Susan Knudsen was treated so poorly and called out by the mayor as not a voting member even though she had voted in the past while sitting there himself injecting comments throughout. All 5 council members are equal in their job description. We do not elect our mayor separately. No one opinion should count for more than any of the others.
A scandal. Illegal stop the project now
Imagine the money spent on this entire illicit affair.This should be investigated with a view to a
Criminal investigation,meantime good money spent with nothing to show for the massive expense,..Site was wrong and flawed from the Start.mayor and crowned always knew better.
My experience from more than 10 years ago was that property lines had to be maintained. The neighborhood “look” was most important.
Fast forward to 2016. The garage can be so large that the sidewalk is moved and the road narrowed to an unsafe width. There are no lines to maintain the road can have irregular withs in one short block.
How many HPC members are store owners in downtown Ridgewood? How many HPC members are property owners in downtown Ridgewood.? How many stand to gain from the garage?
Could we say that this doesn’t pass the “smell test”?
Beyond the smell test..its In the Rotting Corpse range…do you think for one minute they would let one tenth of these efforts to deceive by any homeowner or business application for zoning exception ….Fines and penalties would come down on homeowners for even trying an end run..
welcome to the new Ridgewood. home of back room promises and deals made by our mayor.
It is outrageous and so frustrating how powerless average citizens are.
You mean so powerless that they couldnt show up to vote against the garage? There was a public vote and 2/3rds of the people who bothered to vote supported it. This is all sour grapes. Elections and ballot issues matter. Go vote if you have an opinion.