
December 8,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ten points to ponder from the Village Council Work Session of December 7
- The Pomander Walk war continues, with people from all sides arguing loudly about why parking should or should not be permitted on this PUBLIC STREET. The Sherman Place residents are totally disgusted that all the cars are now on their street. The Pomander Walk people are as happy as can be with their private street. For now Pomander remains no parking, but a study is commencing that will assess the entire neighborhood in terms of parking, safety, traffic flow, etc.
- Everyone should order pizza from Santonis Pizzeria and Restaurant at 88 Godwin Avenue. This guy has really gotten the shaft from the NIMBY’s in his neighborhood; his business has been unjustly and unfairly affected by the privatization of precious Pomander Walk. His food is delicious, and he is a really nice guy who is just trying to run his business. Call 201-389-6810 Show him that the rest of Ridgewood is filled with nice people who appreciate good food and hard-working shop owners. https://www.santonispizza.com/menus/ridgewood-menu/
- FORMER (with emphasis on the former) Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck showed up to speak about seniors and to refresh everyone’s memories that she is the savior of all elderly residents. And she indicated that seniors cannot really manage using UBER, you know, because they are old and addled.
- A grant is being applied for to finally get the N. Walnut St. lot remediated. Kudos to this council for getting this going.Wonder if a parking deck could go there?5. Councilman Voigt presented a detailed spreadsheet itemizing the restaurants, numbers of employees, numbers of seats in the restaurants, and more. He entitled it Councilman Voigt’s Parking Analysis…..just to make sure that everyone knows that he did this. Listening to him one might have the impression that several hundred cars are prowling the streets of Ridgewood on Saturday nights looking for a parking space, which we all know is far from reality. The mayor indicated that more than a year ago a request was made of the Chamber of Commerce to provide the information presented in Councilman Voigt’s document. The Chamber would not, or at least did not, provide this information; what was with the Chamber’s lack of cooperation? Paul Vaggianos???
- Deputy Mayor Sedon talked about smaller parking garage options for Hudson. A long-ago, quickly discarded plan that actually fit on the Hudson Street lot was dug out of the archives, and is now being revisited.Father Ron of Mt. Carmel was contacted and his position reportedly remains the same (not too big, not too intrusive, not messing up the traffic flow, not removing street parking by the church). Question: if they are remediating North Walnut, why not put a garage there?
- Councilman Hache talked of all the parking improvements that are being made. The Central Valet plan is moving forward, which will enable people to leave their cars and go shopping, dining, whatever they wish. Drivers will not be restricted to just going to a certain restaurant, but will have the freedom to go anywhere in town. There are plenty of spaces where the valet cars will be parked….including Cottage Place…..because, you know, there ARE plenty of parking spaces in Ridgewood if you are willing to walk a block or two. Councilman Hache also indicated that signs now direct people to lots, a huge and simple improvement. Enforcement is being stepped up to keep employees of the shops from parking on the streets. Lower-priced parking will be available at the Cottage and Walnut lots, with blocks of spots designated just for employees. The UBER-at-the-train plan is still underway, but it promises to be a congestion problem since no area has been assigned for all the anticipated cars.
- Mayor Knudsen suggested that the missions and bylaws of boards and committees be reviewed. Some have cumbersome bylaws. Some have none. Some overstep beyond the original intent. Some, most notably the Financial Advisory Committee, border on performing management functions. While the volunteer efforts of committee and board members is greatly appreciated and was duly acknowledged, the fact remains that these hard-working individuals need guidelines under which to function. This resulted in an angry, nasty, vituperative outburst from Councilman Voigt, who made wild accusations about Mayor Knudsen. One could close one’s eyes and think, for a horrifying moment, that the angry quartet of Aronsohn-Pucciarelli-Hauck-Sonenfeld had returned to the dais. Really, Mr. Voigt, cool your jets. You were obnoxious and completely inappropriate and you came off as a total jerk. In particular, Mr. Voigt was desperately defending the Financial Advisory Committee, just going on and on about it. Paraphrasing Shakespeare…….methinks thou dost protest too much. Who is pulling your strings to protect the FAC with such venom??? (and the Jeopardy answer to that question is……). The other four elected officials (you know, the four that are level headed and do not have people behind the scenes telling them what to do) agreed that Mayor Knudsen’s suggestion is valid and that the review of committee and board bylaws will be worthwhile…..all while Councilman Voigt continued to spew his objections. A template for committee bylaws will be developed, thus providing a framework for each group.
- The Ridge School Traffic Study was presented. Could the subject of sidewalks on Clinton Avenue be reading its head once again?
- No word from Mr. Halaby, guessing he was not there or surely he would have pontificated. Former candidate and current FAC member Evan Weitz was clearly visible on camera…..maybe he is planning to run again in 2018?
I didn’t interpret Hauck’s remark to mean seniors are old and addled. They are prone to severe hand and finger arthritis and macular degeneration which would prevent them from using a smart phone comfortably or at all.
Yep; time to put sidewalks in on Clinton Avenue.
Now that a representative from the police department has publicly stated the existing conditions are a hazard to children, Matt Rogers would be a fool if he didn’t tell the Council to get those sidewalks in lickity split before someone gets hurt and sues the Village for billions.
Jeff Voigt is out of control
Gwenn thinks all seniors are completely helpless. Yes, Diane, some people cannot manage a smart phone. But many “old” people are very tech savy
The fact that committees act without bylaws or that they overstep their missions are issues. Clinton would already have sidewalks if mr furhman had recused himself from the discussion and vote. We wouldn’t allow that at the council level and committees should have same conflict rules.
Mr. voigt seems to enjoy the power grab that is the FAC. see their role in the garage debacle if you need clarification.
Jeff Voigt is being managed by Aronsohn and company. This has been clear from day one. He is a plant. He fooled a lot of people. But it is all clear now.
” Matt Rogers would be a fool if he didn’t tell the Council to get those sidewalks in lickity split before someone gets hurt and sues the Village for billions.”
The NJ Tort Claims Act would preclude such suits based on the Villages decision to install or not install sidewalks. Legal exposure to law suits should NOT be a consideration on whether sidewalks should be put in.
Umm 11:10 didnt he propose a McCarthy like hearing to prosecute Paul and Co???? He just wants parking.
Jeff definitely drank the Aronsohn potion.
No parking on Pommander? This is ludicrous ! How can the village council approve this? Are the residents of Pommander going to pay higher taxes for having the privilege of having a no parking ordinance on a dead end public street?
I want no parking on my street too.
“For now Pomander remains no parking, but a study is commencing that will assess the entire neighborhood in terms of parking, safety, traffic flow, etc.”
This should have been done before this became an issue. Once again another example of stupidity.
The Pomander situation reminds us that All Streets Are Equal but Some Streets Are More Equal Than Others. The Pomander no parking came about based on the CSAC (which did not see the need for no parking) but residents of the street wanted no parking and the previous council made it so without any study. Sherman residents have requested safety changes (with parking remaining intact) – but the Council is requiring an expensive tax payer funded study before even allowing our qualified village staff to make these changes. Pomander had changes with no study – no consideration for how it would affect surrioundings streets. Sherman, with very obvious safety concerns and closer proximity to GW, is being left to wait FOR MONTHS for any of the issues to be simply reviewed by the council.
Some streets in Ridgewood are much more equal than others. Let’s hope you and your children live on a street that is deemed worthy of being safe.
And don’t get me started on how poorly businesses on the west of the tracks are treated. God Forbid anyone not get parking to go to one of the CBD’s high price restaurants – you can get valet! If you want to eat at a restaurant on the other side of the tracks you are just out of luck. Only our fine Mayor cares about them. No solid parking solutions are ever discussed – not at the CBDAC, not at the council meetings, not by anyone except the Mayor. I feel for her having to deal with the short-sidedness of some of the council and committees.
Another study! This council will have a study to study the study.
is Jeff being a douche…?
Tell me more.
Don’t make me come down there.
How much is the study going to cost ? If the people on Pomander want to keep no parking on their street then they should pay for the study.
Mayor Knudsen is an expert at playing the victim.
Yes, Jeff is being a douche.
Clinton needs side walks. There is another example of a “private street” which creates traffic Jams on south Murray . At a minimum Clinton needs to be open to traffic , with any restrictions being the same hours as hillside place.
5:36pm…A stafety study after the fact? This Pomander Walk situation is outrageously wrong. I guess stafety to the other streets in the area was either overlooked or the Council didn’t care when this was approved. In the meantime, lets hope that no accident happen due to the Village Councils negligence. This situation is a lawyers dream.
8:15am – to be fair to our current council, the ordinance for no parking on Pomander came about under the previous council. Three of our newly elected council members appear to be hesitant to fix the situation without an expensive and time consuming traffic study. I do hope the village attorney is advising them that delaying a solution may put the village at risk of an accident related lawsuit.
8:58 PM. totally unfair. Women are supposed to be verbally abused and like it. NO.
8:58 sounds an awful lot like Albert Pucciarelli
Beware of Evan Weitz