file photo by Boyd Loving
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Simply stated , every action has a reaction. You act, and there are reactions. Your actions have reactions or consequences because you, as every human being, don’t live in a void.
There seems to be many of residents that are unhappy with many of the current spending proposals by the Village Council .
The sad fact remains that once the building of 4 high density housing proposals, were approved during the “Reign of Terror ” or the Paul Aronsohn regime ,a lot of new spending is now required .
The Village is going to have a much higher density , congestion and kids in schools .
Because of the “high density housing projects in the CBD :
Parking needs to be increased, water infrastructure needs to be improved roads and signals need to be improved ,school construction, public safety and emergency services need to be expanded .
This is required ,its not vanity ,like the “traffic easing” or “suicide bike lanes” . Many, many Village Councils into the future will be dealing with theses same issues.
Even the new development aside the Train station underpass will have serious consequences on traffic in that very tight corner approach to the train station underpass.
This never should have been approved due to its impact to local traffic .
Pedestrians during the dark winters watch out ..as the traffic light runners won’t see you in our dark winters
Wait, it’s 2019. Ahronson hasn’t served on the Council or Planning board since July 2016, almost 3 years ago. And yet like Trump’s obsession with Obama, you can’t look ahead. Is this helping out our Village? What about all of the serious allegations of conflicts of interest with the current Council?
Simply stated , every action has a reaction. You act, and there are reactions. Your actions have reactions or consequences because you, as every human being, don’t live in a void.
To stuff so many apartments in a suburban area that’s already dense is terrible. The impact will be tremendous. I see all 3 sites (including what’s being built next to YMCA) along the tracks as I ride the train every morning. They will choke the whole look and feel of Ridgewood. Current residents who appreciated CBD will try to avoid it at any cost. What’s most concerning is who will occupy these apartments. Multi children families, section 8 recipients (if they can’t fill them up fast enough)? Will there be speculation? What other games are being considered to mess up RW?
It is so sad to see same faces who openly supported Aronsohn & Co show their happiness that things are moving along. Are they plain idiots or simply mean spirited? Their own quality of life is about to take a hit as well.
The question that should be asked is. Who will be the real estate broker that will be in charge of renting the apartment and are there going to be any conflicts of intreats.
Let’s see. These new residents might actually breath life back in to our slowly dying CBD. Do you actually spend any time there? What is there to appreciate? It’s pock-marked with dead spots, shuttered stores, and gold pawn shops. And that must be such a travesty that your view is spoiled on your morning commute. I agreed that it should have been a more reasonable 24 units but the old 12 limit killed our CBD where rents are flat to down in the past decade, unlike other comparable towns & Villages. What we should really be doing is selling Habernickle, Schedler and Ridgewood Water in its Elks HQ to the highest bidders. Our conflicted Council has no business owning these assets on behalf of Village taxpayers. Time for a rethink after hideous governance for the past 20+ years.
where have you been hiding for those 20 years???
I agree these apartments will breath life back into our downtown. I see a future of more fast food joints, tatoo parlors, vape rooms and all sort of other steppingstones into the future. Its the volenti’s who don’t see the need for this development.
you forgot strip clubs
Yes, let’s not forget strip clubs!
And bless those on the council who brought us to this land of milk and honeypots, and the vocal villagers who turned out to sing their praises and still offer apologies almost every day for them.
“Trump’s obsession with Obama…”
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Are you delusional???
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Charley you could move Brooklyn nice density
I’ve lived here most of my life and I am not thrilled at the prospect of these new housing developments. Unfortunately in the people’s republic of new jerkey, any developer who does not get his way simply invokes the “mount laurel ” builders remedy lawsuit since we do not meet the affordable housing demands of the left wing NJ Supreme Court … And they could stuff in many more units .So either way we get “porked”. Let’s hope these developers don’t go broke with their pipe dream developments because anyone buying at forclosure would stuff in any tenants at a cheaper rent than market which means more families with kids in school. I was against the apartments and still am opposed but in NJ we are all screwed by the left wing state Supreme Court .
Regrettably, it may take several of these developers going bancrupt and the resulting blight that might finally make people wake up and vote out the developer’s pals who populate our state and local governments. Our councils have shown absolutely no backbone at all to deal with the developers in this town.
Streets and Roads are third world condition now all the way from Ridgewood into midland park..complete neglect
people are saying screw it and moving earlier than spring
a disgrace both local and county roads are in shambles
The excuse that this was unstoppable by current councils is just wrong. They are way to distracted with buying selective properties that benefit their own interests as well as other well noted self serving goals such as ensuring their families have jobs. We have weak leaders, weak leaders get taken advantage of. Not a surprise, weak leaders let housing rules get changed, allow unfettered spending, and on a global level let groups like ISIS come into exsistence. Strong leaders resolve these issues and more important prevent them. Can anyone claim we have improved in the past 3-4 years? Only if you have a stake in old wrecks of a building or need a village job? Just wait till Valley property is sold (or do you still believe it can’t be). Weak leaders will be played again.
Weak leaders can’t get roads fixed, can’t remove a bike lane, can’t fix water department, can’t control parking costs or turn down garage, can’t influence school budget, the list goes on. Weak leaders just make excuses why they can’t go things done.
Speaking or roads, they patched Overbrook 2 weeks ago and it’s still a war zone…
Don’t forget MM dispensaries, our magic bullet to solve tax woes. Just like legalized gambling and the lottery did!
I’m glad to see that another resident tells the truth that what we are getting is hazardous to Ridgewood. Said resident also notes what everyone learned after the last election. If the council hired a competent lawyer and gone to court, they may have been able to keep things in lower densities and probably could have gone with two limited properties instead of a full fledged agreement. Currently, the council has rushed to seek money for the fancy new library to start building when the library has gotten neither the Library Grant nor any massive private donations. This was not forced on us by the prior council, but by our new members. Our recent appointments did not follow their “We’re going to cut the huge expenses that Ridgewood has taken on.” Instead they are doing all they can to spend even more money–or at least the same–as the prior Council.
Storefront/brick and mortar retail is dead. The Ridgewood Business District only serves the segment of tenants which cannot be reached on the internet, and will not recover until the landlords accept this fact and lower rents. Much like Red Bank, Ridgewood is a village of restaurants, which are not even diverse (overpriced and mediocre quality). And no matter what you think, commuters do not patronize the local businesses at the end of the day. They get off the train, jump in their car and go home.
Garagezilla will concentrate the exodus from the train people including local Joe citizen..there are no retail stores up in that neighborhood of restaurants and a few service stores like UPS Jewelers bakery ,, Etc ETC
ain’t that a kick in the ass..
anon..the only thing being cut were the legacy trees at the train station ..looks like Paterson desert absent of trees ..wait till summer..bake off..more mini coopers
a disgrace..
summary
we are getting Screwed and the one turning the screws
Have a lot to answer for very little of it positive ..despite the. happy camper talk In the land of Mini Cooper parking space institute.That parking lot floods and removing the
grass and trees is a disgrace.well done VC..NOT…!!