Nicholas Katzban, Staff Writer, @NicholasKatzban Published 10:37 a.m. ET Aug. 28, 2017
Two years ago, the Village of Ridgewood proposed to ease its parking crunch by building a garage in the Central Business District.
As the chosen site for the project still lays in disrepair, and the council aims to designate the area “in need of redevelopment,” some locals and officials are beginning to question how a seemingly straightforward objective has grown so long in the tooth.
Seeking to streamline the process, the council unanimously approved a resolution on Aug. 9 to hire the village planner, Brigette Bogart, to determine whether the Hudson lot meets the criteria for an area in need of redevelopment.
That option was presented to council members by Village Attorney Matthew Rogers during a workshop meeting the prior week. Rogers explained the designation would allow the village to negotiate directly with a chosen contractor, rather than work through a public bidding process, to “save some time, save some money” and “be able to approach this in a faster and more efficient manner.”
The lunacy continues.
What has been done to counter the parking in the CBD by owners and employees?
If the meter rates need to be raised to pay for the garage, why haven’t they been raised?
Why is parking after 6 free? Shouldn’t higher parking rates be tested?
I dont care about the process. Who cares if it is a non-compete contract? So it costs an extra $500k or something. Just build the damn garage already. I am sick and tired of having to plan ahead to pick up Chinese food.
hey 8;46, they deliver…
8:46. So you want a garage just to pickup your chinese food? Fair enough even though I suspect you will have to walk anyway to your beloved chinese restaurant. Now what if you’re picking up from Raymond’s? Would you need another garage there too?
No bid contract are you kidding me. Where is the transparency the Mayor promised ?
Make room for more cars; more pollution; more climate change. Oh yeah, in Ridgewood, er I mean Richwood there cannot be a devastating storm due to climate change. Ridgewoodians control Nature.
what a crock we need a concrete garage for what more speculation like
fish..oh I forgot the great customers won’t walk 50 feet for a great meal..poor things…we all need to walk more..NO TO NO BID No need garage..pave and line the current Lots..case closed ..we need to vote these folks out again
Yeah… lets get the Climate Change Nazis to come down upon this town in full force… that might be the only thing to stop Garagzilla…
The majority of us voted down the garage when it was last brought up.
In fact we pretty much voted for the candidates that agreed with our position, or so we thought.
If this waste of our overpaid tax dollars goes through, we should vote out all of them when they are up for re-election. They are no better than the Three Amigos before them.
How about using the money to pave the streets instead?
Stopping the garage is the reason why the current council was elected.
Watching street parking lot is A disgrace, but has not been reconstructed in 25 years the lot is shocked beyond minor repairs. Just wait until they start ripping up the old asphalt and curbs remember the old firehouse was in the lot and all the wood is just rottingaway
The lot looks as bad as some of the streets in town!
7:41… It wasn’t to stop A garage, it was to stop THE 4 STORY garage. None of the candidates said no to a garage solution. They wanted (as well as the petition drivers) one that they felt would fit the footprint of the current lot.
10:58 nice try but Que up the Garagezilla tapes. where are the Hudson st churches and schools on this proposal..town folk saved their holy bacon last go wrong go round.whole thing smells familiar..like The ROT..WAIT moving trucks inbound..stampedes lumbered with boomer cash outs…
315… hate to obfuscate things for you with facts… first bonding issue was approved… then there was major pushback on the 4 story plan… activists pushed a referendum which shot the original plan down… NO candidates for council were against a garage, they were against what they thought was too big as well as the petition drivers…. if you don’t like it you’re entitled to sell… there are plenty of folks waiting to move in who are not rooted in some imaginary Mayfield with the Cleavers…
That eyesore will be the beginning of the end of this town,No one will police it and it will be a black hole of dirt drugs and crime like most of other transit and muni parking happy days solutions .No one on the counsel wants to pave and reline the existing Lots that are trashed…not sexy enough to do their jobs yet when projects are in style with other people’s taxpayers money and contractors around to please..
Don’t worry 2:44… many families are moving in and more want to… you can get top dollar…
@2:44, while it will hardly be the end of civilization as we know it, only fools would believe this will save retail in our downtown….if anything the situation will get worse as prices to park will increase yet people still won’t want to walk. Nice for commuters though
it’s the Ridgewood VC secret revolver. the summer special while taxpayers are away..has been used before and will certainly be used again to foist the really bad decisions on the town..this one has major consequences tho..soon zoning,rental car companies will fill the bottom floors of that failing Garage to try to cover fixed costs.Finally it will be filled with zoom out of town commuters from other towns..just wait…a transit village is the gift that will never stop taking..traffic In the evenings in that
cafe neighborhood will be dangerous and insane.LOL
PESMITH, we hear you are moving and we hope you get top dollar.