>It’s absolutely cruel and thoughtless of you to suggest that the hundreds of Ridgewood residents who oppose the ridiculously opulent, unnecessary and dangerous Valley expansion should simply “move” — just so you can have the convenience of a mammogram without having to drive for 7 minutes!!! My husband and I worked for nearly 20 years so that we could live here. We have been improving our house on our own, all of the spackling and painting, the plans and dreams — now we should “simply move”, in this volatile economy, just so you and your friends who don’t live nearby can have your colonoscopies — think of it! — within minutes!! And what a price to pay for convenience! Our children will be walking by demolition crews and huge cranes for the remainder of their lives in Ridgewood, so that you can, what, park your car? So that aging Ridgewood baby-boomers can have a built-in retirement community without having to downsize? In 2008 alone there were 3 fatal crane accidents in NY– our children will be walking by similar sites every single day, on their way to school, and to sports activities.
Oh, and the traffic. Let me just say, it’s become worse here than it is in New York City.
I want the best medical care available, just as everyone else does. All hospitals need to upgrade periodically, of course! [What we really need here is an expanded Emergency Room, that’s it.] But nothing changes the fact that Valley has simply run out of land. There is no shame in that! Just expand elsewhere. Find a place nearby that has room for state-of-the-art improvements, without wrecking the village. I have never heard one persuasive argument about why Valley “has” to expand here in Ridgewood, at the cost of ruining entire neighborhoods and turning our Village into a burgeoning urban blight.
