photos courtesy of Boyd Loving’s Facebook Page
January 14,2017
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The incident of the flipped car in Wilsey Square reflect the hazards predicted to arise from the Arohnson Council’s changes to our Village infrastructure.
Everyone knew the Wilsey sguare changes were a disaster waiting to happen: The bike lane, the wall, the intrusion of the wall into the square and, of course, the 42nd street neon sign falshing messages to already distracted drivers. The traffic back up each morning is horrific. Each day, pedestrians are at risk.
The Arohnson council was also warned of the consequences inherent in its decision to dump a private business into the middle of a public park and playground at Hillcrest park. Other examples abound.
But we haven’t seen anything yet. Pretty soon, the four massive Arohnson Council apartment projects will break ground and begin building at the same time. Dump trucks and construction vehicles will be barreling through our downtown and side streets day after day for the next year. And then, when the projects are completed and hundreds of new families move into our downtown, we will have somewhere between 300 and 900 cars going down our already overcrowded streets.
Its foolish to think those new families and current Village residents won’t be put at risk by these changes. Yet, what are we doing to prepare? What is the current council doing to anticipate and prevent more occurrences like the accident we just saw. Pointing fingers at the Arohnson council or at each other doesn’t help. Bad planning decisions have consequences. Yes, blame for the bad planning of the Arohnson council rightfully belong in its lap and on its conscience. However, the blame game doesn’t improve our safety. The current council needs to take affirmative steps now, or the results of its inaction will impinge on the safety of our Village citizens for years to come. It is not clear what it is doing to keep people safe. Moreover, it seems the current council may be headed in the wrong direction. If the current council goes through with a garagemahal in the middle of the new apartment complex, it will only exacerbate the problems by dumping another 200 cars on so into those same narrow, overcrowded streets.
Time for action now.
I don’t shop in the CBD. Will always go to another town or nearby mall, or restaurrants out of town because I hate the bike lane and the garage idea and the apt buildings that will be built.
I urge everyone to boycott the CBD. Quiet rebellion speaks volumes. Starve the CBD.
?? Doesn’t seem like the bike lane had anything to do with the car flipping over.
guess you have never driven on that street?
More likely a distracted driver, speeding or just plain stupidity….and that can happen anywhere.
How in the world can anyone manage to flip a sedan in that location? That takes real “talent”, especially given the lack of evidence of having run up onto some structure that would contribute to overturning the vehicle. The most likely cause would seem to be horrific driving and attempts at some extreme maneuver. I drive through that part of town fairly often. The redesign of that region did not make a great deal of sense in terms of traffic flow, since it forces cars into one lane at a particularly unfortunate location, but I have difficulty seeing how it could directly contribute to flipping a car.
Let’s make sure the healthbarn buses with loads of out of town kids and healthbarn chartered busses that park on HILLCREST don’t go that way. Or maybe if they need to use that intersection we. An change it for them since everything else was changed for the healthbarn
Hahahahaha
At least it wasn’t as bad as this one in California:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/dr-gridlock/wp/2018/01/14/heres-how-this-car-got-wedged-in-the-upper-wall-of-a-two-story-building/?utm_term=.4834dfdfc644
Could somebody please power wash the building in the background? It’s unsightly.