January 9,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The progress Ridgewood folks are back at it! Under the name say YES to the Ridgewood Parking garage Facebook page. A boosted Facebook page nonetheless!! Playing on the irritation residents feel at the new parking changes. And blocking anyone from seeing the page who have any opposing viewpoint.
Even if the new parking has some kinks that need to be worked out, this council has been more than open to resident input- at least 4 of them have. Its embarrassing that the same cast of characters (albeit a small, tiny little cast, in stature and in numbers) need to jump on any available topic to try to create divisiveness.
Its amazing any group who claims to want to PROGRESS the town, wants to do so by creating animosity.
Can’t people just solve their problems by coming to the council or reaching out and having a conversation? Now that we have a council who are willing to do that and do that transparently?? These people must have just gotten used to doing business this way. Sad. Another side effect of the Aronsohn era.
Anyway, here’s the post.
YES for Ridgewood Parking
Yesterday at 10:17pm ·
Friday January 6th, 12:00 noon. Driving into the Ridgewood Central Business District for a quick lunch. No spots. Circled a 3 block radius multiple times. 2 aggressive drivers cut me off to take open spots. Okay… be patient, no need for road rage. Drove around a larger circle of blocks. No spots. Well, one but it was a 15 minute spot which is no good for lunch. Thought about parking in a bank lot (as a customer). 10 minutes more driving around. Starting to think about going somewhere else, HoHoKus, Glen Rock, Paramus, but want to patronize a particular Ridgewood business. Total time circling and looking for a spot was 25 minutes. Parked 3 blocks away at the Hudson lot. Only one open spot. Feeling lucky. Then, I noticed the meter posts had stickers on them saying parking was for diners and shoppers only. Hmmm. Never noticed that. Then, over the weekend, a number of Ridgewood residents made FaceBook posts about their discontent as tax paying commuters, who went from an already outrageous $750 parking permit to a $1,000 permit and with fewer spots. Not cool. Sounds like our Village Council is addressing a parking shortage by reducing demand through price gouging. That’s not a solution, and quite frankly, it’s not working. Commuters who pay $1,000 need to park by 6:30 am or they can’t find a spot. So we just screwed commuters. And, even with the added spots for shoppers and diners, you still end up driving around at peak times for 20-30 minutes to find a spot. Some commuters have resorted to parking in HoHoKus where the cost to park is cheaper (for now). None of this is a solution to Ridgewood’s decades long parking shortage. And when the Ken Smith and Brogan properties are developed (and despite all the delay tactics they will be developed), those spots will be gone, further exacerbating our parking problem. Our current Village Council ran on a platform based largely on solving our parking dilemma, yet they killed the Hudson garage plans and their recent solutions have been a slap in the face for Ridgewood commuters. Please take a moment to write the Village Council in support of a better solution. Please attend the Village Council meeting this Wednesday January 11th to speak up about your discontent. We need more residents to get involved. https://www.ridgewoodnj.net/village-government.
The Progress Ridgewood people should be blasting Jeff Voigt and his FAC for pushing the $1000 hike.
Wait- so Rurik and his buddies we all know who the are (all 6 of them) don’t see any value in freeing up some parking NEAR businesses that allows for customers to come in and shop?? And spots that turn over repeatedly through the day to bring business to the down town? Rather they’d have a concentrated amount of spots near these businesses blocked from 7-7 every day?? I hope their pals on the chamber and guild take notice of that. Or! Did they make promises about a garage hat didn’t happen and this is their way of making it a loud problem again.
News flash. Thr garage was defeated. Because residents WITHOUT a special interest voted it down. It did not fit the lot was enormous and was a bad plan. Thanks Roberta!!
The new council is not against a garage that fits the lot and downer obstruct the neighborhood and traffic flow. Neither garage would have or will guarantee a commuter a spot any more than the lots they complain about will.
Park 2 blocks away. Park in Glen Rock. Park in hhk. At least your down town gets some much needed business and gives you a chance at keeping your taxes at least stable.
Think about the big picture, and stop pandering to the builders. Progress your way back to your corner.
9.24 good point but this is class warfare at its best .Figuring they could soak the rich folks in the heights for a 250 pick pocket
operation they green lighted the scam and slinked back under their calculator Rocks and Gee wizzed us all//1000 was a BS MOVE any way you look at it.
imagine those who payed the 1000,cant find the spot at train ( I see them every day with the Premium round passes and are with the locals at chestnut and Cottage in the land of the lowly 750 folks myself one of those
Permit holderr commuters ,AND NO I DONT SUPPORT THE GARAZILLA location or concept is a neighborhood Killer .
Massive employee only spot going unused taking up 45 percent of the general capacity in most lots/ $ 80 a month is a big Hit if you are a clerk or intermediate payed employee.
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WOW. 25 minutes looking for a spot. They must have some long lunch hour. Anyway, next time don’t be afraid to look a couple of blocks away and walk. I never have trouble finding a spot.
11:28 In this “class warfare”, are you a have or have not?
I don’t like Facebook groups that censors members. If individuals are willing to put their name with their opinion then let them post. The problem with this group is that the members will never know if there were dissenting ideas. People just disappeared. The Facebook group from last summer (forgot the name) used to censor and eject members for very small disagreements. I think that Ron Shimmyshammy ( can’t remember his real name either, a real forgettable group) was the moderator.The group was deleted after the election.
1.24. I’m in the $750 bleachers section like most Ridgewood train taxpayers except for those who haven’t decided to walk and take the bus to the port authority..Hudson Yards west side Nyc Might take a fair amount of train commuters over to the PORT Authority cheaper Bus route and walk from home to the local bus stop and Gee.. no $750 to fork over to the parking space .that a big fat take home raise folks.
Let’s see who is a member of the Progress Ridgewood. Rurik Halaby. Siobhan Winograd. Paul Smith. And various shop owners who do not even live in Ridgewood.
Irrelevant.
No Paul Smith is not a member. Trust me, I know. Some short term adjustments will help (12 hr parking at Cottage instead of 8 on the long term spaces) and adjusting the short/long term ratios until a permanent strategy can be agreed. An unlike you 249 I don’t care if people know who I am. I actually do think the Mayor and Deputy Mayor will come up with some interim improvements. Bottom line is a lot of resident commuters are in a jam.
3:07, Well Paul Smith is a commentor on the FB page, and you cannot comment if you are not permitted entrance into the hallowed group.
“Even if the new parking has some kinks ” – Kinks James? They wholesale sold out resident commuters who are pretty much the core of this town! Had the previous council done this – hiked parking fees to levels in a whole different ballpark compared to any commuter town in the region, and then given away so many prime parking spots to businesses, you would have been screaming corruption and bloody murder, and rightfully so.
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“..this council has been more than open to resident input- at least 4 of them have…” – That is another argument that is tiresome. Last I checked it takes 3 votes at least to impose changes of this kind. Why did they vote for this nakedly anti-resident plan? Why were the changed kept under wraps till the last minute? The Parking page was not updated till after Christmas! What kind of transparency is this?
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“Can’t people just solve their problems by coming to the council or reaching out and having a conversation? ” – When were comments sought for such drastic a change? What was the rationale? Water restrictions are bombarded in our face. So how do these kinds of changes get done without similar coverage?
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Before you rush to accuse me of being one of the ‘other side,’ feel free to look up previous posts from my IP. I campaigned for this council, actively. But increasingly, I sense tremendous betrayal. The way I am seeing it, I at least understood the actions of the thieves from the sewer of Hackensack. I knew where they were coming from and what they wanted. But I am increasingly at a loss so as to what the motivation of the current coterie is. They each seem to have their pet causes and pretty much that. They didn’t want the garage and I supported them, because it stunk of corrupt dealings with downtown businesses. Little did I realize that downtown businesses would still get what they want, and the commuters would be the ones screwed over. The coterie does not commute / uses parking on other towns so they decided to screw anyone who parks and commutes from Ridgewood.
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It is quite a shame because I thought this council would be better than the departed thieves. Apparently not. And I learnt another valuable lesson in politics and government (not that it was needed.) Thieves dominate government because the alternative isn’t any better.
9:24 – Correct me if I am wrong but I do not think I vote carries a motion in council proceedings. Did Voight use some mind trick to make all others vote for this? Are they ignorant, illiterate or mentally challenged to not have realized what they were voting for and what the implications were? Assuming they weren’t any of those, it is quite shocking that they felt that this sort of punishment for commuters was justified.
Paul Smith – good to see back here. Lots of commuters have complained because may be no-one likes a change (“who moved my cheese”).
But – have you heard from any commuter who DID not find a parking spot? Where did they park for that day if they really did not find a parking spot?
anon 9:24 am Don’t forget that 4 Council Members vote yes. Don’t just blame Jeff for this.
611- probably to side streets, hohokus or the short line lot…. people I know who took NJT buses are going to the short line park n ride. There actually are fewer spaces and the 8 hr limit on cottage wont cut it for people who are on the road early am and back late pm…Inconvenience as in a few block walk is no reason.. the issue is the reduction in spots…and 348 that page gives a WIDE berth…. must be the host’s fault…
I’ve lived here 25 years and it’s never taken me more than a couple of minutes to find a spot. Day or night, weekday or weekend, doesn’t matter . . . . I always find a spot although it may be a few blocks away forcing me to walk down our lovely streets and run into friends and acquaintances I may not have seen in a while. The horror!
4:52 yeah. Instead the old council sold us out to builders and valley. How deep in the sand is your head buried? Or how totally uninformed are you.
Park in another town. Stop acting like the actin of commuting makes you special.
Let the downtown parking be for shoppers and diners. You’re the same people that want to be able to park in front of Starbucks when you want a latte. Which is it??
722- Special? There’s a shortage. I agree that we need spaces for shoppers and diners that are convenient. But we need more 12 hr spaces at places like Cottage which do have room during the day. Make Hudson all shoppers and put the non 1k holders down a few blocks. Why would anyone disagree with that?
4:52pm it’s probably not perfect but don’t be so nasty. I watch meetings from home and nothing was done behind closed.doors like the previous council majority playing games and screwing us residents.
My husband commutes and paid the $1000 and no problem parking except one day when the train station was full by 7:35 so he found a spot at Hudson. Before the changes it was the same. Sometimes the train station lot was full. For the first time in years I was able to go down to Broad St, park in Hudson lot and meet friends for lunch. I couldn’t believe I actually found a parking space at lunch time.
Maybe the council needs to fix some problems with the new parking but at least they’re honest with us. Betrayal and thieves sounds a bit over the top.
7:22 – You are right. The ‘special’ people are those who chose to buy a house next to a major hospital. The ‘special’ people are those who chose to buy a cheaper house close to downtown, which would be affected by multi-family housing. The ‘special’ people are those who use the tax-payer subsidized entertainment facility called Graydon for their own recreation.
I supported the folks who were affected by changes on those issues, even though those changes would have no effect on me or my family. I thought that is how a community should operate.
Thank you for showing me to be a fool. Henceforth, I will only track my narrow self interest. To hell with matters that do not affect me.
And rest assured, my side of town has much easier access to the Starbucks in Midland Park and Boulder Run. I actively avoid the mess that is downtown.
7:35 CDB employees will useup those spaces.
The changes have actually caused a major issue for commuters. Running to catch a morning train after dropping kids off and then needing to get to car quickly in evening to pick them up from daycare on time does require a closer spot.
I think being inconveniced by a few minutes walk to go to lunch or do some shopping is a lot less of an issue than people needing to make specifically timed trains and buses.
These changes have made it so that the most convenient lots to the train have gone from No trouble finding a spot, to not being able to get one at all.
9:12. Will be so much easier for you next year when the rest of us pay for your kids daycare! You win!!
And the “my side of town” a hole. I PRAY there is a reason for you to one day be identified via your IP address for the come pelts and total douche that you are. You are EVERYTHING wrong with….everywhere. Everything. Everywhere.
9:12 I am so sorry. Perhaps there should be a special spot reserved just for you.