Posted on

The Time of Reckoning Has Come for the Hudson Street Garage in Ridgewood

Hudson garage

February 2,2018

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, the Village received 4 proposals for the Hudson street garage project. At last Wednesdays council meeting Village Manager Heather Mailander made it clear that the Wednesday review was a quick once over with more in-depth review to follow.

Reader says , “Several months ago Councilman Hache publicly (during an open public meeting of the Village Council) voiced his strong opposition to the construction of any sized parking garage that would result in either increased parking fees, expanded metered parking hours (he cited both of the aforementioned as simply “another form of taxation), and/or an increased property tax burden for homeowners.
Now, all of a sudden, he’s Gung Ho on proceeding with the review of parking garage designs even prior to the financials being discussed. He went so far as to publicly chastise Mayor Knudsen for “stalling” when she suggested that financing arrangements should be discussed first.
WTF Ramon? What gives? Why the sudden about face?”

Many readers pointed out that Councilmen Ramon Hache seemed very focused on pushing the garage project forward for both design and financing . While we are not sure we would agree with that assessment .

The garage issue has be bandied about for the better part of 30 maybe 40 years although some would trace it back to the time when parking meters were first introduced to the Central Business District in Ridgewood making it more like 60 years .

Frankly we think the issues should be moved forward or finally put to rest once and for all .We now 4 proposals coupled with proposals for financing . Either the garage makes sense or it does not .

An anti garage reader summed it up , “Why are we still arguing every week about a garage we don’t need.It’s become the national pastime in Ridgewood. It’s been happening for over 20 years.At this rate it will happen for twenty more. We voted it down and it refuses to die.Politicians continue to ignore the voice of the people and make side deals with developers.There are much better uses of our tax dollars that can be made in our Village’s infrastructure.Is there anyone on the council with some real vision?”

 

26 thoughts on “The Time of Reckoning Has Come for the Hudson Street Garage in Ridgewood

  1. And of course the primary focus of Wednesday evening’s discussion among our elected idiots was which garage design was more visually pleasing. No discussion whatsoever regarding the finances, just which bricks looked better. What a bunch of morons.

  2. The least we need to do is re-construct the parking lot. Because it’s totally shot.

  3. THIS WILL BE A TOTAL DISASTER…

  4. Is the design supposed to look like a 1920s Fire House?

  5. NO GARAGE!

  6. 907 they NEVER discuss money. They think money grows in trees.

  7. I watched this “show”.
    They seemed more focus on that dumb sycamore tree at Graydon that has no significance.
    What an embarrassment watching the mayor talk about making available dainty bundles of twigs for those who miss the rotted tree.

  8. Don’t build a garage, so what if the CBD continues to decline it will not effect the beautiful quaint Ridgewood street on which I live. I have heard that property values in the CBD are going down and I don’t give a damn. My beautiful house will continue to rise in value. Someone recently told me that as property values in the CBD continue to decline my property taxes will go up. Why is this ? Why should I be forced to pay more as they pay less ? I was told this is known as balancing the budget. They said if property values in the CBD go down and mine goes up then my taxes will go up. Why is that ? Just because my property value continues to go up why should I be forced to pay more taxes. This seems so unfair..

  9. This council is a total sold out. Why are they not considering financials and rushing for the final design?

  10. On another subject are they ever going to take the Christmas Tree down or the large plastic snowflakes in the CBD. Or maybe resident want to make bowls out of the tree like the one at Graydon Pool.

  11. “907 they NEVER discuss money. They think money grows in trees.”
    .
    NOT TRUE…
    they just know that we are Rich and Stupid.
    .

  12. I didn’t attend the meeting this week but I am disappointed (like many times before) with our VC. Hache seems to have turned into an Aronsohn type. No integrity, just fake. I thought majority in this town is against the garage and PRO fixing the current parking lot and ALL ugly looking streets and spaces in town. They have a lot of $ in their hands and should use it for the benefit of the people. Instead they are so fixated in a beautiful design for a GARAGE. Screw the design and don’t shove a garage down Rwg throat. We will have enough ugly looking buildings with the new developments that were also forced into town by either through previous or his VC.

  13. 12:52 is 100 percent correct.Roads are in third world condition.

    Traffic would be insane up in that tight cafe district,Garage fumes ,ramp noise amplifies itself in those filthy unsafe structures…an epic blight.

    STOP THE GARAGE..it’s not being built to benefit today’s high taxpayers.
    Total developers and NJ transit village scam,.look at Westmont rail station
    overlooked by barracks style rental housing crowded into those hills.Schools there will get hammered with exploding school enrollments.

    We need to know who the wizard is that is behind the VOR curtains of Oz.Towns heading for huge overdevelopment and school tax explosion,

  14. Hache now has six kids and an ex wife a lot of bills I am sure. Real estate must be sold.

  15. 2:13. That comment was below the belt and not warranted. Please keep the family out of the discussions.

  16. There must be some inexpensive way to see if Ridgewood residents want ANY garage. Volunteer callers to do a survey? it’s a little too cold to conduct an intercept sampling. It seems everyone I talk to (except my husband!) is violently opposed.

  17. Agree with 213. Ramon has become Ridgewood’s version of Cory Booker. Dress him up and he looks nice, but looses it in the details. We didn’t want a garage during the old council’s time so why do it now? (btw, I thought it was 7 kids, or did I double count one?)

  18. Does not read to me that 2:13 was criticizing his family.

  19. Now we have an elected official who sells real estate in town. And oh boy, all of a sudden he is pushing for the garage by the soon-to-be-on-the-market housing at that end of town. He needs to sell houses and condos to pay the bills, that is what he does for a living. Without the garage, the housing that Saraceno and them are building will be less appealing. That is why he suddenly is so freaking urgent about jamming the garage through. I am sick. Another Pucciarelli. Big Ramon the Developers Pal.

  20. No one on the council was against A garage, they were against THE garage as originally planned. Many pro garage residents also turned against the first iteration, based on the size of the proposed structure. Now the issue is a higher cost and the cost of money is slowly rising. a hundred bucks per basis point increase per million soon adds up over the life of the financing bond. The deputy mayor presented plan b last year, which seemed palatable and fit in the footprint.

  21. 5:46 we the taxpayers DONT AGREE TO ANY VOR MUNI GARAGE FOR diiner crowd or ad hoc commuters blowing through town in more Cars to get to route 17 each day to mske it home to watch the news.

  22. Building the garage is a case of chasing ghosts. Brick and mortar retail is dying. Quickly. Suburban retail died long ago.

    My phone just buzzed. UPS just dropped off my latrst Amazon order.

  23. Come on 5:17… He’s a dopey agent at Keller Williams.
    Now all the sudden he’s a power broker hell bent on local development because he has the likes of Saraceno greesing his wheels?
    Your bigger problem is Pauly gyro and his ilk. Let’s not forget that.
    And besides, 22 people bitching about a garage that should have been built 30 years ago will not stop the well oiled machine that has been taking your tax dollars for years. Oh yea, if anyone needs kindling please stop round VH and pick up your bundle of sticks. Just ask the mayor or one of her children who are on the company dime. That is all.

  24. n.o. g.a.r.a.g.e. BOONDOGGLE!!! Quit it, Hache.

  25. If we don’t get SOME form of parking garage, SOME housing on the vacant sites and help prop up the high street merchants you DO know what happens next, right? The main drag gets rezoned for mixed use, a la Bogota and Closter, and our commuter town (which it is, look at the town seal) has MORE rental units developed by OUTSIDERS and the usual mix of chain stores.. the combo of reasonable housing proposals and some form of business/commuter parking will give the town a boost. I think if the current housing proposals can be negotiated further, you get some desperately needed new blood in. And the tides lift everything up as well as down.

  26. Most of us that live here know where to park and if we have to walk a few blocks so what!
    Using the garage will mean walking even further, unless you are in a two block radius. You then get to pay more money than ever before for the privilege of parking further away. I can’t wait!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *