May 4th 2016
Jeanette LaRocco
I have known Tony for many years and am a long time Ridgewood resident, am a member of the Guild from the beginning and I do NOT want Garage D, however, let’s put things into perspective. I believe that Tony was wrong to say it fits on the lot, but as a long time businessman, who by the way, has revitalized this town with the Guild when the Chamber of Commerce refused to do anything to make Ridgewood a destination, and who has done many generous things for the town, including Habitat for Humanity and having many charity events at his store, and has spent countless unpaid hours, to promote events that bring people in and keep businesses open, he has the right to want this garage built. When you think of the fact that he is doing this, NOT for political gain or financial gain like some promoters, except to keep his business going, I’m sorry but I can’t fault him for that. He is also a resident right in town and a parishioner of OLMC, and I just think of all the years he has had a business, he knows that he may not thrive unless we get some kind of parking. I think we must remember that we need to keep unique businesses in Ridgewood, instead of just banks and restaurants and chain stores. When I moved here nearly 28 years ago, there were so many wonderful and unique stores that are now gone and even now, there have been too many stores that open for a short time that can not sustain the rents and keep their businesses going and a big part of that is parking. What we also have to remember is that Tony didn’t start this mess, it was began because our Village Council members were not transparent about their plans with the garage and the developments. If they had been, we would’ve already begun building a garage that the majority of Ridgewood would be thrilled with, instead they made a mess of things, that many people, including myself, are trying to rectify. So let’s put the blame where it belongs. Just remember there are two sides to every story and lets act accordingly before we start throwing out conspiracy theories.
I agree with Jeannette. Tony Damiano did not start this. But he has certainly added fuel to this fire. He can be very nasty. It does not make me want to go to his store. Ever.
Follow the money….
Soon the contractors will reach out to the new council members if they haven’t already….
7:52, the money and the contractors already reached out to all the candidates. They did it through asking the candidates to sign a pledge. Three of the candidate signed it. Three others told them to shove it. You decide which three candidates you want on the Council. Vote accordingly on May 10th.
From the Village Council meeting, January 6th
Tony Damiano at the podium-(paraphrasing here) Never for 5 level garage. It’s a mass. I’m a visual guy. A 2 story garage will help.
What happened between then and now? Tony is a very generous man and storeowner. He didn’t start this, and actually tried to help to see this through. But something or someone stopped him.
All 6 candidates support a garage on Hudson St. ALL 6!!!! The residents will vote on the Bond in a BINDING VOTE for bonding.
The election is not about the garage – no garage is self funding, and no garage is profitable at any size.
Wake up Ridgewood – the 2020 candidates are trying to distract you from the REAL BIG ISSUES of Valley and High Density housing.
VOIGT, COGHLAN-WALSH, and HACHE all the way.
The 3 Just Say No will NEVER vote for a garage. They will spend our money to design, study and discuss a smaller garage and then NEVER approve it. They will argue that spending $11m to build a 220 car garage is not fiscally responsible. And then we can continue to discuss this garage for another 2 decades.
1:33 -you can build it today. Take a level down, and the petitioners will withdraw the petition.
1:33 – sounds good to me
2:49–do you really believe that? I would bet dollars to donuts that result would be another petition once the actual plans for the smaller garage were released. There would be some other issue that had to be petitioned. Pick one: too much brick, too few spots, too many spots, bald eagles, too many commuter spots, too many non-commuter spots, unicorns, homeless. some issue that would mean starting all over again back to another $40k vote.
Visit Mango Jam for your Mothers Day gifts and take mom to lunch at It’s Greek To Me
4:48 pm as long as you keep thinking and acting from your down below, this will keep happening.
Piss off to Mango Jam. I’ll never shop there and he is NOT generous. He’s stingy and rude.
And Greek to me??? Hahahaha Ne. Ver. Fish? Already sucked. Now it will suck worse. Park west? Overpriced drinks. Can make them any number of other places and not get ogled by a bunch of drunk divorcees.
Roots? Couldn’t care less.
4:48. Hi Albert, Paul Gwenn Roberta
As one of the many citizens who helped collect signatures, I can tell you that 4:48 is dead wrong. No one will run another petition. If the council would agree to lower the garage one level, there would be no referendum vote.
I haven’t met Tony but something tells me that he’s like 5’3″…does that make sense…?
Take Back our Village ‼️‼️ Please remember to vote for Bernadette Coghlan-Walsh , Ramon Hache, and Jeffrey Voigt. Enough is Enough!
No more #paularonsohn and friends. #ridgewoodnj #bergencounty #2016election.