PARKING PROBLEMS????
Lack of parking in the "downtown area" -this issue has been in and out of the local papers of late.
Several plans have been floated to build parking garages around fourth and clifton to alleviate the "problem".
There is nothing more unsightly that a parking garage!
Although Lakewood has grown and spread and population wise is closer to being a city than a town, and ugly townhouses are springing up everywhere, and trees being chopped down like they are going out of style, at least the downtown area is still a friendly and small townish kind of area. with a town square for open space, cobblestones and low buildings.
The addition of a 5 story garage in the heart of town, possibly at the expense of said town square would ruin the look of the area, and take away the open and pleasant feeling. and parking garages always give me the creeps. I always feel that someone is lurking behind a parked car, and there is nowhere to run...
It seems that the people that are pushing for this are the ones that would gain most - by selling their land to the township. (Naturally)
But you dont see average people, or me for that matter, begging for a 'Solution" to the parking problem cuz:
in my opinion, there IS NO SHORTAGE of parking spaces, OKAY?
I have never once gone downtown to take care of errands and turned away because I couldnt find a spot. Okay, I may have had to park farther away than I would have liked and walked two blocks! But that is not a parking problem THAT IS A LAZINESS PROBLEM!!!!
These proposed plans would cost millions of dollars (whose money, I wonder?) and aside from the aesthetics, I dont believe would be worth it. Dont forget the town is spreading out a lot and there are now several commercial areas, so people will be taking care of their shopping needs in areas other that clifton and fourth that are more convenient to where they live. In my opinion there will be less congestion there in the coming years, not more. As westgate strip mall, Chateau, Shloimys, Kosher village open and establish themselves, this will become evident.
What can be done to stop this before it becomes a reality?
does anyone know?
ps when i speak of the nice area, I am referring to 4th, 3rd, 5th. 2nd would of course be nicer if we tackle the other problem - illegals hanging around.
11 Comments:
Would you rather have townhouses there instead of a parking garage? We can arrange it!
Seriously, I think you should put up signs in Yeshiva saying that it isn't Tzniusdik for women to park in a parking garage and there should be seprate sections for men and women; also there may be a problem of Yichud at night; you'll get a tumult started and the parking garage will never happen.
good point- true about the yichud. and think of all those illegals lurking around. I would be scared to go in there - it's not like parking in a parking lot which is open all around.
Traffic is much more of a problem in Lakewood then parking.I don't see any great need for the parking lot but I assume it's being done to accomadate all the new corporate buildings that may go up downtown.
On a related note this fixation with taxes is overboard.I don't have the money for it either but I am suprised to hear people say they don't want more police being hired because then their taxes may go up.Assuming the LPD isn't effective in fighting the growing crime rate in Lakewood due to lack of personnel(which I'm not) it's worth the modest tax increase to fight crime.People are losing much more money from breakins etc.
Did you write about this in 'The Coffee Room" in The Voice, or did the person that wrote it quote you?
I strongly suspect that MEGA is the author of the humor section in The Lakewood Voice.But of course we won't put her on the spot and ash directly.
anon- I agree about the traffic problem, although I dont know if there is anything you can do about that, other than diverting it by building shopping centers in other locations, which is currently being done. (I dont know how happy the clifton stores are about that, though)
and speaking of your other point - what's with all the office bldgs going up all over? Is there really a need for them? If yes, Lakewood's economy should be booming!
yated- I wrote it for the blog, but I thought it was a valid point to bring up to a wider forum so I sent it to the VOICE. I wonder if anything will come of it...
other anon - Does anyone read that column, other than me and you? Do you laugh as hard as I do?
anon re the taxes:
I am upset about taxes, I have lived in the same house for 14 years and the mortgage has doubled! mostly due to taxes.
And my house was broken into TWICE!
even though it is not one of the big fancy ones. boy if I were a crook I'd stay away from my house- doesnt look like anything of value is in THERE! And my husband was carjacked, too.
and I dont think we need MORE cops - there are tons of cops already. Every time I go out for a short errand I pass at least three cop cars. But we do need to utilize them more efficiently, perhaps.
I have heard there are 90 cops on lakewood's payroll, but also that there are only 12 cops patrolling at night. that seems a little weird to me.
So is that a pen name in the voice or real?
(you don't have to answer if you don't want to)
If Lakewood and the rest of NJ had a better mass transit system it would help both parking and traffic.Lakewood Township did try a bus system a few years ago but I think it flopped. BMG installed a bike rack but that plan didn't really worked out either.My suggestion to enforce mass transit would be to (1)set up a reliable bus system(2)exchange the high real estate taxes for a car tax to ensure that the bus system (or BMG bike rack)is used.
yated - in keeping with the tradition of anonymity in frum circles- it's a pen name
anon - mass transit - fuggedaboutit! would you take a bus if you had to go to the bank and the shoe store and the grocery? not me! i am so used to going when I want where I want I could never change to accomodate a bus schedule.
Bikes - good idea, esp since gas is so high. when my husb was in kollel I used to beg him to get a bike, it was a pain in the neck for me to drop him off every day on my way to work. but he refused cuz it was so uncool. maybe we should make it cool. then it might work. perhaps random gift certificates to people driving bikes. like to the cleaners to have their white shirts pressed for free...or something
maybe yeshiva should offer incentives for guys to ride bikes to yeshiva instead of cars. like extra kollel checks. then it would become so common, more people would ride bikes other places, too.
except chas veshalom, noshim
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