Despite Questions of Ownership, Council Introduces RHS Parking Plan
Council likely to vote on Feb. 13 agreeing to the school district's request that teachers should kick students out of spaces on Heermance Place.
Photos
Despite unanswered questions over who actually owns the land, the Ridgewood Village Council on Wednesday agreed to introduce an ordinance that will allow the school district to provide teacher parking at the expense of students.
The council majority – Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck, Deputy Mayor Albert Pucciarelli and Mayor Paul Aronsohn – have expressed support for an ordinance that will allow the district to issue permits for 23 parking spaces on Heermance Place. Students at the high school would see the boot as a result.
Prompted by questions from resident Boyd Loving, the village attorney said the fact that the school district might already own the parking spots is immaterial to introducing the ordinance.
"Issues that remain outstanding would not affect the introduction of the ordinance in authorizing them to have permits to control those spaces," Matt Rogers said. "We did research with the village surveyer to determine who owns the property. I would say it's probably not clear at this point and would take some funds to do an actual survey."
Rogers said legal issues of ownership would need to be discussed in closed session.
The council by a 3-2 vote (with Bernadette Walsh and Tom Riche not in favor) introduced Ordinance 3369. Walsh and Riche have expressed concern with issues of precedent.
Other concerns also came to the surface on Wednesday night.
The village could replicate its normal notification process by alerting residents within 200 feet of the property. But really, Loving said, the people most impacted are the high school students. How many of them will be reading the back pages of The Ridgewood News and The Record for legal notices? How would they be provided notice action was likely to be taken on Feb. 13?
It was a good point, Mayor Aronsohn noted. The village will look into other notification options, he said.
Boyd A. Loving
8:38 pm on Thursday, January 17, 2013
Mr. Rogers' opinion is just that, an opinion. Let's see what the court says if parking tickets are issued on property that doesn't even belong to the Village.
How bizarre. The Village has not yet established if they even have the right to limit parking on Heermance Place, but they don't hesitate spending our hard earned tax dollars to draft and advertise a proposed ordinance anyway. What a joke. The Mayor, Ms. Hauck, and Mr. Pucciarelli should be ashamed of themselves.
What's the big rush here? Is there something we aren't being told?
jp1
9:29 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
Village mayor is a hypocrite and now wants to set a precedent on giving away public property. Based on the majority of public comments this takeover is not popular with the citizens of the village.
Paul
9:55 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
Boyd, Your right. Something smells and it ain't Roses!
JAFO
9:55 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
Stop making this a bigger issue than it needs to be. It's not a mandate, it's not going to drastically alter the future of our community, and it certainly won't set a precedent on giving away public property. It's 23 parking spaces on a road that by all appearances is on school property (it's between the school and stadium for crying out loud). Let the teachers have it and let's move on. The 18 year old students can walk a few extra minutes from somewhere else. It's not the end of the world.
jp1
10:50 am on Friday, January 18, 2013
Teachers are not a privileged class they can also walk the short distance. No one is sure if it is town or school property,for the last fifty years it has been a public street.
Anne LaGrange Loving
12:26 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Agreed!
Eastside Dad
12:52 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Most of the teachers have to drive to school in order to get to work. Let them have prioirity for parking spaces. Let the students walk. Driving to school is optional for students. Aren't they supposed to walk or take a bus? Aren't buses provided for all students who live far from the school? They are teenagers who should be in good shape. Oviously, an exception can be made to provide reserved spaces for students with disabilities. It seems silly to tell a 60-year old teacher that they are supposed to walk for blocks when a perfectly healthy teenager parks their 16th birthday present a few yards from the building because they are too cool to take the bus each day. It screams out "We are the elite and you teachers are our servants whom we treat as our inferiors because our kids are lazy and need to be pampered!"
Brian
2:13 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Totally agree. This is what makes this whole discussion so absurd. the only reason it came up is that they tried to get some parking spots in front of the school for teachers and visitors. it is a non-issue. those spots are clearly for the school during the school day and the school can distribute them as it sees fit. If it is a city street then the police can ticket. if it is school property than the school can have violators towed. Same result regardless of the technical difference.
Paul
2:33 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
Boyd, Your right .Something smells and it ain't Roses!!!! Love ya baby never change!!
Mikka H
6:25 pm on Friday, January 18, 2013
I say present it in front of the Hague for clarification...is it fair that our children should suffer this injustice? walk a numbered distance for schooling?
pis-shaw....someone call the pope !
JT2
11:22 am on Saturday, January 19, 2013
Most organizations give priority to customers, rather than employees, when allocating parking spaces.
...
6:12 pm on Wednesday, January 23, 2013
True that.