The Future of Lakewood

[S209]

What do Lubavitchers have to do with elections in Lakewood?

The guy is a total incomprehensible lunatic. To answer Randomex I believe it’s the Passaic Smith lawyer dude from COVID-denial infamy.

[aygart]

Since nobody is PMing me, I'm going to post part of my endorsement, the part I could post publicly.

Don't vote for Murphy. Even if you like him. Vote Republican, or skip his name on the ballot. (Curious to know why? Told you you should've PMed last night!)

If anyone thinks it's odd that I'm telling my endorsement to people who clearly don't care, that's standard practice with political endorsements.

And no, I will not post the other part of the endorsement publicly. I do not want to write what I'm running for and how to spell my name.

Definitely on the "Remove the Masks, Let us Breathe" platform

[Euclid]

The guy is a total incomprehensible lunatic. To answer Randomex I believe it’s the Passaic Smith lawyer dude from COVID-denial infamy.

*Rabbi

[Randomex]

Thanks.

[Yehuda57]

The guy is a total incomprehensible lunatic.

The lubavitcher or the one running against him/her?

[aygart]

The lubavitcher or the one running against him/her?

Yes

[yuneeq]

Would like to hear some feedback and opinions about the following:

In an alternate universe, in the upcoming election, Lakewood township committee and boards are fully taken over by the most capable and incorruptible individuals to ever exist. We’re living in a utopia and the sky’s the limit.

How do these talented individuals improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists? Think for a moment - what are some common routes that you/family/friends use on a regular basis? Is it safe and practical to walk or cycle that route? I’ve thought of several common routes and can’t think of any that are safe.

To my understanding, it’s impossible for these experts to do much. In order to have better safety, we need dedicated sidewalks/lanes for pedestrians/bikers, and we need significantly safer drivers. At best they may prevent the situation from getting worse, but how can they ever add bike lanes to roads that are already congested and un-improvable? Ie. Will it ever be possible to add a bike lane on route 9 if we can’t even add a second lane?

And how can anyone stop drivers from driving like maniacs if poorly built roads and congestion is here to stay? It’s already accepted by most people that the roads will always be congested, and this is a fair price to pay for living in a growing, thriving city. There’s also no turning back on construction projects that were already built or approved. If so, there’s very little that can be done to improve the roads. As a consequence, the dangerous driving will remain dangerous, and even likely continue to deteriorate. And as driving gets more dangerous, the roads become less safe for everyone- drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. I would love to hear practical suggestions (ie. NOT building a bridge over the lake) how we can make impactful improvements to the roadways even if we were to block all new developments.

My point is not to gripe - I simply can’t envision how anyone can possibly make things better.
Perhaps someone can help me out?

[YitzyS]

Would like to hear some feedback and opinions about the following:

I have so much to say but so little time to say it.

So I'll just say the first thing that popped into my head.

They won't make things worse than it already is. If you think traffic is bad now, can you imagine how much worse it will be if every dream development that developers have gets approved? Just think about the traffic on Route 9 after 1,112 apartments are built in Eagle Ridge, 73 duplexes in Massachusetts, 74 house in Prospect Heights, 125 across Prospect in a yet-to-be-named development, hundreds on Chestnut, and so many more coming up to the planning and zoning board every day.

The carnage has not finished yet.

[yuneeq]

I have so much to say but so little time to say it.

So I'll just say the first thing that popped into my head.

They won't make things worse than it already is. If you think traffic is bad now, can you imagine how much worse it will be if every dream development that developers have gets approved? Just think about the traffic on Route 9 after 1,112 apartments are built in Eagle Ridge, 73 duplexes in Massachusetts, 74 house in Prospect Heights, 125 across Prospect in a yet-to-be-named development, hundreds on Chestnut, and so many more coming up to the planning and zoning board every day.

The carnage has not finished yet.

Agree with all you're saying. Do you agree that in our wildest dreams no one can make things better than where we are today?

[smart man]

Would like to hear some feedback and opinions about the following:

The traffic is probably here to stay. Still no reason why it should be super dangerous to drive.
They should take after New York city imo. They should drop speed limits all over to max 30 mph, there’s no excuse for having Cedarbridge at 45-50 mph when people are coming in and out at all intersections. In addition, a few big ticket blitzes would change things. The amount of drivers on their phone’s is astounding.

[Euclid]

Agree with all you're saying. Do you agree that in our wildest dreams no one can make things better than where we are today?

Wildest dreams you say? Here are my wild, fantastical dreams:
1) Set up a reliable, useful public busing system.
2) Mandate that offices can only open 1 hour after school start times, to remove the overlap of school and commuter traffic.
3) Mandate that all private school students attend schools within X miles of their houses to cut down on school bus traffic.
4) Mandate that during specific times of the day (rush hour) every car must have at least 3 people in it, i.e. mandate rush hour carpool.

All fantasies - but would definitely alleviate traffic.

[YitzyS]

Wildest dreams you say? Here are my wild, fantastical dreams:
1) Set up a reliable, useful public busing system.
2) Mandate that offices can only open 1 hour after school start times, to remove the overlap of school and commuter traffic.
3) Mandate that all private school students attend schools within X miles of their houses to cut down on school bus traffic.
4) Mandate that during specific times of the day (rush hour) every car must have at least 3 people in it, i.e. mandate rush hour carpool.

All fantasies - but would definitely alleviate traffic.

Can you PM your name so I can write it in when I vote today?

[lcm]

1) Set up a reliable, useful public busing system.

Why is this so impractical? Just curious

[avromie7]

The traffic is probably here to stay. Still no reason why it should be super dangerous to drive.
They should take after New York city imo. They should drop speed limits all over to max 30 mph, there’s no excuse for having Cedarbridge at 45-50 mph when people are coming in and out at all intersections. In addition, a few big ticket blitzes would change things. The amount of drivers on their phone’s is astounding.

Slowing down traffic in the few places it actually moves would result in way more traffic.

[Sam Finkelstein]

Don't get me started on traffic safety. I hate it as much as the next guy when NJSP comes to town, and it really hurts to watch frum people get tickets, but the cell phone and crosswalk situation is just plain dangerous.

[smart man]

Slowing down traffic in the few places it actually moves would result in way more traffic.

Would rather have more traffic than be in danger all the time. Also crashes create the most traffic.

[avromie7]

Would like to hear some feedback and opinions about the following:

In an alternate universe, in the upcoming election, Lakewood township committee and boards are fully taken over by the most capable and incorruptible individuals to ever exist. We’re living in a utopia and the sky’s the limit.

How do these talented individuals improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists? Think for a moment - what are some common routes that you/family/friends use on a regular basis? Is it safe and practical to walk or cycle that route? I’ve thought of several common routes and can’t think of any that are safe.

To my understanding, it’s impossible for these experts to do much. In order to have better safety, we need dedicated sidewalks/lanes for pedestrians/bikers, and we need significantly safer drivers. At best they may prevent the situation from getting worse, but how can they ever add bike lanes to roads that are already congested and un-improvable? Ie. Will it ever be possible to add a bike lane on route 9 if we can’t even add a second lane?

And how can anyone stop drivers from driving like maniacs if poorly built roads and congestion is here to stay? It’s already accepted by most people that the roads will always be congested, and this is a fair price to pay for living in a growing, thriving city. There’s also no turning back on construction projects that were already built or approved. If so, there’s very little that can be done to improve the roads. As a consequence, the dangerous driving will remain dangerous, and even likely continue to deteriorate. And as driving gets more dangerous, the roads become less safe for everyone- drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. I would love to hear practical suggestions (ie. NOT building a bridge over the lake) how we can make impactful improvements to the roadways even if we were to block all new developments.

My point is not to gripe - I simply can’t envision how anyone can possibly make things better.
Perhaps someone can help me out?

The first step is to identify the source of the traffic. For example, the 4 intersections of rt 9, rt 88, clifton/cedarbridge, and central/hurley are the primary way to get between a huge number of places in town. Add this with the fact that rt 9 is the primary way to get between the North end to anywhere south and you get what we know as "Lakewood traffic". IMO the way to solve this would be a mix of finding alternates and making the choke points more efficient. One idea I had would be to get rid of parking on clifton ave south of rt 88 and make 2 left turning lanes from rt 88 on to cedarbridge. We can also turn the right turning lane from clifton onto rt 88 into a straight/right lane. This would help traffic flow through this intersection much more efficiently.

While the bridge over the lake sounds ridiculous, it would definitely help by handling all the traffic between the north side of the lake and the south west side of the lake, leaving much more capacity on rt 9. TBH, I think it may actually be a worthwhile investment.

ETA: Another idea I just thought of, have rt 9 go over (or under) pine & james st. instead of an intersection. This will make it more difficult to get between rt 9 and pine/james, but it would make getting across the intersection much more efficient. To make this work, the small streets intersecting with rt 9 between pine and prospect would need to be closed off.

[aygart]

Wildest dreams you say? Here are my wild, fantastical dreams:
1) Set up a reliable, useful public busing system.
2) Mandate that offices can only open 1 hour after school start times, to remove the overlap of school and commuter traffic.
3) Mandate that all private school students attend schools within X miles of their houses to cut down on school bus traffic.
4) Mandate that during specific times of the day (rush hour) every car must have at least 3 people in it, i.e. mandate rush hour carpool.

All fantasies - but would definitely alleviate traffic.

2. May be of questionable legality. Do you really want the Govt mandating when private businesses can or can't be open?
3. Won't help other that to create higher density as people clamor for housing near their preferred schools.
4. What if you actually need to get somewhere then?

[Euclid]

2. May be of questionable legality. Do you really want the Govt mandating when private businesses can or can't be open?
3. Won't help other that to create higher density as people clamor for housing near their preferred schools.
4. What if you actually need to get somewhere then?

I said they were fantasies

3) what's wrong with higher density if traffic is reduced?
4) take a bus

[aygart]

I said they were fantasies

3) what's wrong with higher density if traffic is reduced?
4) take a bus

3 yatza schoro behefseido