I know they feel confident that by Thanksgiving, three weeks away, the borough hall framework will be completely covered so that work on the interior can proceed through the long winter. That’s a good thing.
But it still makes me wonder why the workers are allowed by the state to leave their vehicles parked partially along the side of Route 36 and partially on the sidewalk where people are walking their dogs or heading to church.
At the same time that they’re working on the exterior, they are going to be paving at least part of the planned parking lot close to the Valley Avenue ‘front’ of the building, so those cars will be able to be parked inside. That’s really a good thing.
However, in the meantime, something isn’t right. The other day there were only two cars parked there, and I was hopeful that was it. However, this morning there were 12 cars parked along the side of Route 36, from west of Valley Avenue all the way to Miller St.
Attention Highlands drivers: Nobody better be getting parking tickets anyplace in town these days so long as not even a warning is issued on a state highway.
While I appreciate the hard working employees, I do wonder about the lack of foresight on the part of the contractor or architect. Couldn’t the section behind the building near Miller St. have been cleared, if not paved? Cars could have been parked there. Couldn’t the Valley St. side permit parking even without paving? Heck, the contractors’ trailer is there, what’s wrong with some cars as well?
Plans to have the borough hall destroyed by Super Storm Sandy moved to that location have been on the books long before the current Mayor and Council took office. It did not seem like a good idea then, given some options they had, and it doesn’t appear to be a great idea now. I keep wondering how the folks along Highland Avenue behind the new building like their view being blocked? I keep wondering how all the families in that area are abiding the hammering and other noise which starts pretty early in the morning.
And I’m still disturbed that the building is so close to the Route 36 side of t he building. What happened to the earlier drawings and plans to have parking for two rows of cars between the building and the Route 36 sidewalk? Even though it appeared there was no door on that side, what with the front of the building facing Valley St. with several rows of parking in front of it, those earlier plans called for parking and even spelled out a specific reserved spot for the Judge who will preside over Municipal Court on the top floor of the new building.
The further the building progresses, the harder the contracted employees work, the more it looks like paying an architect for several years in advance of actually putting a shovel in the ground has not been an economic move…and it started many years ago.
Want to read more about the new Borough Hall?
Years ago my mother parked along 36, across from the church, to attend a novena. A drunk driver hit her car and caused substantial damage. The insurance company agreed only to repair but not replace. The car was never right. Thank God Mom was in church.
The new building looks banal.
Jacqueline Caruso Larsen,
California Registered Architect
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