In the comments section below, feel free to list what you feel Township officials should focus on in 2018.
As officials constantly emphasize, ideas and suggestions from residents are always welcome, and are taken into consideration.
Many ideas posted by residents in 2017, were implemented by the Township.
Slowing down the unsustainable rate of building. It’s the biggest issue facing town, and nothing else really comes close.
Traffic!!
Driving laws
Parks in the Prospect Street area. I heard that it’s being worked on, but we would really like to see it made a priority. The population in the area has exploded and could really use a nice size local public park.
Also to add turning lanes on Cross St. (by the many schools and for James and Prospect) as that seems to be what causes most of the backup during rush hour.
Thank You
Keep up being proactive!
Mayor Ray we see the difference!
Plow the sidewalks on main roads!! Potentially saving lives
Traffic
I don’t think it’s so much about what would I would like to Township to work on this year, it’s more what is the most pressing issue that must be addressed. I believe the issue that is the most pressing to people’s minds are traffic. They must address it in whatever way they can. I personally believe that widening Route 9 or putting up traffic lights is a great thing however it’s not the answer and nothing really would be an answer. However I believe hiring approximately 100 full-time crossing guards and to have somebody hired who would oversee it exclusively will help eliminate traffic tremendously. Just like as they do in New York City you have traffic cops at every busy intersection and they have the power and authority to override the traffic light for that intersection.
here are 3 suggestions. 1) to install 4 way stop signs by somerset and ridge and seventh 2)enforce a rule of uninsured cars not to be allowd to park on roads for long period. there are alot of junk cars that dont have insurance parked on streets as you can tell a week after the snow many cars are still covered with snow 3)a system that will notify each zone when there is a change in garbage sched , i see 75% of pepole put out the garbage on the reg day. there should be a text or robo call. for each zone. i know the township has messages ,but that a very general ,i would like to be messages by zone. thanks i hope i can hear a response
WHAT is the point ? they do what they want anyway…
Agreed, diego garcia! And that is probably the main problem Lakewood has!
Traffic Route 9! Please!
Perhaps,open up more side streets.
Open up new roads like Arlington to Pines Street.
There should be a system called the “Thruway system and “we are all the streets go straight through and end of the cul-de-sac practice.
The “Thruway system” we’re all the streets go straight through and and the cul-de-sac practice.
Freeze develipment construction. Add streets.
First off, thank you for your hard (mostly thankless) work on behalf of everyone. The cleanup from last weeks blizzard was excellent and greatly appreciated by all. Obviously, traffic improvements should top the list. Many areas can be improved with basic re-striping and alignment of intersections. The intersection of Pine and New Hampshire has a very small left turning lane onto New Hampshire (from Pine) which backs things up a lot. If that can be lengthened as well as lengthening the turning signal that can help. Better alignment of Pine/James by Route 9 can speed things up a little. Small things like this around town can go a long way to helping.
Work for the people. Understand you are here to help the residents of Lakewood. That needs to be the only factor in your agenda. Nothing els. Wishing you much success.
Infrastructure – roads, lighting upgrades and parks, parks, parks!
Traffic signals
Turning signals in areas that get backed up like by Pine/James
And Evergreen/9
Traffic pattern for turning left out of 4 corners chestnut onto chestnut!
Enforcing a no more building down route 9 policy!!!!!!!!!
A few bus routes down Route 9 to alleviate traffic.
Or an express lane over pass down route 9 with exits at a few main streets.
there is already a no left turn sign. the problem is that people dont care
grammar error: ..to whom I AM referring.
TRAFFIC TRAFFIC AND TRAFFIC.
I think the township should figure out a way how to lower property taxes.
It’s boggles my mind, that where ever there was a tree, they put up a duplex.
As far as I understand, the trees were not paying taxes, so where is all the money going!!!!!
Please don’t give me excuses, that the city has to provide, trash pick up, water, sewer, bussing.
This is all fine, but they can still figure out away to lower the taxes.
And I would suggest, that the residents in Lakewood get to appoint 5 lawyers, and 5 accountants, that should look at the books, and see where all the money is really going.
I am sure that these lawyers, and accountants would do it for free, to help out the community.
be aware when allowing building of duplexes that the parking situation is horrible. 4 car driveways dont help cuz pple dont like blocking in 2nd cars. the street parking is basically in front of mailboxes and i know from my mailman that its very annoying. in addition theres no room to put out garbages, mailboxes are blocked by garbage cans too. even worse is allowing a 2nd studio apt in a duplex. thats another added car to the mess. I wish the township would care more before allowing everything to pass.
Slow the building down substantially for 12 months and focus on fixing the infrastructure. Just try it for 12 months. PLEASE.
Repave all the roads in this bumpy town. It’s insane. Just saying look around all the roads near significant people’s houses the roads are all redone what about the rest of us
Police should enforce all sensable driving laws!
– Cars stop in middle of roadway, even park for a “minute”.
– People park at dangerous areas (like too close to intersection) that are against the law.
Education about safety to all residents:
– People should not be walking on the street
– Be careful when crossing any street, especially at night
etc.
Agreed, Cars parking to close to a corner is illegal and dangerous.
Hey they can’t do much regarding natural death (All enhancement of safety should be priority) what do you say they focus on TAXES?!
Turning arrows at obvious intersections such as County Line & Kennedy/Route 9 where there’s left turning lanes but no arrow (Duh)! Also River ave. turning left onto Central. 1 Car per green light unless you unsafely zip ahead the second it turns green or unsafely go right after it turns red.
Left turns onto River Ave. between Central and Chestnut/Cross should be illegal during peak hours even though it actually inconveniences myself but makes things safer.
Fill in all the pot holes on route 9 now, don’t wait till the spring. The extreme cold and snow has created some seriously dangerous holes up and down this high speed and most busy road.
PLOW THE SIDEWALKS, before someone gets killed walking in middle of the street. At least the busy streets. I mean even route 9 sidewalks are not plowed. RIDICULOUS. Gosh it’s a no brainer!
Pay attention to the obvious it’s that simple.
The town seems to either not have enough time or money (or both) for some simple no-brainer stuff. Please!
Focus on safety over convenience. Read that again.
First of all, thank you for your devoted work to the township.
I think one major issue is the brightness (or lack of) in the streets at night. Although we can’t under stress the importance of wearing reflectors, it’s just as important that the streets be lit up brightly. The issue of dim lights causes 2 major issues. 1. It is a tremendous danger to pedestrians. 2. There are a large number of drivers that drive with their brights on causing poor visibility to oncoming drivers. It is also a deterrent to crime.
I moved to Lakewood recently and I’m very surprised by how dark the streets are at night in such an inhabited town. Many cities now have brighter bulbs in the street lights that are also more cost efficient so it may not entail new street lights and the expense of installing them.
Thank you all for looking out for the needs of our township, it’s much appreciated by all!
First let them list the solutions, they had ,from last years problems
Traffic light needed DESPERATELY at the corner of new hampshire and chestnut!
and lakewood needs beautiful, safe and updated parks with playstructures that are geared to children of ALL ages! 2-16! Take a look at every other town for inspiration.
This is a great forum to let out your frustration, its cheaper then a psychiatrist
I would love to see Lawrence Avenue become a one-way street. The school busses literally can’t pass and it’s hard for cars too.
all the # streets should be one way
Traffic!!!Garbage puck up twice a week!
Each homeowner needs to have the correct amount of cans for the volume of garbage produced by themselves and ALL their tenets!
The problem is when you park in front of your neighbors garbage and their garbage does not get picked up that week We need to use our neighbors garbage.
reduce sky high taxes and create more affordable rentals and homes for the overwhelmed township.
Stop the overbuilding!!! Please!!!
repave the roads, traffic lights, street lights
1. TRAFFIC SLOW DOWN THE BUILDING until it’s proven the infrastructure is in place to handle any additional building until then SLOW DOWN. NEED PARKS PARKS in the prospect area there’s no public recreational space in the area.
2. There’s a desperate need for a traffic light by prospect and cross and general infrastructure improvements are needed across town. Tons of bumpy roads
Stop drivers from using their hand held phones
CHEAPER PROPERTY TAXES???? PLEASE???? PRETTY PLEASE???
Remind people more often that homeowners need to shovel their sidewalks so that kids can walk to the bus.
Did anyone mention to stop building?
If not, here goes.
Please FREEZE any more development buildings.
The investors are benefiting and the residents suffer.
And the construction projects
Add more roads. Connect streets to each other (without adding houses).
The town must fix the infrastructure before anymore building. The town and the builders have created a monster that will only worsen with time
Thank you for allowing us this forum to have our say.
There are 2 intersections that need A LOT more lighting. They are nearly invisible to see in the dark.
1) Washington and Pine St
2) Cedar Bridge and Swarthmore. This one is actually dangerous – because if you turn left into Swarthmore at the light, you’ll hit the barrier on Swarthmore. You need to turn after the light. Without this knowledge, the corner is an accident waiting to happen due to the lack of proper lighting.
Once again, thank you for asking for and taking action on our suggestions
I actually think that WE need to change our “entitled” attitudes and instead of ranting, blogging, writing to the coffee room or reader’s write DO something constructive if there is a real issue. The township, police, board of ed, public works, mayor, governor, president etc all have offices with phone numbers and email addresses that you can reach out to if there are valid concerns and complaints. And if you speak respectfully, you will be heard. (Heard doesn’t mean automatic change and shouldn’t lead to further ranting).
Do SOMETHING…. ANYTHING!
Work with the state-
1) to get fair share funding for school district, so real estate taxes should go down.
2) to fix traffic on rt. 9
Work with county-
1) widening county roads.
2) more traffic lights.
Township-
1) repave as many roads possible.
2) open as many paper streets as possible.
Thank you for your work in ’17, keep it up
Make Park Avenue a one-way street especially in front of 100 Park Avenue the school because come flying down and almost hit the school buses
The first thing is that the twp. people should understand and get is that WE the people of Lakewood don’t want any veriances given for more development.
Stop the building! I know I sound selfish now that I already live here for 17 years but it’s gotten out of hand- there’s simply no room for all the cars on our local roads etc. When the glass is full, the water spills over the top when you continue pouring- that’s what’s happened here in Lakewood- the glass is full and we’re still pouring water.
FIX our roads. Our roads are riddled with potholes as well as terrible patches. I can’t drive down ANY road without bumping UP and DOWN. Roads MUST be REPAVED LIKE NEW. Stop with temporary fixes and the like PLEASE GET IT DONE.
Lower property taxes (much lower!) I’m living in my house close to 40 years and the property taxes have gone up 85%! When I’m at retirement age and live on a fixed income I can’t afford to stay to stay in my home? There should be at least a 50% tax reduction for senior citizens like they have in other towns (not around here)
building pls bec that leads to accidents and traffic its like if you put 500 people in a cup they will bang their nose same thimg do not build anymore houses!
All these people that say stop the building, where should people move? Stop being so selfish!!!!
The township should focus on TRAFFIC!!! Widen main roads and open up dead ends.
and the private roads main road ok lets widen it ok put a road in between that house ok turn the road put it in between that house ok perfect now how are you supposed to widen the 9 impossible
How do we do all this fixing roads and the whole system WITHOUT raising property taxes??
Put a freeze on construction, Stop issuing variances
Selfish?? Why are you insulting everyone who has quality of life issues because there is unchecked building going on? If selfish is stopping the building so people can live and drive properly and go where they need to without having backups all over town then I am happy to be selfish along with 1000’s of other people.
No more duplexes! It started for a good reason and years ago it didn’t exist in town now everything is a duplex.
Tighten the screws on development don’t allow variances on everything.
Improve the roads traffic is terrible.
Stop building ! Traffic and fix the roads !!!!
Lights on route 9 south especially by Evergreen/Chateau. It is such a dangerous intersection with many almost accidents happening daily.
freeze development. It is killing our quality of life.
Close Arlington permanently!
Arlington street, or Arlington Shul!!??
I totally agree with TomatoFace
It’s very nice to say stop building but where should people live? Just because you already own a house doesn’t give you a right to say nobody else should! If you don’t like it your more than welcome to move out of Lakewood I’m sure you can sell your house for more than you bought it for! Stop thinking only about yourself and realize that if you want to live in a city this is the price to pay if you want to live in a little village with no amenities of a big city including stores schools shuls etc by all means move to Montana! But that’s not a reason that someone else shouldn’t be able to live here! And just to finish off it’s מדת סדום to think that you have more of a right to live here than someone else!
By the same token would you say that the USA should allow anyone who wants to come live here? After all, Americans are lucky to live in an affluent and democratic country. Wouldn’t it be selfish to stop anyone in the world who wants to live here from living here and enjoying the American dream?
I agree to freeze development on one condition .That whoever votes to freeze development agrees,to move out of Lakewood. It’s not fair that he,should he,able to live here while others can not .
relieving the horrible traffic
cracking down on unsafe or insensitive to others driving
AND PUT AN END TO DEVELOPMENTS!!!!1
AND LOWERING PROPERTY TAXES
*Open up East Kennedy Blvd from Squankum straight through to Ridge in raintree*
Why on earth they closed it up is beyond any common sense.
Stop building
Lower taxes
Stop the silly cul-de-sacs, and make them standard through traffic
So you want Indy 500 right through Raintree, Brilliant!
Traffic – Streetlights
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Stop overbuilding
Di I make myself clear? Becuase that is what 90% of this community wants. And that is what most sane people want. But that is not what the elected officials care about. Why? Why? Why?
We need real answers.
Constructing sidewalks is a priority 1 for this town with so many kids and walking pedestrians , it’s mamash pikuach nefesh to construct sidewalks all over Lakewood , just like in the city , it’s mamash geferlich to see women pushing strollers on the road and so close to cars .
Put in a traffic light by Oak and Rt. 9 before any more building is done in the area!!
1) turning signal at county line and 9
2) turning signal at Kennedy and 9
3) trafic light at park and county line
4) yes turn on red at Courtney and 9
5) widen the end of 14th st approaching hope road with right and left turning lanes
6) widen county line from forest Ave or at least from Squankum or even from park till raintree
7) all numbered streets in the grid shall become one way streets in alternative directions
8) enforce the do not block the box law at intersections
9) build a road from cedar bridge along the tracks till the 88 at Monmouth
10) FINALLY, STOP ALL NEW DEVELOPMENTS UNTILL THE DEVELOPERS PAY FOR A BRIDGE ACROSS THE LAKE FOR CARS!
Sidewalks!!!
Ask not, what the town can do for you. Ask, what can you do for the town.
Run a campaign to get people to stop littering. I watch people walking around or driving and throwing empty cups,cans and other trash on to the ground. The town looks like a dump. The police do an excellent job but they can not be everywhere.
I ❤ LAKEWOOD
Property taxes. It’s really really high
1)Please lower property taxes. 2)I know stopping to build houses is unrealistic, but can u at least make the builders space the houses apart so there is more land in between them? This twp is looking more like congested boro park each year…and please make them save more trees! Trees are benificial in so many ways, but builders cut them down wholesale. 3)A lot of potholes appeared after last week’s storm, they need to b fixed asap, I noticed a lot by rt 9 around Evergreen, & a deep one on Wynatt. 4) No more cul de sacs should b allowed! That is a major reason for a lot of the traffic issues in this town.Thank you!
I think they should make all residents streets into cul,de,sacks. As they are safer for our children. Also they should build more houses and apartment buildings and make them affordable. Also they need more shopping areas.
Great idea, we are trying to drive through town and you want to make all the roads dead end streets.
Thank you for all your hard work!!!!!
Evergreen/Chateau Drive is in desperate need of traffic light. Its impossible to turn in/out… Its really needed.
Traffic & Pedestrian Safety
Traffic – add turning lanes or traffic lights on Rute 9.
Pedestrian Safety: add sidewalks where pedestrians are walking anyway – for example, Rt 9, New Hampshire, Rt 70, Cedar Bridge, etc –
A pedestrian was killed this week on the Rt 70 – As the population grows and the roads are increasingly being used by pedestrians, it is very important to take care of this asap.
Get the pocket park & playground in red oaks / white oaks up and running and fully accessible to the neighborhood.
More importantly, the Mayor should stop the bullying real estate investment speculators from destroying our quality of life. It’s time to take back the town for its residents.
1. Stop new construction! It aggravates all the existing problems (traffic, safety, parking, etc.)
2. Enforce traffic and parking laws! You have uninsured, abandoned cars parked illegally for YEARS, literally, and nobody doing anything about it. People continuously park illegally because there are no consequences. The same is true for talking on cel phones.
3. Do not offer leaf collection if you are not going to pick up the leaves! All that does is pose a hazard to parked cars and wastes parking spaces that are so hard to come by.
Reasonable rental
For single people
Affordable housing!!!
Also I understand that people in Brooklyn need to buy houses- but they shouldn’t be the target audience for the developers! Sadly, many of us Lakewooders are now priced out of the market.
To all those people posting suggestions for a building freeze from the comfort of their HOMES (not apartments)- where do you suggest all the Lakewood couples who want to buy houses move to? Are you vacating your homes any time soon? Honestly, every time I see comments like ‘stop the construction’, I shake my head and can’t stop wondering what you people are thinking. I mean you realize that this town attracts HUNDREDS of young couples a year who a few years down the line will want to buy houses. Or do we tell the grandparents who want to relocate here from out of town that they’re not welcome here?
I mean, it’s one thing to want the construction to be done responsibly, and to widen streets to alleviate the traffic issues- but to simply stop building?!
So to those of you who blast developments and building, I hope my point was clear and that the next time this topic comes up you think before you post, so that whatever you write is a PRACTICAL suggestion, not merely your utopian wish list.
Keeping the town clean
1. Traffic light on Chestnut/New Hampshire
2. ELIMINATE ALTERNATE SIDE PARKING!
wether on the narrow streets between Clifton and Lexington, to all developments, just driving down an ordinary street at a cautious speed can be absolutely terrifying and potentially hazardous.
In response to Shauna Shaytel, stop the building. Most young couples are already moving to TR or Jackson. The New Construction is being marketed to people not from Lakewood
The M1 Zoning in Cross prospect area should allow commercial so it will take away traffic on Rt 9, as there will be shopping available in that area as well, so anyone in that vicinity, doesn’t have to go to Rt 9 for shopping.
Stop the building and fix the traffic problems
Toot toot the train is tooting it’s horn at 2:35 am… am I the only one that can’t fall asleep because of its noise? Toot toot… If all lakewood residents request the township to put up sticks when the train is coming so that people will stop and wait for the train to pass… toot toot…this way there will be no honking so early in the morning… thank you for posting…. there it goes again… toot toot…
1)Make sure any future development has realistic parking spot requirements. Too much spill over onto residential streets.
2)Enforce traffic laws including hitchhiking. It’s been posted here on TLS by the mayor and the police chief that it is illegal.
3) Stop with the variances. Way too many things being allowed that are hurting the township.
4) Stop issuing permits for advertising signs (the ones that look like real estate open house signs) that are all over the place, especially intersections.There are many places to advertise, including TLS, that won’t make our town look like a dump.
please add street lights at all intersections, makes no sense to have a light in middle of the block and not by the corner, I’ve seen people get hit
maybe we can change the street signs to bigger visible ones, its always hard to see the small sign when looking for a street unless u drive close to it