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From the December-January 2001 Edition
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Create a Downtown
I'd like to share some thoughts
about the downtown area in
Fair Lawn, mainly the CVS-Grand Union shopping areas.
I
moved to Fair Lawn from Westwood over a year ago, having lived there for
over 8 years. The
thing I miss the most about Westwood, by comparison to Fair Lawn, is the
quaint yet thriving downtown area, which is considered the "hub"
of the Pascack Valley area.
I
realize that no two towns can be the same, but my children and I always
enjoyed running an errand or taking a stroll through downtown Westwood.
Whether it was to look in all the windows, stop at the shoemaker,
go into the Gap to see what was on sale, eat a slice of (really good)
pizza at one of our two favorite places, one on and one right off the main
drag.
There
are several really nice clothing stores, jewelry stores, card stores,
gift stores, kids stores, and a fabulous 5 and 10 (L&N Grand) that is
fun to browse in. The
sidewalks are wide enough to accommodate plenty of foot traffic, there are
a few places to sit outside and eat or have a cup of coffee, there is a
movie theatre on one of the side streets, and it is overall an
aesthetically pretty, inviting, cohesive atmosphere to "hang
out" in.
Fair
Lawn flirts with this concept, as walking past the Track Side Grill gives
me the momentary feeling I used to get in Westwood. However, the Main drag, Fair Lawn Avenue, is so busy with
it's four lanes of traffic and the
very w-i-d-e intersection which supports them, that it is difficult to imagine anything very cohesive about this downtown area.
I
really do not even consider the River Road area as much of a possibility
for a cozy downtown area. Even
though River Road is not a four-lane affair, it is equally busy. The CVS-Grand Union area has much more potential, in my
opinion.
Unfortunately,
the Grand Union is antiquated, especially the parking facilities and the
way the traffic is designed to flow.
The parking spaces are not adequate to accommodate all the vans and
SUVs that so many people are driving these days.
The Radburn Office Building at Fair Lawn Avenue and Plaza Road has the potential to create a "town square" type of feeling, but there is nothing about that would invite one to stroll there, no windows to look in or anything visually appealing. The same goes for all the stores in the CVS strip mall.
A thought has come to mind -- Has anyone ever thought about something like Englewood has put together off Palisades Avenue in the last several years? It's like an outdoor mall, built in an open-air "square" type of set-up, with name stores such as Lechters, KB toys, some (interesting) clothing stores, a Record Town or Sam Goody (cannot remember which one), all with side walks and many benches to sit down on. I wonder if there is a way to build or create something big yet cozy here in Fair Lawn -- I do believe it would be necessary to re-route traffic to completely bypass the chosen area, or at least keep the big 4-lane flow of traffic separate from a "shopping plaza".
I don't mean to sound as critical or unhappy with Fair Lawn as this
e-mail might sound. I like
MANY things about Fair Lawn and our life here than I did when living in
Westwood. These things
include the community feeling I get having my children attend Radburn
School and living just a few blocks away from the school itself.
All of my children's classmates are a stone's throw away. The "green" behind Radburn School is one of the
loveliest parts of Fair Lawn.
I
guess I just wish the part of town I consider to be "downtown Fair
Lawn" just doesn't look or feel as cozy or inviting as what I know a
"downtown" can be like.
Thanks
for "listening", so to speak!
Sincerely, Carol Graubard
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