By Eric Wolf Schoen
Let me start out by wishing you and yours a Happy, Healthy New Year! You will get over the holiday cold, and going to bed and eating healthier and exercising will help you recover from the busy December that we all went through.
Make sure if you sign up for a gym you get at least a one week pass to try it out for free to make sure it’s for you. Check the gym contract you are signing specifically regarding cancellation policies and make sure you understand them. Gyms have all kinds of membership specials for senior adults, civil servants, students and a host of other categories, so make sure you tell the individual signing you up everything you are involved with that could lead to a discount.
In fact, make 2024 the year when you read all documents you are signing or asked to sign to make sure you understand them. Question things you don’t. In many cases it’s your money so you have to watch how you are spending it. Get multiple quotes on projects, and always ask for a better deal.
Make 2024 the year you learn how to use the self scan checkout at the supermarket. This device allows you to better keep track of what you are charged for the items you purchase. Most supermarkets and retailers with human beings at the register follow the swim policy when checking you out. To speed things up, the human beings are told to make believe they are swimming passing your items over the scanner as quickly as possible. This makes for mistakes galore! They go so fast you can’t catch mistakes.
The self scan machines allow you to better control the ringing up of purchases you are making. You go at your own pace and there is a clerk who monitors the self scan and can address any price or other problems you encounter. You can make sure you get any discounts you should be receiving, and pack your grocery items the way you want them packed, light or heavy, foods that need refrigeration vs. those that do not, etc.
Need I say you should be checking store circulars before you go? Prices are crazy and it doesn’t look like things such as food are getting any cheaper. If you need it and it’s on sale, buy an extra one if you have the space.
This past week I saw two good movies, Boys in the Boat and Ferrari at Ridge Hill Multiplex. When I entered the theaters they were ice cold. I spoke to managers who told me they were having problems with the heat but they would raise it. Maybe 30 minutes into the previews and film a staff member is supposed to come into each theater and check to make sure everything is good. That did not occur on either day we went.
If they did come into the theater I would tell them to tell the manager that the theater did not get any warmer. Actually both theaters in the multiplex got colder with blowers blowing cold air. I was not going out and missing 10 minutes of the movie to find a manager to tell them of the problem. At the conclusion of the movie, I found a manager and got complimentary tickets for another film. The managers acknowledged the heat problem and I asked them how could they in good conscience sell tickets to a movie with no heat in the theater on a day the temperature is around 40 degrees and they knew the heat was broken. They were waiting for parts to fix it over New Year’s weekend.
While we are on Ridge Hill, from the minute the complex opened there has been parking drama. At first it was illegal parking meters. The meters were removed. Then it was a lack of handicap parking spaces. Some were added, but many of the locations for handicap parking have been designated off limits to public parking. They stopped charging for parking during the pandemic, but reinstated parking fees requiring use of an app on the phone. Many don’t have access to put apps on their cell phones, and many people are not capable of paying by app (it’s a California thing!). Looking at their website I finally saw that they have old fashion machines, one in each parking lot where you can pay by credit card or cash.
You would think that a mall going through a major transformation would want to encourage people to visit what stores are left and not make parking so complicated. Not Ridge Hill. They instituted this app based system, and if you don’t pay you get an orange ticket on your windshield. The ticket is for $10. Where that amount came from I don’t know.
The kicker is at the bottom of the ticket on the back. ‘Responses not received within 30 days of this notice will incur additional fees and penalties. Your vehicle MAY BE SUBJECT TO BOOT OR TOW.’
I put 2 calls into the Ridge Hill Parking Office to speak to someone for an explanation of what is going on with the parking. No response by press time. The only thing I learned is that you can appeal your ticket by email at parking@ridgehill.com if let’s say you were there less than 30 mins or a short period of time where little or no payment is due. The appeal must be done within 3 days of the day you get the ticket.
They are busy towing cars and no one is monitoring the use of the Handicap Parking spaces by cars with no stickers or license plates at Ridge Hill. I’ll address this ‘Yonkers’ problem in another column, but I observed many cars illegally parked in handicap spaces as well as those off limits to public parking. They are the real offenders, cars that should be ticketed (up to $250 fee) or towed. And after a certain period of time, owners of cars parked illegally in handicap spots can be subject to jail time and loss of vehicle.
Aggressive in 2024? Tell the Ridge Hill Merchant you go to you are unhappy with the ‘tow it’ parking policy and lack of sufficient number of machines where you can pay your ticket without using an app. Call the Customer Service Phone at 1-800-316 0292 and tell the person who answers the phone you will not shop at Ridge Hill. Or simply find another branch of the store at Ridge Hill you shop at, hopefully with no parking fee and shop there.
If food bought at a restaurant is lousy, send it back. Bring back spoiled foods from the grocery. Store to your place of purchase. If an item has a discount tag on the shelf of a department store, make sure you get the discounted price. If a salesclerk is nasty to you, complain to the manager.
Remember as long as you are paying you control the mighty dollar. Complain if your store is out of an item you want and make them get it from another store and ship it for free to you.
Make 2024 the year you are Aggressive! Put everyone on a mission to find what you want and what makes you happy. Remember. It’s you against the world!
FINAL NOTE: It is with sadness that I note that Deputy Mayor Tony Landi will, according to a press release received at press time, ‘transition to his new role as Interim Commissioner of Housing and Building. Landi will facilitate the process of hiring a new commissioner for the department.’ Landi is a hands on guy, a gentleman with a vast knowledge of municipal operations. Losing him as Deputy Mayor is a major loss for the people of the City of Yonkers.
Reach Eric Schoen at thistooisyonkers@aol.com, or friend him on Facebook Eric Schoen…just look for him in the picture with Joan Rivers!
