The Montclair Pod sent junior correspondents Coco and Priya out downtown with one question: If you could change anything about Montclair, what would it be? Their answers, plus dozens more that came in once the clip hit Instagram, add up to a real, unfiltered Montclair wish list.
The Case for Ten-Minute Parking on Bloomfield Avenue
Michelle, a downtown local, did not hesitate.
“I think the parking here in downtown is, um, no bueno. I think what could help a lot are taking the Bloomfield Avenue street parking and make them short, unmetered parking. So like, 10-minute parking on Bloomfield Avenue so we can all go run into Taqueria, and run into Kai Yang, and run into Ani Ramen, and get that food that we want.”
However convenient it sounds, fast, unmetered spots built for a five-minute takeout run do not seem to be coming anytime soon. If anything, Montclair is moving the other way. Earlier this year, Montclair’s meter rates went up for the first time in eight years, with enforcement hours stretching later into the evening. The town made parking more expensive. Nobody on Bloomfield Avenue asked for that.
LACK OF Weekend Trains From Bay Street Are Still the Top Complaint
Tyler, a Church Street resident, pointed to a problem that will sound familiar to anyone who has tried to catch a Saturday train into the city.
“I would like if the trains from Bay Street on the weekends ran a little bit more frequently, as sometimes I travel back and forth from the city, and it can be a bit hard to schedule if the trains only run every two hours.”
This is not a new complaint. Bay Street is the only one of Montclair’s six stations that runs any weekend service at all, and even there, trains come once every two hours instead of the roughly hourly weekday pace. A township survey of more than 2,300 residents found 84 percent want more frequent weekend service, but NJ Transit has not committed to the change. It remains one of the most consistent frustrations residents raise about getting around town.
One Newcomer Has Nothing to Change Yet
Not every answer was a complaint. Another respondent had just visited Christ Church on Church Street for the first time that morning shared his impressions.
“I have to be honest with you, this is really my first day here. I don’t see anything that would need improving, other than my wife and I finding a condo here, a house smaller than our current home to live in, because we have some friends that live here, and they love it.”
His only real problem is a good one: finding a smaller place in a market that rewards people who already own something bigger. From the outside, on day one, the only thing wrong with Montclair is that everyone who already lives here knows it is good.
From Laundromats to a Trader Joe’s: What OUR Instagram Added to the List
The comments kept the wish list going once the clip posted, and they clustered into a few clear patterns.
Some were about daily infrastructure residents run into constantly: more laundromats, lights on the town’s sports fields and basketball courts so evening games do not end at dusk, and street lighting bright enough to actually see the walk home. Others pushed toward community space, especially a dog park in the South End and somewhere for kids to gather after school besides a CVS parking lot.
Affordability came up just as often. Commenters wanted lower rent, more resources for unhoused neighbors, and overnight street parking for residents without a driveway. One comment called for a stronger, more transparent school board, which echoes an ongoing conversation. MPACT, the volunteer group that has spent the past year digging into the district’s finances, just published a new explainer on how the board should operate.
And then there was the crowd favorite that shows up in nearly every version of this exercise: a Trader Joe’s.
Line up all of it and a pattern shows. Most of this is fixable at the municipal level, an ordinance, a lighting budget, not an act of Congress. A Trader Joe’s is the outlier. Nobody at town hall controls where that chain opens next.
If you have your own answer to the question, tell us on Instagram.
Image credit: Loop Net
