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HISTORY v. AFFORDABLE HOUSING?

Bowden2

The prospective buyers of the historic T. Thomas Fortune house property want to develop the site into affordable housing, according to a press release from the borough Historic Preservation Commission.

The names of the would-be buyers have yet to be disclosed, and this is the first we’re hearing of what they’ve got planned for the site, at 94 Drs. James Parker Boulevard.

If the report is true, though, the plan would appear to pit the historians against preservationists of another stripe: those who want to keep the West Side an affordable place to live.

HPC Chairman George Bowden tells us he still doesn’t know who is in talks with members of the selling Vaccarelli family. Bowden says he feels “like a CIA operative” trying to find out, but all he’s been able to learn from broker Geoff Brothers is that “the contracts are out there” and one party has yet to sign off.

The HPC recently toured the building “the interior is in ill-kempt condition but structurally sound and could be restored,” Bowden says.

The group also created a subcommittee, chaired by Gilda Rogers, a journalist and staffer at Red Bank Regional, to try to drum up attention from media across the U.S., including significant outlets of African-American news. Fortune, a pioneering post-slavery journalist, edited works by Margus Garvey and Booker T. Washington, and is said to have coined the term ‘Afro-American.’

Among the subcommittee’s members is Rev. Terence K. Porter of the Pilgrim Baptist Church.

Download fortune_press_release_80307.doc

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Posted on August 6, 2007 at 7:53 am, filed under Architecture, Government, History, Housing, Real Estate. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed. Email this story.
Zoe An American Bistro Little Silver NJ

  • It would be ashame to let this building go!
    What else can they take away from us?
    It is time for the people of Red Bank to unite an let the powers to be know that we are tired of our history an town being taken over by developers!
    When does it stop….how is keeping this gonna stop the Westside from being an affordable place to live? Have you seen what your taxes are going up to? Soon there will be nothing to take..then what are we going to do?
    This building can be redone..an turned into a museum..so people can come an learn a little bit of history! I'm sure that the people of Red Bank can come up with a rather good plan for this home!

    Posted by: John Tyler on August 9, 2007 at 8:57 pm | Permalink

  • tri-city news 8/2/07 - fellow west side residents check out the article about The Battle for Red Bank's West Side. Just when I thought i liked Menna he turned me off like sardines straight out of the can. The nerve how he wants to add affordable housing to the west side…hmmm what's wrong with affordable housing on the east side? He doesnt want upscale townhomes put over here becuase HE wants affordable housing on the west side of Red Bank. Is it fair to us homeowners that our property value will decrease if we get the affordable housing here. Is this to please his political venture with looking like mr. goodgye with placing more affordable housing on the west. No matter how you put it, we live in Red Bank in the western hemisphere of the town, we are NOT WEst Red Bank we are Red Bank. Tax paying residents/homeowners of this town. Menna, think about it? This is not good starting another divide early in your "mayor" career.

    This new zoning that you want to deter builders from building high end homes/townhomes is obsurd. What happens when we go to sell our homes that presently have value. If homes sell low, than that means our value decreases. Do the math Einstein.

    Posted by: patti on August 10, 2007 at 4:14 pm | Permalink

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