By JOHN T. WARD

An explosive scandal alleging that New Jersey State Police led a high-speed caravan of luxury cars down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month took a twist Monday with the revelation of another such excursion in 2010.

That one, according to a report Monday by the Star-Ledger,  involved a caravan of hot cars headed to a Ferrari car show in downtown Red Bank.

From NJ.com, the website of the Star-Ledger:

State officials have reacted with dismay to allegations that the New Jersey State Police led a high-speed caravan of sports carsto Atlantic City last month without regard for the safety of other drivers.

But it apparently it wasn’t the first time it has happened.

The State Police escorted another caravan of luxury sports cars down the Garden State Parkway in 2010 at speeds reportedly up to 120 mph, and it was all captured by two young men who happened upon the procession and then posted a harrowing video to YouTube.

“Get the camera out. They’re being escorted by the New Jersey State Police!” one of the men, whose identities are unknown, said as they encountered the caravan. “We’re being escorted by State Police. Oh my god. Timing is perfect … The State Police are cruising!”

The caravan, captured in five videos posted to the website June 28, 2010, was led by marked State Police cruiser #193 with its emergency lights flashing. Many of the cars in the caravan can be heard revving their engines and seen bursting forward at high speeds in and out and heavy traffic.

A spokesman for the State Police, Lt. Stephen Jones, did not immediately return a call and e-mail seeking comment on the escort and whether or not it was authorized.

The video ends with the videographer’s car running a red light past at State Police escort at exit 109 onto Newman Springs Road in Lincroft.

On Sunday, the Sledger reported that the State Police

are investigating complaints that two troopers escorted a caravan of luxury sports cars at speeds in excess of 100 mph down the Garden State Parkway to Atlantic City last month. The occupants included former Giants running back and sports car enthusiast Brandon Jacobs, according to a source with knowledge of the trip.

In the complaints, obtained by The Star-Ledger, witnesses said that in the early afternoon March 30, they saw two State Police patrol cars with their emergency lights flashing driving in front of and behind the southbound caravan, which included dozens of Porsches, Lamborghinis, Ferraris and other vehicles, all with their license plates covered with tape.

One witness, Wayne Gantt, dubbed the escort “Death Race 2012.”

A measure to boost business development in downtown Red Bank has had its intended effect and should probably end this summer, Mayor Pasquale Menna tells redbankgreen.

The temporary ordinance repeal, adopted in August, 2010, has helped spark a burst of activity so strong that “we may have a parking deficiency again soon,” Menna said.

The moratorium relieves developers whose projects require variances for parking deficiencies, based on formulas in the town’s land-use laws, to pay hundreds of dollars per parking space into a dedicated parking improvement fund. In order to qualify for the waiver, they have to get their building permits within six months of variance approval, and obtain certificates of occupancy within one year.

The change was effective through December 31, 2011, and was later extended by the borough council to June 30 of this year.

Menna raised the prospect of allowing the law to sunset at the borough planning board meeting Monday night in the context of Char Steakhouse’s plan to overhaul the former home of Ashes Cigar Bar on Broad Street.

A move by the council to decisively end the moratorium “probably will be soon,” he told Char owner Matteo Ingrao. Afterward, Menna declined to be more specific.

The moratorium “has to be brought up before June,” Menna said.

But he said that vacant stores and office spaces are rapidly filling up, with the potential for a parking shortfall to hit the East Side lots if buildings such as the structure at the corner of Broad and Monmouth streets, which is vacant except for a street-level branch of the Valley National Bank, are ever leased.

“The third floor at the old Natelson’s building is completely occupied,” he said of the space above the Urban Outfitters store, “and the second floor will be done soon.”

Char, a two-story restaurant with some 150 seats, expects to employ 25 to 40 people, Ingrao said, and has just a couple of parking spaces on the Mechanic Street side, including one for handicapped users.

Menna said no tally has been made by borough officials of how much has been waived in fees under the moratorium.

Nancy Adams, executive director of Red Bank RiverCenter, was not immediately available for comment on the moratorium.

The council meets tonight at 6:30 p.m., but there’s no mention of the moratorium on the agenda. Here’s the agenda:RB agenda 020812

Here’s the moratorium ordinance: Ordinance 2010-36

By JOHN T. WARD

Jim Carroll had just pulled his car out of his Middletown garage when a neighbor drove by, shouting in his direction, “One point twenty-one jiggawatts!”

It’s the kind of thing you get when you own a stainless steel vehicle outfitted with a nuclear reactor for power and a flux capacitor for time travel.

Carroll, a 30-year-old engineer of fire suppression systems, is – you won’t be surprised to learn – an over-the-top fan of the film, “Back to the Future.” It’s a story in which a souped-up, gull-wing DeLorean serves as a time machine, requiring 1.21 gigawatts of juice and 88 miles-per-hour of velocity to launch occupants into a different historical era.

Carroll, a lifelong township resident who discovered his favorite movie through a sequel, saved up his money and bought his DeLorean for “a decent price” – $18,000 – when he turned 17 years old.

“It was basically perfect,” he tells redbankgreen.

Now married, a homeowner and running the North Jersey-based company started by his father, Carroll decided a few months back that it was time to crank up his plain-Jane DeLorean for excursions through time.

From Video Bob, a BTTF enthusiast in Dallas who has made authorized plaster casts of the parts used on the car in the film, Carroll procured a carload of accoutrements: time circuits, a nuclear tower that resembles an oversized kitchen blender, exterior lights that snake around the car like neon pythons.

“He created this for me,” Carroll says of the collection, which is almost entirely decorative and non-functional.

That set him back another $35k, which Carroll considers a bargain. “But I didn’t get the fog machine” that spews fog through faux exhaust structures on the tail, Caroll said. He figured that was just too much.

Carroll says his is one of only nine BTTF replica cars in America, and the only one in the Northeast. It’s also street legal, and with just 130 horses under the hood, not as fast as many observers, including cops, seem to think, he said.

He plans to rent his out for use in promotions and special events, and said he’s close to a deal with a local man who wants to use it in his wedding in July. But the aim is not to recoup his costs, but just to enjoy the reactions he gets, Carroll said.

“We went to the diner yesterday, and it took us half an hour to leave the parking lot,” he said. “The best part is just seeing people’s faces. It’s like they’re kids again.”

Here’s his website.

Authorities are investigating possible links to a vandalism spree overnight that left seven or eight vehicles with smashed windshields in Red Bank and Fair Haven.

Rumson police Lieutenant Christopher York tells redbankgreen that a homeowner reported two picture windows smashed when the damage was discovered Wednesday morning. He declined to identify the location for security reasons.

Cars parked on the street on Navesink Avenue and Forest Avenue were also attacked, he said.

York said his department is in contact with police in Fair Haven and Red Bank.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Rumson police at 732-842-0500; the Fair Haven police at 732-747-0241; or Red Bank’s PD at 732-530-2719.

[Editor's note: See the update to this story added shortly after 2 pm Wednesday, January 18.]

By JOHN T. WARD

Motorists in two area towns awoke Wednesday to find windshields on their cars smashed.

Red Bank police say four or five cars parked on East Bergen Place were attacked, some with rocks, and others with unknown objects.

In Fair Haven, at least three vehicles had been reported vandalized, all on the west side near Red Bank, said Detective Jesse Dykstra.

“Why would they do this?” asked Luis Carchi, of East Bergen Place, whose wife’s Chevy Malibu had its windshield damaged, though police told her the car was drivable.

Among the vehicles hit was an SUV with a wheelchair in the back. The owner, who asked not to be named, said it appeared that the vandals may have attempted to remove the wheelchair, given the way the window’s frame was twisted.

One of the Red Bank cars had both its rear window smashed and windshield damaged, apparently by the same rock, its owner told redbankgreen.

Red Bank police Chief Steve McCarthy said nothing has yet been reported stolen, though police have not completed their investigation. “Sometimes, the owners don’t realize things are missing until later,” he said.

[Update: Fair Haven police now say four cars in that town were damaged in the spree. Here's the full text of an announcement:

"On this date, four reports were received from Borough residents that windows on their vehicles were broken sometime overnight. Two residents from Cambridge Ave., one from Harvard Rd. and one from Fair Haven Rd. reported the damage. No reports have been received of any items that were taken from the vehicles. Details are limited at this time as the investigation is active and involves other, local jurisdictions with similar reports. Anyone with information or that may have heard or seen anything overnight, possibly pertaining to this case, is encouraged to contact the Fair Haven Police Department at (732)747-0991 or Det. Dykstra of the Fair Haven Police Department at (732)747-0241 Ext. 332."]

By JOHN T. WARD

After 15 years as a vacant eyesore, a property at a gateway to Red Bank has been transformed into a spiffy new… parking lot.

Serving the Atrium at Navesink Harbor senior citizens’ luxury high-rise on Riverside Avenue, and accessible only to its valet drivers, the parking lot is the first of a long line of development ideas for the site to be completed.

The sorta-triangular one-acre lot at West Front Street and Riverside Avenue was home to a car dealership for half a century, beginning in the 1940s. Schwartz Mazda general manager Jon Schwartz tells redbankgreen the business later tried luring both McDonald’s and Trader Joe’s to the site, without success.

“It would’ve been a good spot for them,” he says of Trader Joe’s. “They run small stores. Perfect location for their clientele.” (Trader Joe’s opened its first store in the area in Shrewsbury last March.)

Schwartz sold the site to the PRC Group and relocated to Shrewsbury in 1997. Eight years later, PRC won approval for an office building on the site. But it never saw the light of day.

Dubbed Red Bank Corporate Plaza II, the three-story structure was to have been a companion to a complex built on the opposite side of West Front Street that now houses numerous offices as well as Pazzo MMX restaurant. But the plan lay dormant after a collapse in the real estate market.

In 2009, the borough zoning board approved Springpoint Senior Living‘s proposal for  a 98-car, secure-access lot reserved for Atrium residents and their guests. Their cars are to be parked and retrieved by valets following a specified clockwise route dictated by the board to mitigate its impact on traffic.

According to a fact sheet from Springpoint, which is also building a six-story addition to it existing 12-story structure, improvements at the parking lot include berms with decorative fencing, a small sitting area and extensive landscaping.

“The lot looks good,” said car dealer Schwartz.

Historian Randall Gabrielan has some information on the neighborhood and photos from Dorn’s Classic Images in his “Red Bank in the Twentieth Century,” which can be paged through online at Google Books.