By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna says it looks like “an airport runway,” and he’s not the only one who marvels at the candlepower along River Road in neighboring Fair Haven.

Resident Ruth Blaser wonders, “Did the town engineer go to a closeout sale for streetlamps and say, ‘I’ll take them all?’”

The sarcasm, however, may be in for a dial-back soon – at least as it regards late-night travel along the road.

The 73 old-fashioned lamps lining the town’s main drag from Smith Street to Elm Place are the most visible elements of a recent streetscape makeover funded by $886,000 in federal stimulus money that ex-Mayor Mike Halfacre opposed but sought on the borough’s behalf. The pricetag also bought new sidewalks, curbs, benches and trashcans.

Now, the overall runway effect is in for a dimming.

The lamps were installed with the capability of being turned on and off individually, said borough Administrator Theresa Casagrande. But an issue involving a utility pole that had to be removed prevented the option from being available, she said.

That problem has either been fixed or is about to be, and soon, every other light will be shut off after 11 p.m., she said.

redbankgreen was unable to find out how many lamps the new ones replaced. But the new ones, said Casagrande, spread their light over a smaller area than their predecessors.

How much do they cost to operate? Less than the old streetlamps, it appears. Bills for the comparable June-through-mid-November period for 2010, when the old lights were still used, and 2011, when all the new ones were in, show a drop in electricity costs for the borough to just under $46,000, from slightly more than $60,000.

The bills, however, include non-streeet-lighting expenses and other variables that may have accounted for some of the difference, Casagrande said.

By JOHN T. WARD

After 20 years, Rich Bercaw has pulled down the bay doors for the last time at his Sunoco gasoline and service station on River Road in Fair Haven.

Unable to keep up with steep rent and what he described as steadily dropping demand for both fuel and repairs, Bercaw pink-slipped five employees and shut off the lights last Thursday, he tells redbankgreen.

“Sunoco will come in and board it up until they find someone to rent it,” he said, as he loaded equipment into a pickup truck Tuesday. And with a deeply discounted first-year’s rent, “eventually, they’ll get someone,” he said.

Bercaw, though, was finding it increasingly difficult to meet the monthly nut, even after Sunoco reduced his rent two years ago, to $10,000 a month, from $13,000.

“There’s no negotiating with them on rent,” he said.

Sunoco’s media relations office in Philadelphia did not respond to to request for comment Tuesday.

Bercaw, who traveled to the station daily from North Plainfield, in Somerset County, said the volume of gas sales slipped steadily after September 11, 2001, and the decline accelerated after the financial crisis hit in 2008.

And because of the state of the economy, “people only get their cars fixed if it’s absolutely necessary,” he said.

Bercaw also ran the Sunoco station on Broad Street in Shrewsbury for two years, closing it in 2002. “That business never took off,” he said.

Middletown has wrapped up a months-long town-wide study pinpointing locations ideal for solar panels, and may soon bring on a contractor to start the process of getting off the grid.

If it does, the town could save taxpayers $6.6 million over the next 15 years — and perhaps double that, if the town board of education gets on board, officials said.

Eatontown-based Birdsall Services Group, after months of review, has targeted nine locations at which to install solar panels throughout town.

On the list: Middletown Arts Center; Tonya Keller Community Center; Department of Public Works; New Monmouth Library; the Croydon Complex; the sewer authority; the old train station; the new train station; and the Kings Highway complex.

“The next step is for the committee to review the report with the consultant, then move forward with request for proposals to bring on a contractor to start,” Committeeman Kevin Settembrino said.

If the town follows through, Settembrino said it would save the town $400,000 in “real cash” a year, based on current energy rates. And that, Mayor Tony Fiore added, “with very little, if any, capital outlay for the implementation is a win-win for us.”

The savings could double, he said, if the school board joins in and solar panels are installed at school-owned properties. The township committee is “working diligently” with the school board to join the program, but so far there’s been more foot-dragging than serious discussion of the school system getting involved, Fiore said.

“At this point I don’t know if they’ll be part of it,” he said. “The township can’t wait forever.”

Going with a private contractor may not be a done deal, though.

If the town can enter a power-purchasing agreement with Monmouth County that provides more savings, the town may go that way, Settembrino said.

“Whatever the greater savings is to the township and the board of education will be the path that the town selects, bar none,” he said.

But time is of the essence, Fiore said, making the chances higher that the town will go with a private company to install the panels and provide solar power.

“We’re looking to wrap this whole thing up in the fall to achieve these savings in 2012,” he said.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Good morning, readers.

Before you dig into the day’s news, here’s a rundown of last week’s happenings on redbankgreen, an easily digestible compendium of the week that was.

Riverview Medical Center announced it’s getting $5 million from the founders of the Two River Theater Company.

It appears Red Bank will be laying out legal fees to defend itself in a lawsuit over its settlement of an earlier lawsuit.

The Red Bank council got an earful from developer Roger Mumford, didn’t ask much of RiverCenter, and Mayor Pasquale Menna burst a pipe over New Jersey Natural Gas “vandalism” downtown.

In politics, Republican Grace Cangemi is looking to return to Red Bank’s council, while Sea Bright’s mayor is making an exit.

We dropped in on Shrewsbury Mayor Donald Burden, who’s nursing a bum leg but says he’s doing OK, and so is his borough.

Middletown residents were wondering who was behind a mysterious series of robocalls criticizing the township budget.

In Fair Haven, the council heard gripes about traffic signs and clusters of cans on River Road. Fair Haven’s board of ed talked about its spending plan; R-FH intro’d its own.

On the cops beat, Red Bank was quiet while Middletown dealt with drugs, a DWI and a belt-swinger. Fair Haven got hit with a spate of car break-ins, the most in recent memory.

We had a heads-up for trout-fishing fans and a preview of upcoming charitable events.

In the arts, Two River Theater’s production of Candida got some good ink, and writer Tom Chesek gave us a sneak peak to what’s ahead on the local art scene in April.

Finally, where have you seen this headcase?

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

It wasn’t long after Paul Stout snapped on the lights at his Rumson business for the first time using solar power that he realized he’d made the right move installing the 48 panels on his roof.

“The first day it was turned on, I saw savings,” said the owner of Butler’s Deli. “It’s immediate.”

Three years, thousands of dollars and 55,000 pounds of unused carbon later, Stout scoffs at the notion that installing solar panels is too expensive or labor intensive.

“It’s the greatest thing in the world,” he said, watching his electric meter dial backwards as the system fed electricity back into the power grid one recent sunny afternoon. “I’m happy with it.”

Stout may have racked up years of savings in the pocket and reduced his carbon input drastically, but others in the area are just discovering the advantages solar energy can bring.

First Baptist Church in Red Bank turned on its solar panels last week. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

In November, Butch’s Lube ‘N Wash, on Newman Springs Road in Red Bank, started drawing power from 180 solar panels. Although it was “a significant investment,” said manager Brock Siebert, a number of state and federal grants and energy credits from the power company, in which unused power is bought back by the power company, made the decision to go solar that much easier.

“And the possibility of the cost of electricity going up in the future will only make the move more valuable as time goes on,” Siebert said.

The panels power about one-third of the car wash’s electrical system and has already reduced the power bill by about 30 percent, he said. The initial outlay of cash for the panels will pay off in four to six years, he said.

Rising energy costs, not to mention the environmental benefits, surely play a part in the local push to add another power source, said Pastor Ty Choate, of First Baptist Church in Red Bank.

The church just went live with panels that cover the southern roof and are expected to power the entire church.

“Energy prices are not going down,” Choate said. “There’s no coincidence that you see wide community of people doing it.”

Choate said he’s gotten phone calls from area churches asking how the First Baptist went about getting the panels, how well they work and for advice. First Baptist did its own research and prodding of other churches and businesses that put panels up before shelling out at least $175,000 to get its own installed, he said.

“We’ve been very happy,” he said. “Everyone we’ve talked to who’s had them one year, two years, three years, we haven’t run across a person who has said they wouldn’t do it again.”

The advantages are clear, he said: you can save money, save energy and, in the long run, help the environment.

Middletown is in the middle of negotiations with a solar company to undergo a broad solar initiative that will include 22 buildings in town, including schools and the library.

Choate says if a municipality, homeowner, business or church has the means to go for it, then it’s the right investment for the future.

“The one big plus to doing it is it’s just going to help the area and the community,” he said. “And if it saves some money, well that’s great, too.”

A push for the creation of a community garden at the Red Bank Public Library ran into some mud Wednesday.

Big question: whether that’s the best place for it.

Smaller question: how much will it cost to install a dedicated water line, and who will pick up the tab in these cash-starved times?

Advocates say they whittled a list about 20 borough-owned candidate sites down to three: the library, overlooking the Navesink River at 90 West Front Street; Count Basie Fields; and Marine Park. Others were ruled out for factors such as lack of sun exposure, configurations that would make the creation of plots unlikely and security concerns, said Kathleen Gasienica, who said she and others have been studying the issue for more than a year.

The library site, she said, had already been greenlighted by the state Department of Environmental Protection, which had even thrown in some unsolicited advice on keeping groundhogs out of the vegetables that would be planted.

Council members appeared to embrace the idea of a garden, or gardens, but appeared stuck on whether the first one, if any, should go in at the library site.

“I don’t think many of us would place a garden in the front of our yards,” said Councilwoman Sharon Lee. The library, she said, “is our front yard. It is the only [riverfront] lot the borough has left.”

She also questioned who would get plots, and how those gardeners would be selected.

“This is borough property. It’s for everyone,” she said. “It should not be parceled off for the few, especially when it’s on the river.”

Councilman Ed Zipprich said it would cost about $10,000 to install a dedicated water line to the property.

As for water, Gasienica said, “all we need from the town is to tap into” the water main feeding the library before it reaches the library meter, so that taxpayers aren’t footing the water bill.

But Council President Art Murphy, a homebuilder, said each water customer typically has a dedicated line from the street, which would appear to make a tie-in to the library line impractical, if not verboten.

During the public comment portion of the meeting, one speaker suggested that rainwater from the library be stored in tanks. That, he said, should provide sufficient hydration for the site.

Resident William Poku of the borough’s chapter of the NAACP, said his group favored community gardens. But regarding the library site, he noted, “nobody has mentioned KaBOOm,” the annual fireworks show that typically attracts hundreds of visitors — and is an element in the nonprofit fireworks organization’s plan to charge for premium viewing spots starting with this year’s show.

Garden proponents urged the council to move quickly so that plots might be planted in coming weeks. Councilwoman Kathy Horgan said the council would mull the issues over and act.

Arts patrons Beth Deutch and her husband, Larry Rubin, unveiled a new solar-powered sculpture at their Rumson home last weekend. It should be pretty busy today and tomorrow, if the weatherbot is right.

The piece, called Heliotropis, is a ten-foot-tall flower made of bronze, colored glass and custom electronics. Generating its own power through two custom-fabricated photovoltaic leaves, Heliotropis uses five sensors to track environmental conditions such as light, temperature, humidity, wind speed and ground vibrations.

Depending on specific conditions at the time, the piece, created by sculptor Anthony Castronovo, opens and closes at various speeds and goes through choreographed motion sequences. It also illuminates at night. 

Deutch, a physician who heads HerSpace Breast Imaging Associates in West Long Branch, is the founder of The Art of Survival, an arts-based program which raised awareness and funds for breast cancer research and education.

Here’s the forecast from the National Weather Service:

Today: Sunny, with a high near 88. North wind between 6 and 10 mph.

Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 66. North wind between 5 and 7 mph.

Saturday: Sunny, with a high near 84. East wind between 6 and 8 mph.

Saturday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. South wind between 5 and 7 mph.

Sunday: A slight chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 81. South wind between 6 and 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

Sunday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 69. Chance of precipitation is 40%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms.

Monday: A chance of showers and thunderstorms before 2pm. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Monday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 68.

Tuesday: Partly sunny, with a high near 81.

Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 68.

Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.

Wednesday Night: Mostly cloudy, with a low around 67.

Thursday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 81.

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Layoffs and furloughs are looming, but Red Bank government employees are getting their regular weekends back.

The borough council formally recognized its year-long experiment with a four-day workweek hasn’t really been the energy-saver it was cracked up to be, and is resuming the regular schedule for workers at 90 Monmouth Street.

The normal workweek will run from 9a to 5p, Monday through Friday, instead of 8a to 6p, Monday through Thursday.

It takes effect June 1 — a Tuesday — meaning employees can soak in a workweek-long Memorial Day weekend at the end of this month before getting back to the 9-to-5.

But it comes at a time that officials are pressing the town government’s two collective bargaining units — the Policeman’s Benevolent Association and Communications Workers of America — for concessions that will enable furloughs. Otherwise, there will be layoffs, they say.

When officials moved for a truncated week last year, they estimated that it would save the borough about $3,000 a month in air-conditioning costs in the summer, plus whatever utility costs would come with shutting down the four-story building for an extra day.

Either estimates were way off or it was one mild summer. There’s been a total savings of between $5,000 and $7,500 over the last year, said Councilman Michael DuPont.

“It was a good experiment,” he said, but, “it was an experiment that didn’t save as much as we would have liked it to.”

The small amount of savings, he said, “wasn’t sufficient to outweigh the shortcomings of not being able to be open on Friday.”

So no more pulling on a locked door or having an “oh, yeah” moment on Fridays at borough hall. The crew will all be there, which is what DuPont said is better for the borough.

“We felt that we need to serve the public a little better,” he said.

Still, if the PBA and CWA don’t amend their contracts with the town to allow for economy-driven furloughs, taxpayers could find fewer borough employees in the building.

From today’s Asbury Park Press:

“We’ve received no formal answer to our request to the unions,” Mayor Pasquale “Pat” Menna said Monday night. “Everyone got lay off notices in their last check. If there are no furloughs, lay-offs start June 1.”

Department heads will decide who goes and stays, Menna said.

There will be no oil rigs visible from New Jersey’s beaches, and no man-made islands or floating pipelines to transfer liquefied natural gas from ship to shore under his watch, Governor Chris Christie vowed Thursday.

At an oceanfront beach club in Sea Bright to mark the fortieth Earth Day, Christie said that while natural gas is a critical piece of the state’s energy future, “for as long as I am governor, this administration will oppose any application for liquefied natural gas,” according to the Asbury Park Press.

He added: “New Jersey is not going to be a pipeline for New York City for natural gas at the risk of ruining our shores, our beaches and our environment.”

Christie also expressed opposition to “any kind of offshore drilling.”

During his visit, Christie also signed into law a bill exempting solar panels from restrictions which had classified them as “impervious surface” under municipal land use law and waterfront and coastal development laws.

Among the dozen or so elected officials and appointees in attendance was former Governor Tom Kean — turning 75 years old yesterday — who helped create the state Department of Environmental Protection 40 years ago.

Cindy Zipf, the founder and head of Sandy Hook-based Clean Ocean Action, praised Christie’s stance on offshore oil and gas drilling, the Press reported:

“This is a great day to celebrate,” Zipf said. “This announcement is a big surprise. These two announcements — that we are not going to support offshore drilling in the Atlantic Ocean and no liquefied gas facilities — are huge!”

Not all environmentalists were equally pleased, though. There’s this from PolitickerNJ:

Hovering in the background of the hoopla stood Sierra Club chief Jeff Tittel, still smarting over Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno’s Red Tape Group report, which in his view would weaken environmental protections.

“This is green cover,” Tittel said of the Christie-Kean spectacle. “It’s easy to have a press conference in New Jersey saying you’re against drilling in Virginia, but there’s nothing here today that would anger the Chamber of Commerce or ruffle developers. Bringing Kean here is good for Christie. It’s his way of saying he’s more like Kean than he is like Christie Whitman.”