Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RED BANK: TENNIS, TRESTLE, PARKING & DOGS

rb-tennis-102912-500x332-1755767The Red Bank clay courts during Hurricane Sandy on October 29, 2012, above. Below, a truck stuck under the West Front Street railroad trestle last week. (Photos by Peter Lindner and Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

rb-stuck-truck-052314-2-220x173-8235253Tennis enthusiasts pelted the Red Bank council over the lack of progress on rebuilding the town’s cherished clay courts Wednesday night.

At its bimonthly meeting – conducted over the loud hum of temporary air conditioners while the borough hall HVAC system gets an upgrade – the governing body also took up issues ranging from the vexing train trestle on West Front Street to beagle rights.

rb-gay-flag-052814-500x280-6790486Kate Okeson and David Pascale with the gay rights flag. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

• Half a dozen tennis players challenged the council on what they see as inaction regarding the courts in Marine Park, which were  damaged by Hurricane Sandy and have not been usable since.

The players, including longtime courts manager Rich Nicoletti, pressed the council on a proposal calling on the borough to lease the facility to the nonprofit Red Bank Clay Court Tennis Foundation, which hopes to attract funding from the United States Tennis Association.

Borough officials, however, said they could not weigh the proposal or even accept copies of it, in the absence of a formal request that would allow other organizations to also file proposals.

The delays in fixing the courts, meanwhile, came down to priorities, said Administrator Stanley Sickels, who noted that a sanitary sewer pump station and restrooms adjacent to the courts were destroyed by the hurricane and have to be relocated on higher ground, and that damaged wiring to lighting fixtures has to be replaced.

“We’ve been focusing on the infrastructure first,” he said. “There’s a lot more to this park than the tennis courts.”

Meantime, said Mayor Pasquale Menna, “the parks and rec committee has gone though a whole process of determining what has to happen next.”

The players’ frustration remained afterward.

“I understand the infrastructure issue,” said Ira Friedman, of Ambassador Drive, “but it’s been a year and a half, and they’re they’re still thinking about what to do?”

• Menna directed borough Attorney Dan O’Hern to craft an ordinance that would enable the town to fine truck drivers who get their vehicles stuck under the railroad trestle at West Front Street and Hubbards Bridge, despite the presence of warning signs for those approaching from the Middletown end of the bridge.

Menna said police Chief Darren McConnell informed him that “at least five” trucks had hit the bridge in the past two years, causing extensive traffic jams. The drivers are usually cited for careless driving, he said. But that’s not enough.

“You have no idea how many calls I get from people who are stuck in traffic” as a result of the strikes, said Menna, who wants violators of the proposed ordinance to pay up to $1,200 for the town’s costs in diverted police resources and other costs.

O’Hern said he had not yet researched whether the town would have legal standing to impose the fine.

• The council extended, once again, a moratorium on fees that developers must pay when their downtown projects don’t offer enough parking under local ordinance.

Menna said the moratorium, enacted in August, 2010 to spur a moribund downtown, was “good social tax policy” that was successful in bringing in new stores and restaurants and thus driving the downtown vacancy rate down to about five percent, from double digits.

The moratorium is now in effect through the end of the year, by which time the council expects to have heard back from a consultant evaluating what to do with the White Street lot, long eyed by downtown merchants as the perfect place for a parking garage.

• The council authorized sidewalk tables through October for these establishments:

Buona Sera, 50 Maple Avenue

Danish Café, 2 Bridge Avenue
Danny’s, 11 Bridge Avenue
Earth Pizza, 95 Broad Street
Gaetano’s, 10 Wallace Street
Red, 3-5 Broad Street
Temple, 91 Broad Street
Walt Street Pub, 180 Monmouth Street
Whipped Bites, 6 Monmouth Street

• A gay rights flag will fly outside borough hall for the month of June. The multicolored flag was donated by 077Q1, which member David Pascale said was an informal group of borough residents “who meet particularly to support the LBGT community.”

The flag will be visible from across Monmouth Street at the Count Basie Theatre, where 077Q1 is one of the sponsors of the second Two River Youth Pride, a night of film and partying, on June 10.

• The council unanimously adopted a resolution calling on the state Legislature to pass a law requiring that dogs and cats used in scientific research at taxpayer-funded labs be put up for adoption rather than euthanized at the end of research. Minnesota passed such a law last week, becoming the first state in the nation to do so.

Menna said Red Bank was the first municipality in New Jersey to endorse the so-called Beagle Freedom Bill. Here’s the resolution: RB Beagle Reso 14-152

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...
WHAT? NO redbankgreen NEWSLETTER?
Apologies to redbankgreen newsletter subscribers: the daily email hasn’t gone out for two days because of technical issues.
RED BANK: TIRED OF SKEETERS?
RED BANK: Tired of mosquito bites every summer? Monmouth County has a free program to help eliminate skeeter breeding grounds.
SEA BRIGHT: POLAR PLUNGE FOR ST. JAMES, OTHERS
Hundreds braved the wind and sea on Sunday at 1PM in support of St. James Elementary School, and other Catholic schools in the area. The eve ...
RED BANK: RBR CLAIMS TITLE
RED BANK: Watch pure joy as the RBR boys basketball team celebrates its first B North championship in 17 years.