LITTLE SILVER: TWO STUDENTS QUARANTINED

In-person instruction is scheduled to resume Thursday following a two-day closure, said Superintendent Lou Moore. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

this just in redbankgreen Sibling students at Red Bank Regional High are in quarantine as the Little Silver campus prepares to reopen Thursday after a two-day closure, according to Superintendent Lou Moore.

In addition, eight RBR students who came in contact with a non-RBR student who tested positive for COVID-19 will be “excluded from in-person programs and extracurricular activities until October 12,” Moore said in an announcement posted on the school’s website Wednesday night.

September 30, 2020 - 9:30 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: TEACHERS, VEEP GET SPOTLIGHT

Red Bank teachers Carol Boehm, left, and Kristen Maiello with nurse Cathy Reardon, right. (Photo by Red Bank Borough Schools. Click to enlarge.)

[Press release from Red Bank Borough Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage]

In March of 2020, we were preparing to celebrate several incredible educators but the health pandemic and ensuing school closure forced us to hit the pause button. Of course, late is better than never and these educators deserve to be recognized for the outstanding work they do for our students. Each exemplifies the “Red Bank Borough is Best in America” (#RBBisBIA) mindset, which is deeply rooted in our school district’s culture. We strive to be the Best In America so we can be certain we are the Best for Red Bank. Moreover, we all know an organization is only as strong as its people. Luckily, here in Red Bank we have some distinguished exemplars.

September 30, 2020 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: COVID-19 CLAIMS TWO BUSINESSES

Claudette Herring and Lauren Phillips at Via45 Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

It was a day of mixed emotions for the owners of two Red Bank businesses as they closed up shop Monday.

At Via45, restaurateurs Lauren Phillips and Claudette Herring ended an 11-year run on Broad Street. Around the corner on Monmouth Street, Marissa Clifford oversaw the final children’s birthday party at Paint A Tee.

This 400th installment of Retail Churn has the details on those latest economic victims of the pandemic and other changes in the downtown mix.

September 30, 2020 - 6:51 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: RBR AIMS FOR THURSDAY

School officials are awaiting “further guidance” from the health commission, said Superintendent Lou Moore. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

this just in redbankgreen Red Bank Regional High hopes to reopen Thursday following a report that a student tested positive for COVID-19, Superintendent Lou Moore said in an announcement posted on the school’s website Tuesday afternoon.

At the same time, “eight RBR students participating in a club basketball tournament in Wall came in contact with a non-RBR student who has tested positive for COVID-19,” Moore said.

September 29, 2020 - 5:43 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: BASIE TO OPEN NEW VENUE

The Vogel features socially distant tables. (Photo courtesy of Basie Center. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj After seven months in darkness, the Count Basie Center for the Arts plans to snap the lights back on in October.

The Red Bank venue announced Tuesday that it will again host indoor performances with the opening of The Vogel, seating audiences of up to 150 in a new space built for up to 800.

September 29, 2020 - 11:30 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: COVID PROMPTS RBR CLOSURE

Superintendent Lou Moore in March, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

this just in redbankgreen Red Bank Regional High will switch to all-remote instruction Tuesday following a student’s positive test for COVID-19, Superintendent Lou Moore said in an announcement Monday night.

September 28, 2020 - 9:08 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: DOWNTOWN SOLD

The conjoined buildings at center, above, have changed hands, along with the liquor license. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

See UPDATE below

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s Downtown restaurant and night club, a major nightlife draw, has new owners.

The West Front Street business has been closed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

September 28, 2020 - 11:30 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: ART FOR ALL SEASONS & WEATHER

A new season began last week, which means it’s time for fresh mural on the side of Fair Haven Hardware in Fair Haven. As always, Jim Fitzmaurice of Rumson was on location Friday, creating his latest traffic-calming landscape.

The week ahead promises to bring a palette of seasonally appropriate weather to the Greater Red Bank Green, ranging from clammy to cool and dry. See the extended forecast below.
Read More »

September 28, 2020 - 6:20 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: TENANTS’ POOL CASE ADVANCES

The Grandville Towers pool remained closed throughout the summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

After three hearings, a partial verdict is in: tenants at Red Bank’s Grandville Towers received “reduced service” when the swimming pool didn’t open this summer.

Up next: the borough rent leveling board tackles the question of what that means in rent to be refunded, if anything.

September 25, 2020 - 12:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PARK CONCERTS CANCELLED

Two weeks after they were announced, six paid-admission concerts over the next two Saturdays in Red Bank’s Riverside Gardens Park have been cancelled.

Read More »

September 24, 2020 - 9:38 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ‘BROADWALK’ TO GO 24/7

A view down Broad Street last Friday afternoon. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank’s ‘Broadwalk’ experiment with in-street dining on Broad Street is going 24/7 for at least the next two months.

The change, from a four-day-a-week schedule, goes into effect Thursday, following a surprise proposal at Wednesday night’s council meeting.

September 24, 2020 - 6:58 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: VOLUNTEERS HELP PAINT CHURCH

[Press release]

Fisk Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fair Haven was the recipient OF an outpouring of community assistance on September 12, when local volunteers helped paint the house of worship.

September 23, 2020 - 12:30 pm | Comments ()

RUMSON: 9-11 MEMORIAL DEDICATED

[Press release]

A 147-pound piece of steel beam from the destroyed World Trade Center was unveiled as the centerpiece of a 9-11 Memorial in Rumson on September 12.

The monument, consisting of what’s identified as “Artifact # I-0004z,” was created by the Rumson Fire Company with the help of borough Boy Scout Griffin Volk for his Eagle Scout project.

September 23, 2020 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: LIBRARY SETS PARTIAL REOPENING

Closed to public access by the COVID-19 pandemic since March, the Red Bank Public Library plans partial reopening starting Monday, September 28.

September 22, 2020 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: SNACK BAR TO BE PARKING OFFICE

The former concession stand at Riverside Gardens Park has been vacant for the past year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

park it 2020 Red Bank officials plan to turn the Riverside Gardens Park snack bar into a parking utility satellite office.

Rarely used for two decades before short runs as an ice cream stand and a gourmet takeout restaurant, the vacant structure will be reopened as an office and public interface for the borough’s parking enforcement unit, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady tells redbankgreen.

September 22, 2020 - 6:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: COUNCIL AGENDA

Borough hall remains closed for public meetings to limit the spread of COVID-19, so the council will again meet via Zoom. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Missing, once again, from the agenda for the Red Bank council session Wednesday are dueling versions of a resolution calling for an investigation.

September 21, 2020 - 6:56 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: PD, DPW, PLANS IN REVISION

Borough Engineer Rich Gardella, at upper right, discussed concept plans for the public works yard on Third Street during the council meeting Monday night. Below, a 2019 rendering showing a DPW building repositioned to Third Street. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

It’s back-to-the-drawing board time as Fair Haven officials try once again to advance two significant capital projects.

One is a proposed new police station, which was the driving factor behind two controversial, and failed, property acquisition efforts in recent years.

The other is a public works yard makeover that not long ago appeared on track to yield residential lots the town could sell to fund later projects. That may no longer be the case.

September 18, 2020 - 6:50 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: ‘SOURCE’ FUNDING PRESERVED

Funding for school-based youth services programs such as the Source at Red Bank Regional High won’t be eliminated after all, state Senator Vin Gopal said Thursday evening.

Read More »

September 17, 2020 - 6:09 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: LITTLE PROGRESS ON GARDEN

Thirteen months after it was abruptly closed over contamination concerns, Red Bank’s only community garden heads into autumn with a crop of periodically mown grass.

But what happened to the neighborhood soil testing that was supposed to be conducted? And will the garden reopen?

redbankgreen’s What’s Going On Here? has an update.

September 17, 2020 - 2:00 pm | Comments ()

SHREWSBURY: CRIMES AND ARRESTS

Crime and arrest reports, unedited, as provided by the Shrewsbury Police Department for the period of September 1 to September 15, 2020. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.

CRIMES

Report of Identity Theft in the area of Robinson Place on 9/12/20. Victim reports unknown subject(s) opened fraudulent accounts to make purchases. Ptl. Derek Myers investigating.

September 17, 2020 - 10:36 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: GRUNIN TO CHAIR BASIE BOARD

Jeremy Grunin, left, with Basie Center President and CEO Adam Philipson. (Mark Sullivan photo. Click to enlarge.)

[Press release]

The Count Basie Center for the Arts, the not-for-profit performing arts center with a mission to “Inspire, Educate and Entertain,” announced today that Jeremy Grunin has accepted the role of Chairman of its Board of Trustees.

September 17, 2020 - 7:20 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ‘ALLAIRE HOUSE’ ON HPC AGENDA

The Red Bank Historic Preservation Commission plans to hold its first meeting in six months Tuesday night.

On the agenda: an update by a commission member on a pre-1868 Victorian house at 95 East Front Street slated for demolition by Hackensack Meridian Health Medical Center.

Read More »

September 16, 2020 - 6:25 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: COOLER TEMPS ARRIVE

With one week of summer left, an early harbinger of autumn has arrived on the Greater Red Bank Green in the form of cool temperatures, according to the National Weather Service.

Tuesday promises to be abundantly sunny, with temperatures peaking in the high 60s. Check out the extended forecast below. (National Weather Service image. Click to enlarge.) Read More »

September 15, 2020 - 6:10 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRST LESSONS OF NEW YEAR

Day one of the new school year at Red Bank Middle School began with several lessons before students even reached their classrooms Monday.

Among them: stand six feet apart while waiting your turn to enter the building. Then, stand on the red dot while a touchless scanner takes your temperature.

With in-person instruction at 50-percent capacity, four days a week, “we feel confident we can provide a safe environment” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said at a board of ed meeting last month. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

September 14, 2020 - 9:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ILLUMINATING THE TOWN’S PAST

Marjorie Cavalier in Red Bank with the replacement Port of Red Bank sign she championed. The old sign was already in bad shape in 2011, as seen at right in the photo below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A weather-beaten historical marker in Red Bank’s Marine Park was replaced last month, after some gentle lobbying by a recently retired teacher and history buff.

But Marjorie Cavalier, who pushed for replacement of the illegible ‘Port of Red Bank’ sign, isn’t finished. She’s now turned her attention to development of an app to help illuminate borough’s past. Read More »

September 14, 2020 - 6:57 am | Comments ()