RED BANK: BORGHI CAPS HER PEN
With “very mixed” emotions, Pam Borghi reported for her final day of work before retiring as Red Bank borough clerk Monday.
RED BANK: EX-AGENCY MEMBER FIRES BACK
Wilson Beebe at a Redevelopment Agency session in July, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
See correction below
By JOHN T. WARD
With the Red Bank Redevelopment Agency on the chopping block, one of its former members fired a parting shot at elected officials Thursday.
Contrary to claims, the town got its money’s worth, Wilson Beebe wrote in an “open letter to the Red Bank council and residents.” And “the responsibility for the manner in which the Senior Center project was handled rests solely” on the borough council, he said.
RED BANK: PRC SHRINKS PROPOSAL AGAIN
The latest plan calls for additions at 141 West Front Street to top out at six stories. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
EDITOR’ NOTE: This is a repost of an article from January 18. The January 20 zoning board hearing on this plan was cancelled and is now scheduled for Thursday, March 3.
By JOHN T. WARD
More than two years after it was first proposed, a massive addition to an existing building in downtown Red Bank keeps getting less massive.
With the third round of revisions made in the hope of satisfying the zoning board this week, PRC Group has reduced its ask to 58 residential units, down from the original 150, and from 99 last summer.
RED BANK: CENTER FIXES OK’D, RE-ARGUED
Angela Mirandi, in second pane from left in the top row, attended her first session as a council member. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See CORRECTION below
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after a fire suppression system leak forced a shutdown of Red Bank’s Senior Center, the borough council approved nearly $2 million in financing for repairs Wednesday.
As in the past, members clashed over the reasons for the time elapsed and cost. Added to the acrimony was a new element: blame for failure to identify money recently found sitting idle in old accounts and now earmarked for repairs.
Unmentioned during the virtual meeting was a lawsuit, announced hours earlier, that seeks to remove Angela Mirandi, who attended for the first time as a council member.
RED BANK: DEMS SUE DEMS TO OUST MIRANDI
Councilman and Democratic party Chairman Ed Zipprich attaches a borough pin to Angela Mirandi’s lapel after her February 11 swearing-in. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The civil war among Red Bank Democrats shifted to the courts Wednesday, as two local party committee members announced they sued to have newly-sworn council member Angela Mirandi removed from office.
The Superior Court lawsuit against party Chairman Ed Zipprich and others alleges he illegally froze out committee members Kathy Horgan and Kate Okeson in filling a council vacancy earlier this month.
News of the lawsuit broke just hours before Mirandi was expected to attend her first council session as a member.
RED BANK: LEAD-TAINTED SOIL TO BE REMOVED
A map showing the properties where the DEP plans to do soil testing and remediation. An added arrow indicates the community garden lot. (DEP map. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Homes near Red Bank’s community garden may require heavy excavation work to remove lead-contaminated soil, New Jersey environmental officials told residents Tuesday night.
RED BANK: ‘BOAT RAMP’ TO FUND CENTER FIX
A municipal boat ramp on the Navesink River was once envisioned for the north end of Maple Avenue, now a nature area called Maple Cove. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials boasted earlier this month that they’d “cobbled together” about $1 million from idle accounts to soften the impact on taxpayers of repairing the long-shuttered Senior Center.
It turns out a big chunk of that sum has been stuck in the borough’s sofa cushions for 30 years, designated for a never-built boat ramp, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: GARDEN SOIL-TEST UPDATE SET
The Marion Street garden was shut down in 2019 after a private report of possible lead contamination. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to update Red Bank residents Tuesday night on its investigation into a report of soil contamination at the borough’s community garden.
RED BANK: ACTION WOULD KILL REDEV AGENCY
A screengrab from the Redevelopment Agency’s last meeting, in September. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two months into office, Red Bank Councilwoman Jacqueline Sturdivant may get to check off another of her campaign promises this week: disbanding the borough Redevelopment Agency.
RED BANK: APARTMENT REVIEW RESUMES
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed mixed-used project, looking eastward. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Stalled for more than two years, hearings on a proposal for four stories of new apartments and shops on Monmouth Street resumed in Red Bank Thursday night.
Among early subjects of concern were plans to raze two homes for parking, and the impacts on adjoining properties.
RED BANK: HPC SPLITS OVER CENTURY HOUSE
Downtown Investors plans to demolish the house at 26 Wallace Street for parking. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Members of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission split Wednesday night over its next steps regarding a developer’s plan to demolish a century house for parking.
The HPC also approved remodeling plans for a building at a key downtown intersection after the owner revised plans that were rejected a month ago.
RED BANK: BALLARD BLASTS SELF-DEALING ALLEGATION, ANNOUNCES MAYORAL RUN
Councilman Michael Ballard at Councilwoman Angela Mirandi’s oath ceremony Friday. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard Tuesday blasted as “fictitious” an allegation that he slipped a raise for his wife, a part-time borough employee, past the rest of the governing body in 2019.
In the same press release, Ballard announced his intention to run for mayor, setting up a back-room clash with fellow Democrat and four-term incumbent Pasquale Menna.
RED BANK: SHEHADY, HORGAN ON AGENDA
Councilwoman Kathy Horgan with Ziad Shehady, right, and schools Superintendent Jared Rumage in May, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Former Red Bank business administrator Ziad Shehady and Councilwoman Kathy Horgan are scheduled to address the Charter Study Commission Tuesday night.
RED BANK: MIRANDI ZOOMS INTO OFFICE
Angela Mirandi, center, prior to her swearing-in. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bankers were finally able to put a face to the name as Angela Mirandi completed her swift transformation from commenter to council member Friday evening.
The corporate accountant, whose voice became familiar to other attendees of Zoom-hosted council meetings during the pandemic, was sworn to office in a brief ceremony outside borough hall, less than 48 hours after a divided council selected her to fill a vacancy.
RED BANK: MAN SURVIVES FALL ONTO TRACK
A 2016 view of the station platform. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
A “highly intoxicated” man survived a fall onto the North Jersey Coast Line tracks just as a train was pulling into the Red Bank station Saturday night, police said.
RED BANK: APARTMENT REVIEW TO RESUME
An elevation showing the Monmouth Street side of the proposed mixed-used project. (Rendering by SOME Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
More than two years after the developer hit the pause button, the Red Bank zoning board’s review of a plan for apartments on Monmouth Street is slated to resume next week.
The proposal is listed at the end of a packed agenda that includes a clinic expansion, a new medical office and requests for commercial signage.
RED BANK: 5K RACE, SYMPHONY TO RETURN
After being mothballed for two years by the COVID-19 pandemic, two events that bring in thousands of visitors to Red Bank are slated to return this summer.
The Red Bank Classic 5K and the New Jersey Symphony concert in Marine Park are among events filling up a calendar wiped clean in 2020 and only partly refilled in 2021.
RED BANK: MIRANDI VOTED TO COUNCIL SEAT
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s governing council is about to get a new member: Angela Mirandi, a corporate-numbers professional who would immediately have a spot on the powerful budget oversight committee.
But Mirandi’s selection Wednesday night followed a dramatic few minutes in which the chairman of the Democratic party declined to endorse one of the other two residents whose names he had forwarded as contenders.
RED BANK: CRIME & ARREST REPORTS
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for January, 2022. This information is unedited; see below for additional information.
CRIMES
Criminal Mischief: In the area of Willow St., a Patrol Unit took a report of Criminal Mischief to a motor vehicle on 01/17/2022. Owner stated a tire on a vehicle was slashed. The tire was valued at $300.00. Ptl. Piero Vescio.
RED BANK: $2M CENTER REPAIRS ON AGENDA
Almost $2 million in funding for repairs to Red Bank’s leak-damaged Senior Center is on the table when the borough council holds workshop and regular voting sessions Wednesday night.
RED BANK: EX-TEACHER CHARGED
A teacher who worked for just three days at the Red Bank Charter School in 2020 has been indicted for alleged sexual assaults against four Long Branch elementary school children he taught over the preceding three years, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s office said Tuesday evening.
The alleged assaults occurred in school and on class trips, according to an announcement by Acting Prosecutor Lori Linskey.
RED BANK: HOME’S HISTORIC VALUE DISPUTED
Downtown Investors plans to demolish the house at 26 Wallace Street to create a parking lot. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Historic-value claims about a century house targeted for demolition in downtown Red Bank are “in error,” a developer’s land-use expert told the planning board Monday night.
Members of the Historic Preservation Commission were itching to differ.
RED BANK: ONE DEAD IN BRIDGE CRASH
A motorist was killed when his car smashed into a truck at the foot of the Route 35 bridge in Red Bank Saturday morning, according to police Chief Darren McConnell. More →
RED BANK: ADMINISTRATOR IN SPOTLIGHTS
Interim Business Administrator Darren McConnell, second row right, at the answered questions from Charter Study Commission members Wednesday night. (Zoom screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The executive authority given Red Bank’s appointed administrator may shift back to elected officials next week.
But will voters shift it back in November?
RED BANK: LUNCH BREAK COLLECTS PROMWEAR
(Press release from Lunch Break)
Lunch Break, the food pantry and social service resource center in Red Bank, is accepting formal-wear donations for female and male students from Feb. 1-March 31, 2022 at its facility, 121 Drs. James Parker Blvd., as part of the Sixth Annual Prom Drive and Give-Away.
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