The seasonal dead end of Mechanic Street was reopened to local traffic, including people seeking haircuts at Cardner’s barber shop – after a one-day closure. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Over the last few summers, when Red Bank closed a section of Broad Street to create a seasonal pedestrian mall called Broadwalk, Robert Lanfrank, owner of Cardner’s Barber Shop on Mechanic Street just off Broad, said the whole thing had minimal effect on his business.
Customers could always still drive west down Mechanic Street, where temporary traffic bollards annually convert the road into a dead end, and pull into the parking lot smack up against his shop.
And the ordinance establishing Broadwalk passed into law in 2024? Well, it makes no mention of Mechanic Street being closed.
So Lanfrank was more than a little peeved when he got to work Monday, the first day of Broadwalk, and saw concrete barriers blocking all traffic just east of his shop at the intersection with Globe Court.
There were also orange water-filled Jersey barriers blocking his driveway and the entrance to the parking lot of the building across the street. That meant customers used to parking just feet from the barber chair would have to park in borough-owned lots around the corner, pay at parking meters, and walk to the shop.
“They put them there, there and here,” he said pointing to the three locations as a light rain began to fall Tuesday morning. “I said, how’s all the people going to get here? How could you do that?”
In a town where arguing in cyberspace over the merits and drawbacks of Broadwalk is becoming an annual summer ritual, the story of a neighborhood fixture who’s been cutting hair for 66 years, having his parking lot barricaded by the man, was a made-for-Facebook kerfuffle.
Over on Zuckerberg’s outrage amplifier, a guy named Ned Clark pointed to the issue as the reason he moved to Cumberland County, where there’s “just cows and corn.” A guy named Joe Pel speculated that “someone must be getting some kickbacks.”
And Lanfrank’s daughter posted to Facebook, calling the roadblock “pure unprofessionalism, sabotage, and insanity. “
IRL, meanwhile, the fuss was over in 24 hours and was handled amiably with a phone call, a face-to-face visit, and a smidge of peppery language.
Lanfrank said Red Bank Police Chief Mike Frazee “came here this morning with his coffee,” at which point the barber told the police chief: “Mike, I’ve been here cutting hair 66 years. This is bullshit.”
Lanfrank said Frazee assessed the situation and said, ‘Bobby, they’re taking everything away today.”
And they did. The street was open when we stopped by and found Lanfrank cutting the hair of a customer who had pulled into the parking lot, easy peasy.
In an email, Frazee told redbankgreen officials had decided to close the end of Mechanic Street “due to several issues we faced last year.”
A video also posted to facebook by an anonymous user shows multiple cars going the east on Mechanic, which is one-way in the opposite direction. The post state the problem of wrong-way drivers was the reason residents asked for the barriers.
The barbers shop’s parking lot is accessible from Wallace street, but drivers taking route have a more circuitous route through parking lots to get there.
Frazee indicated the borough was going back to the drawing board to fix the problems.
“As a result of closing Mechanic Street yesterday, we realized the inconvenience that it caused for our community,” he said in his email. “And therefore we are in the process of fine-tuning some of the issues from last year to make it a more friendly and safe environment for all.”
Lanfrank praised Frazee for quickly addressing the problem. “He did a great job. He did a nice job, he did.” As the topic of conversation quickly pivoted to the Knicks’ big playoff win over the Celtics the previous night.
Someone tell Ned Clark he can come back from Cumberland County now. We hear it’s tough to find a good barber down there.
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331 or yelling his name loudly as he walks by. Do you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen? Please become a financial supporter if you haven’t already. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
