Red Bank Department of Public Utility workers installing new wooden planters and barriers for the opening of Broadwalk Monday morning, May 11, 2026. (Photo by Brian Donohue. Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
Last year, Louis Andrianos, owner of Neapoli Italian Kitchen in Red Bank, went from business to business collecting dozens of signatures on a petition demanding a permanent end to the seasonal downtown pedestrian closure known as “Broadwalk.”
This year, he’s got a different plan. For the first time, Andrianos is planning a so-called “street eatery,” placing tables in the curbside portion of the street in front of his restaurant, which sits outside the Broadwalk zone on Wallace Street.
After a winter in which the demands listed on his petition – and even compromise measures like a shortened Broadwalk season – were effectively squashed, Andrianos says he’s going to try and make the best of it.
“We’re embracing all of the, all of the, um, you know,” Andrianos said, trailing off. “We’re gonna do the street, where we didn’t do it in 2025, and we’re really just hoping for the best. We’re planning for the best, because hope isn’t a strategy.”
Gant’s letter, it appears, put an end to any talk of any of it.
“Businesses have signed leases, made capital investments, and hired staff in reliance on Broadwalk as an established Borough policy,” he wrote. “Revisiting the ordinance after those commitments were made would create uncertainty and erode confidence in municipal decision-making.”
RED BANK: EATERY OWNERS ROAST BROADWALK
Gant cited data, including a redbankgreen (admittedly unscientific) reader poll in which 75 percent of respondents approved of Broadwalk.
“Broadwalk has become a defining feature of Red Bank,” Gant wrote. “Residents, visitors from across Monmouth County, and patrons from throughout New Jersey and beyond plan around it. What began as a seasonal initiative has evolved into a signature placemaking strategy that allows Red Bank to compete regionally—particularly during the summer months—while reinforcing the Borough’s identity as a walkable, vibrant downtown.”
That same month, however, the Borough Council took action on the streatery fees that had been a hotly contested issue under the previous administration.
In a nod to the complaints of business owners outside the no-traffic zone, the Mayor and Borough Council significantly reduced the fees charged to businesses to operate sidewalk cafes and ‘streateries.’
The seasonal renewal fees for sidewalk seating were reduced from $4 per square foot to $2 per square foot. The annual fees for street eateries were set at $1.25 per square foot, down from $2.25. Also, the council no longer needs to vote and approve each business’s application. Rather they can be approved by the administration, speeding the approval process.
“To me, the changes that we made make it more equitable by addressing the fee structure for sidewalk and streateries,” Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano said in an interview last week. “And that was a massive change.”
Councilman Ben Yuro, who is the borough council’s liaison to RiverCenter, said the move was made to encourage more restaurants outside of Broadwalk to offer sidewalk seating and street eateries.
“I want to see streateries at Jamian’s, at Neapoli,” Yuro said at the February meeting at which the new fee structure ordinance was introduced. “I want to amplify every business’s outdoor potential.”
Red Bank DPU workers install the bollards that block traffic from the northern stretch of Broard Street for the Broadwalk pedestrian plaza on Monday May 11, 2026. (Photo by Brian Donohue)
It remains to be seen how many more businesses outside of the Broadwalk will open streateries or expand outside seating.
At least one is. Andrianos was one of the first to apply for a streatery permit. On Monday morning, DPU workers were already installing the concrete barriers for the new Neapoli streatery.
‘We’re hoping for the best,” Andrianos said. “We’re embracing everything the town is doing.”
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
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