Downtown Red Bank in 1991. (Photo courtesy of Red Bank Public Library) Click to enlarge.)
By BRIAN DONOHUE
There were complaints about a lack of parking in downtown Red Bank. And demands for action over the high vacancy rate among storefronts.
No, we are not referring to the ceaseless litany of posts by pedestrianism-averse parking lot preservationists on one of the local Facebook pages here in current day 2025. 
This is a Red Bank Throwbacks post, folks, so we’re turning the old Reussille’s clock back 306,600 hours (35 years) to this week in 1990 when those same issues people still gripe about today were making headlines in the local press and sparking action at Borough Hall.
The April 11, 1990 edition of the Red Bank Register reported that a committee formed by the borough had recommended the creation of a parking authority and a special improvement district to combat vacancy rates of between 30 and 50 percent in the downtown.
This was the era now referred to as “Dead Bank” when the ascent of suburban shopping malls was gutting once-vibrant downtowns across New Jersey. Town leaders were looking for a fix, and the creation of a SID was the tool they turned to.
The special improvement district would levy an assessment on businesses to create a fund for improving the streetscape and promoting businesses and events. Under a new state law passed in 1985, six had been created in other towns.
“Through contributions of a few hundred dollars annually from each participant, the district could build a huge fund, with which to beautify the area and promote businesses to draw new patrons,” Councilman Kerry Zukus is quoted as saying.
“There are so many innovative, visionary things we could do with the downtown area if we created an SID — the types of things the municipal government doesn’t have the time or the money to do,” he added. “Red Bank could be another South Street Seaport or Faneuil Hall.”
The SID was created a year later and would become what is now known as Red Bank Rivercenter. It has certainly transformed the downtown, from the red brick sidewalks to the restored facades to the love-it-or-hate-it seasonal pedestrian plaza known as Broadwalk.
And as new generations rediscovered the appeal of walkable downtowns, “Dead Bank” transformed from an economic reality to just the name for a local Grateful Dead cover band.
Thirty five years later, an argument could be made that the whole effort is now a victim of its own success.
One of the biggest reasons cited behind today’s vacancies (we counted 11on Broad Street between Reckless and Front Street last week with some of those soon to be filled) is skyrocketing property values, rents and deep pocketed speculative investors. Those issues were not among the problems cited in the 1990 article.
Parking sure was though.
The idea of an autonomous parking authority would eventually give rise to the (not autonomous) borough parking utility. But the big ticket item in the last line of the story – a 900-space parking garage proposed for the White Street Parking lot – is still proving fodder for future generations to continue debating.
Maybe it’s good it never happened. After all, really, what would we as Red Bankers be leaving our children if it’s not a chance to argue about parking in Red Bank?
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.
