RED BANK: EAST BERGEN PROJECT TO WRAP
After almost a year, a dusty and bumpy road rebuilding project in Red Bank is on track for completion this week, the borough’s consulting engineer said Wednesday.
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RED BANK: END IN SIGHT FOR ROAD PROJECT
Nine months after it began, a road reconstruction project in Red Bank is in its final weeks, an official said last week.
What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Rendering by Richard Arzberger. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: BERGEN PLACE MAKEOVER NEARS
The intersection of Broad Street and East Bergen Place was racked with potholes Tuesday morning, shortly before a borough crew arrived to do some patching. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of Red Bank’s nastiest pothole clusters got a temporary fix Tuesday.
A more permanent one is in the works, borough officials said.
RED BANK: DETOURS, FOUR-WAY STOP COMING
Motorists who travel Spring Street in Red Bank will need to adjust for some temporary changes resulting from road work this week and next.
And there will be a permanent change in place once the work is done: a new four-way stop intersection.
RED BANK: VNA PLANS HEALTH CENTER MOVE
What’s Going On Here at the space formerly occupied by the Lambs & Wolves hair salon on Bridge Avenue in Red Bank?
RED BANK: PENNEY Q&A
Council candidate Jonathan Maciel Penney. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
In the November 8 election, Red Bank voters will pick three members of the municipal government – the mayor and two council members – for terms that begin January 1.
But the winners may be in office for only six months, depending on the outcome of a ballot referendum on whether to change the town’s form of government. Adoption would trigger another election in May, 2023, for mayor and all six council seats.
To learn their views of the referendum and other issues, redbankgreen recently sent a set of questions to each of the candidates: mayoral contender Billy Portman, who is running unopposed; and council candidates John Jackson, Angela Mirandi, Jonathan Maciel Penney and Mark Taylor.
Here’s what Penney had to say.
RED BANK: JACKSON Q&A
Council candidate John Jackson. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
In the November 8 election, Red Bank voters will pick three members of the municipal government – the mayor and two council members – for terms that begin January 1.
But the winners may be in office for only six months, depending on the outcome of a ballot referendum on whether to change the town’s form of government. Adoption would trigger another election in May, 2023, for mayor and all six council seats.
To learn their views of the referendum and other issues, redbankgreen recently sent a set of questions to each of the candidates: mayoral contender Billy Portman, who is running unopposed; and council candidates John Jackson, Angela Mirandi, Jonathan Maciel Penney and Mark Taylor.
Here’s what Jackson had to say.
RED BANK: PORCHFEST TO FILL EARS & HEARTS
An interactive map for the event displays the lineup of acts at each location; click on circled numbers to view. Below, Carlotta Schmidt is among the scheduled artists. (Photo from YouTube. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
It was not that long ago that Red Bank was a place of large-scale, outdoor music festivals. One needn’t be ancient to recall the sprawling, weekend-long Jersey Shore Jazz & Blues Festival in Marine Park each summer, or the spring-and-fall festivals in the White Street parking lot, both of which went dark this year.
But this Sunday, live, open-air concerts come roaring back to the borough in a new, decentralized model that’s been road-tested elsewhere: Porchfest, a five-hour eargasm of 70 acts spread across town on 21 residential porches, plus 11 more acts at a previously scheduled music fest behind a dentist’s office.
RED BANK: TREES BOOST TAB FOR ROADWORK
The work to preserve trees on Hudson Avenue included bumping out curbs and extending driveway aprons. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mid-project changes to preserve trees helped boost the tab for road work in Red Bank by more than $227,000 to this summer, officials said.
And the added expenses came in one penny below the threshold at which the entire $1.14 million project would have had to be re-bid.
RED BANK: THE YARD, THROUGH PINHOLES
A pinhole camera image from Jay Sullivan’s ‘Out of the Box’ exhibit at Red Bank Frameworks. (Jay Sullivan photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After completing a project about his father that took a heavy emotional toll, Red Bank photographer Jay Sullivan “decided to do something lighter” for his next series of pictures.
“Something lighter” turned out to be images from his backyard taken over the next seven years with a camera made from a hexagonal hatbox.
RED BANK: MUMFORD SHRINKS PLAN AGAIN
The latest changes to plan for 234-240 Shrewsbury Avenue reduced the building to three stories, from four, shown below. (Renderings by Thomas J. Brennan Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Developer Roger Mumford has again reduced the size of a proposed apartment building on Shrewsbury Avenue in Red Bank.
Whether the zoning board will hear the details at its July 15 meeting is unclear, however. Also on the ambitious agenda: a mixed-used project next door to the borough library; an “exotic car rental” business in a downtown office building; and a gym on residential property.
RED BANK: BANK DIMS LIGHTING TO WIN OK
The bank agreed to remove the lights behind the red logo atop its ATM machine, but said the site overall was inadequately lit under state regulations. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Wells Fargo dodged likely planning board rejection when it agreed to dial back an illumination plan for its Red Bank branch Monday night.
The fact that the property is under review as a possible new home for borough government also lit up the conversation.
RED BANK: THREE-WEEK DETOUR PLANNED
Yes, the flashing sign shown above has a typo. But starting Friday, the eastbound lane of East Bergen Place from Broad Street to South Street in Red Bank will be closed for utility work, the borough announced Wednesday.
RED BANK: AWFUL INTERSECTION FIXED
The axle-killing potholes and front-end-scraping dips are gone, and the final touches on a makeover were underway at a key Red Bank intersection Tuesday.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
VIRUS UPDATE: ‘HOPE’ CITED AS PEAK NEARS
Normally busy, Broad Street in Red Bank was almost people-free Wednesday evening. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy cited “glimmers of hope” in his daily update on the COVID-19 crisis Friday. More →
RED BANK: MORE RAIN FORECAST, BUDDY
A pickup truck plows through the flooded, and newly rebuilt, intersection of East Bergen Place and Hudson Avenue in Red Bank Tuesday evening.
The heavy downpour caused “major” plumbing and drainage issues during the opening act at the Count Basie Basie Center for the Arts, prompting the cancellation of a concert by bluesman Buddy Guy, said a venue spokesman. The show was rescheduled for November 11.
More heavy rain looms as a possibility Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: COUNCIL MULLS STREET ISSUES
A plow clearing Broad Street during a storm in March, 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Stop signs, snow removal, street sweeping and other road-related issues were on the agenda at the Red Bank borough council’s workshop session Wednesday night.
Some new ordinances are expected to follow.
RED BANK: BRANCH AVENUE DETOURS BEGIN
As regular commuters on Branch Avenue in Red Bank may have discovered, the road was closed to traffic Thursday morning.
RED BANK: ROAD AND PARK WORK UPDATED
Work underway on East Bergen Place last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A messy road project in Red Bank will cost more and take longer to complete than originally anticipated, officials said last week.
Also, the borough plans to seek $250,000 in Monmouth County funding to cover half the cost of a series of improvements to borough parks.
WEEKLONG DETOUR KICKS IN WEDNESDAY
West Bergen Place will be OOC for about a week in November for railroad work. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
If the neon orange sign hasn’t done it for you already, consider yourself warned. More traffic delays are imminent in Red Bank and getting crosstown will require a new route for many motorists.
NJ Transit will be conducting rail work on the tracks at the crossing on West Bergen Place “on or about” November 11, and a 24/7 reroute will be necessary for about a week, Captain Darren McConnell of the borough police department tells redbankgreen.
PLAN TO TRANSFORM WEST SIDE BLOCK OK’D
Roger Mumford discusses his plan at Thursday’s zoning board hearing. Below, a view of the homes to be built along the east side of Bridge Avenue; the current site of a bodega on the corner of Drs. Parker Boulevard is at right. (Click to enlarge)
A sweeping plan to overhaul one of Red Bank’s most dilapidated blocks won approval from the borough zoning board Thursday night.
Builder Roger Mumford’s plan calls for bulldozing four run-down houses on Bridge Avenue between Cedar Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard, plus a corner bodega.
In their place, and stretching east along Parker to the existing Bergen Square condo complex, will come five spanking-new luxury residences and a new corner storefront that may house the same bodega, assuming the tenant wants to return, Mumford says.
“Bridge Avenue is a great place,” he tells redbankgreen, noting the presence of the Two River Theater, the Galleria at Red Bank and other attractions nearby. “Now, more of Bridge Avenue is going to be part of that excitement.”
CALENDAR TAPS RED BANK PHOTO ARCHIVE
“Wiggie’s Kiddie Center?” A view north on Broad Street in 1951, from the Dorn’s Classic Images archive, is included in the calendar. (Click to enlarge and see Wiggie’s at left)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Two of Red Bank’s most venerable names in commerce have gotten together for a little nostalgia trip into the borough’s past.
It’s a 12-month journey captured in photographs that show Red Bank’s buildings and streetscapes from 1940 to 1979, put into calendar form by David Prown of Prown’s Home Improvement and the husband-wife duo of George Severini and Kathy Dorn Severini oF Dorn’s Classic Images.
IT’S NO ACCIDENT
A photo crew relaxing near the scene of a staged crash in Red Bank this morning.
It looks, at first glance, like a pretty bad wreck.
Nope.
A SOON-TO-BE-GREEN SKYBOX
Perhaps you’ve found yourself stopped at the intersection of Maple Avenue and East Bergen in Red Bank wondering, ‘What on earth is going on at the house opposite the Windward Deli?’
That? Oh, that’s just Joe Ruffini installing a green roof on his house.
What started out as a plan to create living space in his attic has turned into a somewhat more ambitious project. After he’d started the renovations, Ruffinia roofer whose family has owned the house since the 1940sread an article about the environmental benefits of grass-and plant-covered green roofs, and decided he had to have one, too, even though it meant more work.
“You’d think that, as a roofer, the last place I’d want to spend my free time would be on a roof,” he says. But he’d gotten the bug.
The house is still below the maximum height limit, Ruffini says, but he needs an approval from the zoning board for the railing. If he gets it, he hopes to have the job finished by summer’s end. With any luck, next time redbankgreen drops in, Ruffini will be in his verdant skybox, enjoying a Pop Warner game a quarter-mile or so away at Count Basie Field.
You can see the stadium over Ruffinis shoulder in the photo above as he snuggles with his daughter Ariella, 12. Daughter Alyssa, 10, is on the far left, and the girls friend, Diana Roth, 11, of Atlantic Highlands, is in the center.