The Senior Center has been idle since a fire suppression system leak in January, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six months after the Red Bank council agreed to repair the water-damaged Senior Center, a presentation – or two – is in the works to get public input on the plans.
The backyard of the mothballed Senior Center overlooking the upper Navesink River. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal to repair Red Bank’s mothballed Senior Center without adding any new facilities won a Redevelopment Agency endorsement Tuesday evening.
The action could defuse one of the hottest issues in a contested Democratic race for two council seats just six weeks before a primary vote.
Ziad Shehady in his borough hall office in June, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[This post has been updated since it was first published.]
By JOHN T. WARD
After only three years on the job, Ziad Shehady is resigning as Red Bank’s top unelected official, he told the borough council behind closed doors Wednesday night.
A concept plan showing facilities at the southern entrance to Count Basie Fields includes an indoor basketball court. (Screenshot from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Redevelopment Agency began sorting through concept plans for possible new senior citizen and recreation facilities Tuesday.
Added to the “fix it now” demand by advocates of a stand-alone Senior Center was a new one: leave the outdoor basketball courts at Count Basie Fields alone.
Supporters of a drive to repair and reopen Red Bank’s Senior Center plan to rally at the facility Saturday for the second time this year.
Ziad Shehady at borough event in February, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A week after announcing he was stepping down from a position that had become a “lightning rod” for criticism, Red Bank Borough Administrator Ziad Shehady said he plans to host a pair of public roundtables on a wide range of issues later this month.
Ziad Shehady, left, with Ken DeRoberts at the 2018 Mayor’s Ball. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ziad Shehady resigned as the executive director of the Red Bank Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, saying the position had become a “lightning rod” for criticism and source of distraction from his primary job as borough business administrator.
Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center of bottom row, prevailed on a resolution regarding the Redevelopment Agency. (Zoom screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sarcasm and insults flew Wednesday night as the Red Bank council yet again clashed over the future of the mothballed Senior Center.
This time, residents provided much of the ire. More →
A view into the mothballed Senior Center through a window in December. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank council members clashed yet again over the borough’s Senior Center Wednesday night.
Among the issues: a petition demanding that the facility, which has been out of commission for almost two years, be repaired and reopened at its riverfront location.
David Huber, center top, began what he said would be his last year as redevelopment agency chairman. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents pressed the borough’s Redevelopment Agency to save the Shrewsbury Avenue Senior Center Tuesday.
The Senior Center offers a rare vantage for Red Bankers to view the Navesink and Swimming rivers, speakers said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials got an earful from the public about the borough’s disabled Senior Center Wednesday night.
But even as the all-Democratic council unanimously approved a new lease on interim space, sparks continued to fly between its members over the center’s near-term future.
The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years following a pipe leak. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tension among Red Bank Democrats over the future of the borough’s Senior Center erupted in public over the weekend.
Joined by Mayor Pasquale Menna, four of the council’s six Democrats lit into the other two, one of whom is the party chairman, as having “placed their own popularity over what’s best for our residents and taxpayers.”
The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Senior Center is not for sale, Mayor Pasquale Menna insists.
But two years after extensive damage caused by a burst pipe, multiple questions surround the still-closed Shrewsbury Avenue facility. Among them: will it reopen anytime soon, and will it stay where it is?
Ken DeRoberts, who served as interim borough administrator earlier this year, would oversee redevelopment issues under the proposed contract. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[UPDATE: See clarification below]
By JOHN T. WARD
A consulting firm that earlier this year identified the absence of a redevelopment agency as a competitive problem for Red Bank is expected to be given the job of overseeing redevelopment Wednesday night.
Michael Ballard at Sickles Market in Red Bank in May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Unlike his opponent in the June 7 Red Bank Democratic primary, Michael Ballard says he’s in it for the long haul.
“I am running to be the mayor of Red Bank for the next four years,” Ballard told redbankgreen last month. And with his “team,” he vows to return the governing body “to a pre-2018 council that was not at each others throats.”
Chief Darren McConnell at National Night Out in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of two Red Bank council members who last week called the search for a new borough administrator “stalled” said he learned only this weekend that his colleagues had halted the search weeks earlier.
Meanwhile, two others on the all-Democratic council, as well as Mayor Pasquale Menna, said they’re happy with the job police Chief Darren McConnell is doing as interim administrator, and feel no pressure to replace him.
The East Side parking lots would get a makeover under an engineering contract on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council has some weighty spending and hiring matters on its agenda when it meets this week.
A Google Maps satellite view of the public works yard and adjoining property to the east, roughly outlined in red. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank should move quickly to bond for an overhauled public works facility, according to a recommendation adopted by the Redevelopment Agency Tuesday evening.
Estimated cost, including the acquisition of property adjacent to the Chestnut Street site: $9.3 million.
The council meets via Zoom due to pandemic restrictions. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The creation of a commission to examine Red Bank’s century-old government structure is on the table when the council holds its monthly workshop session Wednesday night.
So are renovations to the mothballed Senior Center and the swan song of Business Administrator Ziad Shehady.
The Senior Center occupies a stand-alone building on Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council moved to jumpstart repairs to water-damaged Senior Center Wednesday night, one day after a recommendation by the Redevelopment Agency that it do so.
But even enroute to a unanimous vote, the measure churned up bitterness among the all-Democratic governing body.
Among the ideas the committee may take up: the possible sale of borough hall, above, at 90 Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A new municipal body with the potential to exert powerful influence on the future of Red Bank quietly took to the stage Tuesday.
Not quite the hottest ticket in town, the late-afternoon session of the new Redevelopment Agency drew an audience of three: two advisory committee members, who left early, and a reporter. But the ideas being floated, including the possible sale of borough hall, could soon move to the spotlight.
A management review found that “at least 12” full-time positions could be eliminated from borough government. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Citing numerous examples of “dysfunctionality,” an unsparing review of Red Bank’s management recommends widespread overhauls, from a new form of government to improved courtroom security.
The Management Enhancement Report, commissioned last October and posted on the borough website Friday, includes insider comments highly critical of the way things work, or don’t work, at borough hall.