MIDDLETOWN: GEORGE BOWDEN DIES

George Bowden, right, with Historic Preservation Commission members Charles Nickerson and Michaela Ferrigine in 2016. Below, Bowden spearheaded the borough’s centennial celebration and parade in 2009.(Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

George Bowden, once dubbed “the Energizer bunny” of historic preservation in Red Bank, died at home in Middletown Sunday. He was 92 years old.

Galvanized into action in 2001, after the borough allowed the demolition of an old house on West Front Street, Bowden became a champion for old and neglected structures in town.

Not least of those was the T. Thomas Fortune House, which was resurrected from near-oblivion earlier this year, more than a decade after Bowden and others launched a campaign to save it.

December 11, 2019 - 9:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: OLD BRICK BUILDINGS REVIVED

The facade of Nest, at 32 Mechanic Street, the former Independent Engine firehouse. Below, Bottles by Sickles anchors an addition to the former Anderson Storage Building. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two red brick buildings with deep roots in Red Bank have begun new lives in recent days – with assists from Brooklyn and Seattle.

One is the landmark Anderson Storage Building near the train station, where a wine shop owned by Sickles Market opened Sunday. And the former Independent Engine Company house on Mechanic Street is now home to a retail furniture store.

November 22, 2019 - 1:30 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: KITCHEN FIRE DISPLACES ONE

Red Bank firefighters in the smoke-filled kitchen at 94 Leighton Avenue. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A kitchen fire damaged a Red Bank home and displaced its lone occupant early Friday morning.

November 8, 2019 - 4:00 am | Comments ()

MIDDLETOWN: BOATER PULLED FROM MUD

Members of the Red Bank volunteer fire department’s dive team helped a boater on the Swimming River shortly before noon Tuesday. (Photo by Carl Colmorgen. Click to enlarge)

September 24, 2019 - 1:30 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: POOL LAWSUIT CLAIMS NEGLIGENCE

Work to replace the Riverview Towers pool was underway last week, as seen from a balcony. The deck of the Atrium at Navesink Harbor is visible at left. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Sixteen months after their swimming pool mysteriously popped out of the ground, residents of the Riverside Towers high-rise in Red Bank are rebuilding their treasured riverfront amenity.

Meantime, they’re also in court against a number of vendors, offering an unusual explanation for the, um, floating pool.

September 18, 2019 - 7:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: WIRE SNIP SNAPS UTILITY POLE

No injuries were reported, and power was not immediately affected, after a utility pole snapped and fell against a building on English Plaza in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.

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September 12, 2019 - 2:09 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: REMEMBERING VICTIMS OF ‘MALICE’

Eighteen years after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on America, Red Bank Police Chief Darren McConnell led a pledge of allegiance for about two dozen participants in a memorial service held in Riverside Gardens Park Wednesday morning.

September 11, 2019 - 10:07 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIREFIGHTERS KEEP FREE Y ACCESS

The Red Bank nonprofit says no families of kids now in a free membership program will be turned away. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters will get to keep their free memberships to the local YMCA, the organization announced Wednesday.

Police will still have to pay, though now at a discount, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit said. But there’s no change to the plan unveiled last week to end across-the-board free memberships for borough schoolchildren.

July 3, 2019 - 12:14 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: MENNA ‘IRATE’ OVER YMCA ACTION

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna speaking at the the Memorial Day ceremony last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna on Thursday blasted a decision by the Community YMCA to end free memberships for borough schoolchildren and emergency first-responders.

Menna went on the offensive after the Y’s “unilateral” action, which he said was made without any advance notice to or discussion with his administration.

June 27, 2019 - 10:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: KIDS, RESPONDERS LOSE FREE YMCA

The Red Bank YMCA says affected families can apply for subsidies to replace the free memberships. Below, the letter sent to parents of children in the Healthy Kids program. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s schoolchildren and emergency first-responders will lose their free access to the borough YMCA in September.

The Maple Avenue nonprofit’s executive director, Katie McAdoo, tells redbankgreen the change was driven by its need to be “accountable” to funders.

June 27, 2019 - 5:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: 12 FAMILIES DISPLACED BY BLAZE

The fire began in mulch ignited by a discarded cigarette or match at the 12-unit Oakland Square apartments, officials said. The top of a smoking pole is visible at right. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

this just in redbankgreen A discarded cigarette or match appears to have ignited a blaze that sent two people to the hospital and left 12 families without a home Sunday morning, officials said.

June 23, 2019 - 1:36 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE AT NEW APARTMENT BUILDING

Red Bank firefighters on the roof of Oakland Square, as seen from the rear parking lot, above, and Oakland Street, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fire heavily damaged a two-year-old affordable-housing apartment building in Red Bank Sunday morning.

Ninety minutes after the first alarm at 9:05 a.m., firefighters remained on the scene at Oakland Square, where fire had burned through the roof above the third floor.

June 23, 2019 - 10:57 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: SERVICE SUSPECTED IN FIRE

Fire officials were investigating the cause of small electrical fire in a home on Seven Bridges Road in Little Silver Tuesday afternoon.

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June 11, 2019 - 2:50 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: SPEAKEASY ON ZONING AGENDA

The former Agostino antique store space at 21 Broad Street, vacant for seven years, is the site of a proposed food market and ‘speakeasy.’ (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj On Thursday’s Red Bank busy zoning board agenda: a proposal for a downtown food market and speakeasy, plus a plan to build a new house on the site of a devastating fire, and changes outside the Two River Theater.

June 5, 2019 - 10:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: “TENACIOUS’ INSPECTOR CITED

Fire inspector Frank Woods, flanked by Mayor Pasquale Menna and Councilman Hazim Yassin, was honored for averting possible catastrophe at an apartment complex. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A “tenacious” Red Bank employee won recognition from the borough council Wednesday night for efforts that officials said headed off a possible disaster at an apartment complex last month.

April 12, 2019 - 1:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: NO INJURIES IN CAR FIRE

The driver and occupants, if any, of car that caught fire while being driven on Maple Avenue in Red Bank escaped without injury shortly after midnight Tuesday. The vehicle, a Mercedes, was destroyed. Further details weren’t immediately available. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

March 12, 2019 - 1:15 am | Comments ()

MIDDLETOWN: GLADYS BOWDEN DIES

Gladys Bowden, a longtime Red Bank resident and volunteer injured in a December 15 fire at her home in Middletown, died early Saturday.

January 14, 2019 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

MIDDLETOWN: FUNDRAISER FOR BOWDENS

Family and friends have raised more than $12,000 to help two former Red Bank volunteers injured by a fire in their Middletown home earlier this month.

George Bowden, 91, and his wife, Gladys Bowden, 88, were both injured when their condo in the Shadow Lake Village complex in the River Plaza section of the township was heavily damaged by an electrical fire on December 15.

December 24, 2018 - 7:46 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE BLAMED ON RIGGED HEATER

The portable heater and duct, visible at center, were removed from the porch before firefighters arrived, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj The fire that destroyed a Red Bank house Wednesday was blamed on a portable heater, according to the borough’s top fire inspector.

The heater had been rigged to keep contractors warm while the house was undergoing illegal renovation work, redbankgreen has learned.

December 13, 2018 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRE DESTROYS VACANT HOME

Volunteer firefighters on Ladder 91 returning after cutting into the roof shortly before an evacuation alarm was sounded. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Fire destroyed a vacant Red Bank house under renovation Wednesday morning.

The rush-hour blaze at 28 Rector Place sent a blanket of white smoke over the downtown and points east for about two hours.

December 12, 2018 - 11:12 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: TWOFER SALE AT SICKLES?

No one was injured, police said, when a Mercedes SUV and a sedan wound up in the same parking space, one atop the other, at Sickles Market in Little Silver shortly after noon Friday.

Volunteer firefighters from Little Silver and Red Bank were on the scene, working to separate the vehicles, which had a light pole pinned between them. Police were investigating the cause of the accident. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

December 7, 2018 - 2:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN WITHDRAWN

A rendering of the apartment house proposed for 316 Shrewsbury Avenue. Below, the existing house during the fire in July. (Drawing by Michael Monroe; photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A plan to replace a fire-damaged single-family home in Red Bank with a three-family apartment house was withdrawn amid neighborhood opposition Thursday night.

December 7, 2018 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: ALARMS SHUT OFFICE BUILDING

The building, seen here in 2016, abuts the Red Bank train station. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A large Red Bank office building was closed to employees for the second consecutive day Wednesday over concerns about carbon monoxide.

September 12, 2018 - 3:30 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRST WORKSHOP’S A MARATHON

Instead of taking their usual places on the dais, the mayor and council members sat around a large conference table for the meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

The Red Bank council’s first-ever workshop-only meeting proved to be a marathon of matters large and small Wednesday night.

Among the topics discussed at the three-and-a-half-hour session: ways to “deal with the issue” of vehicles parked indefinitely outside the home of an unspecified Bank Street resident, though it was widely understood who that was.

August 31, 2018 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: DOG AND CAT INJURED IN FIRE

First Aiders tending to dog in the front yard of 316 Shrewsbury Avenue. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fire in the basement of a Red Bank home left a dog and a cat injured Wednesday evening.

July 19, 2018 - 5:58 am | Comments ()

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MIDDLETOWN: GEORGE BOWDEN DIES

RED BANK: OLD BRICK BUILDINGS REVIVED

RED BANK: KITCHEN FIRE DISPLACES ONE

MIDDLETOWN: BOATER PULLED FROM MUD

RED BANK: POOL LAWSUIT CLAIMS NEGLIGENCE

RED BANK: WIRE SNIP SNAPS UTILITY POLE

RED BANK: REMEMBERING VICTIMS OF ‘MALICE’

RED BANK: FIREFIGHTERS KEEP FREE Y ACCESS

RED BANK: MENNA ‘IRATE’ OVER YMCA ACTION

RED BANK: KIDS, RESPONDERS LOSE FREE YMCA

RED BANK: 12 FAMILIES DISPLACED BY BLAZE

RED BANK: FIRE AT NEW APARTMENT BUILDING

LITTLE SILVER: SERVICE SUSPECTED IN FIRE

RED BANK: SPEAKEASY ON ZONING AGENDA

RED BANK: “TENACIOUS’ INSPECTOR CITED

RED BANK: NO INJURIES IN CAR FIRE

MIDDLETOWN: GLADYS BOWDEN DIES

MIDDLETOWN: FUNDRAISER FOR BOWDENS

RED BANK: FIRE BLAMED ON RIGGED HEATER

RED BANK: FIRE DESTROYS VACANT HOME

LITTLE SILVER: TWOFER SALE AT SICKLES?

RED BANK: APARTMENT PLAN WITHDRAWN

RED BANK: ALARMS SHUT OFFICE BUILDING

RED BANK: FIRST WORKSHOP’S A MARATHON

RED BANK: DOG AND CAT INJURED IN FIRE