RED BANK: WHITE STREET GAS LINE RUPTURED
The smell of natural gas from a line rupture on White Street in Red Bank could be detected as far away as the intersection of Harding Road and Broad Street Monday morning.
FAIR HAVEN: FIREMEN’S FAIR CANCELED
The traditional summer-ending Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair has been canceled, volunteer fire company President Jim Cerruti announced Tuesday.
RED BANK: SMOKE EMPTIES BUILDING
A plumbing test gone awry led to the evacuation of a three-story building in downtown Red Bank Tuesday morning, officials said.
LITTLE SILVER: FIRST RESPONDERS CHEERED
Little Silver made some big metallic noise for emergency personnel on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic Thursday evening. Read More
LITTLE SILVER: RBR ROOF FIRE EXTINGUISHED
Little Silver volunteer firefighters quickly extinguished a fire on the roof of Red Bank Regional High School late Saturday afternoon.
RED BANK: FIRE DAMAGES HOME
A Red Bank family safely escaped a fire that damaged their home Monday evening. Read More
RED BANK: EX-FIRE CHIEF MEGO DIES
One arm still in a cast, John Mego was sworn in as first deputy fire chief in January 2010, three weeks after he was struck by a vehicle while working as a school crossing guard. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Former Red Bank Fire Chief John Mego has died, Mayor Pasquale Menna said Friday morning.
RED BANK: FIREHOUSE GETS MORE TIME
It’s been almost six years since Red Bank sold the former firehouse on White Street to a private developer. More than two years have passed since a start-up brewery announced plans to set up in the space. And yet, the 109-year-old structure remains idle and empty.
What’s Going On Here? You ask, and redbankgreen answers…
RED BANK: FIRINGS ANGER CHARTER PARENTS
Alison Weiler and Nicole Navarrete, center, speak with well-wishers Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Charter School parents packed a board meeting Tuesday night to protest the firings of two teachers who briefly left a sleeping child behind during a fire drill earlier this month.
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.
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.
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.)