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RED BANK: ELBOW-TO-ELBOW AT ‘FACEOFF’

An historically large field of candidates for office in Red Bank sat elbow-to-elbow on the stage of the Red Bank Middle School for a “Faceoff Over Red Bank’s Future” Tuesday night.

The crowded race includes 13 candidates for council and two for mayor, all of whom participated (one via phone link).

A combined in-person and online audience of more than 230 heard the candidates lay out their visions and positions on issues at the event, which was organized by redbankgreen and moderated by site founder John T. Ward. The complete video is above. (Click to enlarge.)

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RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER LOBBY DEDICATED

Tom Hintelmann addresses attendees at the event in his late father’s honor. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See note below

By JOHN T. WARD

The lobby at Red Bank’s long-closed Senior Center now has a name, in honor of the late Thomas E. Hintelmann, the borough’s longest-serving council member.

Several dozen attendees crowded into the foyer of the Shrewsbury Avenue facility Tuesday evening to memorialize Hintelmann, who served on the borough council from 1975 through 2004.

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RED BANK: 139-YEAR-OLD MARINA SOLD

Riverview Medical Center looms over one of two Irwin Marine properties flanking Marine Park. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topicIrwin Marine, a boating business with pilings sunk deep into the red clay waterfront that gave Red Bank its name, has been sold by the family that’s owned it throughout its 139-year existence.

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RED BANK: BALLOT POSITIONS SET

A schematic of the May 9 ballot, provided by the Red Bank clerk. (Click to enlarge.)

See CORRECTION below

By JOHN T. WARD

Incumbent Billy Portman will have the inside lane against challenger Tim Hogan in the two-candidate race for Red Bank mayor.

A drawing by borough Clerk Laura Reinertsen Wednesday also established the ballot positions for all 13 council candidates in the borough’s first-ever nonpartisan election May 9.

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RED BANK: PETITIONS OK’D, BALLOTS UP NEXT

Borough Clerk Laura Reinertsen in her office last April. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

All 15 candidates for Red Bank mayor and council in the May 9 election submitted the minimum number of valid petitions to get on the ballot, Clerk Laura Reinertsen told redbankgreen Tuesday.

Up next: a drawing to determine the order of names on the ballot in the historic nonpartisan election. More →

RED BANK: CANDIDACIES APPEAR SET

Fifteen candidates are expected be on the ballot for the May 9 election. (Photo by Red Bank Together. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Looks like Red Bank voters will have two mayoral candidates and 13 contenders for six council seats to choose from in the historic election scheduled for May 9.

 

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RED BANK: HOGAN ADDRESSES ‘CONFLICTS’

Mayoral candidate Tim Hogan, seen here in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Riverview Medical Center president Tim Hogan says his day job would not present a conflict of interest should he succeed in his bid to become Red Bank’s mayor.

Also in borough politics: watchdog Sue Viscomi has announced another run for council in the May 9 special election.

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RED BANK: PORTMAN VETOES RENTAL LAW

Mayor Billy Portman called the ordinance “an effort to appease a few people” who oppose short-term rentals. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topicRed Bank Mayor Billy Portman vetoed a controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.

Portman, just seven weeks into his term, announced the rarely used action after the conclusion of a council meeting that ran for three and a half hours without any hint of his intention.

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RED BANK: COUNCIL DEMS, HOGAN FORM SLATE

From left: John Jackson, Jacqueline Sturdivant, Michael Ballard, Tim Hogan, Linda Hill, Erin Fleming and Sean Murphy. (Photo by Red Bank Together. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Three incumbent council Democrats have teamed up with the president of Riverview Medical Center in a bid to form Red Bank’s new government this summer.

The seven-member “Red Bank Together” slate is the second hoping to capture six council seats and the mayor’s chair in the May 9 special election.

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RED BANK: ICELESS WINTER FOILS ICEBOATERS

In decades past, members of Red Bank’s North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club, the oldest organization of its kind in America, could count on winters packed with racing and casual sailing.

No more. What’s now called the Navesink River has not frozen well enough for iceboating for five years straight, sending the club’s members, including Mark Petersen and Steve Foster, right, north in search of ice elsewhere. And even that hunt is often futile, as borough resident Brian Donohue reports in his latest ‘Positively Jersey’ video essay for News12. Watch the short video here.

There’s no hope of ice crystals forming Thursday, when local daytime temperatures are expected to crack 60 degrees again (following Wednesday’s peak of 69), according to the National Weather Service. Check out the extended forecast below.

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RED BANK: COUNCIL OKS EARLY, LIVE VOTING

Voting machines at borough hall in advance of last November’s election. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topicRed Bank voters would be able to cast ballots in-person over the weekend prior to the upcoming special election under an ordinance introduced last week.

The borough council signaled at its February 8 meeting that it will authorize an additional $21,000 to enable early voting in the historic election.

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RED BANK: WEST SIDE LEAD PIPE PLAN OK’D

Eighty percent of Red Bank properties have an unknown type of water service line, according to ENGenuity. (Image by ENGenuity. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

HOT-TOPIC_03Red Bank’s West Side streets will soon be abuzz with street-opening backhoes as as the borough embarks on a massive, decade-long effort to identify and replace lead water lines.

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RED BANK: SHORT-RENTAL LAW PASSES

The owner of an Airbnb-listed house on Oakland Street continued his opposition to the ordinance. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topicRed Bank’s council adopted controversial law restricting short-term, Airbnb-style residential rentals Wednesday night.

The action followed complaints by residents and Mayor Billy Portman that, months into the issue, the council still was not “listening” to the public.

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RED BANK: PIPES, RENTALS, VOTING ON DECK

Branch Avenue resident Alberto Larotonda with a lead pipe he brought to a council meeting in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See Correction below

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topicThe Red Bank council may authorize spending up to $2.4 million to replace water service lines made of lead when it meets Wednesday night.

Also on the heavy agenda: possible adoption of a controversial law restricting short-term residential rentals; a study of water rates; a change in the zoning law governing cannabis sales; and authorizing early, in-person voting for an historic May election.

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RED BANK: PORTMAN-TRIGGIANO SLATE NAMED

Billy Portman and Kate Triggiano at an event in Riverside Gardens Park last June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A slate that includes Mayor Billy Portman and Democratic party Chairperson Kate Triggiano will run to initiate Red Bank’s first new form of government in 115 years.

The seven-candidate slate, announced late Sunday, is the first out of the gate in what may be a crowded field in the the May 9 special election.

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RED BANK: SPECIAL-ELECTION PLANS MULLED

One issue to be resolved: whether to hold a weekend of early voting at borough hall. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Following the will of voters as expressed in November, Red Bank officials have begun organizing a special election in May.

That’s when voters will return to the polls, this time to choose a mayor and six council members to be seated under an all-new form of government July 1. More →

RED BANK: PORTMAN TAKES MAYOR’S SEAT

Mayor Billy Portman opens the reorganization meeting as Attorney Dan Antonelli looks on, above; new fire chiefs were sworn in, below.  (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank entered into a period of transition Wednesday night, as a new mayor took the helm of a government that’s slated to vanish in seven months.

Billy Portman, a political neophyte who helped dismantle the local Democratic machine last year, was sworn into the town’s highest elected position pledging he’ll “keep the ship running smoothly” in the interim.

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RED BANK: BOAS QUITS HPC, SLAMS CHAIRMAN

HPC members Barbara Boas and Paul Sullivan at Wednesday’s meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank njA longtime member of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission has quit, slamming what she called the “authoritarianism” of its new chairman.

After 12 years of volunteering, Barbara Boas attended her final HPC meeting Wednesday night, telling redbankgreen she was done with the way Chairman Chris Fabricant runs things.

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RED BANK: MENNA ERA ENDS

Mayor Pasquale Menna reading ridiculously low room rates from an old Molly Pitcher Inn matchbook. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank njMayor Pasquale Menna presided over his final Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night, closing out a political career unmatched for duration in borough history.

His successor will have to wait an extra four days to take up the reins of a form of government that’s also slated for retirement.

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RED BANK: GIVING TUESDAY 2022

This year’s Giving Tuesday is November 29, marking the 10th year of the annual push to “inspire generosity around the world, with a common mission to build a world where generosity is part of everyday life.”

Here are some Red Bank area organizations seeking help – and one that plans to give a boost to others.

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RED BANK: SPARED HOUSE TO GET SPRUCE-UP

The new owners of 26 Wallace Street plan to refurbish it as a single-family home. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank njA 19th-century house in downtown Red Bank, spared by public clamor from the wrecking ball earlier this year, has new owners who hope to restore its onetime “splendor,” redbankgreen has learned.

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SHREWSBURY: YMCA HOSTS ESSAY CONTEST

Press release from the YMCA of Greater Monmouth County

Red Bank Regional High School students and their peers across Monmouth County are invited to participate in YMCA of Greater Monmouth County’s annual Dr. Martin Luther King essay contest.

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