RED BANK: METER PROGRAM ADVANCES
A bumper crop of new parking meters has appeared in downtown Red Bank.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: MAN CHARGED IN STATUE TOPPLING
Surveillance video shows the suspect knocking the statue over. (Video provided by Red Bank police. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank police have charged a skateboard-riding Fair Haven man for an act of vandalism against church statuary that was caught on video last month.
RED BANK: CRIME & ARREST REPORTS
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for June, 2020. This information is unedited; see below for additional information.
CRIMES
Theft: Two Bicycles were reported stolen from the rear of a yard in the area of Peter’s Pl on 06/01/2020. The bikes are described as 1 black and 1 pink beach cruiser, valued at $200.00 each. Ptl. Ashon Lovick.
Criminal Mischief: On 06/02/2020 it was reported graffiti was spray painted on the rear of a building in the area of Monmouth St. Ptl. Taylor Doremus.
FAIR HAVEN: PURCHASE PLAN SCRAPPED
The proposal called for a $3.4 million purchase of the office complex at 623 River Road, followed by an estimated $9.6 million in site redevelopment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven’s council has scrapped a controversial plan to buy a River Road office building for $3.4 million.
Monday’s action marked the second time plans for a proposed home for a new borough hall and police station have fallen through, and left officials turning to plan C.
RED BANK: MENNA ADMITS FOOD TRUCK ERROR
Mayor Pasquale Menna on Locust Avenue in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna says he will recuse himself from future discussions of food trucks following questions raised by redbankgreen about work he did for the owner of a proposed site of a mobile eatery.
Menna, a private practice lawyer, did not disclose his connections to the property owner during Wednesday night’s council workshop meeting, when he revived the dormant issue of food trucks. But he said the omission was unintentional.
RED BANK: FOOD TRUCK EYES VACANT SITE
A food truck called Your Sister’s Balls hopes to set up “a few days a week” on a Shrewsbury Avenue lot. (Nicole Montecalvo photo. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than a year after the latest effort to remove Red Bank’s ban on food trucks got a flat tire, the issue is back.
Leading the charge: a food truck called Your Sister’s Balls.
RED BANK: DREAMER ‘THRILLED’ BY RULING
Itzel Perez Hernandez, seen at right above last November with fellow Red Bank ‘Dreamers’ Cristian Aparicio and Deysi Avila, said she is “thrilled” by the United States Supreme Court’s decision Thursday thwarting the Trump Administration’s efforts to to rescind protections for young immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, better known as DACA.
RED BANK: COPS SAY SESTITO INTERFERED
Red Bank police dashcam video from the June 3 incident on East Bergen Place. (Red Bank Police Department video. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s police chief has asked the Monmouth County prosecutor to review an incident involving Councilman Michael Ballard earlier this month.
The incident, which Ballard reported as it occurred outside his home during a council meeting on Zoom, led to his wife, Rose Sestito, briefly in handcuffs for allegedly interfering with a police investigation, though no charges were filed.
RED BANK: REPORT OF SHOT FIRED
Red Bank police were investigating a report of a shot fired on the West Side Friday afternoon.
No one was injured in the incident, which occurred around 1 p.m. on West Sunset Avenue between Leighton and Shrewsbury avenues, Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen.
RED BANK: BALLARD DUBS COPS ‘AGGRESSIVE’
Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard speaking at Pilgrim Baptist Church Thursday night. (Screenshot from Facebook Live. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard on Thursday teed up borough cops for what he called “overagressive” treatment of his wife during an incident 24 hours earlier.
Speaking at Pilgrim Baptist Church for an online forum on systemic racism, Ballard, an African-American, also appeared to suggest he’d been treated unfairly by unnamed officials at borough hall in his role as finance chairman.
RED BANK: BALLARD REPORTS WIFE’S ‘ARREST’
Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard, highlighted at upper right during Wednesday’s council meeting via Zoom. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
To the growing list of embarrassing videoconferencing moments in the COVID-19 era – energetic children running through home offices, cats on keyboards, spilled coffee – a Red Bank councilman added another: a report of spousal arrest in progress.
RED BANK: CRIMES AND ARRESTS
The crime and arrest reports below for the months of May, 2020, were provided by the Red Bank Police Department. This information is unedited. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
CRIMES
Theft: Medicine, an old radio, an old Ford car seat and miscellaneous items valued under $150.00 were reported stolen out of the back of a truck on 05/01/2020 in the area of E. Westside Ave. Ptl. Frank Metta.
PROSECUTOR: ‘OUR MISSION IS TO PROTECT’
Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni at a community forum on police-involved shootings at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Monmouth County’s top law enforcement official on Monday “wholly” denounced the death of a Minneapolis man that has sparked protests and violence across America.
In a statement posted on the county website, Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni called the death of George Floyd while he was in police custody “murder.”
RED BANK: POLICE-COMMUNITY FORUM SLATED
A Red Bank police officer speaking with a motorist during a stop on Leighton Avenue in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
With cities across America erupting in violence in recent days over police abuses, Red Bank’s police department plans to hold an online forum on community relations Thursday.
RED BANK: TAX SETTLEMENT POSTPONED
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council postponed action Wednesday night on a proposed tax appeal settlement that would slash the assessment on a downtown bank property by almost one-third.
But the delay, requested by Mayor Pasquale Menna, was not motivated by an objection to the terms of the deal, he said.
RED BANK: BIG TAX CUT FOR BANK ON AGENDA
The Bank of America branch is identified in the settlement as both tenant and taxpayer at 170 Broad Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A drive-thru bank in downtown Red Bank would get a 32-percent cut in its property tax assessment under a resolution up for consideration by the council Wednesday night.
RED BANK: PICKUP PARKING ZONES SET
Downtown shoppers will be able to park in designated spots for quick pickups from restaurants and retail stores throughout town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With merchants starting to emerge from the COVID-19 lockdown, Red Bank officials unveiled a temporary parking plan Monday aimed at helping them regain an economic toehold.
RED BANK: CRIMES AND ARRESTS
The crime and arrest reports below for the months of March and April, 2020, were provided by the Red Bank Police Department. This information is unedited. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
CRIMES
Theft: Two cell phones were reported to be stolen from an unlocked vehicle in the area of Boat Club Dr. on 03/05/2020. The cell phones are described as an Apple I Phone 11 valued at approximately $1000.00 and an Apple I Phone 6 plus valued at approximately $600.00. Lt. Robert Kennedy.
RED BANK: POLICE LAUNCH HOME LOCKBOXES
Red Bank police have rolled out a residential safety service to give some residents an added degree of security in their homes, the department announced Thursday.
RED BANK: MAN CHARGED IN BOTTLE-STAB
The stabbing of a man with a broken bottle led to the arrest of a Red Bank man Sunday, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
According to McConnell, a verbal altercation between two acquaintances in a home on West Westside Avenue escalated Friday.
RED BANK: BELLHAVEN VIEW SNEAK PREVIEW
After years of controversy, plan changes and environmental issues, a combination play area and viewing stand in Red Bank’s Bellhaven Natural Area is finally nearing completion. redbankgreen got a sneak preview Thursday morning.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: POLICE BUST UP CAR RALLY
Red Bank police busted up a car rally in the parking lot of the Molly Pitcher Inn early Sunday afternoon, police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen.
Police determined that the gathering violated Governor Phil Murphy’s March 21 “stay home” executive order barring a wide range of activities, McConnell said.
“The participants were cooperative and left the area without incident,” he said. (Click to enlarge.)
RED BANK: MAN CHARGED WITH COP ASSAULT
A Red Bank police officer was slightly injured during the arrest of an Eatontown man who tried to spit on cops Wednesday, Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
RED BANK: PUBLIC PROJECTS ADVANCING
Like the rest of New Jersey, Red Bank may be on near-lockdown because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but work on a trio of closely watched municipal projects continues.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
RED BANK: YASSIN GETS POLS TO PONY UP
Councilman Hazim Yassin in February, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Hazim Yassin tells redbankgreen he has assembled a bipartisan coalition of elected officials from across New Jersey to donate funds from their campaign warchests to the fight against the coronavirus.