RED BANK: BROADWALK BOLLARDS GO BIG
Red Bank officials this week began to address one of the foremost complaints about the downtown Broadwalk zone: the presence of “ugly” orange safety barrels used to supplement steel bollards installed last year.
RED BANK: BAGEL OVEN ENDS 45-YEAR RUN
The Bagel Oven in Red Bank ended a 45-year run under its founding owners Sunday.
RED BANK: BROADWALK IS BACK
Red Bank’s Broadwalk returned Monday night for at least a four-month run. And the weather for the next week looks good for outdoor dining.
RED BANK: GARDENS TAKE ROOT ON BROAD
Danielle Boyle and her crew planting flowers on Broad Street Friday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Any day now, perhaps in time for Mothers’ Day, peonies as big as softballs will be blooming on Broad Street in Red Bank.
In coming months, downtown visitors will also be treated to bursts of color provided by hydrangea vanilla sundae, whirling butterfly and other plantings, thanks to a RiverCenter project utilizing the talents of a highly regarded gardener.
RED BANK: REPORT RIPS DPU CONDITIONS
A “temporary” office trailer has been in use at the public utilities yard on Chestnut Street for 20 years and is now “separating and shifting,” a report says. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A detailed review of Red Bank’s public utilities department found unsafe vehicles, inadequate staffing, facilities in need of upgrades and numerous other deficiencies, redbankgreen has learned.
The 14-page report, by former interim director Gary Watson Sr., includes a recommended boost in staffing to improve dealings with residents, who often can’t get answers to their inquiries, he wrote.
RED BANK: WALTON TAKES OVER DPU
New public utilities director Terrence Walton addressing the audience at borough hall Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council appointed a new department head, authorized another season of in-street dining downtown, took action on the long-closed town dump and gave a thumbs-up to a plan for gardens on Broad Street Wednesday night.
Here are some highlights of the busy meeting, which ran for more than three hours:
RED BANK: POT, BUDGET & MORE ON AGENDA
Responding to public pressure, the council plans to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Leighton Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Google Maps image. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: new hurdles for licensing of cannabis businesses; the 2023 budget; a new four-way traffic intersection and more.
RED BANK: PAIR PRODS ACTION ON BROADWALK
Robinson Ale House owner Tim McLoone at Wednesday’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining plaza will return for at least a four-month run May 15, following informal agreement by the borough council Wednesday night.
The consensus arose after Mayor Billy Portman and Councilwoman Kate Triggiano goaded the reluctant majority bloc into an immediate decision.
RED BANK: CHEESE SHOP OPENS
A new specialty cheese shop has opened in Red Bank, adding momentum to an ongoing transformation of the downtown business district’s southern end. More →
RED BANK: SIX-MONTH BROADWALK ON HOLD
RiverCenter’s proposal includes plans to boost weekday activity in the Broadwalk zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A six-month season for Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining plaza would feature enhanced efforts to boost weekday visitors and battle litter, a business representative told the borough council Wednesday night.
The council, however, withheld an immediate decision on the request.
RED BANK: ITALIAN ICE, LOBSTER ROLLS COMING
The future location of Rita’s Italian Ice & Frozen Custard on West Front Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s booming food scene is in for some new additions soon: a Rita’s Italian Ice shop and a Mystic Lobster Roll.
Also: a hair stylist has found a single answer to the questions of where to operate his salon and where to live.
Read all about them in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: NEW CULINARY DELIGHTS ABOUND
Michelle Storey in her new Fable Creamery vegan ice cream shop on Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Recent weeks have brought a veritable groaning board of new culinary offerings to Red Bank: breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert.
Read all about the insane buffet in this winter-doldrums edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn. More →
RED BANK: COUNCIL WRAP
The council took a moment to remember restaurateur Gary Sable, who died last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council tackled a heavy agenda Wednesday night.
Debates on bylaws, elections, Airbnbs, cannabis zoning and more jammed a session that ran for almost four and half hours.
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
A 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.
RED BANK: NEW EATERIES WALTZ INTO TOWN
Harvest Moon Hut has opened in the alley alongside the Dublin House Pub. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A tiny new restaurant stakes out night owls. A vegan ice cream shop, a pizzeria, a French-bread baker and a dance studio waltz enticingly toward openings. Another restaurant closes its doors.
Read all about downtown Red Bank’s latest comings-and-goings in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
RED BANK: PIZZERIA PLAN GOES COLD
Looks like Red Bank won’t be getting an Artichoke Basille’s Pizza restaurant after all.
RED BANK: MEN’S CLOTHING, EATERIES IN CHURN
Evan Piscitelli is now owner of two downtown shops: a jeweler and a men’s shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this nutmeg-tinged edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, we’ve got news of a men’s clothing shop opened by a man who’s been selling diamonds and jewelry in downtown Red Bank for seven years.
We’ve also got updates on four restaurants – three opening, and one closed.
RED BANK: DETOURS, FOUR-WAY STOP COMING
Motorists who travel Spring Street in Red Bank will need to adjust for some temporary changes resulting from road work this week and next.
And there will be a permanent change in place once the work is done: a new four-way stop intersection.
RED BANK: ARREST MADE IN BURGLARY SPREE
A Newark man is in custody on charges arising from a burglary spree that impacted six downtown Red Bank stores and restaurants in one night last month, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: BUILDING VALUE DOUBLES. HOW?
The building at 14-16 Broad Street doubled in value in just two years. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Talk about rapid inflation: a downtown Red Bank commercial building doubled in value over the last two years, according to a recent sale.
What’s Going On Here?
RED BANK: BUSINESSES HIT IN BURGLARY SPREE
Six Red Bank stores and restaurants were burglarized in a break-in spree along Monmouth Street earlier this week, police Chief Darren McConnell said Saturday.
The lone burglar, who has not been arrested, also tried but failed to break into two other stores, he said.
RED BANK: BOLLARDS, AND BARRELS, VANISH
Red Bank borough workers lowered safety bollards into their subsurface silos and reopened upper Broad Street to vehicular traffic Monday morning.
Marking the end of the abbreviated third season of Broadwalk, they also carted off the orange-and-white safety barrels used in conjunction with the bollards to keep vehicles away from the outdoor dining plaza.
RED BANK: FRAGRANT END TO 18-YEAR VACANCY
A flower shop has relocated to the long-empty former Katsin’s Drugs space on Shrewsbury Avenue, known for its giant neon sign. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank store space that’s been vacant for as long as it takes to raise a baby to adulthood finally welcomes a new tenant this weekend.
Also in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn: a new electric bike shop, a hair salon, a pasta shop, a gift boutique and more.
RED BANK: BROADWALK ENDS SHORT RUN
The abbreviated third season of Broadwalk, Red Bank’s outdoor dining plaza on upper Broad Street, is scheduled to end Sunday night, with a reopening to vehicular traffic Monday.
Created by the borough council in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and renewed in 2021, Broadwalk didn’t get a green light for this year until late July, delayed by a streetscape project. Then it was allowed to continue another month past its original termination of Labor Day, meaning the new vehicle-blocking retractable bollards (seen at right) vehicles would remain up.
Though the council has not yet determined the future of the economic experiment, Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the downtown promotion agency Red Bank RiverCenter, said he’s “hopeful” the endeavor will return in the spring of 2023.
Meantime, here’s some info on the season-ending activities. While Friday night’s weather appears conducive to a final raising of wine glasses, the rest of the weekend could be a bit chancy. Here’s the outlook:
RED BANK: ENGLISH PLAZA, LIGHTLY ACCENTED
Most of the shops along the strip are owned by immigrants. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The street is named English Plaza, after a former Red Bank mayor. But for the majority of businesses along the short block, English is a second language.
Of the eight shops in the strip of one-story business, at least six are owned by immigrants. That far outpaces the borough’s foreign-born population, which comprises 20 percent of residents, according to the Census.
Here are the stories of five, owners of two restaurants, a home decor shop, a beauty salon and a liquor store.