Continuing a project that began with yearbooks from what was then known as Red Bank High School, the Red Bank Public Library has now turned its attention to converting the annual volumes of Red Bank Catholic High School to digital format. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
This week’s snowstorm was no match for a January blizzard, both in terms of of the amount of white stuff left behind and the number of parking tickets issued by Red Bank police.
In contrast to the ticket blizzard that racked up 260 parking violations during the January 4 and 5 storm, the latest storm prompted just 25 tickets, police Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen.
Homeowners living along the line and other objectors packed a public hearing on the JCP&L proposal held at Brookdale Community College last March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Electrical utility JCP&L has failed to prove it needs a to build a controversial 10-mile long, high-voltage electricity transmission line that would end in Red Bank, a judge has ruled.
The decision, handed down Thursday, represents at least an interim victory for a grassroots effort led by homeowners to thwart the proposed $111 million project.
Carlo’s Bake Shop has a new partner, Mike DeStafano, who says the business isn’t going anywhere. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn, there’s something a little different: news about a Red Bank business that’s neither freshly opened nor closing — Carlo’s Bake Shop, owned by TV ‘Cake Boss’ Buddy Valastro.
Plus, as usual, a few lines about businesses that have closed, as well as news about an Indian restaurant coming downtown.
A storm that dropped several inches of wet, heavy snow on the Greater Red Bank Green Wednesday left dozens of customers without electrical service early Thursday morning, as shown in JCP&L’s outage map above.
Memone Crystian with Red Bank Little Leaguers in 2010. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A former director of Red Bank’s parks and rec department is suing the borough and former officials, alleging she was forced out of the job by racism and gender discrimination.
Memone Crystian quit the position in May, 2015, “after years of being subjected to a hostile work environment” that included discrimination by then-borough Administrator Stanley Sickels and then-councilman Art Murphy, the suit alleges.
While regions of New Jersey to the west and north will see heavier impacts, the Greater Red Bank Green is expected to experience rain, snow and sleet as a late-winter storm passes through on Wednesday.
Almost two years after the Red Bank council rejected three private-sector proposals for use of the red clay tennis courts in Marine Park, the governing body is laying the groundwork for a possible makeover of the entire 2.2-acre riverfront park.
The Greater Red Bank Green is in for a mostly sunny day Tuesday, with temperatures peaking at about 42 degrees, according to the National Weather Service forecast issued early Tuesday. (Click to enlarge.)
And what about the snowstorm everyone’s been buzzing about?
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for the period of February 1 to February 28, 2018. This information is unedited. For additional information, please scroll to the bottom of this post.
CRIMES
Theft: On 02/01/18 in the area of W Front St it was reported that two slabs of granite were stolen from the backyard of a residence. The granite is described as one rectangular slab and the other an L-shaped slab. Ptl. Garrett Falco.
Criminal Mischief: On 02/03/18 in the area of Catherine St it was reported a parked vehicle had numerous scratches made to the hood of the vehicle. Ptl. Frank Metta.
A Red Bank man was arrested last month on charges arising from an alleged aggravated sexual assault on a child in early 2017, police said.
Travis Lane, 59, of South Pearl Street, was arrested February 20, the same day police were made aware of the allegations, Chief Darren McConnell told redbankgreen.
A Red Bank cop arrested in Middletown last week was charged with driving while intoxicated, redbankgreen has learned.
The DWI charge and others against Patrolman Benjamin Springer followed an accident in the township while the officer was off-duty, Red Bank Chief Darren McConnell said,
The Wawa site plan, with the store at top and gas pump island shown in yellow, calls for the creation of a new center lane on Newman Springs Road allowing motorists traveling in both directions to make left turns. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Like a motorist stuck in rush-hour traffic, a supersized Wawa convenience store and filling station proposed for a problematic Red Bank intersection inched forward Thursday night.
At issue as the zoning board weighs the plan: whether the project would make congestion worse or improve traffic flow near the intersection of Newman Springs Road and Broad Street.
Strong winds and coastal flooding are expected along with up to two inches of rain as a storm passes over the Greater Red Bank Green Friday.
Relief Engine Company retains the second-floor meeting space in its longtime home on Drummond Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Making Red Bank history, one of the borough’s six volunteer fire companies is being retired from active duty.
Under a consolidation plan in the works for three years, the Relief Engine Company, stranded for the past two years without a firetruck, will become a keeper of borough firefighting history, Chief Stu Jensen announced Wednesday.
The Red Bank council and two state legislators honored three people for longevity Wednesday night. Among them: Edith Blake, above, who celebrated her 100th birthday on Sunday.
Blake told redbankgreen she didn’t know what all the “fuss” was about.
No, that wasn’t quite a full moon rising over White Street in Red Bank Wednesday night. But it will be full on Thursday, the first of two such events in March; the second, a so-called blue moon, will appear on March 31.
The gravitational tug of the moon is expected to factor into flooding associated with heavy rains starting Thursday night and lasting through the day Friday. According to the National Weather Service, a flood watch is in effect for low-lying and coastal areas during the period, when several inches of rain are expected, along with wind gusts of up to 50 miles per hour as part of a “major coastal storm.”
Here’s the extended forecast:
Mayor Pasquale Menna at Riverside Gardens Park in September. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Holding off a challenge by activist Ben Forest, Mayor Pasquale Menna secured the top spot on the Democratic ticket in the November election Sunday.
Menna, going for a fourth four-year term, will be joined by two council contenders seeking their first elective office.
A proposed ordinance that Red Bank’s only puppy store claims will kill its business is up for adoption by the borough council Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Officials hope visitors will find parking more readily with the relocation of permit spaces from the White Street lot to the east side lots. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a reset triggered by last November’s election, Red Bank’s majority Democrats took their first concrete step toward a possible large-scale parking solution downtown this week.
Meantime, an adjustment in the allocation of permitted parking was completed recently, opening up more visitor spaces in the town’s largest lot, officials said.
It was shorts and bare-arms weather on Broad Street in Red Bank for the second day in a row Wednesday, when unseasonably warm temperatures topped out in the high 70s, according to the National Weather Service.
The outlook for the Greater Green Thursday shows a return to seasonal norms, with highs in the mid-40s, likely accompanied by rain. Check out the extended forecast:
Amy Downey offered cookies prior to the start of a Moms Demand Action orientation meeting that drew a full house to Shapiro’s Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The murders of 17 people by a gunman in Florida last week prompted a hasty new-member orientation in Red Bank Tuesday night for an organization dedicated to what it calls “common sense gun laws.”
Volunteers with Moms Demand Action said the February 14 slaughter at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland has unleashed a surge of interest unseen since the group’s founding five years ago in the wake of the Newtown, Connecticut murders of 27 children and adults.
Kayla Barbuto in her newly opened Lady K’s Bake Shop. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Cakes, tarts, ice-cream and other sweet treats: downtown Red Bank is adding to its dessert menu with the recent opening of a specialty bakery and plans for a new ice cream shop.
Read all about it in this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn.
A memorial mounted above the door of the former Independent Engine House on Mechanic Street. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After more than a century of service, a Red Bank firehouse is about find new uses within its red brick walls.
And thanks to a recently razed house in Brooklyn, it will get some additional new — or rather, quite old — brickwork.
