With a high-stakes election nearing, Red Bank voters will have a chance to see and hear from up to 15 candidates for municipal office at a future-oriented redbankgreen forum next month.
The League of Women Voters of Monmouth County is also doing a thing.
Detour Gallery on opening night in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See CLARIFICATION below
By JOHN T. WARD
Seven years after it opened in Red Bank with a splash, Detour Gallery is heading for the Highline.
The art gallery plans to relocate to open a new space in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood, though much of its collection will remain in the converted warehouse owner Kenny Schwartz calls home, he told redbankgreen Tuesday.
The council is eyeing requirements for electric vehicle charging in new multifamily projects and parking lots. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: rules requiring electric vehicle chargers at new developments, and a change in the parking law for a stretch of Spring Street.
Not on the agenda: the burning issue of how to rewrite the town’s cannabis law.
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
Irwin 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.
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 →
HPC Attorney Michele Donato and Chairman Chris Fabricant at Wednesday night’s meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Historic Preservation Commission began a teardown this week.
The target: the 2018 borough ordinance that purportedly gave the advisory body “teeth” but has proven “very wanting,” in the words of one member.
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.
The Basie acquired this onetime residence in the professional office zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than two years after completing a $25 million expansion, the Count Basie Center for the Arts has added to its Red Bank real estate holdings.
But the nonprofit theater has no plans to seek an exemption from property taxes on the newly acquired site, a spokesman told redbankgreen.
Strong winds are expected to buffet the Greater Red Bank as a late-winter storm passes the region, the National Weather Service reported early Tuesday.
Wind speeds of 25 to 30 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 45, were expected from 1 p.m. to midnight.
But while the northwestern corner of New Jersey is expected to experience up to 12 inches snow, eastern Monmouth County will likely get less than half an inch, according to the NWS forecast. (Late Monday, Governor Phil Murphy issued a state-of-emergency declaration for the state’s five northernmost counties.)
Check out the extended outlook below. More →
Volunteer firefighters battling the blaze, as seen from the north side of the building. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Fire in a third-floor unit briefly emptied a seven-story apartment building overlooking the Navesink River in Red Bank Thursday afternoon.
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.
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 →
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for February, 2023. This information is unedited; see below for additional information.
CRIMES
Theft: On 02/03/2023 a patrol unit took a report of theft from a motor vehicle. In the area of Maple Av., the victim reported the rear passenger side window of a vehicle was broken and a backpack was taken from the vehicle. The backpack contained $120.00 US Currency, one paycheck, a Bank of America card, a Children’s Place credit card, a driver’s license, and other forms of identification. Ptl. Christian Nelson.
The cannabis shop is slated to replace the China Moon restaurant on North Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposed cannabis store with the “terrible” name of “Red Bank Fire Company” will change its moniker before it opens in coming months, a representative said Monday night.
The business won planning board approval to open a marijuana dispensary in a North Bridge Avenue strip mall after promising to quickly end any confusion with the borough’s volunteer fire department.
With less than two weeks to go before the start of spring, early risers across the Greater Red Bank Green awoke Tuesday to something of a rarity this winter: a light dusting of snow. Above, the serene scene on the grassy island between East and West Lake roads in Red Bank at 5 a.m.
That’s it for the white stuff for now, with daytime temperatures heading back into the mid-40s Tuesday. Check out the extended the National Weather Service forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward.  Click to enlarge.)
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.
The burglary and thefts occurred at a home on Vista Place, police said. (Google map. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Thieves stole two luxury cars after breaking into a Red Bank home and swiping the keys last week, borough police said Sunday.
Area NAACP president William Poku addressing Councilmembers John Jackson, Michael Ballard and Ed Zippich during the special session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Controversy over an ordinance restricting short-term residential rentals such as Airbnbs in Red Bank continued at a special hearing Friday morning on whether to override Mayor Billy Portman‘s veto of the law.
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.
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.
Councilman Michael Ballard, seen here in 2022, said the ordinance was the subject of 15 hours of “impassioned” debate. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Billy Portman “blindsided” most of the borough council when he vetoed controversial limits on short-term residential rentals, Councilmember Michael Ballard said this week.
While other areas of the Northeastern United States fretted about heavy snow Tuesday, the Greater Red Bank will be spared, according to the National Weather Service.Â
In fact, the Red Bank area hasn’t had a snowfall of note in over a year. The photo above, showing downtown Red Bank, is from January 30, 2022.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward.  Click to enlarge.)
The Red Bank council is set to answer a church’s prayers for a new address.
Debbie Eisenstein at the Red Bank Artisan Collective earlier this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Five years ago, Debbie Eisentein opened the Red Bank Artisan Collective at 43 Broad Street, following her parents into the world of retailing downtown.
Though her family is an owner of the building, Eisenstein said she pays market rent, which is covered by subrents and consignment fees from the artists and craftspeople selling their works in the space.
redbankgreen visited Eisenstein recently for chat that revives the long dormant Human Bites feature.
Evergreen Terrace is one of two apartment complexes slated for possible rehabilitation or redevelopment. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Housing Authority asked the borough council for money to explore possible redevelopment of two subsidized apartment complexes Wednesday night.
At its second three-plus-hour meeting in three days, the governing body also heard more testimony for and against a possible overhaul of the zoning law governing cannabis businesses.