Navigating sidewalks on Broad Street in downtown Red Bank is a bit of a challenge these days.
What’s the latest on the streetscape project that’s been underway since November in the streets northernmost blocks? Read on.
Curb replacement work underway as part of the Broad Street streetscape project last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An ongoing split among Red Bank council Democrats played out as a power struggle Wednesday night over who will steer the reopening of the seasonal Broadwalk dining and shopping plaza.
Diners enjoying lunch in the Broadwalk zone in October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Delayed by street a reconstruction project, Red Bank’s Broadwalk outdoor dining plaza will return this summer, borough officials agreed Wednesday.
The informal consensus of the council was the first indication that the downtown car-free experiment, launched in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, would get a third edition.
With “very mixed” emotions, Pam Borghi reported for her final day of work before retiring as Red Bank borough clerk Monday.
A Montana Construction crew working on Broad Street earlier this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Broad Street in Red Bank will get a new, $1.3 million water main, following council action to expand a $2.7 million sanitary sewer project that has disrupted downtown traffic for the past three months.
And property owners won’t have to pay thousands of dollars to replace their water connections, as some had feared.
A Montana Construction crew working on Broad Street earlier this month. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Property owners in downtown Red Bank pushed back Wednesday night on the notion that they should pay thousands of dollars each to replace their water service lines.
Addressing the borough council on their behalf, Red Bank RiverCenter Executive Director Glenn Carter invoked the adage, “you broke it, you fix it.”
Contractors working on the Broad Street project early Thursday. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As many as 100 property owners in downtown Red Bank may be in for a shock: thousands of dollars in costs to replace leaking water-supply lines, officials said Wednesday night.
Interim Business Administrator and police Chief Darren McConnell with Senior Center Director Jackie Reynolds in October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
At its semimonthly meeting Tuesday night, the Red Bank council is expected to consider a new employment pact with the borough’s acting administrator.
Also on deck: appointing a Master Plan consultant; weighing in on the future of the charter school; and anticipating a looming retirement at borough hall.
A street sweeper sat ready for use behind barriers that remained at Broad and White streets early Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining promenade wrapped up its second season with the reopening of upper Broad Street to traffic Monday.
But downtown motorists will face a new set of obstacles as the borough embarks next week on a road project that’s expected to continue until Christmas.
Here’s what to expect, per acting borough administrator and police Chief Darren McConnell.
Body cameras could be fully deployed by September, says Chief Darren McConnell. (2016 photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
As they will across New Jersey, police-worn body cams will soon be the norm in Red Bank, officials said.
But state funding for the devices and related data storage will only cover about a third of the cost, said police chief and acting borough administrator Darren McConnell.
Henry Perez with opossums orphaned when their mother was hit by a car in 2016. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Howls of protest are expected Wednesday night when the Red Bank council considers a proposal to scrap its in-house animal control service.
In addition to eliminating the position of animal control officer, held for the past 18 years by Henry Perez, the council would shift the work for the second half of 2021 to the Monmouth County SPCA, a change opponents say would delay responses.
Animal Control Officer Henry Perez with a bat removed from a Madison Avenue home in 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In a move that has animal advocates alarmed, Red Bank is looking at jobbing out its animal control operation.
They say replacing the in-house service with the Monmouth County SPCA would reduce response times and service.
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank police arrested a borough man four times in April, most recently on charges related to his alleged harassment of and physical contact with a woman downtown, police said Monday.
Screengrab from a post by Nina Ferrante on the Red Bank New Jersey Facebook page Sunday. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s police chief disputed a claim of excessive force posted on Facebook Sunday, telling redbankgreen that there was “no physical contact at all” when officers encountered a couple on New Jersey Transit property Saturday night.
Red Bank police arrested a borough man on drug charges Friday, Chief Darren McConnell said Monday.
Red Bank police arrested a borough man on drug and weapons charges Wednesday, Chief Darren McConnell said Thursday.
An increase in violent crime in 2020 mirrors a national trend, said Chief Darren McConnell. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s crime rates continued a long trend of gradual decline in 2020, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
One glaring exception: an increase in reported rapes.
Patrons of the Dublin House in Red Bank gather at its outdoor Temple Bar on June 20. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tapping the brakes on his economic restart effort, Governor Phil Murphy indefinitely postponed a planned resumption of indoor restaurant dining Monday.
The move is “prudent” in the face of rising COVID-19 infection rates in other states, Murphy said at his daily briefing on the pandemic.
He also cited “overcrowding, a complete disregard for social distancing, [and] very few if any face coverings” at some New Jersey bars that he did not name.
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.
Visitors to Marine Park appeared to be maintaining social distances Saturday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank parks reopened Saturday without any “significant issues,” police Chief Darren McConnell said Sunday night.
But redbankgreen‘s strolls through the facilities over the weekend prompted questions about whether behaviors said to slow the spread of COVID-19 could be realistically judged, let alone enforced.
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.)
A Red Bank barber shop that had continued operating after a state-ordered shutdown of personal care businesses closed after a visit from borough police Saturday morning.
By JOHN T. WARD
Little Silver police have charged a Red Bank man with assaulting a female jogger Sunday morning.
Authorities allege he’s the same guy who knocked a Red Bank jogger to the ground last month, and attacked another in a similar manner five months ago.
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank police found a stash of illegal drugs in an Aberdeen man’s car following a traffic stop Tuesday, redbankgreen has learned.
Separately, a Morris County woman is facing charges she assaulted three borough cops.
For the sixth straight year, no Red Bank police officer was found to have used unwarranted force in 2019, said Chief Darren McConnell. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s crime rate saw a sharp drop in 2019, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
In addition, incidents in which officers used some degree of force in dealing with the public were at an “all-time low,” and none were found unwarranted, he said.