RED BANK: BROAD STREET PROJECT NEARS END

Jun 24, 2022

Retractable bollards were installed on Mechanic Street near Broad Street Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

See UPDATE below

By JOHN T. WARD

A messy, overdue and over-budget makeover of upper Broad Street in Red Bank is expected to conclude in late July, acting borough Administrator Darren McConnell said Wednesday.

The project, which began last November, marked a milestone with the installation this week of retractable hydraulic bollards that will enable quick closure of the street to vehicular traffic.

Still to be determined is when the Broadwalk dining promenade will return for a third, if abbreviated, season.

More →

June 24, 2022 - 7:37 am |

RED BANK: DANNY EASING OUT OF DANNY’S

Mar 22, 2022

Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Steakhouse, behind the bar Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

From the moment it opened in Red Bank in 1969, what’s now known as Danny’s Steakhouse has been the alter ego of its creator.

By next month, however, restaurateur Danny Murphy will have begun “transitioning out” of the Bridge Avenue establishment he’s run and lived above for more than half a century.

More →

March 22, 2022 - 4:00 pm |

RED BANK: MASKS ‘STRONGLY’ URGED

Jan 14, 2022

Public meetings at borough hall will go remote again, and visitors and employees will be required to wear masks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank issued a declaration Friday evening “strongly urging” mask-wearing in stores and restaurants to minimize transmission of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.

Mask-wearing in publicly owned buildings will be mandated.

More →

January 14, 2022 - 5:58 pm |

RED BANK: MASK MANDATE EXPECTED

Jan 13, 2022

Mayor Pasquale Menna, right, and Congressman Frank Pallone were masked-up at the Red Bank reorganization January 1. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is expected to issue an executive order mandating indoor mask-wearing to slow the spread of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.

The order, which could come as soon as Thursday, was motivated by “the pain that is being felt in our community,” Menna said at the monthly council workshop Wednesday night.

More →

January 13, 2022 - 7:55 am |

RED BANK: LUNCH BREAK IN HOUSING MERGER

Jan 4, 2022

Lunch Break Board President Philip Antoon and Family Promise of Monmouth County Board President Jessica Stepanski sign ceremonial document incorporating Family Promise into the Lunch Break network of programs. (Photo courtesy of Lunch Break. Click to enlarge.)

Press release Lunch Break

Addressing the systemic problem of homelessness in Monmouth County has long been on Lunch Break’s radar. Community members without adequate housing have sought the resource center’s help with life’s basic necessities, among them, shelter.

More →

January 4, 2022 - 4:05 pm |

VIRUS UPDATE: RBR ON REMOTE, BOROUGH NOT

Jan 4, 2022

Students and staff at Red Bank Regional are scheduled begin 2022 in remote mode Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank borough schools will be open Tuesday, but the regional high school in Little Silver will go remote as shifting approaches to a surging COVID-19 virus arrived with the new year.

More →

January 4, 2022 - 7:30 am |

VIRUS UPDATE: SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE AGAIN

Jan 3, 2022

The trend in lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases for three towns since November 1. (redbankgreen chart from Monmouth County data. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Sharp increases in COVID-19 cases scrambled schedules for some Red Bank-area schools as they emerged from their year-end 2021 breaks Monday.

Here’s a rundown.

More →

January 3, 2022 - 6:15 am |

RED BANK: BUNDLE UP FOR HOLIDAY EXPRESS

Nov 26, 2021

After a pandemic year off, the high-energy Holiday Express concert and Town Light-Up is slated to return to downtown Red Bank Friday night. 

Attendees will want to bundle up for what looks to be a seasonally appropriate chilly and breezy event.

More →

November 26, 2021 - 7:35 am |

RED BANK: OVERNIGHT CLOSING PLANNED

Nov 12, 2021

A key intersection in downtown Red Bank will be closed for construction Monday night.

West Front Street at Broad Street will be closed from 6 p.m. to 5 a.m. Tuesday for work related to a sewer line replacement, borough police announced Friday. Detours will be in place.

Motorists who can’t avoid the area should expect delays. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

If you value this kind of intensely local news coverage, please become a paying member of redbankgreen. Click here for details about our new, free newsletter and membership information.

November 12, 2021 - 2:58 pm |

RED BANK: BROAD STREET PROJECT TO START

Nov 2, 2021

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.

More →

November 2, 2021 - 7:57 am |

RED BANK: BROADWALK BEGINS EXTRA MONTH

Oct 1, 2021

Temporary barriers at the south end of Broadwalk last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Originally slated to end its second season this week, Red Bank’s ‘Broadwalk‘ begins a one-month extension Friday.

But while Red Bank RiverCenter and many business owners say the mid-street, car-free promenade has succeeded in attracting customers over 18 months of pandemic, others say it has hurt them.

More →

October 1, 2021 - 11:30 am |

RED BANK: LUNCH BREAK REOPENS ITS DOORS

Jul 21, 2021

Lunch Break’s kitchen staff stands ready to again serve in-person guests. (Lunch Break photo. Click to enlarge.)

(Press release from Lunch Break)

After 15 months of operating as a take-away facility because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Red Bank’s Lunch Break is again offering its guests seated meals onsite, the food security and social services resource announced Wednesday.

More →

July 21, 2021 - 11:50 am |

LITTLE SILVER: O’SCANLON DEMANDS APOLOGY

Jul 19, 2021

State Senator Declan O’Scanlon in Red Bank in May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

New Jersey state Senator Declan O’Scanlon accused Twitter of “Orwellian” behavior after the social media giant banned him over a three-week-old tweet Saturday.

More →

July 19, 2021 - 7:45 am |

RED BANK: BROADWALK DRIVING RECOVERY

May 28, 2021

Broadwalk bars vehicular traffic to enable restaurant expansions into Broad Street between Front and White Streets. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

With the second season of Red Bank’s Broadwalk about to begin in earnest – weather permitting – downtown merchants say the pedestrian dining and shopping concept is doing what it’s intended to do: improving their receipts.

More →

May 28, 2021 - 4:00 pm |

RED BANK: STUDENTS HELP FEED THE HUNGRY

May 4, 2021

Brigid Hempstead, right, with her twin sister Siobhan and teacher Brian Nesci planting vegetables on the lot last Saturday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

On a vacant lot in Red Bank, students from Red Bank Catholic High School are mixing the ancient lessons of agriculture with new technology to help tackle food insecurity amid a global pandemic.

They’re also hoping to create a new model for food-sharing.

More →

May 4, 2021 - 7:59 am |

RED BANK: BROADWALK RETURNS

Apr 30, 2021

Broadwalk, Red Bank’s foremost attempt to bolster downtown business in the COVID-19 pandemic, returns for a second year of mid-street strolling, dining and cone-licking Friday.

More →

April 30, 2021 - 11:00 am |

VIRUS UPDATES: STATE VAX TOTAL TOPS 6M

Apr 19, 2021

Governor Phil Murphy thanked VNA healthcare providers during a tour of the Red Bank YMCA Friday. (Photo by  John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

New Jersey’s COVID-19 vaccine program has now administered more than 6 million doses since it began December 15, Governor Phil Murphy said Monday. More →

April 19, 2021 - 4:10 pm |

RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER EXPEDITING VAX

Mar 17, 2021

About 500 Red Bank residents have received COVID-19 vaccinations over the past month under a program coordinated by the borough’s Senior Center, an official said Wednesday.

More →

March 17, 2021 - 12:15 pm |

VIRUS UPDATE: MONMOUTH DEATHS TOP 1,300

Mar 10, 2021

More than 90 individuals braved a cold rain for COVID-19 vaccinations at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank February 27. (Photo courtesy of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

New Jersey averaged 65 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past year, Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday, as he noted the one-year anniversary of the first.

In that time, Monmouth County has lost more than 1,300 residents to a pandemic now being battled with a trio of vaccines. More →

March 10, 2021 - 2:45 pm |

RED BANK: RACIST SLUR, OR SLIP OF TONGUE?

Feb 12, 2021

Sue Viscomi, right, with Hazim Yassin and Kate Triggiano at borough hall in April, 2018. All three ran for council that year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A Red Bank board of ed member faced sharp criticism Thursday for a purported racist rendition of the borough business administrator’s name the night before.

But Sue Viscomi vehemently denied referring to Ziad Shehady as “Mr. Jihad.”

More →

February 12, 2021 - 7:59 am |

RED BANK: CENTER DEBATE CONTINUES

Feb 11, 2021

Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center of bottom row, prevailed on a resolution regarding the Redevelopment Agency. (Zoom screengrab. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Sarcasm and insults flew Wednesday night as the Red Bank council yet again clashed over the future of the mothballed Senior Center.

This time, residents provided much of the ire. More →

February 11, 2021 - 1:30 pm |

RED BANK: BROADWALK II ON AGENDA

Feb 10, 2021

Visitors dining on (and in) Broad Street in June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

An effort to spark downtown business activity as the pandemic nears its second year is among the items on the Red Bank council’s agenda for Wednesday night.

More →

February 10, 2021 - 7:30 am |

VIRUS: MONMOUTH DEATHS HIT 1,200

Feb 8, 2021

Atrium resident Audrey Haimowitz receiving a vaccine shot Friday. (Photo courtesy of Springpoint Senior Living. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Amid rising numbers of vaccine shots statewide, Monmouth County recorded its 1,200th death from COVID-19, the New Jersey Health Department reported Monday.

The grim milestone was passed as a Red Bank senior facility reported three more pandemic-related fatalities, though all three victims were considered to have recovered from the virus, a representative said.

More →

February 8, 2021 - 3:30 pm |

RED BANK: PARKER TO PROVIDE VACCINES

Feb 3, 2021

The Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank will begin administering about 100 doses per week of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine starting Thursday, according to an announcement by the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners (formerly known as Freeholders).

More →

February 3, 2021 - 3:30 pm |

VIRUS: TWO MORE ATRIUM DEATHS REPORTED

Jan 21, 2021

Patrons dining in pandemic bubbles outside Red Rock Tap + Grill in Red Bank earlier this month. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Two more residents of the Atrium at Navesink Harbor in Red Bank have died from COVID-19 related causes, the the New Jersey Health Department reported late Wednesday.

More →

January 21, 2021 - 3:20 pm |