RED BANK: MURALS BRING MESSAGE OF LOVE
Love was in the air at the corner of Leighton Avenue and Drs. Parker Boulevard in Red Bank Wednesday morning. And it seems a prominent corner downtown is about to be smitten, too.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
WATER MAIN FIX SLATED FOR SEPTEMBER
Work on an old water main below Shrewsbury Avenue is expected to begin after Labor Day. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
An overdue upgrade to boost water pressure to homes and businesses along Shrewsbury Avenue is expected to start in September, says Red Bank Engineer Christine Ballard.
On Wednesday, the borough council awarded a $524,206 contract to a Long Branch company to replace the outdated four-inch water main beneath the bustling corridor with an eight-inch line.
“We’ll start work probably after Labor Day,” Ballard said.
CALENDAR CONFLICT SPURS EVENTS REVIEW
Freddie Boynton and members of the Celestial Lodge had a beef to air about a block party. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
It hadn’t happened in Council President Art Murphy’s seven years sitting on the Special Events Committee, and Mayor Pasquale Menna said he’s never seen it in his two decades in Red Bank government.
But a clogged calendar and miscommunication between two West Side groups is pushing the council to tighten up its processes to grant special event requests.
It came to a head Wednesday night, when members of the two groups locked horns over rights for coveted street space next month, and prompted the council, hat in hand, to ask each for a little help.
ROUND TWO FOR FORTUNE HOUSE
A ‘for sale’ was planted out front of the T. Thomas Fortune House on Drs. James Parker Boulevard last week. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Four years after a historic Red Bank house was spared a possible meeting with the steel maw of a bulldozer, the T. Thomas Fortune house is back on the market at a sharply reduced price.
Though the house and acre of land it sits on have been available to buyers on and off for years, vandalism prompted the owners to plant a ‘for sale’ sign on the lawn last week, reigniting worries of preservationists. They fear the the three-story, Second Empire-style home to post-Civil War black newspaperman and activist T. Thomas Fortune might be razed.
MENNA PLANS RESIDENT MEETINGS
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
When Red Bank council members take the dais for their regular meeting tomorrow night, they’ll likely start out discussing a potential new law banning vehicle-idling and expanding private contracts for water and sewer connections.
Snooze, right?
But what’s notable about these topics is not necessarily their substance, but their source. They wouldn’t have made it onto the council’s dance card had it not been for taxpayers’ input, be it by way of stopping an elected official on the street or sitting through a council meeting waiting for the regular order of business to wrap up and get to the public comment portion an often intimidating forum typically taken advantage of by meeting regulars.
So sticking with a credo of an open government with an open door, Mayor Pasquale Menna said he wants more input and more ideas from the borough’s stakeholders. On Saturday, he plans to launch a series of informal meetings aimed at generating just that.
DEVELOPER GETS REPAID, PLEDGES PROGRESS
Developer Roger Mumford is getting his money back from Red Bank, and intends to continue his Lincoln Square project soon as possible. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Roger Mumford is off Red Bank’s torture rack.
After raising a stink over having to pay into the borough’s parking fund last month, the West Side developer is getting his money back most of it, at least and plans to get his Lincoln Square project back in action.
INFURIATED BUILDER BLASTS RED TAPE
Roger Mumford says he won’t proceed with his West Side development project until he gets more cooperation from the town. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Roger Mumford is pissed.
Infuriated, in fact, by what he calls the “non-stop torture” of dealing with Red Bank red tape.
And he says he’s not going to move forward on his self-funded Lincoln Square project on Bridge Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard until he gets more cooperation.
BOYS & GIRLS CLUB JUMP FOR WORLD RECORD
Video of the jumpathon is here.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The clock hit 6:30p and Boys & Girls Clubs nationwide simultaneously hopped-to.
At the Red Bank chapter, on Drs. James Parker Boulevard, unit director Shniece Perry was slightly tentative.
About a dozen of the club’s members had just finished practicing a timed run of jumping jacks, readying for the early evening attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records for the most people doing simultaneous jumping jacks across multiple venues.
“They just did a little practice run to see how long two minutes is,” Perry said. “We hope that they last.”