A food truck called Your Sister’s Balls hopes to set up “a few days a week” on a Shrewsbury Avenue lot. (Nicole Montecalvo photo. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than a year after the latest effort to remove Red Bank’s ban on food trucks got a flat tire, the issue is back.
Leading the charge: a food truck called Your Sister’s Balls.
Robert Greene, left, and John Caine at the Red Bank recycling center Thursday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to eliminate two part-time jobs at the recycling center sharply divided Red Bank’s all-Democratic council Wednesday night.
Things got personal. During the governing body’s semimonthly meeting, conducted via Zoom, Councilman Ed Zipprich accused Business Administrator Ziad Shehady of retaliation for an earlier action by the union that represents the affected employees.
The Red Bank community garden, which the borough abruptly shut down last August over concern about possible soil contamination, is on the agenda for Wednesday night’s council meeting.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
Ed Zipprich, left, won a fourth term, and Michael Ballard, right, won his first in the 2017 election. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two incumbent Democrats will defend their seats on the Red Bank council in the November election, the party announced Monday.
In an unsurprising move, the municipal and county Democratic committees unanimously endorsed Councilman Ed Zipprich‘s pursuit of a fifth three-year term, and Michael Ballard‘s quest for a second.
Two members of the Red Bank council have been named to Insider NJ’s second annual “Out 100 Power List‘ of LBGT leaders in New Jersey.
By JOHN T. WARD
Less than 48 hours after a divided Red Bank council voted to hold a public session on Yom Kippur, the meeting was cancelled late Thursday.
In addition, the three councilmen who voted to hold the meeting walked back from their positions Friday.
Campaign balloons given out at the 2014 Halloween Parade prompted complaints that the event was being politicized. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council may soon take up a proposed ban on mass balloon releases, its members agreed at their workshop meeting Wednesday night.
Newly sworn council members Kate Triggiano and Hazim Yassin flank Council President Erik Yngstrom at the council reorganization meeting in January. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
[UPDATE, October 4: Yom Kippur council meeting canceled for lack of quorum after mayor and council members who voted against having it say they won’t be there, he says on his Facebook page.]By a split vote, the Red Bank council decided Wednesday night to stick to its schedule and hold its next meeting on Yom Kippur.
The 3-2 outcome of a vote at the council’s workshop meeting caught Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, who had argued for a change, off guard.
“We’re going to have the meeting?” she asked. “So we’re keeping the meeting on Yom Kippur?”
A view of the nameless alley from Boat Club Court. Condos are to be built on the vacant lot at left. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A downtown Red Bank alleyway won’t be named for former mayor Ed McKenna after all.
Instead, it will be named ‘Ice Boat Lane,’ to honor the North Shrewsbury Ice Boat & Yacht Club, located just yards away.
Ex-mayor Ed McKenna with former councilman Tom Hintelmann at Democratic headquarters on election night last November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An ordinance that would name a downtown alleyway for former Red Bank mayor Ed McKenna drew both criticism and support at Wednesday night’s council meeting.
The town-owned alleyway off Boat Club Court would be renamed for ex-mayor Ed McKenna, seen below at a zoning board meeting in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An alleyway in downtown Red Bank will be named in honor of former mayor Ed McKenna, the borough council informally agreed Wednesday night.
The nameless alley, off Boat Club Court, runs between a row of stores fronting on West Front Street and a vacant lot that’s slated to become home to a new 10-unit luxury condo project.
CFO Eugenia Poulos at a council meeting in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Borough hall may have been closed for New Year’s Eve, but the Red Bank council had one, last-minute bit of business to take care of Monday.
After a brief closed-door meeting, the governing body voted, 4-1, to fire the chief financial officer, just hours before she would have attained tenure.
Hazim Yassin, with running mate Kate Triggiano, at the West Side Community Group candidates’ forum Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
One day after a low-friction debate, Red Bank Republicans went on the attack against a Democratic opponent Wednesday.
The GOP, chaired by council candidate Michael Clancy, posted on Facebook a press release titled “Who is Hazim Yassin?” questioning Yassin’s rapid ascent within the local Democratic party and accusing him of “fraud” on either investors or voters.
Yassin dismissed the attack, telling redbankgreen it was “littered with fabrications.”
Mike Whelan, center, and Mark Taylor, seen here on the night of their election to the Red Bank council in 2015, spearheaded the referendum effort. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank voters eager to eliminate partisanship from local elections and governance won’t get their wish this year.
A referendum initiative calling for non-partisan elections and a change to the form of local government lost steam over the summer and won’t be on November’s ballot. But its foremost advocates say they’re not giving up.
Biking in Red Bank —and possibly, Fair Haven and Little Silver — could get a boost under a push to bring a bike-sharing vendor to town. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are exploring the possibility of allowing a bike-share vendor to offer its services in town, and inviting two neighboring towns to get in on the two-wheeled action, Business Administrator Ziad Shehady told the borough council last week.
Council members Mike Whelan, in white shirt, and Mark Taylor at the Red Bank First kickoff Tuesday night at Red Rock Tap + Grill. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Hoping to bust through what they see as political gridlock, two lame-duck Red Bank council members kicked off a petition effort Tuesday night to change both the borough’s form of government and the way in which its officials are elected.
Red Bank’s ballots would be free of party lines if a push for nonpartisan elections succeeds. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
To spark debate over whether to make Red Bank’s elections nonpartisan, two lame-duck council members have slated a public-welcome event at a downtown bar next week.
On the agenda: policy discussion, a petition, plus complimentary food and drink.
Ziad Andrew Shehady reading to young students in Springfield last month. (Photo courtesy of Ziad Andrew Shehady. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council approved the hiring Wednesday night of a new borough administrator, giving the town’s most powerful unelected job to an Army veteran who became the mayor of a Union County town at the age of 25.
And his salary will be triple that of his predecessor.
Ben Forest, above, hopes to unseat three-term Mayor Pasquale Menna, below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The 2018 race for Red Bank mayor got underway Wednesday with the announcement by West Side activist Ben Forest that he would challenge incumbent Pasquale Menna for the Democratic party’s endorsement.
Developer Roger Mumford with a rendering of his proposal last June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
One of the two remaining private-sector contenders to redevelop Red Bank’s White Street parking lot has pulled out, citing frustration in dealing with the borough government.
In the process, he left behind a pair of smoking tire tracks.
Michael Ballard heads for his seat on the dais after his swearing-in as councilman Monday. Below, Kenneth DeRoberts, a consultant, was named interim administrator through March 31. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Back in control of the Red Bank council, Democrats flexed their muscle Monday on the issue of who will run the day-to-day operations of municipal government now that Stanley Sickels has left the building.
Answer: still to be determined. For the next three months, however, the job of borough administrator will be held by a consultant on local government efficiency.
At the end of his final meeting on the dais, Stanley Sickels embraces Councilman Mark Taylor as Councilman Mike Whelan looks on. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council ended its 2017 session in acrimony Wednesday night as Republicans accused Democrats of politicizing the replacement of Stanley Sickels as borough administrator.
Ed Zipprich, left, won a fourth term and Michael Ballard, right, won his first as Democrats swept to victory Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two years after losing a generation-long majority on the Red Bank council, borough Democrats are back on top.
Helped by a statewide wave of anti-Trump and anti-Christie sentiment, incumbent Councilman Ed Zipprich won a fourth three-year term Tuesday night. He’ll be joined on the governing body by school board vice present Michael Ballard, after they easily vanquished one-term Republican Linda Schwabenbauer and her running mate, Dana McArthur.
Michael Ballard. (Click to enlarge.)
Two three-year terms on the Red Bank Borough Council are up for grabs in the November 7 election. On the ballot are four candidates: incumbent Republican Linda Schwabenbauer and her running mate, Dana McArthur; and incumbent Democrat Ed Zipprich and his running mate, Michael Ballard.
Here are Ballard’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Dana McArthur. (Click to enlarge.)
Two three-year terms on the Red Bank Borough Council are up for grabs in the November 7 election. On the ballot are four candidates: incumbent Republican Linda Schwabenbauer and her running mate, Dana McArthur; and incumbent Democrat Ed Zipprich and his running mate, Michael Ballard.
Here are McArthur’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.