Creating the turtle habitat at Bellhaven involved trucking in a special blend of sand. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank’s Environmental Commission has debuted a pair of completed projects spotlighting turtles and water conservation in recent weeks.
The council continues to meet via Zoom due to pandemic restrictions. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s borough council meets for its first regular session of the month Wednesday night.
Here’s what’s on the agenda, and what’s not.
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.
An easterly view along River Road from Cedar Street earlier this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See UPDATES below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Electricity supplier JCP&L may be unplugging itself from an agreement to install low-energy streetlamps in Fair Haven, Environmental Commission Chairman Ralph Wyndrum said Wednesday night.
That prompted some choice words about the utility from commission member and former councilman Jon Peters. Among them: “They are the princes and princesses of darkness.”
The study is to examine traffic and on-street parking downtown. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Expect the Red Bank council to initiate a proposed ban on mass balloon releases at its next regular meeting Wednesday night.
Also on deck: the award of a contract for a traffic study.
Hot chocolate made with an assist from the sun? The concession stand at Count Basie Fields in Red Bank is set to get a juice boost, thanks to the borough Environmental Commission.
The intersection of Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue as it appeared this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The sun won’t go down on a “tactical urbanist” experiment undertaken to improve traffic safety at a tricky Red Bank intersection earlier this year, redbankgreen has learned.
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.
Borough officials said more intersections may get the bold-paint treatment used at Drs. Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A month after the roadway at a Red Bank intersection was painted over with a giant, vivid sun on a field of turquoise, officials gathered there this week to explain and defend it.
The intersection of Drs. Parker Boulevard and Bridge Avenue in Red Bank got a new look earlier this week: an eye-popping, curb-to-curb road painting that looks something like a cross between the national flags of Brazil and Kazakhstan.
What’s Going On Here? Click ‘read more’ for the answer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Carvel store on Prospect Avenue would be the first in the chain to drop plastic straws and cups, says owner Jessica Newman. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With a recycling problem taking hold across America, Little Silver appears set to become the first town on the Greater Red Bank Green to ban plastic straws and store bags.
An ordinance introduced last week has the reluctant support of local retailers, borough officials say.
Red Bank’s Environmental Commission is looking to spotlight ‘green’ businesses based in town, chairman Frank Corrado tells redbankgreen.
Thinking of going electric with your next car? The Red Bank Environmental Commission plans to host Red Bank Electric Car Day later this month to juice awareness of electric vehicles and other alternatives to fossil-fuel burners.
Boris Kofman, above, and Michael Paul Raspanti, below, during Saturday’s riverfront cleanup on Red Bank’s West Side. (Photos by Wil Fulton, above, and Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)
By SARAH KLEPNER
Duane Bowker stood in the wooded area above the Swimming River in Red Bank and pointed.
“Some roofer, this is his favorite place to throw his crap and drink beer,” he said. “Over here is a plumber’s favorite place to throw his crap.”
The occasion was Saturday’s cleanup effort by members of the borough Environmental Commission and the environmental nonprofit Clean Ocean Action. They teamed up to tackle a riverbank full of tires and construction debris at the western end of Drs. James Parker Boulevard.
Della Benevides stakes a tomato plant in one of the “Plant a Row” plots designated for the needy. Below, a hot chili pepper. (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)
By DANIELLE TEPPER
Fair Haven’s had one for decades. Tinton Falls has had one since 2009, and Red Bank, after much baring of teeth, appears about to finally get one.
Community gardens have become widespread as places where neighbors can kneel side-by side in the dirt and cultivate homegrown veggies together. Now, Shrewsbury has joined the trend with a month-old mini-farm that is already yielding eggplant, peppers and more.
This was our whole point, that it improves the quality of life in the community, said Maureen Collins, President of the Shrewsbury Garden Club.
The American Littoral Society would like to replace this old wooden bulkhead with a graded, natural one to help preserve wildlife. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
The bulkhead a battered wooden wall meant to protect the Red Bank Public Library‘s backyard from the Navesink River is, without question, in need of repair.
What the fix should be is the question.
The American Littoral Society has a suggestion: tear it down and put in a more natural bulkhead, one that will better serve the shorehline ecosystem.
The environmental group earlier this week pitched the idea, which hasn’t been tried in this area, to the borough council.
A community garden is proposed next to Maple Cove, but officials say they need to do their homework before giving it an OK. (Click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
With the long debate over the preservation of Maple Cove echoing in the room, the Red Bank council last night parried with activist Cindy Burnham Monday night over a proposed community garden at the riverside public library.
Once again, elected officials claimed to have been caught off-guard.
Alan Placer, left, and Andres Simonson are two of the faces behind Red Bank’s effort to reduce adverse impacts on the natural environment.
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Before it even meets for the first time, Red Bank’s newest subcommittee has already chipped away at its goal.
Made up of volunteer residents, business owners and local officials, the Environmental Commission‘s Green Team was formed a couple months ago in a quest to have Red Bank join dozens of other towns in the state working toward the environmentally friendly, incentive-based municipal certification program Sustainable Jersey.
When it holds its first meeting next month, the Green Team plans to set the wheels in motion to earn the certification by June, said member Andres Simonson, who is also the Environmental Commission chairman.
The Red Bank council’s filled-to-bursting