Four candidates have their eyes on two seats in this year’s election for Fair Haven borough council.
See what they had to say about the issues, and their qualifications to tackle them, in these Q&As with redbankgreen:
Betsy Koch
Bob Gasperini
Tracy Cole
Sonja Trombino
Also, check out the voter resource guide below.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Bob Gasperini. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Bob Gasperini had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Betsy Koch. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Betsy Koch had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Tracy Cole. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Tracy Cole had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
On the ballot November 2: Fair Haven council candidate Sonja Trombino. (Photo provided by candidate. Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will have four candidates to choose from when they elect two council members November 2.
Here’s what candidate Sonja Trombino had to say in response to a questionnaire sent to all four by redbankgreen.
Mayor Joshua Halpern, second from left in top row, as seen during Monday’s virtual council meeting. (Screengrab from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five days into the job, Fair Haven’s new mayor forged a “compromise” Monday night in an effort to preserve funding for a road project that appeared dead a week ago.
“We’re looking for progress here,” Mayor Joshua Halpern said during a 47-minute special council meeting, his first as a public official.
Cooney Terrace, above, and part of Hance Road would remain sidewalk-free, and possibly curb-free, under a proposal up for a vote Monday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Se UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
A Fair Haven road project that appeared dead Tuesday may have been revived by the man who was named mayor that night.
Mayor Joshua Halpern on Friday called a special meeting of the council for Monday night to consider a plan to repave the northern end of Hance Road – but without sidewalks and maybe without curbs.
With his daughters and Fair Haven police Chief Joe McGovern looking on, newly-promoted Captain Robert Townshend got a congratulatory kiss from his wife, Jackie, at Tuesday night’s council meeting.
The kiss had a dual significance.
Delivery trucks and tree-removal equipment narrowed a stretch of Hance Road Wednesday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After seven years of planning, and months of intense pushback, Fair Haven’s council killed a plan to install sidewalks and curbs in an area that residents likened to a “country lane” Tuesday night.
The action, on a 3-3 vote without a mayor in place to cast a tiebreaker, left unanswered what to do about streets that still need repaving, and whether to waive a $350,000 grant to pay for it.
Mayor-elect Joshua Halpern with local Republican Chairman Andy Trocchia and a resident following the council meeting Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A political newcomer is set to become Fair Haven’s next mayor.
At its semimonthly session Tuesday night, the council chose Joshua Halpern, a 10-year borough resident who’s never served on a government committee, to fill the chair vacated by Ben Lucarelli when he abruptly quit September 14.
A voter dropping off a ballot outside Red Bank borough hall last October. The drop boxes will again be used this year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Voters on the Greater Red Bank Green and across New Jersey will have a new option for making their picks in November’s general election: early, in-person voting.
Maple Cove in Red Bank provided a summer-ending birder’s bounty Tuesday. Who can identify these feathered friends of our beautiful Navesink River?
Autumn flutters in at 3:21 Eastern Daylight Time on Wednesday, according to the Farmers Almanac. The new season will arrive under cloudy skies, and maybe some rain, with temperatures rising to the high 70s, says the National Weather Service.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Ben Lucarelli at the dedication of Williams, Albert and Robards Park in 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Since he abruptly resigned as Fair Haven’s mayor two days ago, Ben Lucarelli hasn’t said a word publicly about his decision.
But a recording of Monday night’s council session captures him frustrated over a loss of “decorum” at public meetings and taking flak for his own conduct.
Ben Lucarelli during the council’s annual session held at the Knollwood School in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After nearly a decade in the position, Ben Lucarelli has resigned as Fair Haven’s mayor, effective immediately, borough Administrator Theresa Casagrande announced Tuesday.
No reason was given.
Dozens of residents of the Greater Red Bank Green were among the 147 Monmouth County residents, and 2,996 overall, who died in the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Information about commemorations in Red Bank and Atlantic Highlands can be found here.
The weather outlook appears ideal for the 2021 installment of Dogs Days of Summer in Red Bank Saturday.
Organized by the borough’s volunteer Animal Welfare Advisory Committee and Parks and Rec department, the event runs from noon to 4 p.m. in Marine Park, and features live music by the Wag (naturally), as well as contests, pet-care information, vendors and animal welfare organizations.
The Red Rock Tap + Grill on Wharf Avenue, opposite the park, will host a Doggy After Party.
According to the National Weather Service, the event won’t need its rain date (Sunday), with lots of sunshine expected amid temperatures peaking in the mid-70s. Here’s the extended forecast. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
A year of on-and-off construction disruptions along River Road in Fair Haven is expected to begin Tuesday.
Though other areas of New Jersey suffered disastrous flooding, the Greater Red Bank Green was spared as Hurricane Ida swept across the state Wednesday.
At 7:30 a.m. Thursday, power utility JCP&L’s outage map showed 90 customers in the area of Silverbrook Road in Shrewsbury without electricity; a handful in Fair Haven; and none in Red Bank.
Police in Red Bank and Fair Haven said they had no damage reports. redbankgreen took a quick drive through Red Bank, Fair Haven and Little Silver and saw no sign of flooding or wind damage.
Above: a view along the Navesink River from Red Bank’s Marine Park shortly after sunrise Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Greater Red Bank Green is in for a soaking as the remnants of Hurricane Ida sweep across the northeastern United States Wednesday.
“Storms could be severe, with damaging winds and heavy rain” of up to three inches by day’s end, the National Weather Service warns.
Shoppers found bargains, and some relief from the heat, under a sale tent on White Street as Red Bank’s 67th annual Sidewalk Sale got underway Friday.
Fair Haven is also hosting one.
Rumbling back into Fair Haven Friday night after missing out on 2020: the summer-ending food-and-fun extravaganza known as the Fair Haven Firemen’s Fair.
Here’s what you need to know if you’re going.
Oppressive heat and humidity will combine to make it feel like 103 degrees in the region that includes the Greater Red Bank Green starting Wednesday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service.
The so-called heat index, a blend of air temperature and humidity, will rise several degrees Thursday, with conditions worst in the afternoon and “little relief at night,” the agency’s Mount Holly office said on Twitter early Wednesday. An excessive heat warning for western Monmouth County has now been extended to Friday night.
Check out the extended forecast below. (NWS graphic. Click to enlarge.)
With temperatures in the mid-70s, the pier in Red Bank’s Marine Park drew a small crowd for fishing and clamming Saturday afternoon.
The first workday of August, 2021 gets underway Monday with more cool weather and lots of sunshine Monday morning before temperatures rise to a high of 81 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank and Fair Haven property owners who pay their taxes directly, rather than through an escrow account, can hold off on pulling out their checkbooks for a few more weeks.
Bills have yet to be sent out for taxes normally due August 1.