The former home of the Visiting Nurse Association is seen as the answer to a chunk of Red Bank’s affordable housing obligation. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to resolve Red Bank’s so-called Mount Laurel affordable housing obligation is up for resolution Wednesday night.
Also up for votes: a series of small-bore zoning changes, help for motorists at a dicey corner and more. Here’s a look at the busy agenda.
JCP&L’s power distribution facility adjoining Mohawk Pond in Red Bank. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials are considering passage of a law that would automatically turn Jersey Central Power & Light customers in the borough into customers of another electricity provider unless they opt out.
Charlie Velazquez said he was “still shaking” after his near brush with death. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Middlesex County man said he was “lucky to be alive” after a live electrical line landed on the van he was driving in Red Bank Wednesday morning. Read More
A storm that dropped several inches of wet, heavy snow on the Greater Red Bank Green Wednesday left dozens of customers without electrical service early Thursday morning, as shown in JCP&L’s outage map above.
A pedestrian suffered minor injuries when she was hit by falling debris as a FedEx truck exiting the Red Bank Post Office caught overhead wires and pulled a utility pole down on Broad Street at about 4:40 p.m. Thursday, according to police Chief Darren McConnell.
A power outage prompted officials to close Brookdale Community College Wednesday, the school announced on social media.
Crews from JCP&L and Little Silver cleared a fallen tree and electrical line on Branch Avenue, where a service line was torn away from the house at left during a wind storm Sunday morning. The utility company’s outage map showed up to 100 customers in both Little Silver and the River Plaza section of Middletown without power, with lesser numbers in Shrewsbury and Fair Haven.
The National Weather Service had a high-wind warning in effect until noon, with possible gusts of of 50 to 60 miles per hour. And . (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Red Bank officials are warning residents of a phone scam making the rounds.
In an alert issued Wednesday, the police said the scammers use methods to trick residents into believing the calls come from electric utility JCP&L.
Traffic was heavy on Bridge Avenue and other roads surrounding Hubbard’s Bridge during Wednesday’s morning rush. Below, an unidentified worker carries a granite block, one of many such paving stones and old red bricks unearthed during the first day of work on the intersection on the Red Bank side of the span. (Photo below by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Message to motorists stuck in the somewhat-suddenly-worse-again traffic surrounding Hubbard’s Bridge between Middletown and Red Bank: think of the kids.
That’s one spin that officials put on a two-to-three-week closure of the span that was announced late last Friday and took effect Wednesday morning.
The Red Bank Police Department issued this notice early Wednesday afternoon:
WARNING: GREEN DOT PHONE SCAM
In the recent weeks, Red Bank Police Department has received a large number of reports from victims of a telephone fraud operation. These frauds have been documented on the news and are occurring throughout the nation.
In the scam, the victim is contacted by a person representing themselves as an employee of a business. In many of the scams, the callers have been identifying themselves as representatives of JCP&L (power company) however other business names and agencies have been used as well. The caller tells the person that they are late on paying their power bill and their power will be shut off if they do not pay immediately. The caller then directs the victim to purchase Green Dot MoneyPak cards.
By: REBECCA DESFOSSE
In case it wasn’t already getting the message, JCP&L will now hear it from the Borough of Shrewsbury: get your act together.
At Monday night’s town council meeting, a resolution that resulted from a recent Snow Summit of Monmouth County town officials won approval. It includes 10 recommendations aimed at getting the power utility to improve communications in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.
One council member voted against the measure.
The Red Bank council wants JCP&L to send company representatives to any town with more than five percent of its customers experiencing outages. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Electrical utility JCP&L and sexually oriented businesses were foremost on the agenda at Red Banks bimonthly council meeting Tuesday night.
Mayor Pasquale Menna and council members began the meeting by putting forth a resolution that will urge the state Board of Public Utilities to look into JCP&Ls handling of Hurricane Sandy-induced power outages. The resolution also seeks to persuade legislators in Trenton to pass measures that will force the power giant to provide each municipality with direct, in-person company representatives in emergency situations.
During the storm, we effectively became employees of JCP&L. Mayor Menna said. We were the only real connection between the people and the company, and that needs to change.”
Electrical wire burned on the ground and on the lip of a raised dumptruck bin after an accident at Red Bank Recycling on Central Avenue in Red Bank that took down a utility pole around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. The driver of the truck, whose identity was not immediately known, did not appear to be seriously injured, but was taken to a hospital by ambulance. Power was knocked out locally. (Click to enlarge)
Howell Mayor Robert Walsh addresses attendees at Monday’s ‘Snow Summit’ to discuss JCP&L’s response to Hurricane Sandy. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
Confusion, anger and frustration, tinged by a bit of hope, permeated the Tinton Falls Municipal Building early Monday afternoon at the third annual ‘Snow Summit’ called to address the region’s relationship with JCP&L and how to improve it.
Co-hosted by Tinton Falls Mayor Michael Skudera and Middletown Mayor Anthony Fiore, the meeting was attended by mayors from across Monmouth County, freeholders, state legislators, as well as members of the media and public. Few were impressed by the electric utility’s handling
If they gave a damn, they would have already done something about their outreach to localities following catastrophes, Mayor Adam Schneider of Long Branch said of company officials. Read More
A hard hat signed by Alabama Power line workers was donated to Fair Haven as thanks for the town’s hospitality at Tuesday night’s council meeting. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)
By WIL FULTON
In a meeting predictably dominated by issues related to Hurricane Sandy, Fair Haven’s borough council and a concerned public agreed on Monday night: though the local government did well, better communication is needed.
Council members and residents said the towns officials did a good job of damage control and post-storm recovery efforts, but a lack of effective communications from the borough was the one lingering negative at the governing body’s bimonthly meeting.
I think the main thing is we need to do a better job communicating, said borough AdministratorTheresa Casagrande.
A map issued by the Red Bank Office of Emergency Management late Tuesday afternoon shows, in yellow, areas of town that have been restored to full electrical service.
At right, Verizon workers replace one of two fallen utility pole on Washington Street that have inhibited the return of electrical service to Red Bank’s East Side, officials said. At 4 p.m., a Verizon worker said the second pole would be up and ready for JCP&L to do its thing within the hour. (Photo at right by Rebecca Desfosse. Click to enlarge)
Older lights on River Road in Fair Haven will come down on an as-needed basis. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
River Road in Fair Haven is lit up like a runway now that new streetlights have been installed on both sides of the thoroughfare.
You may have noticed, as well, that still stationed on the stretch through downtown are the old lights, casting pallid halogen beams down over the new, old-look fixtures.
Those aren’t coming down any time soon, although they will be shut off, making for a uniform glow down the renovated streetscape of the busy road, officials say.
Westbound traffic was diverted from West Front Street onto Broad Street Tuesday evening, above, jamming up downtown Red Bank. Below, eastbound vehicles lined up on Monmouth Street. (Click to enlarge)
Work to replace a busted utility pole on busy West Front Street may not be completed until midday Wednesday, meaning motorists could face another glacial morning crawl through Red Bank.
A shutdown of a portion of West Front to enable JCP&L crews to replace the pole, which shattered during the blizzard Sunday night, led to massive traffic jams Tuesday morning, with inbound traffic backed up onto the Route 35/Cooper Bridge to Middletown.
By the evening commute, a repeat appeared in the making.
A Verizon employee inspects a utility pole on Ocean Avenue Wednesday afternoon. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
Sea Bright officials have requested that Verizon and JCP&L inspect all utility poles in town and provide a report on their condition, a move spurred by a chain-reaction of pole collapses during last week’s rainstorm.
Heavy winds knocked down poles on New Street, leading to a power outage and evacuation of all residents of the street.
In addition to heading off a potential problems in the future, the council wants to know if the failures might have been avoided.
Another leaning pole in Red Bank. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
We’ve got another leaner.
This angled utility pole was spotted on West Front Street, just outside Trinity Church.
A Fair Haven police officer directed traffic Monday afternoon at a light at the Fair Haven-Little Silver border. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)
By DUSTIN RACIOPPI
A malfunction at a Tinton Falls substation is believed to be the cause of yesterday’s countywide power outage, according to the Asbury Park Press.
Locally, power started being restored within 75 minutes of the outage, but many homes and businesses also went for hours more in the dark, forcing some closures and snarling traffic on the area’s main roads.
A power company crew was on the scene at midday Thursday. (Click to enlarge)
Three days after redbankgreen reported that a jury-rigged utility pole was again leaning precariously over Broad Street in Red Bank, a Jersey Central Power & Light/First Energy crew arrived on the scene earlier today to begin fixing it.
Coincidence? We don’t think so.
Electrical service was out for some customers of First Energy Corp. parent of JCP&L in Fair Haven and Rumson this morning as temperatures were expected to crest at nearly 100 degrees.
As of 6:30a, First Energy’s online outage map indicated fewer than 500 homes without power, but doesn’t specify if that’s the total per town or collectively in the region.
