The East Side parking lots would get a makeover under an engineering contract on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council has some weighty spending and hiring matters on its agenda when it meets this week.
Juneteenth marchers on Shrewsbury Avenue, above, and Drs. James Parker Boulevard, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bankers commemorated the new federal and New Jersey state holiday of Juneteenth with a march Saturday.
The hike on a humid last day of spring was bookended by gatherings at Pilgrim Baptist Church on Shrewsbury Avenue and the T. Thomas Fortune Cultural Center on Drs. James Parker Boulevard.
Henry Perez with a ferret owner during a census of cats and dogs in 2008. (Photo by Colleen Curry. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Henry Perez thinks maybe he’s dropped the ball, given that his bosses – the Red Bank mayor and council – appear determined to eliminate his job.
“I totally blame myself, because my residents know more about what I do than my superiors,” the borough’s animal control officer told the the council during its monthly workshop meeting Wednesday.
Still, over the pleas of residents, the governing body showed no sign of halting a plan to sign a six-month contract with the Monmouth County SPCA.
Debbie Nagel, the animal control supervisor for Long Branch who serves as backup for Red Bank, with an orphaned raccoon pup rescued from a tree on Brown Place last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Squirrels in the attic? Bats in the bathroom?
Red Bank residents would have to pay $90 an hour to have wild animals removed from their homes under a plan that returns for discussion Wednesday night.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, upper left, addressing the council during its meeting via Zoom Wednesday night.(Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A push for a possible change in Red Bank’s form of government cleared its first formal hurdle Wednesday night.
The borough council, sharply split on other issues, unanimously agreed to the introduction of an ordinance that would put a two-part public question on the November ballot: whether a commission should be created to review the borough’s 113-year-old form of government, and if so, who should serve on it.
A Google Maps satellite view of the public works yard and adjoining property to the east, roughly outlined in red. (Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank should move quickly to bond for an overhauled public works facility, according to a recommendation adopted by the Redevelopment Agency Tuesday evening.
Estimated cost, including the acquisition of property adjacent to the Chestnut Street site: $9.3 million.
A rendering of Saxum Real Estate’s approved but not-yet-built plan for 176 Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A controversial plan to job out Red Bank’s in-house animal control service is expected to be tabled Wednesday night.
Here’s what’s on the agenda for the semimonthly meeting of the mayor and council.
An amendment to the parking ordinance would ban parking on the west side of Chapin Avenue, seen at left above. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The semimonthly session of the Red Bank council Wednesday night includes a police retirement and some hires, as well as a parking ban.
It also includes approval of a settlement in a type of tax appeal case that enraged commercial landlords two years ago.
The council meets via Zoom due to pandemic restrictions. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The creation of a commission to examine Red Bank’s century-old government structure is on the table when the council holds its monthly workshop session Wednesday night.
So are renovations to the mothballed Senior Center and the swan song of Business Administrator Ziad Shehady.
The Senior Center occupies a stand-alone building on Shrewsbury Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council moved to jumpstart repairs to water-damaged Senior Center Wednesday night, one day after a recommendation by the Redevelopment Agency that it do so.
But even enroute to a unanimous vote, the measure churned up bitterness among the all-Democratic governing body.
The backyard of the mothballed Senior Center overlooking the upper Navesink River. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A proposal to repair Red Bank’s mothballed Senior Center without adding any new facilities won a Redevelopment Agency endorsement Tuesday evening.
The action could defuse one of the hottest issues in a contested Democratic race for two council seats just six weeks before a primary vote.
The former Visiting Nurse Association site on Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials may soon revisit development approvals for the former Visiting Nurse Association property on Riverside Avenue, following a process kicked off Wednesday night.
Marian Quinn of Manor Drive speaking at the rally. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Invoking “demolition by neglect” and the prospect of “apartments” on the site, several dozen Red Bankers rallied Saturday to demand that the mothballed borough Senior Center be repaired.
They also momentarily drowned out the grandson of the center’s founder when he took issue with one of the handmade signs posted on the building.
Downtown Red Bank was nearly empty on a Friday night last March as pandemic restrictions on economic and social activity took effect. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s government will receive a direct infusion of nearly $1.18 million under the $1.9 trillion pandemic recovery bill passed by Congress earlier in the day, officials said Wednesday night.
The funds will enable the borough to begin filling its own budgetary holes while providing aid to renters, small businesses and local non-profits, said an elated Mayor Pasquale Menna.
But one item it can’t be used on, contrary to the suggestion of a council candidate, is repairing the shuttered Senior Center, according to two officials.
Supporters of a drive to repair and reopen Red Bank’s Senior Center plan to rally at the facility Saturday for the second time this year.
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.
Councilman Michael Ballard said his proposal would encourage exchanges between officials and residents that clarify information. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank council meeting attendees would regain their ability to ask follow-up questions of officials under proposed changes slated for discussion Wednesday evening.
The revisions to the council’s often derided question-and-comment protocol were announced by Councilman Michael Ballard on Facebook Tuesday afternoon.
The council is expected to discuss possible changes to the public comment protocol at its workshop session Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s planning board, council and zoning board meet this week, all via Zoom.
In chronological order, here’s what to expect in terms of business:
The council is expected to renew its contract for EMT ambulance services. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s borough council meets Wednesday with a relatively light agenda.
There’s still something missing: promised changes to the public comment protocol.
A view into the mothballed Senior Center through a window in December. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank council members clashed yet again over the borough’s Senior Center Wednesday night.
Among the issues: a petition demanding that the facility, which has been out of commission for almost two years, be repaired and reopened at its riverfront location.
Among the many events organizers hope to bring back in 2021: the Red Bank Classic 5k, slated for June 19. A list of event dates is up for approval by the council. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s borough council meets with a busy agenda of financing actions, hirings and more Wednesday.
There’s also something missing, though numerous commenters have demanded it: changes to the meeting protocol covering… public comment.
The Senior Center offers a rare vantage for Red Bankers to view the Navesink and Swimming rivers, speakers said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials got an earful from the public about the borough’s disabled Senior Center Wednesday night.
But even as the all-Democratic council unanimously approved a new lease on interim space, sparks continued to fly between its members over the center’s near-term future.
The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years following a pipe leak. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tension among Red Bank Democrats over the future of the borough’s Senior Center erupted in public over the weekend.
Joined by Mayor Pasquale Menna, four of the council’s six Democrats lit into the other two, one of whom is the party chairman, as having “placed their own popularity over what’s best for our residents and taxpayers.”
The Senior Center has been out of commission for most of the past two years. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Senior Center is not for sale, Mayor Pasquale Menna insists.
But two years after extensive damage caused by a burst pipe, multiple questions surround the still-closed Shrewsbury Avenue facility. Among them: will it reopen anytime soon, and will it stay where it is?
Councilman Hazim Yassin at a council meeting in February, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After a year of butting heads with most of his fellow Democrats, Red Bank Councilman Michael Ballard lost his seat on the budget-shaping finance committee Friday.
He was displaced by first-term Councilman Hazim Yassin at the borough government’s annual New Year’s Day reorganization meeting. Read More