Mayor Pasquale Menna, seen here at the Town Light-up in November, kicked off his pre-council meetups with little advance notice. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
It was another quick night as the Red Bank council held its second regular session of 2020 Wednesday night.
A light agenda saw the governing body wrap up public business in under 30 minutes before going behind closed doors to discuss litigation and a lease.
Here’s a recap.
Would-be honorees Jim Scavone, in blue vest, and Guy Maratta, in brown jacket, arriving at borough hall with supporters Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank officials kicked off the New Year with a snafu Wednesday night.
After racing through back-to-back workshop and regular meetings in record time, the borough council concluded public business – just as two people who’d been told they’d be honored arrived with their families and colleagues.
New Jersey First Lady Tammy Murphy with Mayor Pasquale Menna prior to the start of Wednesday’s reorganization meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna proposed a workaround Wednesday to a year-old protocol covering comments and questions at council meetings: he says he’ll show up an hour early to field them.
At the borough government’s annual New Year’s Day reorganization meeting, attendees also heard Menna heap thanks on Governor Phil Murphy, whose wife, Tammy Murphy, attended the ceremonial session.
Footings are ready for the installation of a prefab restroom building at Eastside Park. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A bond to fund parking improvements and the swearing-in of a new police officer headlined a relatively quiet session of the Red Bank council Wednesday night.
Here’s a wrap-up of the highlights:
Commissioner Megan Massey pressed agency manager Ken DeRoberts on differences in prices quoted for a contract. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s new Redevelopment Agency began doling out work to professionals Tueday, and one member immediately tapped the brakes on spending.
At its monthly meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Megan Massey signaled a reluctance to approve a contract that had been recommended by the agency’s manager.
Borough resident Karla Ortega, left, translated remarks by Lieutenant Juan Sardo into Spanish as Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, right, looked on at last week’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
In what may be a first in New Jersey, Red Bank police will be able to draw on a team of local volunteers to help them bridge language divides in dealing with the public.
A new program championed by first-term Councilwoman Kate Triggiano will make volunteer interpreters available to help police in their normal duties as well as at community events, she said.
Wilson Beebe recommended some tweaks to the agency’s statement of goals and objectives. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Still taking small steps, Red Bank’s new Redevelopment Agency advanced on its goal of giving municipal properties some long-overdue attention Tuesday.
In a 20-minute meeting, agency members agreed to begin the process of assessing the condition of borough real estate holdings.
The Red Bank nonprofit says no families of kids now in a free membership program will be turned away. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters will get to keep their free memberships to the local YMCA, the organization announced Wednesday.
Police will still have to pay, though now at a discount, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit said. But there’s no change to the plan unveiled last week to end across-the-board free memberships for borough schoolchildren.
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna speaking at the the Memorial Day ceremony last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna on Thursday blasted a decision by the Community YMCA to end free memberships for borough schoolchildren and emergency first-responders.
Menna went on the offensive after the Y’s “unilateral” action, which he said was made without any advance notice to or discussion with his administration.
Among the ideas the committee may take up: the possible sale of borough hall, above, at 90 Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A new municipal body with the potential to exert powerful influence on the future of Red Bank quietly took to the stage Tuesday.
Not quite the hottest ticket in town, the late-afternoon session of the new Redevelopment Agency drew an audience of three: two advisory committee members, who left early, and a reporter. But the ideas being floated, including the possible sale of borough hall, could soon move to the spotlight.
Buildings along Front Street have blocked views of the Navesink River from Broad Street for more than a century. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Is there, at last, a well-capitalized Broad-to-the-river plan for Red Bank in the works?
Not in his office, says developer Steve Denholtz, whose multi-state empire has been devouring borough properties — including three that would fit in nicely with a project offering panoramic Navesink River views from downtown.
Then again, that doesn’t mean one might not happen, Denholtz tells redbankgreen.
Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton was slain in her Netpune City apartment in 2009.
By JOHN T. WARD
Almost a decade after the death of Red Bank Middle School teacher Jonelle Melton, three men were found guilty Tuesday of her vicious torture and murder.
A jury in Freehold found the trio guilty of all charges in the case, according to a Twitter announcement early Tuesday afternoon from the office of Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
Curtis McDaniel discussing the concept plan he co-created, showing an eastward view along Monmouth Street. Below, developer Todd Herman comments on a student pitch. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Assignment: come up with new design concepts to enliven the stretch of Monmouth Street between the train station and borough hall in Red Bank.
The response: lots of new apartments, rooftop bars, hidden parking decks, pockets of greenery and even an amphitheater across the street from the Count Basie Center for the Performing Arts.
Borough hall would get a new phone system under a contract up for approval by the council. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Here’s a preview of the Red Bank borough council’s agenda for its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night:
Relief Engine Company retains the second-floor meeting space in its longtime home on Drummond Place. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Making Red Bank history, one of the borough’s six volunteer fire companies is being retired from active duty.
Under a consolidation plan in the works for three years, the Relief Engine Company, stranded for the past two years without a firetruck, will become a keeper of borough firefighting history, Chief Stu Jensen announced Wednesday.
Pictured left to right are the 2017 inductees for the RBR Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame: RBR teacher Cassandra Dorn; Red Bank Middle School Vice Principal James T. Pierson; Dr. Erin Curtis, Optometrist; Sergeant Joey Fields, Red Bank Police Department; Dr. Carol A. Penn, physician family medicine, and Ramona Johnson, special education teacher, Newark NJ public schools.
Press release from Red Bank Regional High School
On the morning of April 28, an annual highlight of spring took place once again at Red Bank Regional High School,when the BUC Backer Foundation inducted six RBR graduates into its Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame.
State Senator Jennifer Beck, Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna, Red Bank Councilman Michael Whelan, Shrewsbury Mayor Donald Burden, and Little Silver Councilman Daniel O’Hern were among the friends, family members and community neighbors who gathered in the school’s theatre to celebrate the contributions of this year’s honorees. The inductees were introduced by the RBR Buccaneer Newspaper students, who wrote bios on the alumni for a commemorative journal, and musical accompaniment was provided by the piano majors of RBR’s Visual and Performing Arts Academy. The festivities continued with a celebratory luncheon catered by the RBR culinary students.
Bounce houses are part of the evening’s activities, as police departments in three local boroughs (Red Bank, Fair Haven, Little Silver) invite families to take part in the National Night Out initiative on Tuesday.
It began 32 years ago as a simple promotion in which police departments across the nation encouraged residents to keep their porch lights burning as a show of solidarity against crime. It evolved in many communities into a public-welcome event that mixed family-fun activities with a serious message of safe streets (and made a celebrity out of a trenchcoat-wearing dog named McGruff).
Here in the charged election-year atmosphere of 2016 — where statistical declines in violent crime are countered by news stories involving the horrifically high-profile deaths of police officers and civilians — the annual occurrence known as National Night Out takes on a newfound significance, as an opportunity for police departments, public officials and community members to meet and maintain the dialogue.
On the evening of Tuesday, August 2, both Red Bank and Fair Haven continue their now-traditional participation in the nationwide initiative — and this year, they’ll be joined by a third municipality on the greater Red Bank green: the bordering borough of Little Silver.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, right, at last year’s inaugural Red Bank Mayor’s Charity Ball. The fundraiser returns to the Oyster Point Hotel on Friday as one of several benefit events around the borough this week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
The month of May flowers into full effect with more than just greenery and colorful scenery — it’s also prime time for charity galas and other fundraising vehicles, dedicated to the benefit of some of our area’s hardest-working nonprofit organizations.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, right with Carol and John Anderson at the first Mayor’s Ball, in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Press release from Red Bank Mayor’s Ball Committee
Mayor Pasquale Menna will be the host — and former Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. will serve as master of ceremonies — when the Red Bank Mayor’s Charity Ball returns to The Oyster Point Hotel for its second annual edition on Friday, May 6.
The event, which begins at 7 p.m., will honor retired public works supervisor and zoning board member Jesse Garrison (Humanitarian Award), the Count Basie Theatre (Cultural and Arts Award), the Red Bank Volunteer Fire Department (Historical Legacy Award), Philip J. Bowers & Co. (Urban Development Award), and Riverview Medical Center (Manufacturing and Technology Award). Red Bank RiverCenter, the Special Improvement District founded in 1991, will be recognized as it marks its 25th Anniversary.
Family members and friends from throughout Monmouth County gathered at Calvary Baptist Church in Red Bank Friday evening to remember slain borough teacher Jonelle Melton. Organizers also spotlighted law enforcement officials who investigated and recently charged three men in the her 2009 slaying. Though the case is not yet closed, police and prosecutors deserved to be recognized for “keeping their word and doing something positive,” said co-organizer Linda Clark. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
Family members and friends from throughout the community will gather at Calvary Baptist Church Friday evening to remember slain Red Bank teacher Jonelle Melton.
It’s being framed by Calvary Baptist Church as “A Night to Remember” — an opportunity for both somber reflection and the season’s rejoicing, rooted in a community’s shared tragedy, but setting its sights on the star of peace and healing.
When Rev. Dr. Kenneth McGhee Jr. and the congregation of the River Street church open their doors to all members of the Red Bank community this Friday evening, the occasion will be a special pre-Christmas celebration of fellowship and Yuletide spirit — one that incorporates a tribute to Red Bank Middle School Jonelle Melton, and an expression of support for her family.
Project Write Now invites the public to an unveiling of its expanded Bridge Avenue space on December 1, capping a Giving Poetry Tuesday celebration of the community’s words and voices.
It’s a unique little event that unfolds over the course of a late-autumn weekday in Red Bank, taking place at various locations around town (train station, library, hospital, classroom), and involving the participation of people ranging from Mayor Pasquale Menna and volunteer emergency responders to staffers from Lunch Break and students from the borough’s schools.
It’s Giving Poetry Tuesday, a “celebration of Red Bank’s voices” that finds people from all walks of local life taking part in a collaborative community poetry reading between the hours of 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 1. Organized by Project Write Now, the initiative is an engagingly interactive lead-in to the borough-based nonprofit’s main event: an evening open house unveiling of its new, expanded studio space at 25 Bridge Avenue.
The chance to dunk-tank a local official is just part of the free, family-friendly fun as the Fair Haven Police presents its 13th annual National Night Out Against Crime community event. Police departments in Red Bank and (for the first time) Little Silver also offer the community observances on August 4.
It’s a coast-to-coast community initiative which, in Fair Haven’s case, can be traced back 13 years – or, in the case of Little Silver, is being offered for the very first time.
On the evening of Tuesday, August 4, the Red Bank Police and its neighbor departments on the greater Green will once again invite all members of their communities to take part in National Night Out — the nationwide outreach program designed to “promote police-community partnerships and neighborhood camaraderie to make our neighborhoods safer, better places to live.” Or, as familiar spokesdog McGruff puts it, to “take a bite out of crime.”
Registered Yoga teacher Theresa Conlon progresses flawlessly through her routine in the gazebo at Wesleyan Arms in Red Bank.
Press release from Wesleyan Arms
On Wednesday, June 24, the Red Bank-based senior housing community Wesleyan Arms hosted the grand opening of The Arms Café, a new senior resource hub to the area’s growing population of older adults.
A partnership between Wesleyan Arms and Home Helpers Home Care of Monmouth County with the Visiting Nurse Association of Central New Jersey, the Cafe is dedicated to a mission of providing opportunities for essential social interaction, physical exercise and continuing learning to people aged 65 and older who live alone.
Located at 9 Wall Street in Red Bank and part of the United Methodist Homes of New Jersey (UMHNJ), the Cafe welcomes older adults in the area to participate each week in a casual setting with a “drop-in center” feel. Open every Wednesday between 10 am and 2 pm, the facility is staffed with a resource coordinator who can offer information about elder care resources to individuals and their families.
Examples of the varied calendar activities include: chair yoga or Zumba, art, technology, reading and book club discussions, meeting new friends, walking groups, finding information, enjoying the company of others, and more. While The Arms Café has some structure, seniors may do as much or as little as they prefer. All resource information and most classes are free. Occasionally, a special offering requires a fee.
Press release from Belfer Communications
The grand opening celebration for Classic Cuts & Color, located at 15A Wikoff Place in Red Bank, was held on Friday, December 5th. The ribbon cutting ceremony was conducted by Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna.
In honor of the celebration, salon owner Denise Pandure of West Long Branch, included a canned goods drive for a month-long campaign to benefit the Foodbank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties.