A view of Broadwalk at lunchtime last October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank merchants and residents pressed officials with concerns regarding a third season of Broadwalk at a community forum Wednesday night.
With less than a month to go before a disruptive streetscape makeover project wraps up, they called for efforts to address litter, traffic, speeding on residential streets and more.
Retractable bollards were installed on Mechanic Street near Broad Street Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
A messy, overdue and over-budget makeover of upper Broad Street in Red Bank is expected to conclude in late July, acting borough Administrator Darren McConnell said Wednesday.
The project, which began last November, marked a milestone with the installation this week of retractable hydraulic bollards that will enable quick closure of the street to vehicular traffic.
Still to be determined is when the Broadwalk dining promenade will return for a third, if abbreviated, season.
Red Tank Brewing owner John Arcara speaking at Wednesday’s council session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council voted Wednesday to boost the fees charged to restaurants to maintain tables in parking spaces converted to streateries.
The action followed claims by two business owners that the hike was onerous.
Borough workers created a streatery outside Bombay River and Tacoholics restaurants on Broad Street in July, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
At the Red Bank council’s first in-person session in more than two years last week, a lone member failed to advance a pandemic-era fix said to be favored by two merchant organizations: street eateries.
Navigating sidewalks on Broad Street in downtown Red Bank is a bit of a challenge these days.
What’s the latest on the streetscape project that’s been underway since November in the streets northernmost blocks? Read on.
Curb replacement work underway as part of the Broad Street streetscape project last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An ongoing split among Red Bank council Democrats played out as a power struggle Wednesday night over who will steer the reopening of the seasonal Broadwalk dining and shopping plaza.
Diners enjoying lunch in the Broadwalk zone in October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Delayed by street a reconstruction project, Red Bank’s Broadwalk outdoor dining plaza will return this summer, borough officials agreed Wednesday.
The informal consensus of the council was the first indication that the downtown car-free experiment, launched in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, would get a third edition.
A shot from the 2015 edition of the event. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank won’t be hosting the annual International Beer, Wine & Food Festival scheduled for May 15 because of “left-over Covid issues,” the event’s organizer said Tuesday.
A Montana Construction crew working on Broad Street earlier this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Broad Street in Red Bank will get a new, $1.3 million water main, following council action to expand a $2.7 million sanitary sewer project that has disrupted downtown traffic for the past three months.
And property owners won’t have to pay thousands of dollars to replace their water connections, as some had feared.
Two days after construction of a new sanitary sewer line in downtown Red Bank was suspended through the Christmas weekend, a work crew was back to repair a water leak Thursday morning.
Construction of a new sewer line on Broad Street has been suspended through the Christmas weekend, Red Bank officials announced Monday.
A Montana Construction crew working on Broad Street earlier this month. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Property owners in downtown Red Bank pushed back Wednesday night on the notion that they should pay thousands of dollars each to replace their water service lines.
Addressing the borough council on their behalf, Red Bank RiverCenter Executive Director Glenn Carter invoked the adage, “you broke it, you fix it.”
Much of Red Bank’s central business district will be closed to vehicle traffic Monday to allow for work in connection with the installation of a new sewer line on Broad Street, police announced Sunday.
Contractors working on the Broad Street project early Thursday. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As many as 100 property owners in downtown Red Bank may be in for a shock: thousands of dollars in costs to replace leaking water-supply lines, officials said Wednesday night.
After a pandemic year off, the high-energy Holiday Express concert and Town Light-Up is slated to return to downtown Red Bank Friday night.
Attendees will want to bundle up for what looks to be a seasonally appropriate chilly and breezy event.
A street sweeper sat ready for use behind barriers that remained at Broad and White streets early Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining promenade wrapped up its second season with the reopening of upper Broad Street to traffic Monday.
But downtown motorists will face a new set of obstacles as the borough embarks next week on a road project that’s expected to continue until Christmas.
Here’s what to expect, per acting borough administrator and police Chief Darren McConnell.
Temporary barriers at the south end of Broadwalk last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Originally slated to end its second season this week, Red Bank’s ‘Broadwalk‘ begins a one-month extension Friday.
But while Red Bank RiverCenter and many business owners say the mid-street, car-free promenade has succeeded in attracting customers over 18 months of pandemic, others say it has hurt them.
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.
Broadwalk bars vehicular traffic to enable restaurant expansions into Broad Street between Front and White Streets. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With the second season of Red Bank’s Broadwalk about to begin in earnest – weather permitting – downtown merchants say the pedestrian dining and shopping concept is doing what it’s intended to do: improving their receipts.
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.
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.
After a five-month closure, the northern blocks of Broad Street in downtown Red Bank were reopened to vehicular traffic this week.
Empty tables and idle heaters on Broadwalk on a chilly Sunday evening in October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s in-street shopping and dining plaza known as ‘Broadwalk’ will go on winter hiatus at the end of November.
Borough council members informally agreed Wednesday night that the prospect of dealing with a snowstorm before winter is over makes keeping the plaza going impractical.
