Ziad Shehady, left, with Ken DeRoberts at the 2018 Mayor’s Ball. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ziad Shehady resigned as the executive director of the Red Bank Redevelopment Agency Tuesday, saying the position had become a “lightning rod” for criticism and source of distraction from his primary job as borough business administrator.
A video created by a Philadelphia architectural firm shows a vastly expanded Riverview Medical Center campus. (Video by BKT Architects. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Over more than a dozen years of amassing Red Bank real estate, officials at Riverview Medical Center have been silent on an obvious question: what do they plan to do with their growing land bank?
They’re still not saying. But someone went to the expense of hiring an architecture and urban planning firm to come up with blue-sky concept plans for Riverview, redbankgreen has learned. And he just made a killing selling the hospital some real estate.
The prices of vacant lots quadrupled in less than four years when they were sold to Riverview in late December. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The latest addition to Riverview Medical Center’s Red Bank real estate holdings yielded a windfall gain for the seller, redbankgreen has learned.
Why the hospital paid a whopping price for the site remains unanswered.
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.
More snow is coming to the Greater Red Bank Green Monday, but not on the scale of the four snowfalls the area’s seen this snowy month of February.
The fourth snowfall of February left eight or more inches of fluffy crystal on the Greater Red Bank Green Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
The “snow event” still wasn’t quite over early Friday, as a cold mist added to a layer of ice on roadways, as seen on Madison Avenue in Red Bank, above.
Freezing drizzle was expected to continue into mid-morning, with periods of light snow, sleet, freezing rain and rain persisting into the early afternoon, according to the NWS forecast. All that could mean another inch or so to shovel and salt.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The Greater Red Bank Green is bracing for its fourth snowfall of February Thursday.
Expect a cold but dry day Wednesday, with the storm, named Viola, beginning in earnest after daybreak Thursday. It could drop 3 to 5 inches during the day, according to the National Weather Service. A mix of sleet and snow in the evening may leave another inch or two, with a layer of ice on the ground.
Check out the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Then-candidates Kate Triggiano and Hazim Yassin at the Mayor’s Ball in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Already showing cracks, the Red Bank Democratic party’s facade ruptured Monday night with the announcement that political newcomers will challenge two incumbents for their council seats.
Days after holding a virtual re-election fundraiser attended by Governor Phil Murphy, Kate Triggiano and Hazim Yassin opted to bypass the local party nomination process controlled by Councilman Ed Zipprich as they seek second terms, saying he’s on a vendetta that “reeks of boss politics.”
The Greater Red Bank may get some icy rain Monday afternoon, according to the National Weather Service. The precipitation is expected to change to all rain by evening.
As Monday is President’s Day, government offices, the post office and most schools are closed.
Check out the extended forecast below. (NWS graphic. Click to enlarge.)
Sue Viscomi, right, with Hazim Yassin and Kate Triggiano at borough hall in April, 2018. All three ran for council that year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank board of ed member faced sharp criticism Thursday for a purported racist rendition of the borough business administrator’s name the night before.
But Sue Viscomi vehemently denied referring to Ziad Shehady as “Mr. Jihad.”
Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center of bottom row, prevailed on a resolution regarding the Redevelopment Agency. (Zoom screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sarcasm and insults flew Wednesday night as the Red Bank council yet again clashed over the future of the mothballed Senior Center.
This time, residents provided much of the ire. Read More
Love snow? The third snowfall of February, 2021 was expected to leave another inch or two on the Greater Red Bank Green before ending around mid-morning Thursday, according to the National Weather Service.
A scene from the second, on Sunday, is shown above: Drs. James Parker Boulevard and Leighton Avenue, with the i Love Red Bank mural on the side of A1 Liquors.
See the extended forecast below. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Bruce Springsteen outside the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Could Bruce Springsteen be in need of a presidential pardon soon?
The rock star was arrested for DWI and other charges at Sandy Hook in November, federal officials confirmed Wednesday.
An app-in-development reported on by redbankgreen last September is now available, offering users its first history tour of Red Bank.
The tour spotlights significant places in the early life of William ‘Count’ Basie, the world-renowned bandleader who grew up in a Mechanic Street house on the site of the one shown above.
The crime and arrest reports below were provided by the Red Bank Police Department for January, 2021. This information is unedited; see below for additional information.
CRIMES
Criminal Mischief: A local store reported a large paver brick was thrown through the front window causing the window to shatter and break sometime during the evening on 01/07/21 in the area of E. Front St. Ptl. Grace Magguilli.
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.
John F. Burton at the Red Bank Mayor’s Ball in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
John F. Burton, a longtime chronicler of Red Bank-area people, government and more, died Sunday.
The senior reporter for the weekly Two River Times had battled illness for the past three years.
Atrium resident Audrey Haimowitz receiving a vaccine shot Friday. (Photo courtesy of Springpoint Senior Living. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid rising numbers of vaccine shots statewide, Monmouth County recorded its 1,200th death from COVID-19, the New Jersey Health Department reported Monday.
The grim milestone was passed as a Red Bank senior facility reported three more pandemic-related fatalities, though all three victims were considered to have recovered from the virus, a representative said.
Red Bank snowplows working around a car parked on Garfield Place Sunday afternoon. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The second snowstorm of February generated half as many parking tickets as the first, Red Bank police said Monday.
Visibility was limited along Drs. James Parker Boulevard in Red Bank Sunday, when the second snowfall within a week dropped about eight more inches on the town.
At right, a bundled-up shoveler at work on Herbert Street while, below, one in a t-shirt cleared a sidewalk on Branch Avenue.
There’s a likelihood the Greater Green will see yet more snow this week, according to the National Weather Service. Check out the extended forecast below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank snowplows stuggled to clear Cedar Street, above, after last week’s two-day snowstorm. The story was a bit different on Madison Avenue, below.
As reported by redbankgreen, police issued a near-record number of $38 tickets during the storm for violations of a borough ordinance requiring that all vehicles be removed from all streets during snow emergencies.
Still, the move-your-car message seems to be getting through, and compliance levels were also high, public works director Cliff Keen told the borough council Wednesday.
“I think residents are starting to understand that if the cars are off the road it makes our job a lot easier,” he said. That includes not driving and “competing with our snowplows,” he said.
With another storm expected to drop 4-to-8 inches more snow Sunday, residents who don’t have access to driveways may park vehicles in two municipal lots. Details here. (Video above courtesy of Suzanne Viscomi; below by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
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Clockwise from top left: Adriana Medina Gomez, Itzel Perez Hernandez, Yaritza Ortega, Karina España and Karla Ortega. (Photos from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As it became clearer in the weeks after the November 3 election that Joe Biden would become the 46th president of the United States, Adriana Medina Gomez‘s phone began ringing more than usual.
“Among our clients, there was a sense of, ‘OK, Biden won, now what? What can I do to get legal?'” said Medina Gomez, a legal assistant in the Red Bank office of the American Friends Service Committee, a Quaker social justice organization. “Like immediately, the calls started pouring in about that.”
The project would add seven stories of apartments and parking above Pazzo MMX restaurant, at center above, and the existing garage at right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Facing almost certain rejection of its plan to add seven stories to a downtown Red Bank building, a developer won a four-month reprieve from the zoning board Thursday night.
An increase in violent crime in 2020 mirrors a national trend, said Chief Darren McConnell. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s crime rates continued a long trend of gradual decline in 2020, police Chief Darren McConnell tells redbankgreen.
One glaring exception: an increase in reported rapes.
Press release
The Count Basie Center for the Arts in Red Bank has announced the retirement of Yvonne Lamb-Scudiery, founder of the nonprofit organization’s performing arts programs and a member of the Basie Center family for more than two decades.