RED BANK: DPU UPDATES PICKUP SCHEDULES

When is recycling picked up again? How do we get rid of that old sofa in the basement?

Answers to these and similar questions are available to Red Bank residents in the form of a new bulletin from the Department of Public Works. It covers everything from Christmas tree to hazardous waste disposal, including brush and trash pickup schedules for 2019.

Downloadable and printable versions in English and Spanish are available online. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

March 6, 2019 - 12:50 pm | Comments ()

ON THE GREEN: NEW RECYCLING RULES

Starting next week, recyclables put out at the curb in plastic bags won’t be picked up in a number of Monmouth County towns. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Monmouth County municipalities are rushing this week to implement new rules to prohibit the use of plastic bags to hold domestic recyclables for pickup.

The change is being driven by China, Red Bank Business Administrator Ziad Shehady tells redbankgreen.

June 21, 2018 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

ON THE GREEN: THAW ENDS LONG COLD SNAP

With a foot of snow atop the Navesink River ice and wind-chill temperatures below zero, visitors to Marine Park in Red Bank hoping to see some iceboat racing had to settle for empty white riverscapes Sunday. On McCarter Pond in Fair Haven, though, skaters found several small shoveled-out areas in which to enjoy the ice, at right.

The extended snap of bitter cold was expected to end Monday, when daytime temperatures reach about 35 degrees, kicking off a warming trend though the week. But freezing rain could make for hazardous driving conditions in Monday evening. Check out the National Weather Service forecast below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

January 8, 2018 - 6:00 am | Comments ()

ON THE GREEN: DEEP FREEZE FOLLOWS STORM

With wind-chill temperatures at 9 degrees below zero and many local streets packed with ice, the main parking lot at the Red Bank train station was nearly empty at 6:15 a.m. Friday, above, but road activity was stirring a short while later on West River Road in Rumson, right.

Check out some additional photos taken from the Greater Red Bank a day after Thursday’s snowstorm below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

January 5, 2018 - 8:25 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRST SNOW OF 2018 BLOWS IN

An overnight snowstorm that left about three inches by daybreak may have prompted widespread school closings, but it was just another workday for a man delivering goods to Playa Bowls, above, and a Starbucks barista getting ready for the day’s customers in downtown Red Bank early Thursday.

What comes next will be anything but ordinary, however, according to forecasters.

January 4, 2018 - 7:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: TAXPAYER BUDGET Q&A SLATED

For the 10th year in a row, Red Bank borough government department heads are scheduled to offer presentations on their 2016 budget proposals at a public information session scheduled for Wednesday, May 18 at at borough hall.

May 6, 2016 - 9:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PARKING IDEA SPUTTERS

A proposal to extend meter enforcement hours appeared to get no traction Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The Red Bank council postponed the introduction of the first majority-Republican budget in a generation Wednesday.

Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, who’s heading up the budget-writing finance committee, said she wanted more time to hear suggestions from residents and business owners on how to reduce a prospective tax increase.

But one of Schwabenbauer’s own suggestions — increasing the number of hours for which metered parking is in effect — appeared to be a non-starter.

April 14, 2016 - 7:06 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: GOP DRAFT BUDGET HAS TAXES UP

Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer, who heads the finance committee, says there’s been a “severe” drop in revenue from last year along with an increase in expenses. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The first majority-Republican Red Bank budget in a generation is set to make its debut this week, and it comes with a likely tax hike.

While officials are hopeful they can trim the increase, the draft budget shows a 5.5-percent jump in the municipal levy, or roughly $115 a year for the owner of a residential property assessed at the average $354,497, Councilwoman Linda Schwabenbauer tells redbankgreen.

One way to soften the impact, she said, is to extend the hours for which parking fees are collected.

April 11, 2016 - 7:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CRUSHING IT DOWNTOWN

New to the Red Bank business district: solar-powered trash compactors paired with recycling bins, which RiverCenter executive director Jim Scavone says should help reduce spillage by holding five times the volume of standard containers. They also alert the borough when they’re full, he said.

The bins are or will soon be in four locations, said Scavone: on Broad Street outside Urban Outfitters and Starbucks; on Monmouth Street at the Count Basie Theatre; and outside West Elm on West Front Street. RiverCenter and the borough government splt the cost of the devices, which go for about $6,000 per set, Scavone said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

October 19, 2015 - 6:59 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: SWITCH ADDS COLLECTION DAYS

With the switch to private cartage last week, all homes in Red Bank have now had at least one pickup by DeLisa Demolition of Tinton Falls, which won a three-year, $1.49 million contract for collection of trash, recyclables and household bulk waste last month.

The change, borough officials said in advance, would have been all but unnoticed by residents. But there’s a perk or two, including — as some perplexed residents may have noticed on Labor Day — holiday pickups.

September 8, 2015 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: TRASH PICKUP TO GO PRIVATE

Two of the borough’s four garbage trucks will be sold, and the other two kept for leaf and snow removal, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank is getting out of the garbage business.

By a 4-0 vote at a special, single-issue meeting Monday night, the borough council approved a three-year, $1.49 million contract for collection of trash, recyclables and household bulk waste with a private hauler, Delisa Demolition of Tinton Falls.

But the change, effective September 1, will be all but unnoticeable to residents and small-business owners, town officials said. And it should generate “significant” savings, they contend.

August 18, 2015 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP NEARS

No borough employees will lose jobs or benefits in the switch, Mayor Pasquale Menna said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The end of public-sector trash collection in Red Bank could come as soon as September 1, under the terms of a contract that the borough council body discussed in private Wednesday night.

Still not quite at the end of a process it began 18 months ago, the council scheduled a special meeting for next Monday night solely to vote on the deal.

August 13, 2015 - 10:24 am | Comments ()

RED BANK READY FOR STORM, SAYS DPU HEAD

Plows will roll out of the borough DPU yard on Chestnut Street starting at about 3 a.m. Thursday, says a borough official. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

As recently as Tuesday morning, “we were begging for salt,” Red Bank utilities head Gary Watson tells redbankgreen.

But by the end of the day, his department obtained a load of salt – just enough, Watson expects, to get the town through the snowstorm forecast for Wednesday night into Thursday, when 6 to 10 inches are expected to fall.

“We’re OK for this event,” Watson said Wednesday afternoon, moments after wrapping a meeting at which plowing assignments were given out.

March 4, 2015 - 3:06 pm | Comments ()

RUMSON: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP PLANNED

A municipal trash crew at work on Forrest Avenue last week. Below, Mayor John Ekdahl says the timing is good for privatization. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Four years after a proposal to privatize Rumson’s trash pickup got trashed by residents, the borough is trying again. And this time around, Mayor John Ekdahl is getting no flak, he says.

The main reason, he said, is that the latest plan, unveiled at the borough government reorganization on January 1, won’t have any adverse impact on jobs.

January 28, 2015 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: PARKING REPORT UNDER WRAPS

Town officials have yet to disclose the recommendations of a consultant on what to do with the White Street lot. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

A document that could lay the conceptual groundwork for a new parking garage in downtown Red Bank remains under wraps.

Delivered last month, the roughly 100-page report, by the civil engineering firm CME Associates, offers recommendations on how the town should leverage an asset: its 2.3-acre White Street municipal lot, according to Mayor Pasquale Menna.

January 15, 2015 - 7:42 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP ON HOLD

The Menna administration will rewrite bid specs and try again, officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The Red Bank council voted Wednesday night to reject bids submitted by waste haulers aiming to take over garbage pickup for the town’s residents.

Citing inadequate savings, officials said they would rewrite bid specifications for the privatization of trash collection to include a provision that a successful bidder hire the town’s affected solid-waste employees.

The delay sparked sparked an extended and sometimes heated exchange among Republican council candidate Sean Di Somma, borough Administrator Stanley Sickels and two councilmen over what Di Somma called “foot-dragging” on an issue he believes could save taxpayers money.

October 9, 2014 - 12:16 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP WEIGHED

The impact of a switch on jobs will be considered, borough officials said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Bids are in, and Red Bank officials will now turn their attention to the question of whether it makes financial sense for the borough to get out of the garbage pickup business, Councilman Mike DuPont said Wednesday night.

Officials said five cartage companies submitted bids late last month in a process authorized by the council last February. The governing body’s finance committee, which DuPont heads, will now evaluate the bids “to see if we can get savings” from a switch to private cartage, he said.

September 11, 2014 - 7:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: TRASH PICKUP MAY GO PRIVATE

Trash pickups by borough employees could end this year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank residents could see the end of local government trash pickups this year.

In a move that contemplates a switch to private cartage, the borough council authorized a solicitation of bids for garbage and recyclables collection and disposal at its bimonthly meeting Wednesday night.

The vote on the measure was 5 to 1, with Councilwoman Juanita Lewis dissenting.

February 14, 2014 - 7:56 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PARKING GARAGE BACK ON AGENDA

The borough plans to hire a consultant to advise it on how to get a garage built, most likely on the site of the White Street municipal lot, says Mayor Menna. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The odds that a new parking garage might be built in downtown Red Bank rose Wednesday night.

The borough council is expected to have specifications ready for approval in two weeks for the hiring of a parking consultant, Mayor Pasquale Menna said in limited comments on the topic during the bimonthly council meeting.

February 13, 2014 - 10:57 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: REMOVING ‘CRAP’ LEFT BY OTHERS

Boris Kofman, above, and Michael Paul Raspanti, below, during Saturday’s riverfront cleanup on Red Bank’s West Side. (Photos by Wil Fulton, above, and Sarah Klepner. Click to enlarge)

By SARAH KLEPNER

Duane Bowker stood in the wooded area above the Swimming River in Red Bank and pointed.

“Some roofer, this is his favorite place to throw his crap and drink beer,” he said. “Over here is a plumber’s favorite place to throw his crap.”

The occasion was Saturday’s cleanup effort by members of the borough Environmental Commission and the environmental nonprofit Clean Ocean Action. They teamed up to tackle a riverbank full of tires and construction debris at the western end of Drs. James Parker Boulevard.

April 30, 2013 - 7:01 am | Comments ()

SECOND ‘MOUNTAIN’ PILES UP MEMORIES

A passerby eyes debris in the Anchorage Beach parking lot, above, while a mountain of it dominates the former Peninsula House lot, below. (Photo by Wil Fulton. Click to enlarge)

By WIL FULTON

Mount Sandy, meet Mount Refuse.

Though smaller in stature, the mountain of debris occupying in Sea Bright’s old Peninsula House parking lot on Ocean Avenue is just as scene-stealing and ominous as its sand counterpart, located just a stones throw away. This ever-growing pile, however, wont have onlookers climbing it or posing for closeups anytime soon.

The refuse is the accumulated result of curbside trash pickups in this Hurricane Sandy-smashed town, where residents and business owners are early on in a restoration effort.

It stands, however briefly, as a jarring, visceral reminder of the storm’s reach over porches, through doors and windows, and into rooms and closets.

December 10, 2012 - 7:59 am | Comments ()

VOLUNTEERING: TWO RIVER CLEANUPS SLATED

Our beautiful Navesink, as seen from Marine Park in Red Bank Wednesday evening. (Photo by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

This weekend, area residents will take to the water as part of two individual cleanup events in an effort to keep the Navesink River beautiful and litter-free.

Those who are proud to call Red Bank and Rumson home based on the rivers picturesque expanse are asked to give a couple hours worth of time and exertion in order to protect it.

Both events are rain or shine, except in the case of thunder and lightning. All volunteers must wear closed-toed shoes; unlike a beach cleanup, volunteers may have to walk through bushes and shallow parts of the river to retrieve garbage.

Read More »

June 7, 2012 - 1:26 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN COUNCIL WRAP-UP

The Fair Haven council held its annual meeting in front of Knollwood School students Monday. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

For the second straight year, the Fair Haven council moved its end-of-year meeting out of the basement of borough hall and into the library at Knollwood School to give students a chance to find out how local government works.

Few topics were untouched. More than a dozen students asked about the construction on River Road, leaf collection and speeding problems in town, while getting explanations on the nuances of a government, like the difference between a resolution and an ordinance.

December 14, 2010 - 2:40 pm | Comments ()

A ROOM FULL OF GARBAGE IDEAS

A public works employee picks up recycling in Rumson last week. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

If you ask the residents who filled borough hall Tuesday night, there are plenty of ways to keep Rumson’s half-dozen trash collectors employed in the face of tight budgets.

Make cuts across every department, hold annual fundraisers, reduce collections to once a week, work out a deal to pick up trash in Fair Haven, which plans to outsource its collection.

Or, instead of soliciting bids to demolish the old police headquarters, sell the property as-is and use the money to bankroll public works, said “Uncle” Bob Fazzone.

“Then you get the $200,000 for the boys,” he said.

The input residents gave the council will be part of the borough’s research on whether to privatize its garbage collection, a move that’s anticipated to save between $200,00 and $350,000 a year, Council President Shaun Broderick said.

October 27, 2010 - 5:53 am | Comments ()

LOOKING FOR SAVINGS IN GARBAGE

Fair Haven and Rumson are looking into privatizing its garbage pickup. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

Fair Haven and Rumson are looking at ways to save money, starting with the trash.

And in one town, the savings would cost jobs.

October 13, 2010 - 1:25 pm | Comments ()

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Red Bank Green

Serving Red Bank and Greater Red Bank, NJ

RED BANK: DPU UPDATES PICKUP SCHEDULES

ON THE GREEN: NEW RECYCLING RULES

ON THE GREEN: THAW ENDS LONG COLD SNAP

ON THE GREEN: DEEP FREEZE FOLLOWS STORM

RED BANK: FIRST SNOW OF 2018 BLOWS IN

RED BANK: TAXPAYER BUDGET Q&A SLATED

RED BANK: PARKING IDEA SPUTTERS

RED BANK: GOP DRAFT BUDGET HAS TAXES UP

RED BANK: CRUSHING IT DOWNTOWN

RED BANK: SWITCH ADDS COLLECTION DAYS

RED BANK: TRASH PICKUP TO GO PRIVATE

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP NEARS

RED BANK READY FOR STORM, SAYS DPU HEAD

RUMSON: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP PLANNED

RED BANK: PARKING REPORT UNDER WRAPS

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP ON HOLD

RED BANK: PRIVATE TRASH PICKUP WEIGHED

RED BANK: TRASH PICKUP MAY GO PRIVATE

RED BANK: PARKING GARAGE BACK ON AGENDA

RED BANK: REMOVING ‘CRAP’ LEFT BY OTHERS

SECOND ‘MOUNTAIN’ PILES UP MEMORIES

VOLUNTEERING: TWO RIVER CLEANUPS SLATED

FAIR HAVEN COUNCIL WRAP-UP

A ROOM FULL OF GARBAGE IDEAS

LOOKING FOR SAVINGS IN GARBAGE