RED BANK: BRUSH PICKUP REMINDER
With summer 2023 nearing its end, Red Bank’s public utilities department is reminding residents that there are only two remaining brush pickups scheduled for the year. More →
RED BANK: WHAT’S ON AGENDA… AND NOT
Councilman Ed Zipprich in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Missing from the agenda for the Red Bank council session scheduled for Wednesday night: clashing demands for investigations.
But the probes – one focused on the source of an email leak, and the other on alleged conduct exposed by the emails – may still get an airing.
Here’s a look-ahead at the agenda for the session.
RED BANK: DELISA TO GET ‘EMERGENCY’ PACT
DeLisa Demolition would continue to pick up waste and recycling under an interim contract that boosts its existing rate by $10,000 per month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials will be asked to authorize an “emergency” trash contract this week after no bids were received for a longterm pact, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: PROBE, METERS & MORE ON AGENDA
A leak of emails, including correspondence between Councilman Ed Zipprich and a prospective bidder for the trash contract, is the subject of an investigation. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich will get the investigation into a leak of emails he requested earlier this month.
Approval of the probe, as well as final adoption of the 2020 budget; extended hours of parking meter enforcement; and a half-dozen police department promotions are all on the council’s busy agenda for Wednesday night.
RED BANK: ZIPPRICH ASKS FOR LEAK PROBE
Councilman Ed Zipprich, left, at a press conference held by Governor Phil Murphy at Riverview Medical Center in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich said he has asked for an investigation into a leak of emails in which Business Administrator Ziad Shehady suggested Zipprich was out to “sabotage” the bidding for a new trash hauling contract.
Separately, friction between Shehady and Councilman Michael Ballard flared up again at the council’s workshop meeting Wednesday.
RED BANK: ‘SABOTAGE’ OF TRASH BID ALLEGED
DeLisa Demolition won the borough’s trash contract, now up for rebid, in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Business Administrator Ziad Shehady has asked elected officials to discuss, in private, what he calls an effort by a council member to “sabotage” the process of awarding a new trash-hauling contract, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: TIME TO TALK TRASH… & RECYCLING
With its first private trash contract winding down, Red Bank residents have an opportunity to weigh in on pickup frequency.
RED BANK: TALKING TRASH, AND RECYCLING
The borough switched to private garbage pickup in 2015. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Five years after Red Bank privatized trash and recycling pickup, residents and business owners will soon be asked: how’s that working out for you?
More particularly, they’ll be asked how quickly their garbage cans and recycling bins fill up.
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.)
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.
RED BANK: EATERIES SPOTLIGHT STRAWS
Kitch Organic on Leighton Avenue, above, is one of eight Red Bank restaurants participating in a monthlong effort to reduce the number of plastic drinking straws that don’t make it into the recycling stream.
RED BANK: WEEKLY BULK PICKUPS OK’D
Residents will now be able to put their bulk waste out with regular household trash once a week. But there are rules. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank residents will no longer have to wait weeks — or the entire winter — for so-called bulk waste pickup days.
Under a change approved by the borough council Monday night, those old mattresses, sofas and other large items can go to the curb once a week, rather than once a month between April and November.
RED BANK: BULK PICKUPS MAY GO WEEKLY
Mountains of household waste, like this one seen on Bridge Avenue in 2011, may become less common in Red Bank soon.
The borough council, having privatized regular trash pickup two months ago, is now considering a change under which contractor DeLisa Demolition of Tinton Falls would pick up bulk waste on the second collection day of each week, all year long, rather than once a month between April and November.
Officials expect to introduce an ordinance amendment enabling a change to the contract with DeLisa at council meeting scheduled for Monday, November 23. The change won’t increase the borough’s costs, said Administrator Stanley Sickels. “It’s more convenient for residents, and less unsightly,” he said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
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)
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.
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.
SPRING BLOOMS IN BULK ON WEST SIDE
Mountains of household waste line Bridge Avenue, above, and Shrewsbury Avenue, below, as seasonal bulk waste pickups resumed in Red Bank Thursday morning. (Click to enlarge)
Ah, the smell of newly mown grass, fresh flowers and soggy, basement-fermented mattresses.
Yes, if it’s the second Thursday in April, it must be the surest sign of spring in Red Bank: the return of bulk waste pickups.
STACK MAY COME DOWN MONDAY
Plans for the demolition of Red Bank’s idle incinerator stack are moving ahead, with work expected to begin as early as Monday, borough engineer Christine Ballard tells redbankgreen.
In a press release issued today, Ballard says the 100-foot-tall brick smokestack at the western end of Sunset Avenue is part of a hazardous discharge site remediation leading, possibly, to the creation of a park on the 8.5-acre property.
In addition, the receipt of some $511,000 in grants for the takedown and ground testing afterward means that the project can move ahead “without overly burdening taxpayers.”
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