Area NAACP president William Poku addressing Councilmembers John Jackson, Michael Ballard and Ed Zippich during the special session. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Controversy over an ordinance restricting short-term residential rentals such as Airbnbs in Red Bank continued at a special hearing Friday morning on whether to override Mayor Billy Portman‘s veto of the law.
An illustration from the Master Plan section on affordable housing. (Image by BFJ Planning. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Concluding a 14-month process, the Red Bank planning board adopted the borough’s first new Master Plan in 28 years Monday night.
The unanimous vote followed spirited debate about whether the many recommendations in the 166-page document should be prioritized for council action.
Piero Vescio swears the oath as a policeman as his father, Lieutenant Errico Vescio, watches with other family members. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Here are some highlights from last week’s Red Bank council meeting.
The porch and yards surrounding 90 Bank Street are crammed with items and vehicles that the owner calls “assets.” (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Nine months after Red Bank’s most prominent residential shithole was in a media spotlight, the situation just keeps getting worse, neighbors say.
Now, after years of litigation over summonses, the borough is going after the owners in civil court, hoping to win an order allowing the town to remove all the junk at their expense.
The front yard of a vacant house at 98 East Front Street is overgrown with weeds. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank is cracking down on property-based quality-of-life issues, borough officials said last week.
Word of a ramp-up of code enforcement — including foot patrols — for matters like unmowed lawns and rubbish came in response to a complaint that some residents have been threatened with fines for minor infractions.
Instead of taking their usual places on the dais, the mayor and council members sat around a large conference table for the meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank council’s first-ever workshop-only meeting proved to be a marathon of matters large and small Wednesday night.
Among the topics discussed at the three-and-a-half-hour session: ways to “deal with the issue” of vehicles parked indefinitely outside the home of an unspecified Bank Street resident, though it was widely understood who that was.
An undated drone shot shows the collection of vehicles and trash in Poku’s backyard. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The owner of a Red Bank residential property packed with rusting vehicles and other junk told a TV news program on Tuesday that he’s a victim of racial prejudice.
William Poku, whose property was the subject of a report by redbankgreen earlier in the day, also denied that he’s hoarding junk.
Clutter fills the front porch at 90 Bank Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The house at 90 Bank Street in Red Bank has been vexing neighbors for years.
It’s surrounded on three sides by a massing of cars, trucks and hard-to-discern clutter. The porch, with collapsing rain gutters, appears to groan under the weight of piled boxes. And the mess continues in the street out front, where neighbors say rusting vehicles have sat for years.