Eighty percent of Red Bank properties have an unknown type of water service line, according to ENGenuity. (Image by ENGenuity. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s West Side streets will soon be abuzz with street-opening backhoes as as the borough embarks on a massive, decade-long effort to identify and replace lead water lines.
A map showing the properties where the DEP plans to do soil testing and remediation. An added arrow indicates the community garden lot. (DEP map. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Homes near Red Bank’s community garden may require heavy excavation work to remove lead-contaminated soil, New Jersey environmental officials told residents Tuesday night.
The Marion Street garden was shut down in 2019 after a private report of possible lead contamination. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is scheduled to update Red Bank residents Tuesday night on its investigation into a report of soil contamination at the borough’s community garden.
A revived Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale raised $700 for the Red Bank Public Library Saturday.
It also and gave sellers and freecyclers a means of getting household goods into new hands.
Among them was Monique McSorley, who moved to River Street with husband, Brad, and their son, James, in June, bringing boxfuls of toys they kept so they might get them into the hands of other children, she said.
“We’re just so glad the town is doing this,” she said.
Above, scenes from Harrison Avenue, top, and River Road. More photos from around town are below. (Photos by Trish Russoniello and John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
After five three years in some dark corner, the tarps come off the Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale Saturday.
With 62 (and counting) sellers participating and a weather forecast of sunny skies, it’s looking to be a bonanza for buyers and sellers alike.
After five years of gathering dust, the Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale returns in September.
Kurt Poehler at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market in May, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The farmer who trigged a backlash over disposed produce at the Red Bank Farmer’s Market Sunday defended the practice as a normal result of sorting Wednesday.
In addition, an organization that puts surplus produce into the hands of those who need it backed him for donating carloads of fruit and vegetables weekly, including Sunday.
Customers of the Red Bank Farmer’s Market were alarmed to see good produce tossed into a dumpster Sunday.
Stashed away in the back of a garage for the past four years, the Red Bank Townwide Yard Sale may get a dusting-off in September.
A truck preparing to back into the brush-grinding site as a child rode a bike nearby last May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A brush-grinding facility that has irked Fair Haven neighbors for nearly a decade will see a 60-plus percent reduction in activity under a plan officials unveiled Monday night.
But one council member pressed for a permanent solution: moving it out of the residential area.
By JOHN T. WARD
A messy dispute between Red Bank neighbors is headed to mediation.
At issue is a citizen’s complaint by Bank Street homeowner Lycet Ramos, whose doorbell security video caught two-time council candidate Allison Gregory and her husband, Mark Gregory, dumping trash in her driveway last month.
The Grandville Towers pool remained closed throughout the summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After months of hearings, Red Bank’s rent leveling board ruled Thursday night that four tenants at Grandville Towers were entitled to money for being deprived access to the swimming pool this summer.
The judgment? A one-time rent credit of $33, plus $3.96 for missed use of the gym at the 91-unit highrise.
Mark and Allison Gregory dumping trash in Lycet Ramos’ driveway on October 4. (Lycet Ramos video. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A dispute between Red Bank neighbors has gotten messy.
Two-time council candidate Allison Gregory and her husband, Mark Gregory, are facing harassment and other allegations filed by their next-door neighbor after the couple dumped trash in her driveway earlier this month – and were caught in the act on video.
Ricardo Paz with Liz Schuber and restaurateur Danny Murphy outside Danny’s Steakhouse Tuesday, and below, in Fair Haven in July. (redbankgreen photos. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank landscaper who hauls his equipment around in a trailer attached to his bicycle needed a new set of wheels.
And thanks to a fund drive set up by a stranger, Ricardo Paz now has $3,600 to buy one. But because there’s been a run on bikes triggered by the pandemic, Paz hasn’t been able to find a bike sturdy enough to accommodate his trailer, which carries more than 300 pounds of gear.
So last month, Paz –yes – started pushing his gear to his clients’ homes.
Use of the triangular lot on Rumson Place near Broad Street raised concerns for neighbors. (Photo from Google Maps. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Little Silver planning board on Thursday gave a green light for a local landscaper to use an odd lot with tricky access to store his vehicles overnight.
The Grandville Towers pool remained closed throughout the summer. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After three hearings, a partial verdict is in: tenants at Red Bank’s Grandville Towers received “reduced service” when the swimming pool didn’t open this summer.
Up next: the borough rent leveling board tackles the question of what that means in rent to be refunded, if anything.
Thirteen months after it was abruptly closed over contamination concerns, Red Bank’s only community garden heads into autumn with a crop of periodically mown grass.
But what happened to the neighborhood soil testing that was supposed to be conducted? And will the garden reopen?
redbankgreen’s What’s Going On Here? has an update.
Ricardo Paz, a Red Bank landscaper who hauls his equipment around in a trailer attached to his bike, needs a new set of wheels. So friends have set up a Go Fund Me account to help him buy one.
For more about this hard-pedaling father of four, check out Brian Donohue’s ‘Positively Jersey’ video feature. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
The Grandville Towers pool has not opened all summer. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Thursday’s meeting of the Red Bank rent leveling board included a sharp disagreement over whether capital improvements to an apartment building’s pool enhanced the property’s value.
After four weeks as a pandemic-era drive-thru, the Red Bank Farmer’s Market plans to resume walk-thru shopping Sunday, its operators announced Tuesday.
Escorted to the transfer site by police, an 18-wheeler needed more than five minutes of maneuvering to back into the tight space last Friday. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A brush-grinding and transfer station tucked into a leafy Fair Haven neighborhood has got to go, neighbors say.
Though Fair Haven officials have touted the operation for years as a model of interlocal sharing and an environmental boon, residents call it a “monstrosity” of noise, dust and dangerous truck traffic.
The Red Bank Farmer’s Market reopened Sunday, with some changes to limit the spread of the virus that causes COVID-19.
The foremost modification: the market is now temporarily a drive-thru only, with customers encouraged to pre-order their purchases.
Kurt Poehler, above, and his crew from Spring House Farms were ready with arrays of colorful fruits and vegetables.
Store owner Harvey Shooman speaking with customers Tuesday morning. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Testing the waters in the COVID-19 era, Fair Haven Hardware reopened for business Tuesday morning – with some new rules for employees and customers to observe.
“We don’t know how this is going to work out,” co-owner Harvey Schooman told redbankgreen. “So we’ll see how it goes.”
The popular Red Bank Farmer’s Market will be back sooner than expected, redbankgreen has learned.
Unfortunately, shoppers won’t be allowed out of their cars to squeeze, sniff and taste until the COVID-19 pandemic is no longer considered a threat.
What’s Going On Here? Read on.
Mother’s Day is still five weeks away, but this year’s edition won’t be accompanied by the customary opening of the Red Bank Farmer’s Market.
George Sourlis, whose family-owned Galleria of Red Bank hosts the popular Sunday market, tells redbankgreen that this year’s start has been indefinitely postponed by the COVID-19 crisis. It will open once the pandemic has passed, he said.
The seasonal farmstand typically runs through November. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)