Evelina and Ennio Menna at Red Bank borough hall in January, 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ennio Menna, father of former Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna, died at Riverview Medical Center Friday. He was 94 years old.
As part of a road repaving project, a crew began removing nine trees along South Street in Red Bank amid complaints from residents Wednesday morning.
redbankgreen plans to follow up with a story. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Dozens of residents of the Greater Red Bank Green died in the horrific attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Red Bankers and others will gather at Riverside Gardens Park at 9:30 a.m. Monday to remember those who lost their lives, their families and friends.
Captain Mike Frazee, left, at an incident with Chief Darren McConnell (back to camera) in April. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank-born-and-raised police Captain Mike Frazee will become the borough’s next police chief, succeeding Darren McConnell, Mayor Billy Portman announced Thursday night.
The handoff, however, will be delayed “several weeks” as McConnell’s retirement, previously expected to occur next week, has been postponed, McConnell said.
Tom Chesek in Asbury Park in 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Tom Chesek, an arts-and-entertainment writer who for decades trained a spotlight on otherwise unheralded musicians, playwrights, visual artists and other creators on the Greater Red Bank Green, died at home in Asbury Park Tuesday night. He was 64 years old.
Among countless freelance gigs, he was a longtime writer for redbankgreen.
Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell on Broad Street after the Red Bank Classic 5K Saturday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Darren McConnell, Red Bank’s police chief and interim administrator, plans to retire next month, he told redbankgreen Saturday.
McConnell’s exit means the incoming mayor and council will now have to fill the top two administrative jobs at borough hall while implementing a new “council-manager” form of government approved in a voter referendum last November.
And there’s an outside chance McConnell could return as the manager.
Inspired by “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood,” Red Bank resident and TV News12 reporter Brian Donohue has kicked off a series in which he hopes to become better acquainted with people who live and work near his Bank Street home.
Carl Colmorgen, a Red Bank school crossing guard who for many years delighted kids and motorists with colorful holiday headwear, died Tuesday. He was 81 years old.
Cliff Keen on Broad Street last June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
At its first working session of 2023, the Red Bank council fired public utilities director Cliff Keen Wednesday night.
Unmentioned at the meeting: he was replaced on an interim basis, at a cost of $16,500 per month, by Gary Watson Sr., whom Keen succeeded in 2016.
Former Councilwoman Kathy Horgan at home in December, above, and on the night of her first council win, in 2007, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
What’s a 77-year-old former Red Bank councilwoman to do when her political career ends and she’s suddenly got loads more free time?
Go back to college, maybe. That’s one item on Kathy Horgan‘s bucket list, she told redbankgreen.
Wayne Hartman at the start of his last stint as fire chief in 2019. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Just three years after he concluded his last term, Wayne Hartman is slated to return as chief of the Red Bank’s fire department next week.
This will be his third time heading the all-volunteer department.
Mayor Pasquale Menna reading ridiculously low room rates from an old Molly Pitcher Inn matchbook. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Mayor Pasquale Menna presided over his final Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night, closing out a political career unmatched for duration in borough history.
His successor will have to wait an extra four days to take up the reins of a form of government that’s also slated for retirement.
Ok, we could be dead wrong about this, but it seems to us at redbankgreen that there may be an entertainment superstar who enjoyed Red Bank’s Halloween Parade and was able to blend into the crowd in costume.
Charlie Puth with Count Basie Center president and CEO Adam Philipson at the kickoff of Puth’s ‘One Night Only’ tour in Red Bank Sunday night.
Press release
Pop music star Charlie Puth has been named honorary chair of the Count Basie Center for the Arts‘ ‘Forever For Everyone’ endowment campaign, the Red Bank venue announced Sunday.
The aim of the drive is to raise $20 million to fund hundreds of scholarships in perpetuity for students interested in studying the performing arts at the Count Basie Center Academy, the nonprofit organization said in an announcement.
A motorcade transporting President Joe Biden briefly passed through Red Bank Thursday afternoon, serenaded by employees of a nearby restaurant.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, left, with First Lady Tammy Murphy and Governor Phil Murphy in Red Bank in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Contrary to a TV news report, President Joe Biden is not scheduled to stop in Red Bank Thursday, according to Mayor Pasquale Menna.
Instead, as previously reported, Biden will visit the Middletown home of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy for a fundraiser, Menna told redbankgreen Wednesday.
Menna, however, was not invited.
Phil Murphy’s mansion on the Navesink River, as seen in June, 2021. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit the Red Bank area Thursday with a stop at the Middletown home of New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, according to NJ Advance Media. More →
A screen grab from the first edition of the borough’s new newsletter. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With the recent launch of newsletters, Red Bank residents have two additional ways to keep abreast of civic events and downtown goings-on.
Dozens of residents of the Greater Red Bank area died in the horrific attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Let’s not forget those who died, and the families and friends left with holes in their hearts. For information about local commemorations, click here.
If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a financial supporter for as little as $1 per month. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
The mayor and council meet at borough hall for their first in-person session in 26 months Wednesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A budget for 2022 is on the agenda when the Red Bank mayor and council hold their first in-person meeting since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Wednesday night.
The session is also the first to simultaneously employ technology allowing participation from home.
Laura Reinertsen in her office at Red Bank borough hall last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Having begun her career in a town so small that she sometimes had to fill in as a bus driver, Red Bank’s new borough clerk, Laura Reinertsen knows what it means to wear multiple hats.
It’s an experience that informs her approach to her job, she told redbankgreen last week.
“I kind of veer out of my lane just to keep things moving,” she said.
A Red Bank police officer helped two families escape from a fire in their attached homes in Middletown last week.
Sergeant Heather Kovar (right) was driving in the township on police business shortly after noon Friday when she noticed gray smoke rising behind a fence alongside what appeared to be a single-family house at 81 Twin Brooks Avenue.
Freddie Boynton, in blue shirt, looks on as Mayor Pasquale Menna unveils a plaque honoring him at Johnny Jazz Park. (Photo above by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A two-time Golden Gloves champ, Freddie Boynton didn’t quit fighting after his professional boxing career ended in the 1980s.
Instead, he got into a truck, and found ways to fight for his neighbors on Red Bank’s West Side.
A screen grab from Wednesday’s council meeting. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s mayor and the so-far only contender for his job squared off Wednesday night at yet another contentious borough council meeting.
Mayor Pasquale Menna, left, and Councilman Michael Ballard, right, squared off over the proposed clerk’s salary. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council put off hiring a new borough clerk over salary issues Wednesday night.
During the governing body’s monthly workshop session, Councilman Michael Ballard, a contender to displace Pasquale Menna as mayor, accused Menna of playing “Monday night quarterback” for raising concerns late in the process.