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: COUNCIL VOWS HPC RESTART
Historic Preservation Commission attorney Michele Donato addressing the council Thursday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission will be reconstituted, Mayor Billy Portman and other council members informally agreed Thursday night.
But the council will first have to adopt design standards to establish which types of renovation work require HPC perusal and which can be fast-tracked, Portman said.
RED BANK: PRESERVATION PANEL ON AGENDA
Historic Preservation Commission attorney Michele Donato, left, with Chairman Chris Fabricant in March. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The future of Red Bank’s Historic Preservation Commission may come into focus when the borough council meets Thursday night.
Also on the agenda: proposed height limits on new construction along the Navesink River waterfront, and the settlement of a lawsuit over a parking lot issue. More →
RED BANK: ‘CLINICIAN’ ON COUNCIL AGENDA
A resolution calls for using grant money to pay for a police department social worker. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
An idea “spitballed” at the new Red Bank council’s first business session last month is up for adoption Thursday night: adding a “clinician” to the police department.
Here’s a quick overview of the agenda.
RED BANK: PARKS AND MORE ON AGENDA
An update on plans for Marine Park is on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The agenda for the Red Bank council session Thursday night includes a presentation on the status of planned changes at the Marine Park.
It also includes minutes of the most recent session, which for the first time, are available for public review prior to formal acceptance.
RED BANK: NOVEMBER ELECTIONS ADVANCE
Municipal elections would revert to a November schedule if approved by the council later this month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two months after their victory in the May 9 election, Red Bank’s new mayor and council moved to restore future elections to November Thursday night.
At its first regular meeting, the freshly reorganized government also “spitballed” a suggestion to add a social worker to the police department.
RED BANK: LOTTERY SETS NEW COUNCIL TERMS
Councilwoman and Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano at Thursday’s meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two key drivers of the overhaul of Red Bank’s government that began this week will get to serve on the borough council for four years, following a lottery held Thursday night.
Councilmembers Kate Triggiano and Nancy Facey-Blackwood drew terms twice as long as their four council colleagues.
RED BANK: CANNON TO RETURN AS ATTORNEY
Attorney Greg Cannon at Red Bank borough hall in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
One year after he was unceremoniously dumped as Red Bank’s borough attorney, Greg Cannon appears set to regain the influential post Thursday night.
That’s when the newly reconstituted government led by Mayor Billy Portman is scheduled to get down to business at a special meeting to kick off the “council-manager” era.
RED BANK: SPRING STREET FLIP RETURNS
Vehicle parking would be allowed only on the east side of Spring Street for several blocks if the proposed change passes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to flip parking from one side of Spring Street to the other returns when the Red Bank council holds its semimonthly meeting Wednesday night.
Also on the agenda: a new four-way traffic stop, an expansion of a lead-pipe replacement program, and the installation of a $4-per-transaction automated teller machine in borough hall.
RED BANK: POSSIBLE GRENADE FOUND IN SEWER
A member of the State Police bomb squad emerging from a Red Bank storm sewer with a possible hand grenade Tuesday afternoon.
RED BANK: WEEKLONG DETOUR FOR WATER JOB
Avoid it if you can: access to a busy Red Bank intersection will be shut down for a week starting early Monday morning.
RED BANK: POT, BUDGET & MORE ON AGENDA
Responding to public pressure, the council plans to create a four-way stop at the intersection of Leighton Avenue and Drs. James Parker Boulevard. (Google Maps image. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
On the Red Bank mayor and council’s agenda for Wednesday night: new hurdles for licensing of cannabis businesses; the 2023 budget; a new four-way traffic intersection and more.
RED BANK: WEST SIDE LEAD PIPE PLAN OK’D
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.
RED BANK: EXPECT CHLORINE-Y SMELL IN WATER
Red Bank residents and businesses may smell chlorine in water from their taps starting next week.
There’s no need for alarm, the borough government said in an announcement Tuesday.
RED BANK: DPU HEAD OUSTED
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.
SHREWSBURY: MAIN BREAK PROMPTS DETOURS
A water main break was slowing traffic at a primary entry point to Red Bank Tuesday morning.
SEE UPDATE BELOW
RED BANK: DEBT, COMMITTEE NAME ON AGENDA
Financing for the Broad Street sewer project completed in July is on the agenda. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Capital financing and tweaks to the name and purposes of a committee stand out on a light agenda when the Red Bank council meets for a regular semimonthly session Wednesday night.
RED BANK: YOUR CAPTION HERE…
What’s Going On Here at East Front and High streets in Red Bank?
Read on for the answer… or make up your own photo caption.
RED BANK: RAILFANS SAVOR FREIGHT CHANGE
Railfan Donny Fortunato videorecords as a freight engine crosses Drs. Parker Boulevard on August 26. (Video by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Once or twice a week in recent months, commuters stuck at a rail crossing in Red Bank might have seen something that struck them as odd: small clusters of camera-wielding observers savoring the movements of a giant freight engine.
LITTLE SILVER: RIDGE ROAD OAKS CUT DOWN
Seventeen oak trees on Ridge Road in Little Silver were cut down this week by a contractor for Monmouth County.
RED BANK: LAWN-WATERING RESTRICTED
A Red Bank man watering his lawn during a light rain in July, 2013. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Amid the hottest stretch of weather so far this summer, Red Bank’s water supplier has instituted a water conservation restriction.
New Jersey American Water Company, which supplies borough users for half the year, issued a mandatory odd/even lawn-watering and outdoor water-use schedule Thursday.
RED BANK: ZIPPRICH LEADS ATTORNEY FIRING
Attorney Greg Cannon at borough hall last November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
It was another night of political fireworks, this time punctuated by Cannon fire, as the Red Bank council terminated borough attorney Greg Cannon without explanation Wednesday night.
The abrupt action created a vacancy Mayor Pasquale Menna angrily refused to fill when Councilman Ed Zipprich nominated a lawyer who recently “exonerated” him of impropriety.
RED BANK: SINKHOLE OPENS ON BROAD
A sinkhole opened on Broad Street in downtown Red Bank Monday night, caused a parked vehicle to sink about a foot.
RED BANK: ZIPPRICH DERIDES ‘SMEAR’ WAR
Councilman Ed Zipprich, right, with then-Councilman Erik Yngstrom at a workshop session in March, 2020. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich has been “exonerated” after a two-year “smear campaign” meant to “dehumanize” him, he said in a statement to redbankgreen Thursday.
Zipprich’s statement came in response to special attorney’s finding that he did not “interfere” in the award of a trash collection contract two years ago.
RED BANK: ZIPPRICH CONDUCT ‘NOT UNLAWFUL’
Councilman Ed Zipprich, right, with Councilman Michael Ballard in February. (Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Ed Zipprich did not “interfere” in the award of a trash collection contract two years ago, according to an unreleased report obtained by redbankgreen.
Special attorney Scott Salmon’s report also says “there is evidence to suggest” that former business administrator Ziad Shehady was the the anonymous source of internal emails about Zipprich that were leaked to redbankgreen.