RED BANK: RIVERVIEW DROPS MASK MANDATE
Reversing a policy revived a month ago, Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center has dropped a mandate for mask-wearing to impede the spread of COVID-19, according to a published report.
RED BANK: BROAD REOPENS TO TRAFFIC
After a four-and-a-half-month closure, the northern blocks of Broad Street in downtown Red Bank were reopened to vehicular traffic Monday.
RED BANK: RIVERVIEW REMANDATES MASKS
Red Bank’s Riverview Medical Center has revived its pandemic-era mask mandate for all staff and visitors “due to an increase in COVID-19 prevalence,” its owner announced Wednesday.
RED BANK: BROADWALK BOLLARDS GO BIG
Red Bank officials this week began to address one of the foremost complaints about the downtown Broadwalk zone: the presence of “ugly” orange safety barrels used to supplement steel bollards installed last year.
RED BANK: SIX-MONTH BROADWALK ON HOLD
RiverCenter’s proposal includes plans to boost weekday activity in the Broadwalk zone. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A six-month season for Red Bank’s Broadwalk dining plaza would feature enhanced efforts to boost weekday visitors and battle litter, a business representative told the borough council Wednesday night.
The council, however, withheld an immediate decision on the request.
RED BANK: BOLLARDS, AND BARRELS, VANISH
Red Bank borough workers lowered safety bollards into their subsurface silos and reopened upper Broad Street to vehicular traffic Monday morning.
Marking the end of the abbreviated third season of Broadwalk, they also carted off the orange-and-white safety barrels used in conjunction with the bollards to keep vehicles away from the outdoor dining plaza.
RED BANK: BROADWALK ENDS SHORT RUN
The abbreviated third season of Broadwalk, Red Bank’s outdoor dining plaza on upper Broad Street, is scheduled to end Sunday night, with a reopening to vehicular traffic Monday.
Created by the borough council in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and renewed in 2021, Broadwalk didn’t get a green light for this year until late July, delayed by a streetscape project. Then it was allowed to continue another month past its original termination of Labor Day, meaning the new vehicle-blocking retractable bollards (seen at right) vehicles would remain up.
Though the council has not yet determined the future of the economic experiment, Bob Zuckerman, executive director of the downtown promotion agency Red Bank RiverCenter, said he’s “hopeful” the endeavor will return in the spring of 2023.
Meantime, here’s some info on the season-ending activities. While Friday night’s weather appears conducive to a final raising of wine glasses, the rest of the weekend could be a bit chancy. Here’s the outlook:
RED BANK: MINORITIES AND HEALTH IN FOCUS
Parker Family Health Center executive director Suzy Dyer with clinic founder Dr. Eugene Cheslock during Wednesday’s discussion. (Photo from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Despite progress in recent decades, minority group members are still impacted by “medical apartheid,” a health professional said at a Red Bank Public Library discussion Wednesday night.
Panelists and about two dozen viewers took stock of some healthcare challenges faced by the disenfranchised during the latest entry in the library’s ‘Let’s Talk About Race‘ series.
RED BANK: BROADWALK GETS ANOTHER MONTH
With the extension, Broadwalk is now scheduled to continue through October 2. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s council unanimously approved a one-month extension of the Broadwalk plaza Thursday night. But at least three of its members weren’t happy about it.
RED BANK: BROADWALK CONCERNS AIRED
A view of Broadwalk at lunchtime last October. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank merchants and residents pressed officials with concerns regarding a third season of Broadwalk at a community forum Wednesday night.
With less than a month to go before a disruptive streetscape makeover project wraps up, they called for efforts to address litter, traffic, speeding on residential streets and more.
RED BANK: BROAD STREET PROJECT NEARS END
Retractable bollards were installed on Mechanic Street near Broad Street Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
A messy, overdue and over-budget makeover of upper Broad Street in Red Bank is expected to conclude in late July, acting borough Administrator Darren McConnell said Wednesday.
The project, which began last November, marked a milestone with the installation this week of retractable hydraulic bollards that will enable quick closure of the street to vehicular traffic.
Still to be determined is when the Broadwalk dining promenade will return for a third, if abbreviated, season.
RED BANK: DANNY EASING OUT OF DANNY’S
Danny Murphy, owner of Danny’s Steakhouse, behind the bar Monday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
From the moment it opened in Red Bank in 1969, what’s now known as Danny’s Steakhouse has been the alter ego of its creator.
By next month, however, restaurateur Danny Murphy will have begun “transitioning out” of the Bridge Avenue establishment he’s run and lived above for more than half a century.
RED BANK: MASKS ‘STRONGLY’ URGED
Public meetings at borough hall will go remote again, and visitors and employees will be required to wear masks. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank issued a declaration Friday evening “strongly urging” mask-wearing in stores and restaurants to minimize transmission of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.
Mask-wearing in publicly owned buildings will be mandated.
RED BANK: MASK MANDATE EXPECTED
Mayor Pasquale Menna, right, and Congressman Frank Pallone were masked-up at the Red Bank reorganization January 1. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna is expected to issue an executive order mandating indoor mask-wearing to slow the spread of the resurgent COVID-19 virus.
The order, which could come as soon as Thursday, was motivated by “the pain that is being felt in our community,” Menna said at the monthly council workshop Wednesday night.
RED BANK: SCHOOLS MUSTER FOR RESTART
Domenic Kalorin, left, was elected board president, succeeding Fred Stone, right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With “a huge chunk” of their staff out on pandemic-related absences, Red Bank’s public schools mustered once again to provide instruction Tuesday, Superintendent Jared Rumage said that night.
RED BANK: LUNCH BREAK IN HOUSING MERGER
Lunch Break Board President Philip Antoon and Family Promise of Monmouth County Board President Jessica Stepanski sign ceremonial document incorporating Family Promise into the Lunch Break network of programs. (Photo courtesy of Lunch Break. Click to enlarge.)
Press release Lunch Break
Addressing the systemic problem of homelessness in Monmouth County has long been on Lunch Break’s radar. Community members without adequate housing have sought the resource center’s help with life’s basic necessities, among them, shelter.
VIRUS UPDATE: RBR ON REMOTE, BOROUGH NOT
Students and staff at Red Bank Regional are scheduled begin 2022 in remote mode Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank borough schools will be open Tuesday, but the regional high school in Little Silver will go remote as shifting approaches to a surging COVID-19 virus arrived with the new year.
RED BANK: EARLY SPLIT AT REORGANIZATION
Jacqueline Sturdivant arrives for her swearing-in, with fellow council members Ed Zipprich at left and Erik Yngstrom at right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid calls for comity, three Red Bank council members tried but failed to derail the appointment of a fourth to a ceremonial post Saturday.
The New Year also began with a resident accusing a council member of “lying” about his place of residence.
VIRUS UPDATE: SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE AGAIN
The trend in lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases for three towns since November 1. (redbankgreen chart from Monmouth County data. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sharp increases in COVID-19 cases scrambled schedules for some Red Bank-area schools as they emerged from their year-end 2021 breaks Monday.
Here’s a rundown.
FAIR HAVEN: TOWN HALL GOES REMOTE AGAIN
Fair Haven’s borough hall and library share the same building on River Road. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
UPDATE: On Tuesday, Little Silver announced it was closing all borough buildings to public access starting Wednesday and until further notice. Details can be found here.
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid a steep rise in positive COVID-19 tests, Fair Haven has put its government and public library at arms-length for the second time in the pandemic.
RED BANK: CHEF TAKES OVER AT TEMPLE
The name will change, but after a brief shutdown, fans of Temple Gourmet Chinese restaurant in Red Bank can again enjoy their favorite dishes there.
RED BANK: VNA TO OFFER VAX AND BOOSTER
From a Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey press release
The Visiting Nurse Association of Central Jersey Community Health Center plans to host a “Boost NJ” vaccination event at five Monmouth County sites, including two in Red Bank, on Wednesday, December 15.
Free doses will be available for anyone who is not yet had a booster or initial vaccination.
RED BANK: TEMPLE RESTAURANT CLOSED
A court order resulted in the closing of Temple Gourmet Chinese restaurant in Red Bank last week.
RED BANK: McLOONE GOES ALL-IN DOWNTOWN
The back-end operations of McLoone’s restaurant empire will relocate to offices above Robinson Ale House. Below, Tim McLoone leading Holiday Express in its 28th Christmas-season kickoff concert last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
After seven years as a tenant, Tim McLoone has bought the building that houses his Robinson Ale House restaurant in Red Bank.
Earlier this week, redbankgreen caught up with 73-year-old restaurateur by phone as he rode a bus to Camden for one of 22 Christmas concerts he and his charity band, Holiday Express, have scheduled this year.
RED BANK: LEAKS TO COST PROPERTY OWNERS
Contractors working on the Broad Street project early Thursday. (redbankgreen photo. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
As many as 100 property owners in downtown Red Bank may be in for a shock: thousands of dollars in costs to replace leaking water-supply lines, officials said Wednesday night.