RED BANK: LIBRARY NIXES LATE FINES
Late getting that book or DVD back to the Red Bank Public Library? Not to worry. Fines for overdue materials are now a relic of the past.
RED BANK: GOP ‘PLACEHOLDERS’ ON BALLOT
Jonathan Maciel Penney speaking as a candidate at the West Side Community Group forum in 2019. (Photo by Ben Forest. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Republicans announced two “placeholder” candidates for borough council in the November election Monday.
Party Chairman Jonathan Maciel Penney said he had filed campaign papers for himself and Christine Stout.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR SET FOR MP4 AND BEYOND
Closing out its third marking period last week, Red Bank Regional High School shared photos over the weekend of the recently completed addition to the Little Silver school, above and below.
RED BANK: GARMANY LOSES COVID-19 LAWSUIT
Garmany sued its insurer over pandemic-related losses. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Upscale Red Bank clothing retailer Garmany lost a federal lawsuit Thursday in which it sought insurance reimbursements for pandemic-related losses.
Those losses, it argued, were caused by Governor Phil Murphy’s shutdown of the state’s economy a year ago, and not the COVID-19 virus itself.
RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER EXPEDITING VAX
About 500 Red Bank residents have received COVID-19 vaccinations over the past month under a program coordinated by the borough’s Senior Center, an official said Wednesday.
RED BANK: CENTER BACKERS RALLY AGAIN
Marian Quinn of Manor Drive speaking at the rally. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Invoking “demolition by neglect” and the prospect of “apartments” on the site, several dozen Red Bankers rallied Saturday to demand that the mothballed borough Senior Center be repaired.
They also momentarily drowned out the grandson of the center’s founder when he took issue with one of the handmade signs posted on the building.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR BACK TO REMOTE CLASSES
[See UPDATE below]
Red Bank Regional High School will revert to an all-remote schedule Friday because of “high rates of community transmission” of COVID-19 and other factors, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Thursday evening.
RED BANK: OFFICIALS EYE $1.18M INFUSION
Downtown Red Bank was nearly empty on a Friday night last March as pandemic restrictions on economic and social activity took effect. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s government will receive a direct infusion of nearly $1.18 million under the $1.9 trillion pandemic recovery bill passed by Congress earlier in the day, officials said Wednesday night.
The funds will enable the borough to begin filling its own budgetary holes while providing aid to renters, small businesses and local non-profits, said an elated Mayor Pasquale Menna.
But one item it can’t be used on, contrary to the suggestion of a council candidate, is repairing the shuttered Senior Center, according to two officials.
VIRUS UPDATE: MONMOUTH DEATHS TOP 1,300
More than 90 individuals braved a cold rain for COVID-19 vaccinations at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Red Bank February 27. (Photo courtesy of Pilgrim Baptist Church. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
New Jersey averaged 65 COVID-19 deaths per day over the past year, Governor Phil Murphy said Wednesday, as he noted the one-year anniversary of the first.
In that time, Monmouth County has lost more than 1,300 residents to a pandemic now being battled with a trio of vaccines. More →
RED BANK: CENTER BACKERS PLAN RALLY
Supporters of a drive to repair and reopen Red Bank’s Senior Center plan to rally at the facility Saturday for the second time this year.
RED BANK: SKATE SHOP ROLLS INTO TOWN
Feet First opens on Monmouth Street, having skated across the Navesink from Middletown. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
In this edition of redbankgreen‘s Retail Churn: a skateboard shop rolls into downtown Red Bank, a comic book shop relocates, and the pandemic economy claims another handful of stores.
RED BANK: RACIST SLUR, OR SLIP OF TONGUE?
Sue Viscomi, right, with Hazim Yassin and Kate Triggiano at borough hall in April, 2018. All three ran for council that year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A Red Bank board of ed member faced sharp criticism Thursday for a purported racist rendition of the borough business administrator’s name the night before.
But Sue Viscomi vehemently denied referring to Ziad Shehady as “Mr. Jihad.”
RED BANK: CENTER DEBATE CONTINUES
Councilwoman Kate Triggiano, center of bottom row, prevailed on a resolution regarding the Redevelopment Agency. (Zoom screengrab. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sarcasm and insults flew Wednesday night as the Red Bank council yet again clashed over the future of the mothballed Senior Center.
This time, residents provided much of the ire. More →
RED BANK: BROADWALK II ON AGENDA
Visitors dining on (and in) Broad Street in June. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
An effort to spark downtown business activity as the pandemic nears its second year is among the items on the Red Bank council’s agenda for Wednesday night.
VIRUS: MONMOUTH DEATHS HIT 1,200
Atrium resident Audrey Haimowitz receiving a vaccine shot Friday. (Photo courtesy of Springpoint Senior Living. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Amid rising numbers of vaccine shots statewide, Monmouth County recorded its 1,200th death from COVID-19, the New Jersey Health Department reported Monday.
The grim milestone was passed as a Red Bank senior facility reported three more pandemic-related fatalities, though all three victims were considered to have recovered from the virus, a representative said.
RED BANK: SENIOR CENTER DEBATE RAGES ON
A view into the mothballed Senior Center through a window in December. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank council members clashed yet again over the borough’s Senior Center Wednesday night.
Among the issues: a petition demanding that the facility, which has been out of commission for almost two years, be repaired and reopened at its riverfront location.
RED BANK: PARKER TO PROVIDE VACCINES
The Parker Family Health Center in Red Bank will begin administering about 100 doses per week of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine starting Thursday, according to an announcement by the Monmouth County Board of Commissioners (formerly known as Freeholders).
RED BANK: WHAT’S ON COUNCIL AGENDA
Among the many events organizers hope to bring back in 2021: the Red Bank Classic 5k, slated for June 19. A list of event dates is up for approval by the council. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s borough council meets with a busy agenda of financing actions, hirings and more Wednesday.
There’s also something missing, though numerous commenters have demanded it: changes to the meeting protocol covering… public comment.
VIRUS: TWO MORE ATRIUM DEATHS REPORTED
Patrons dining in pandemic bubbles outside Red Rock Tap + Grill in Red Bank earlier this month. (Photo by Trish Russoniello. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two more residents of the Atrium at Navesink Harbor in Red Bank have died from COVID-19 related causes, the the New Jersey Health Department reported late Wednesday.
RED BANK: PRIMARY SCHOOL BACK TO REMOTE
All Red Bank Primary School students, and some in the middle school, will revert to remote instruction Thursday, Superintendent Jared Rumage said in an announcement Wednesday.
He cited a number of COVID-19-related factors as driving the change.
FAIR HAVEN: COVID-19 MEMORIAL PLANNED
Fair Haven will participate in a national memorial to lives lost in the COVID-19 pandemic by lighting up Memorial Park with luminaria Tuesday night.
With its announcement of the event Monday, the borough became the first town on the Greater Red Bank Green to join an inauguration-eve event that calls for a lighting around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington DC.
VIRUS UPDATE: YEAR BEGINS ON DEADLY NOTE
A Walgreens employee prepares to inject a resident of the Wesleyan in Red Bank with her first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine Wednesday. (Photo by Nick Delmar. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Monmouth County has recorded 115 COVID-19 related deaths since the start of the new year, according to data released by the New Jersey Health Department Friday.
RED BANK: MORE SPARKS OVER SENIOR CENTER
The Senior Center offers a rare vantage for Red Bankers to view the Navesink and Swimming rivers, speakers said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s elected officials got an earful from the public about the borough’s disabled Senior Center Wednesday night.
But even as the all-Democratic council unanimously approved a new lease on interim space, sparks continued to fly between its members over the center’s near-term future.
RED BANK: ATRIUM CITED FOR COVID-19 LAPSE
The Atrium at Navesink Harbor on Riverside Avenue. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
State health officials cited a Red Bank longterm care facility that has been the scene of 10 recent COVID-19 deaths for “deficiencies” in its defense against the virus in November, redbankgreen has learned.
RED BANK: VIRUS CLAIMS SIX MORE AT ATRIUM
The Atrium at Navesink Harbor, the buildings at center and right, as seen from the Navesink River in 2017. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Six more residents of an assisted-living facility in Red Bank have died of COVID-19 in recent days, data released by the New Jersey Health Department Monday indicate.