By Allison Perrine
RED BANK – The borough’s decision to extend its pedestrian-friendly Broadwalk area through October drew mixed reactions at last Wednesday’s council meeting.
The one-month extension came at the request of Red Bank RiverCenter, a nonprofit that promotes local businesses, theaters and events. Some said the Broadwalk – a section of Broad Street from Front Street to White Street, closed to vehicular traffic and open 24/7 for pedestrians only – has been a great way to bring more foot traffic to area businesses and has helped Red Bank’s economy overall.
Some felt otherwise.
“As much as it has helped a lot of the businesses in that area that’s blocked off, it has hurt so many other people. And I think to just extend it 30 more days is to not give credence to those people who are really experiencing hardship because of this,” said Councilman Michael Ballard, who cast the sole vote against the extension. “I don’t think we should extend it. We had a good run. Let’s retool it over the winter and bring it back stronger.”
The idea for the Broadwalk was born out of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when businesses were shuttered by state-imposed mandates. With patrons unable to enter businesses for indoor dining or shopping, and with social distancing rules in place, Red Bank got creative. The borough hung warm string lights overhead on Broad Street, set up barricades that blocked off traffic and allowed businesses to place tables on the sidewalks and roadway to serve patrons through the closures.
At the time, it worked perfectly – and for some it still does. Borough resident John Arcara, for example, who owns Red Tank Brewing Company on nearby Monmouth Street, said the streateries have been “nothing but wonderful” for his business.
“I would love to see it extended. I’m all for the streateries. I think last year I had it open until Christmas and it was filled every night,” said Arcara. “For us and for our part of town, it works really great.”
Mayor Pasquale “Pat” Menna said that he is an “unabashed and enthusiastic supporter” of what the town did with the Broadwalk. “It was done at the right time for the right reasons,” he said. “But times change and circumstances change.”
“The vacancy rate of the retail shops is at an alarming high – whether that be related to COVID or the Broadwalk or just the business climate in general,” Menna added. “We owe it to people to perhaps, now that we have more dining back indoors, to look creatively to ways to fashion a Broadwalk that will still cater to entertainment and recreation and food service establishments, but we have to do more to help the retailers and also to manage that area a little bit better.”
Broad Street landlord Nicole Caivano, who owns 11-13 Broad St. where Mustillo’s and Coney Waffle are currently located, offered some suggestions. Noting that she’s not opposed to the Broadwalk, Caivano said the borough should reconsider the layout of the blocked-off area.
“I have people asking me if… we’re going out of businesses because of the way that it’s set up. There’s barricades, there’s police cars,” she said. “I’ve had people say that they turn around and go home.”
Caivano also suggested that the borough reconsider the timing of the Broadwalk and feels that it being closed to vehicular traffic 24 hours a day, seven days a week, is “very extensive.”
“I’m there every day. The town is empty,” she said, calling Mustillo’s a business that “really survives” on daytime foot traffic.
Michele Ellis, owner of Great Harvest Bread Co. located at 95 Broad St. outside of the Broadwalk area, said she “strongly” disagrees with the Broadwalk concept and that it has hurt her business and others outside of the designated area.
“It certainly is nice but it has created an unfair disadvantage to stores that are not within those limits,” she said. “Outside of Broadwalk, we have the most vacant storefronts. I know landlords struggle to get people to fill those spaces knowing that obviously it makes a lot more sense to be where the pool of the people are. On the weekends, there’s music and cornhole and entertainment. It makes it very hard for the rest of us to compete with that, and our rents are high and foot traffic is extremely low in Red Bank.”
Ellis also touched on the impact COVID-19 has had, causing some companies to go all-remote. She noted that some have started all-digital operations and “are not planning to come back” for some time.
But Councilwoman Kate Triggiano shared a differing view on the empty storefronts and noted that it is not unique to Red Bank.
“A quick trip to the Monmouth Mall or even somewhere like the Holmdel Town Center which has anchor stores such as Best Buy – you will notice that they are basically empty. And at the same time, we are welcoming new businesses,” she said, including a new CBD shop, tattoo studio, apothecary, music shop and more. “I just want to refocus on the fact that we have so much to celebrate and we are bringing in new businesses in ways that other places are not.”
She and other council members agreed that the initiative could use some fine-tuning so that everyone can benefit from the Broadwalk, not just the businesses in the designated area and nearby.
“The whole concept was to make sure that we gave the business community as much of an opportunity to thrive. I know we have had a lot of casualties along the way in the last year and a half, 18 months, but it is of concern when… traffic is back to pre-COVID volumes and we are having difficulties moving through town and around town,” said Councilman Ed Zipprich. “And there are quality of life issues that come up.”
Some of those issues were highlighted by resident Cindy Burnham who spoke on behalf of other Red Bank neighbors who are not business owners but are still impacted by the Broadwalk. According to Burnham, the strip can be noisy to the point that she needs to close her windows at home. It’s also brought out-of-towners who park haphazardly on residential streets and litter the roads and alleyways with garbage.
“Broadwalk was great for the pandemic and it seems like it’s doing well this summer also. But it’s dead during the day and it’s just created a lot of problems for the residents,” she said. “This is like having the OysterFest every day.”
Triggiano noted that for some time, even when she worked in town while in high school, businesses were responsible for cleaning up their own storefronts and areas around their shops.
“I did it working at Funk and Standard; I did it working at Green Street. It was an on-the-hour check of the whole front of the storefront and that includes leaves and that includes litter, and that also includes snow,” said Triggiano. “I do believe that there is improvement to be made on this experiment, but I do also believe that it has increased the foot traffic of our town and it has supported and helped the overall economy of Red Bank.”
“The goal should be that everybody feels good about it. The goal should be that everybody feels like they’re heard,” she said.
“And we need to build upon that.”
The article originally appeared in the September 30 – October 6, 2021 print edition of The Two River Times.
