By Sunayana Prabhu
RED BANK – Several downtown Red Bank business owners are calling on borough officials to shut down Broadwalk, the seasonal pedestrian plaza launched in 2020 as a COVID-19 relief measure, arguing at a council meeting and in a new petition that the popular attraction has become detrimental to businesses outside its perimeter.
Broadwalk, which closes a section of Broad Street each summer for outdoor dining and community events, was credited with boosting restaurants and shops during the pandemic. But opponents voiced their frustration at the Aug. 14 borough council meeting, claiming the plaza funnels foot traffic away from other parts of downtown, creating what they describe as an uneven playing field that favors businesses inside the pedestrian zone.
The initiative was brought back each summer after the pandemic and eventually became a permanent seasonal program by council vote in 2023.
Louis Andrianos, owner of Neapoli Italian Kitchen, who helped organize the petition drive, has been running the restaurant on Wallace Street for nearly 10 years. But “this is by far the worst year we’ve ever seen,” he told the council. As Broadwalk gets more popular, it takes away from the businesses not on the plaza, said Andrianos. “When the Broadwalk is very busy, specifically when it’s nice outside, we see our reservations, our business, dramatically decrease.”
He further argued that Red Bank’s parking policies compound the problem for businesses outside Broadwalk. He compared Red Bank unfavorably to other towns like Summit, Westfield and Metuchen, noting those towns “stop their (paid) parking at six o’clock. We continue ours ’til nine,” he said, noting that restaurants outside the pedestrian plaza struggle with accessibility. “When your customers are constantly complaining, ‘Louis, I just got a ticket,’ they write us off. They just say, ‘It’s very difficult for us to be a patron to the restaurant,’ ” Andrianos said.
Andrianos told The Two River Times the petition to end Broadwalk has so far collected more than 165 signatures from 95% of the area businesses, including restaurants that are on Broadwalk, such as Patrizia’s, Char Steakhouse and others, and retailers such as Gold Tinker and Earth Spirit. The petition also contains signatures from residents and employees. Andrianos has presented the petition to Red Bank RiverCenter, which has mayor and council representation, and new signatures continue to be added to the petition as support grows, he said.
Katerina Giambalvo, who has owned and operated Monticello Ristorante for nearly 17 years, came before the council for the first time, she emphasized, because her business is down by at least 50%. “Before Broadwalk, 70% of my business came from Open Table, which is a reservations system, and 30% was coming from walk-ins,” she said. “After the Broadwalk closing, I lost all of my walk-ins. Nobody is coming further up the town to come and check out different menus because it’s all about the Broadwalk – music, marketing – everything is all focused down there,” Giambalvo said.
Initially in favor of Broadwalk, John Yarusi, who owns Johnny’s Pork Roll and Coffee Too on Monmouth Street, delivered some profanity-laced comments, disparaging the program and demanding its closure. “When you did that during the pandemic, I said, ‘If it’s good for Red Bank, then I’m all for it.’ But it’s not good for Red Bank anymore,” he said.
Some residents and restaurateurs, however, defended Broadwalk as a driver of foot traffic and community spirit. Resident Drew Logan said he and his partner moved to Red Bank because of the pedestrian plaza’s “community vibe.”
“Elevating businesses in one area doesn’t necessarily mean it’s taking away from other ones,” Logan said.
Tim McLoone, who owns 10 restaurants across the state, including The Robinson Ale House on Broad Street within Broadwalk, said the program was a “breakthrough for us.” While he raised broader economic challenges, he strongly defended the pedestrian plaza.
“The first year we did Broadwalk, our business went up $300,000, and that was the difference between life or death for us,” McLoone said. The restaurant kept up similar numbers last year, but fell this year, primarily because of the weather, he said. Of his 10 restaurants, eight, including the Red Bank location, are down by 5% to 12% this year.
McLoone suggested the program could be modified rather than eliminated completely. “Could there be adjustments made to Broadwalk? Absolutely. Maybe it should start later, maybe it should end sooner. I could understand that.”
Mairin Bennett, executive director of RiverCenter, the non-profit marketing agency for Red Bank’s Special Improvement District (SID) that supports downtown businesses, pushed back on what she called the “false perception” that Broadwalk is solely the reason for slow business this year.
“Business is down across the state, not just in Red Bank,” Bennett said, adding that there are many variables to it. “Broadwalk is part of a larger downtown strategy, and data shows people do walk around to other businesses,” she maintained.
Mayor Billy Portman signaled that while adjustments could be considered, he supports keeping the program. “I’m not in favor of shutting Broadwalk down,” he said, but he agreed to being “more flexible” on ideas to elevate businesses around it. Broadwalk is “bringing a lot of people here that were not coming otherwise, especially in the summer months,” he said. “Without a draw, most people were (just) going to the beach, and that was the impetus for Broadwalk to begin with.”
With a petition now circulating and council members fielding heated complaints, the future of Broadwalk may hinge on whether officials can balance the plaza’s popularity with the concerns of businesses left outside its footprint. Bennett is working to achieve a middle ground, she said, in a conversation after the meeting.
RiverCenter will be having discussions with the borough council to approach the seasonal plaza “from a different aspect every year,” Bennett said, including the possibility of potentially shortening the season or adjusting programming. But “any suggestions that we have obviously will have to wait for the end of the season.”
“We don’t just concentrate on one sole area,” Bennett said, listing a spate of town-wide promotional efforts such as the “Red Bank, Your Downtown” campaign that she said covers the entire borough and includes wrapping NJ Transit trains and buses with Red Bank branding. The agency also launched plane banners for events like sidewalk sales. Bennett further added that fashion shows on Broadwalk feature retailers who are not on the plaza and Oktoberfest, now in its third year, is hosted on the West Side of the borough. “We focus on programming for the entire SID,” she said.
This is Bennett’s first year helming the RiverCenter, working to promote the downtown that faces tough competition from popular beach towns nearby. “I feel that I have been able to – when we have events – bring people down to Red Bank, far from the beach. A good example would be Holidays in July, the streets were packed almost every single night,” she said.
The article originally appeared in the August 21 – 27, 2025 print edition of The Two River Times.
