By Stephen Appezzato
RED BANK – Residents running for council under the Red Bank Together banner held a press conference Wednesday at the Oyster Point Hotel in the run-up to the May 9 municipal election.
Tim Hogan, the mayoral candidate with Red Bank Together, was joined by fellow council candidates Linda Hill, Sean Murphy and Erin K. Fleming at a roundtable format to field questions.
Addressing borough matters ranging from cannabis sales to affordable housing, Hogan, Hill, Fleming and Murphy discussed a wide range of topics, offering more insight into their objectives for the borough if they are voted into office.
Here are some of the key points from Red Bank Together’s April 12 roundtable discussion.
What Are Red Bank’s Most Pressing Issues?
“We need to hire a dedicated borough administrator, that’s a must,” said Hogan. “We’ve had borough administrators over the past several years who’ve done many different functions, but we need a dedicated borough administrator to manage the business of Red Bank.”
Hogan also said moving the borough’s master plan forward is important, as is cleaning up Marine Park, in “shambles” since Super Storm Sandy.
“Finally, we need to look at the traffic study. There was a traffic study done in 2019 that talked about how traffic could be contained through the town, or what we can do to basically not only control the traffic, but make sure that it was moving through the town.” He noted that at certain times throughout the day, getting around the borough is “impossible.”
“We’ve got to do something about that and we’ve also got to address the parking issues,” Hogan said.
How Will Hogan (CEO Of Riverview Medical Center) Balance Work And Public Duties
“I am absolutely fully confident that I can carry out my duties and responsibilities at Riverview and also spend the absolute time needed to do what we’ve talked about today (as mayor),” Hogan said. “I’m not worried about that. I’m not conflicted. I know myself, and I know that I will put in the absolute time plus needed to ensure that all the things we’re talking about are addressed and hopefully we can work through those and make a lot of progress in Red Bank.”
Hogan joked he thinks about retiring every day but side-stepped a direct answer to the question of retirement.
Chain Of Command Issues In Government
“I think that the lack of a dedicated borough administrator is the main impediment to us really organizing and starting to fix the issues that are becoming utterly abundant in this town and are becoming problematic. I think the council and the mayor have gotten into issues that they won’t have to with a dedicated borough administrator,” said Hogan.
“In order to hire the appropriate person, you need to include input from all the stakeholders,” added Fleming. “So, the people that this person will be managing should also have input into the person that is chosen – it’s really important.”
What ‘Reasonable Development’ Looks Like In Red Bank
“It is different with every town, but I think that when you talk about development, you’ve got to understand that this is a 1.7 square-mile town. It can only accommodate so much development, and we don’t want to draw ourselves away from the quaintness of the town and what makes Red Bank special,” said Hogan. Hogan later explained that Red Bank Together was not against development, but wanted to make sure development is reasonable and fair.
“We also want to see more repurposing,” stated Murphy, listing historic buildings such as the Anderson building and the former Mechanic Street School building. “Repurpose some of these buildings instead of knocking them down, you know, save some of the old Red Bank,” he added.
“I agree, and we are sitting on the Navesink and Red Bank is fortunate to have that. It makes Red Bank special. So, we also need to be aware of and take into consideration environmental issues. And, let’s not forget Complete Streets. The council adopted a Complete Streets policy in I believe it was 2018, and they really haven’t moved forward with it, and I don’t want us to forget that,” said Hill.
The Cannabis Industry In The Borough
“When you look at the number of applications, they’re not coming from residents in Red Bank. They’re coming from outside parties that don’t live in Red Bank, or the organizations don’t function in Red Bank – and they’re from all over the state. So, you know, our goal is to protect the citizens of Red Bank. We are citizens of Red Bank and we’ve got to make sure that this doesn’t spiral out of control,” Hogan said.
“That is true, but, on the other hand we are not demonizing marijuana,” said Hill.
“We’re not against it,” added Murphy.
“We want it to be, as Sean (Murphy) says, cautiously and deliberately brought into town. We’re all for the revenue, but we’re also for the residents,” said Hill.
Code Enforcement And Pedestrian Safety
“I have no problem with the codes that have been put in place, I have a problem with the codes that have been put in place that are not being enforced consistently,” Hogan said.
“There’s enough ordinances on the book, they just need to be enforced,” added Murphy. He went on to express that he realized while knocking on doors and canvassing, many residents shared this sentiment.
“And pedestrian safety is really important,” added Fleming. “Is it going to take someone – a little kid in East Side Park to come running out to chase a soccer ball – being run down by a speeder to change things? No, we need enforcement now. We need to stop that from happening,” she said.
The article originally appeared in the April 13 – 19, 2023 print edition of The Two River Times.
