Weekend’s snow tough on Red Bank

Weekend’s snow
tough on Red Bank

Courtesy of JOHN Bull Without benefit of roadblocks by the borough Police Department, pedestrians took over Broad Street in Red Bank on Saturday.

It was a hectic weekend.

There was the traditional end of the year celebration. There was the return of the First Night celebration. And, of course, there was the snow.

More than a foot of snow was estimated to have fallen in some parts of the area Saturday, disrupting holiday plans for many and putting into question whether First Night would indeed return.

Despite some grousing from visitors and residents concerning the quality of street plowing and the mini Matterhorns on the curbsides, the roads were sufficiently cleared to proceed with the festivities.

JEFF HUNTLEY Christian Tassinari, 6, of Rumson shows off his stuff while sledding at First Presbyterian Church, Red Bank.

John Austin, the coordinator for the borough’s Alliance Against Alcoholism and Drug Abuse and First Night organizer, said Police Chief James Clayton and Mayor Edward J. McKenna Jr. gave the go-ahead at about 10 a.m. on Sunday.

"Our first concern was public safety," Austin said. "And we left it in the hands of the mayor and chief."

About 3,000 people purchased buttons to participate in the evening’s events, though the final tally would not be known for a few days, Austin said.

The borough didn’t hold a First Night celebration last year, but in the year prior to that, about 5,000 buttons were sold, he said.

Austin said he hoped to have sold as many as 6,000 buttons this year, but all things considered, he thought this year’s event was a success.

"By the time the ball dropped, people were dancing on Broad Street," he said. "We get an A for effort. Unfortunately, you can’t control that one variable."

That one variable is, of course, the weather.

And because of the weather, a number of towns that had planned similar events, such as Ocean Grove and Metuchen, decided to cancel, Austin said.

Joseph Buonacquista, the borough’s director of public works, faced some difficulty in trying to clear the streets and keep them that way.

Despite the substantial warning about the storm, a number of public works employees had made holiday plans and declined to work the overtime over the weekend.

Out of a staff of about 40 employees, Buonacquista said he was only able to get approximately a dozen willing to work during the weekend.

"You had a holiday situation and a lot of guys had made plans and weren’t willing to change them," he said.

"Given with what I had to work with," Buonacquista said, "we did an exceptional job."

In addition to a manpower shortage, Buonacquista said he was faced with vehicles parked overnight on some of the municipality’s narrower roads, which made it difficult to plow.

Also, as the trucks plowed the streets, the residents digging out their homes and driveways, shoveled the snow back into the streets.

"We pushed it away, they pushed it back," Buonacquista said.

Many of the employees who were working, Buonacquista noted, have been on the job for a relatively short time, and considering the mild winters, have not had the experience of dealing with a major storm.

"It was a tough job," he said. "It was beyond tough."

Despite the weather and the holiday, borough police said there very few problems over the weekend.

"It was quiet," acknowledged police Capt. Mark Fitzgerald. "We were getting a number of the traditional fender benders but no major accidents, thank God."

But by the time the ball dropped on Broad Street at midnight, about 2,000 people were in attendance, Police Chief Clayton said, and there were no major problems with the crowd.

"Basically, it was a quiet night," Clayton said.

Austin also said the borough will begin plans for next year’s First Night Celebration this week.

"We’re going to look at what worked and what didn’t," Austin said. "And eventually the events and the weather will come together and it’s going to be a knockout."