Rare sighting: PSE&G crew at work

In Hackensack, River and Mercer streets were impassable after the hurricane.

For the first time since much of Hackensack was plunged into the dark on Monday, I saw two trucks from Public Service Electric and Gas Co. parked near downed poles and power lines on Thursday night.

The trucks were on Main Street near Route 4, and I can only assume the crews were doing more than blocking traffic, though I didn't see any worker on foot.

That scene was in contrast to a tangle of power lines sagging and touching the pavement and sidewalks at Euclid and Prospect avenues in Hackensack's Fairmont section, where a big tree fell, snapping two utility poles on Monday.

The tree was removed on Thursday, but no other work has been done, and the neighborhood remains without power in two senses -- no electricity and no pull with the powers that be at PSE&G.

On a trip to Paramus and later Englewood and back on Thursday, numerous traffic lights and street lamps were out, and many streets were closed.

Apartments along Grand Avenue in Englewood, north of Route 4, were dark.

Downtown also was dark, and the big Korean supermarket remained closed.

Since Superstorm Sandy hit, the glacial pace of repair work has further disrupted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people, and hit merchants and restaurant owners with untold loss of business.

Shame on PSE&G.