Best-read paper in Hackensack isn't The Record

A full moon rising over Hackensack on Thursday night. The photo was taken from the parking lot of the Devonshire on Overlook Avenue, where the 11 candidates in the May 14 City Council election introduced themselves to building residents and answered questions. Independent Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record, was scheduled last, at 9 p.m., and only a handful of people stayed to hear him speak.




Friday's edition of The Record carried an unusually large amount of news from Hackensack, all of it bad.

Today's paper is what residents have come to expect: no Hackensack news.

But residents may be too busy to notice. Two other papers have grabbed their attention:

The Hackensack Citizen, published by the Citizens for Change slate in the May 14 City Council election; and the weekly Hackensack Chronicle, which leads with the April 16 school board election.

Here are stories from The Hackensack Citizen:
 

Belly laughs can be heard all over Hackensack from quotes in the Chronicle.

Francis W. Albolino, an incumbent who was elected to his eighth term on the Board of Education said, "We ... would like to thank the voters for coming out."

Albolino was the highest vote-getter with 1,091 -- this in a city with 20,000 registered voters.

He actually meant to say he thanks the voters for not coming out, ensuring victory for the city's political machine.

Critics of Albolino say he falls asleep at meetings, and note the schools win many sports awards, but no academic ones.

Many Hackensack High School students refuse to eat what passes for lunch, and they vote with their feet by walking to a nearby pizzeria, McDonald's, Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks.

Mayor Michael R. Melfi, who is a benefactor of the same political machine propping up Albolino, swore in board members on April 22. 

Wrong-way reporter

In Friday's Road Warrior column, Staff Writer John Cichowski reports the Court Street Bridge in Hackensack was scheduled to open today for the first time since Superstorm Sandy (L-5).

But the bridge has been open to traffic in recent months, only to be closed a few days ago. And Hackensack police said the bridge is not reopening today. 

Cichowski likes to exaggerate to get readers' attention, as in describing the Anderson Street  Bridge, which has no moving parts, as "wheezing."

The Salem Street Bridge -- which is under no weight restrictions -- is "rickety."

Of course, anyone who has seen how slowly the burned-out columnist moves realizes those words fit him perfectly.  

Pasta with raw fish?

Friday's restaurant review pans Union Bar, a freakish Japanese-Italian hybrid that serves sushi and pizza in Cliffside Park (BL-18).

But the critic fails to note this is the former Bushido Bar and Restaurant, which was faulted for using inferior raw fish in a review published in June 2012.

Why did The Record review this place again?