Hackensack school board censors public

What appears to be a former church and lodge building on State Street, above, will become a new recreation and cultural center in Hackensack. A 222-unit luxury apartment building has been proposed nearby, and despite opposition from some residents whose property tax bills continue to climb, the city has given the developer a 30-year tax break.

The Hackensack Board of Education has delivered another lesson in the sad state of democracy in a city known derisively as "Zisaville."

At a forum for school board candidates on Monday night, the public was asked to submit questions on index cards.

Then, the questions were screened before being submitted to board hopefuls, and some of the queries never saw the light of day, resident Steven V. Gelber of Hackensack Scoop.com reports.

Click on the following link: Another perspective on Hackensack.

Appropriately, this occurred on April Fools' Day, and school trustees basically told parents and other members of the public to go to hell.

The Record of Woodland Park didn't cover the meeting.

One of those board members is Jason Nunnermacker, a lawyer who is running for City Council on an "open government" platform.

I guess Nunnermacker doesn't think "open government" applies to him or other members of the imperious school board.  

He is part of a well-financed slate of insiders vying for council seats in the May 14 election, claiming they have a 10-point plan "to make government honest, open and community friendly."

What a joke on the poor, abused voter, who falls for these kind of promises every time.   

Today's paper

Five reporters and an unknown number of editors worked on the story about the moron who is Rutgers' basketball coach (A-1).

But on Page 1 and in an A-6 sidebar today, readers can't find any clear statement of when a video of his revolting behavior was made.

TV news reported the video is from 2010, raising obvious questions: 

Why has it taken so long to come to light, and is the glorification of sports by The Record and other media hiding all of the homophobes, women haters and child molesters involved in the games?

Hackensack? Huh?

Editor Marty Gottlieb runs a front-page story on the unprecedented number of property tax appeals for a second day, but again, there is no discussion of Hackensack, one of the largest communities in North Jersey (A-1).

The big Hackensack news in Local is on L-2, the indictment of a coin dealer who lives in the city.

On L-3, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes presents another special photo of an SUV on its side, this time on Summit Avenue in Hackensack.

Despite the name of the vehicle, Ford Escape, the occupant or occupants needed the help of firefighters to get out.  

Vomit-inducing column

Many readers cursed when they saw a Road Warrior column on the Local front today. 

Staff Writer John Cichowski's excuse for a commuting column was missing last Wednesday and last Friday, making some readers think he was being limited to once a week to cut down on his errors and unsafe advice.

Today, he hangs the entire column on the complaint of a driver about an exit on the Garden State Parkway (L-1).

Where does that leave thousands of readers and commuters who have to deal with hundreds of other road and mass-transit problems he has been too lazy to report on since he took over the job at the end of 2003?