Local-news assignment editors miss big Hackensack story

Critics say attorney Seymour Chase is upset that an Atlantic Street Park will eliminate a reserved space where he parks his Mercedes-Benz sedan with his firm's motto on the license plate, "TAKE US TO COURT," below.

On Monday night, Chase reminded city officials that his law firm has been in Hackensack for 55 years. Was he stating his undying loyalty to the city or saying his decision to buy a building near the Bergen County Courthouse has made him wealthier than anyone can imagine?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Hackensack City Council on Monday night voted, 4-1, to adopt a bond ordinance appropriating $650,000 to build a park on a city owned parking lot downtown.

Now, the 44 parking spaces are used mostly by clients of law firms along Atlantic and Warren streets, as well as visiting attorneys and stenographers.

Attorney Seymour Chase, who owns 1 Atlantic St., called the park plan "ill-conceived," and reminded council members that many other lawyers on the two streets oppose it, raising the specter of litigation.

Other speakers denounced Chase for putting his selfish private interests ahead of the public interest as the city seeks to revive its moribund downtown with new apartments and a new park.

Those in favor of the park, including Jerry Lombardo and members of the Main Street Business Alliance he heads, noted the park plan includes 43 new parking spaces elsewhere.

"We need a central green space like the park," said an owner of Brothers Carpet at 392 Main St.

Chase & Chase is at 1 Atlantic St., at the corner of Main Street, above and below.

Where was The Record?

In May, Staff Writer Christopher Maag of The Record reported the debate over the park "comes down to an age-old fight: parks versus potholes."

At that May 6 meeting, attorney Arthur Zucker threatened to file suit against the city, comparing elimination of the parking lot (in favor of a park) to taking away the driveway of his home.

Maag's story never mentioned Zucker or Chase, who at that time claimed inadequate parking is hurting his business.

Maag was nowhere to be seen at Monday night's meeting, and today's paper doesn't carry a word about final approval of the park bond ordinance.

The park would be built on this triangular, 44-space parking lot between Atlantic and Warren streets. At left rear, a 222-unit apartment building is scheduled to be completed in May 2015. The city's planned performing arts center is at right rear.

Before the fireworks over the downtown park, Genesis Liu, left, and members of Kids' Safety Awareness Program (KSAP) asked Mayor John Labrosse and council members questions about how they do their jobs.

Today's paper

A bike path on a narrow and dangerous 9-mile stretch of Route 9W is no closer to reality, despite the photos and thousands of words in a story that takes up a quarter of the front page today (A-1).

What is the point of the story? To bring readers up to date? On what exactly?

Marty's rabbi

In 2009, The Record gave unprecedented coverage to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who bought an East Hill mansion next door to a Libyan-owned estate in Englewood, then complained about the planned visit of Moammar Gaddafi.

Boteach is back on the front page today, again giving a bad name to Jews (A-1).

Local news

Much of today's Local section is ripped from the police and court blotters.

McDonald's scam

A story on the first Business page today says "reporters and bloggers" ate a free McDonald's dinner "prepared by celebrity chefs using ingredients from the chain's menu" (L-8).

None of them were aware you can't polish a turd.

Cost cutting

To save money, the Borg publishing family has hired a couple of talent-less freelancers to write about food in Better Living, including Rita Cookson.

Today, Cookson tries to persuade readers they should drink certain beers with certain food, in yet another colossal waste of space (B-1).

Footnote

Even though Mike Kelly's column on Monday amounted to little more than a rewrite of all of the stories published on Robert Lintner, the burned-out reporter managed to screw up the man's first name twice on Page 1.

Lintner, you may remember, is the 65-year-old Saddle Brook man who was stabbed in the neck by his wife, leading police to find hundreds of guns and lots of ammunition in his home.

On Monday, Kelly called him "Richard," according to a correction on A-2 today.