Trump's anti-women, anti-black rhetoric will never prevail

On Wednesday night in Las Vegas, GOP presidential nominee Donald J. Trump showed how truly ugly he is during the third and final debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton, who was the clear winner, above and below, though you won't see that reflected in The Record's Page 1 coverage today.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In anti-women and anti-black comments on Wednesday night, GOP White House hopeful Donald J. Trump again showed he is a truly ugly, unapologetic male chauvinist pig.

His attacks during the final presidential debate ranged from calling Democrat Hillary Clinton a "nasty women" to pledging to appoint right-to-life justices to the Supreme Court to denying reports from women that he groped and kissed them against their will.

In a parting shot designed to appeal to his racist supporters, the wacko billionaire claimed electing Clinton would be the same as returning our first black president to office. 

Today's coverage

Clinton said Trump "thinks belitlling women makes him bigger" (A-4).

"He goes after their dignity, their self-worth," she said.

His "trickle-down economics on steroids," as Clinton called it; his getting away with not paying federal taxes; his business losses of nearly a billion dollars in one year -- all show his economic plan is a sham.

"We have undocumented immigrants paying more in taxes than a billionaire," Clinton said (A-1).

Kelly on Kelly

Columnist Mike Kelly appears to have set a record with his Page 1 profile of Bridget Anne Kelly, Governor Christie's former deputy chief of staff and a defendant in the Bridgegate trial.

This is not only more than he has written about any one person, but it certainly eclipses anything the editors have published about Clinton's long public service and her policy positions in the presidential campaign (A-1 and A-6).

Kelly's largely sympathetic portrait of the defendant, who grew up in Ramsey, clashes with her being portrayed as a central figure in the George Washington Bridge lane closures to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the reelection of Christie.

No one knows how Bridget Kelly, who is scheduled to testify before a federal jury, will try to explain away her infamous email to Christie crony David Wildstein at the Port Authority:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Zisa editorial

An editorial claims Hackensack taxpayers will have to shoulder a $3 million payment to former Police Chief Ken Zisa because of the "mistakes of their city fathers" (A-10).

One so-called mistake was not having Zisa's back pay "accumulating in an account," but the editorial doesn't list any others.

Although all of the charges in a Bergen County grand injury indictment against Zisa have been dropped, the editorial neglects to mention no court or jury has ever said the former chief didn't commit a crime.

Stale news

The front page on Wednesday carried a stale headline.

"Hackensack plans

 $3M payment to Zisa" 

Eye on The Record already reported the payment on Oct. 5, and the Woodland Park daily's John Seasly followed with his own report two days later.

The news is that the City Council on Tuesday night proposed a $3 million appropriation raised through selling bonds "to fulfill a court-mandated payment" to Zisa (A-1 on Wednesday).

Seasly continues to ignore plans by Zisa and other members of his family's political dynasty, which ruled Hackensack for decades, to run a slate and try to regain power in next May's municipal election.

Zisa allies have long controlled the city's Board of Education.

Christie critic

Staff Writer John Cichowski is the latest staffer to pile on Christie since the fatal Hoboken train crash, revelations in the Bridgegate trial, and the biggest bugs up the veteran reporter's ass -- computer breakdowns and long lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices.

His Road Warrior column on L-1 today breaks years of silent acquiescing to Christie's anti-mass transit policies, and refusal to raise the gas tax to pay for road and rail improvements.

Cichowski even blames Christie for rising traffic deaths this year "after three decades of decline" (L-2).

Columns such as Cichowski's ring hollow in view of The Record being the only major daily paper in the state that didn't call for the GOP thug to resign after he endorsed Trump.

Whole Foods

On Wednesday, retailing reporter Joan Verdon was incorrect in saying the new Closter Whole Foods "will have features not found in other stores, including a juice bar and coffee stand."

The Whole Foods in Paramus has both.

She also omitted mentioning that Costco Wholesale has expanded its organic and natural-food selection far more than the Whole Foods competitors she lists: Fairway, Trader Joe's, Walmart and Target.

With Trump and his supporters, stupid is as stupid does

The world is laughing at us. This image of Donald J. Trump is from cartoonist Marian Kamensky of Vienna, Austria (Marian Kamensky Cartoons).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

It's no surprise Governor Christie gave reporters the silent treatment when they wanted to question him about wacko Donald J. Trump's vulgar boasts about kissing, groping and trying to have sex with women.

"Christie was the first of Trump's former primary rivals to endorse him," and he's assembling "a potential White House staff" for the GOP presidential nominee, The Record reports on Page 1 today.

And even though Christie was passed over as Trump's running mate, he probably hopes he'll be the next attorney general of the United States.

Yet the Woodland Park daily continues to ignore the seven other New Jersey newspapers that called on Christie to resign after his Trump endorsement. 

Meanwhile, businessman Phil Murphy, the leading Democratic candidate for governor in 2017, is calling on Christie to withdraw his endorsement and quit as Trump's transition chairman.

"To remain with Trump now," Murphy said of Christie, "is nothing less than a tacit endorsement of his disgusting misogyny," according to NJ.com.

Vulgar language

Christie himself has repeatedly used vulgar language, according to testimony on Wednesday at the Bridgegate trial in Newark federal court.

"Who the fuck do you think you are calling me 'a fat fuck?' I'm the fucking Governor of this state," Christie told Freeholder John P. Curley.

"If you're not in Keansburg tomorrow, standing behind me on the podium, I will fucking destroy you. I will have a robo call sent out to every Republican before Election Day telling them not to vote for you."

Today, Columnist Mike Kelly coyly calls the F-bombs a "revelation about Christie's self-definition" (O-1), causing thousands of readers to roll their eyes and throw his column into the recycling bin. 

Plus, it's hard to understand why the Kelly column about Trump on A-10 today, as well as the Margulies cartoon in Opinion, aren't condemning the billionaire's vulgar bragging about his sexual conquests.

Ken Zisa

No jury or judge has ever said former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa was not guilty of official misconduct or insurance fraud -- the two 2012 convictions on which he was to serve a 5-year prison sentence.

Still, an editorial today claims Hackensack is obligated to pay Zisa nearly $3 million in back pay, legal fees and other compensation after the recent dismissal of the last criminal charge against him (O-2).

"The fallout from Zisa's tenure as chef likely contributed to the election" of Mayor John Labrosse and his slate of reformers in 2013 (The Record's editorial calls them "ticket mates").

The Record still hasn't reported that Zisa and other members of the family's political dynasty are attempting a political comeback under the banner of Team Hackensack.

They will likely try to take back the City Council in May's municipal election.

Trump, Zisa

Supporters of Trump and the Zisas have one thing in common: 

They are as stupid as the GOP's choice for president.

That could be seen in last April's Hackensack school election, when a small minority of the city's 20,000 registered voters elected two members of the Zisa-backed slate, and approved a school budget of more than $100 million (bigger than the city's own).

Even though school taxes make up 44% of the property tax bill for homeowners, Record Staff Writer John Seasly didn't write a word about the campaign of nine candidates on three slates who were seeking three board vacancies.

And the Zisas managed to freeze out the fourth-highest vote-getter, educator Lancelot Powell, and get their third candidate appointed to a sudden vacancy on the nine-member board.

Profiles in death

Unlike many newspapers, The Record does few profiles of prominent local residents, unless they are actors, singers or celebrities.

This weekend, Staff Writer Jay Levin profiled two North Jersey residents -- on the occasion of their deaths.

"In 1949, William Watt flew a DC-3 from San Francisco to New York on automatic pilot and landed in the record books," Levin wrote on Saturday's Local front.

"It was the first coast-to-coast hands-free flight."

"Two decades later, the World War II aviator helped change how corporate bigwigs travel by co-founding a business-jet leasing service based at Teterboro Airport."

Today's L-1 carries another profile from Levin, the local obituary writer:

"With his good looks and winning smile, Jim Noorigian was made for the movies.

"Alas, his 1933 Dodge got more screen time than he did."

"In semi-retirement ... Mr. Noorigian started taking his [vintage] cars to movie and television shoots in the metropolitan area."

What did we do to deserve Governor Christie and Ken Zisa?

The Hudson Riverfront 9/11 Memorial in Weehawken marks the site where about 60,000 people were evacuated to New Jersey after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in Manhattan. Governor Christie was conspicuously absent when the memorial was unveiled on Sept. 7, 2011.

The land surrounding the memorial is a huge construction zone for apartments with a river view.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

For the second day in a row, Hackensack taxpayers are horrified over the prospect of a long legal battle with their disgraced former police chief, Ken Zisa, whose never-ending saga again lands on Page 1 of The Record. 

And when they turn to A-3, they learn that despite continuing gun violence in Paterson and other cities, Governor Christie wants to make it easier to carry a concealed weapon in New Jersey. 

Christie also vetoed a bill that would bring "smart gun" technology to retailers statewide.

Governor Veto

What did long-suffering taxpayers do to deserve these two? 

The Record hasn't bothered recently to report just how many times Christie has vetoed progressive legislation (more than 500), but he surely has set a record for a New Jersey governor. 

We can thank apathetic voters for his reelection to a second term just a couple of months after the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013. 

The voter turnout was the lowest for any gubernatorial contest in state history.

Ex-Chief Zisa

Ken Zisa joined the Hackensack Police Department in 1976, according to today's Page 1 story. He was arrested and suspended from his post as police chief in 2010.

Yet, here we are about six years later and his legal problems haven't been resolved -- a testament to a glacially slow system that guarantees lawyers hundreds of thousands of dollars in exorbitantly high legal fees, which are only loosely regulated.

On Tuesday, a Superior Court judge dismissed the remaining charge from Zisa's 2012 trial, official misconduct, ruling that to retry the ex-chief would violate his constitutional rights.

Now, Zisa may sue Hackensack and the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office for $35 million, but he's declared his intention to get his old job back, even though the city abolished the position a few years ago.

More hearings

The prosecutor, on the other hand, may restart his investigation of disciplinary charges alleging Zisa intervened in a 2008 accident involving his girlfriend, Kathleen Tiernan, whom he drove away before a sobriety test, and in a 2004 incident involving her teenage sons, who took part in an assault on a classmate.

City Attorney Alexander Carver said a disciplinary hearing --plus any appeal -- could take years to resolve. 

The Record doesn't take a guess at how much the city will have to pay lawyers to hold the disciplinary hearing and handle any appeal or what it will cost to defend against a $35 million lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Zisa; and his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa, have formed Team Hackensack, which is expected to field a slate of candidates in next May's municipal election in hopes of once again flying the despised "Zisaville" flag from the roof of City Hall.

Sloppy editing

In his lead paragraph, Staff Writer John Seasly wrote the judge "threw out the last criminal conviction" against Zisa.

Four paragraphs later, the reporter refers to it as "the remaining charge of official misconduct" (A-1).

A "charge" and a "conviction" aren't the same.

In the next paragraph, he has Judge Susan Steele "arguing ...." Judges don't argue; they rule.

In unending Ken Zisa saga, lawyers are the biggest winners

In this February photo from the Bergen Dispatch, defense attorney Patricia Prezioso is asking a Superior Court judge to throw out an official misconduct charge against former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa, right.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A Page 1 headline in The Record today -- "Zisa can pursue return to force in Hackensack" -- set off panic attacks in thousands of residents.

But if they bothered to read the entire story about Ken Zisa -- especially the last four paragraphs -- they'd learn the disgraced former police chief must first "face a disciplinary hearing for his conduct," City Attorney Alexander Carver says (A-7).

"Another roadblock for Zisa," Staff Writer John Seasly reports, "is ... that the city eliminated the position of police chief following his arrest."

Today's story focuses on Superior Court Judge Susan Steele dismissing the single remaining criminal charge against Zisa, citing misconduct by the prosecutor (A-1).

Seasly quotes defense attorney Patricia Prezioso saying "Mr. Zisa will begin the impossible task of reconstructing his life."

Reviving 'Zisaville'

But nowhere does The Record mention residents' anger and resentment toward the Zisa family political dynasty that transformed the city into a North Jersey laughing stock called "Zisaville."

Nor has Seasly reported that Zisa; his brother, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa; and their cousin, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa have launched Team Hackensack in their bid to wrest control from a reform City Council elected in 2013.

In fact, Team Hackensack already succeeded in putting three candidates on the Board of Education this year, and the organization is expected to challenge the council in next May's municipal election.

$8M in legal fees

After Ken Zisa was indicted in 2010, about two dozen police officers sued him and the city, alleging corruption and intimidation.

"Most of the lawsuits stemmed from a bitterly contentious relationship between Zisa and police officers who accused him of engaging in campaigns of retribution and harassment as paybacks for their refusal to go along with his political demands [as a Democratic state assemblyman]," The Record has reported.

The city racked up $8 million in legal fees defending against those allegations, and insurers paid out many millions more to settle the cases, minus the deductible.

See: Zisa nearly broke Hackensack

Pay to play

If you live in New Jersey -- where "pay to play" seems to have been invented -- you have to laugh at Republican charges that many of the people who met with Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state gave money to the Clinton Foundation (A-1).

Pay to play is ingrained in New Jersey's home rule communities -- political donations often lead to an appointment as auditor, engineer and so forth -- as well as in Trenton and in the nation's capitol.

In Washington, congressional lobbyists are actually writing bills to protect the biggest, wealthiest corporations from regulation.

At least in the case of the Clinton Foundation, the money went to good causes -- not to corrupt our law-making process.

Oscar leaving N.J.

In another Page 1 story today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn again gives Governor Christie a pass for refusing to set up a New Jersey marketplace for buying coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

Christie isn't even mentioned in her story about another insurer, Oscar Health Insurance, withdrawing next year.

But an editorial slams Christie for peddling an "unfair school funding plan" (A-8).

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin calls the proposal "Jersey Wrong," a play on the governor's "Jersey Strong" message after Superstorm Sandy in 2012.

That fortifies the impression Doblin can't write an editorial or opinion column about Christie or anything else unless he can find a play on words or a movie, play, book or song to compare it to.

Scallops and steak

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz apparently thinks those extraordinary wild-caught sea scallops are so weird she has to sell them to readers by comparing them to "a good piece of steak" (BL-2).

Better she should advise readers to look for "dry" scallops -- the ones that are sold in fish markets without a liquid preservative.

This Atlantic City front page is irrelevant to North Jerseyans

Jackson Avenue School is one of the poorest performing elementary schools in Hackensack, earning only a 2 from state education officials on a scale of 1-10. The Record, which doesn't cover Hackensack school board meetings, also isn't reporting on issues in Tuesday's election for three board seats.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The words "Atlantic City" in big type on the front page of The Record today sent droves of North Jersey readers back to sleep.

And that's before they saw the piece was another long, boring column from Mike Kelly, whose first paragraph was little more than a weather report.

Meanwhile, in Hackensack, nine candidates are campaigning for three seats on the Board of Education, which has done nothing to improve test scores or engage parents in the education of their children.

In a race that is being ignored by the local-news staff of The Record, three candidates calling themselves Citizens for Better Schools say they will work with city officials to build a new school.

Wasteful lease

Now, the board is leasing a Catholic school building for more than $3 million over five years, with an option to renew for another five years.

The building is worth only $1.2 million.

Six other candidates are backed by the Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades, or the political machine that propped them up.

Attempting a political comeback, former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother, Ken, the disgraced former police chief, announced the formation of Team Hackensack, which is backing three candidates.

The Zisa brothers upset the teachers union when they somehow obtained the addresses of members and sent them an invitation to a barbecue at the home of Anthony Zisa, a high school teacher and Ken's son.

School board candidates went door-to-door in Hackensack's Fairmount section on Sunday, above and below.

Campaign flier for Citizens for Better Schools, above and below.

Local news?

There is so little local news today that most of L-2 is filled with photos.

One is an unusually large one of traffic on Route 80, near The Record's Woodland Park newsroom, after a motorcyclist was "seriously injured Sunday when he rear-ended a Toyota Camry." 

The editors lead the section with an incomprehensible story about "pi" that holds even less interest than the Page 1 takeout on Atlantic City.

Union objects to Zisas' use of teacher addresses in election

The Hackensack Scoop blog says school board candidates Timothy Hoffman, an incumbent; Modesto Romero, a former board member; and Johanna Calle are being backed by the Zisas, who ruled Hackensack for decades and ran the city into the ground.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The president of the union representing Hackensack teachers is objecting to the Zisa political organization's use of members' addresses to solicit support in the school election next week.

In an email, Michael DeOrio said:

"I just received a call regarding a letter that was sent out to HEA [Hackensack Education Association] members, who live in Hackensack, inviting them to a meet-and-greet bbq at [teacher] Anthony Zisa's home.

"This letter came from Team Hackensack, a political organization, endorsing a particular ticket for BOE trustees in the upcoming election. It is well-known who the players are in this political organization."

Team Hackensack is principally supported by Jack Zisa, a former four-term mayor; and his brother, Ken Zisa, the disgraced former police chief, whose son, Anthony, is a teacher at Hackensack High School.

The meet-and-greet barbecue is scheduled for Friday afternoon at Anthony Zisa's home, 337 Maple Hill Drive, Hackensack.

Team Hackensack sent out letters with the salutation, "Dear Hackensack Educator," and listed the three candidates the Zisas are backing in hopes of consolidating their control of the school board.

"Feel free to bring family members, colleagues, neighbors and friends" to the backyard reception, the letter said.

$104 million budget

There are three vacancies on the nine-member board, and voters also can say "yes" or "no" to a $79 million tax levy in support of a proposed $104 million budget for 2016-17.

The spending plan for the schools exceeds the city's own budget, and represents nearly half of residents' property tax bills.

In Tuesday's election, the Zisas are backing three candidates:

Timothy Hoffman, an incumbent; Modesto Romero, a former board member; and Johanna Calle.

'Unacceptable'

Referring to the use of teachers' addresses, DeOrio, the union president, said:

"How did this happen? Why did this happen? Who released our members' addresses? To compromise our members' right to privacy for political interest is UNACCEPTABLE.

"I do not condone this action and find it to be warranted of an investigation. The HEA CANNOT do these things without the proper proposal and consent of our membership.

"Sanctions and/or discipline will be sought for those involved in the matter," DeOrio's email said.

Zisas attempt a political comeback, upstaging Christie

Former Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa speaking to an overflow crowd of loyalists on Wednesday night at the inaugural meeting of Team Hackensack, a new "community organization" that will back candidates in school board and municipal elections.

A banner displayed in a room at the Crow's Nest Restaurant &  Pub in Hackensack on Wednesday night, where chicken, pasta, rice and salad were served. The motto -- "One city. One future" -- wasn't explained.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The big political news in Hackensack on Wednesday had nothing to do with Governor Christie's unsurprising decision to end his presidential bid.

Instead, all eyes were on the Zisa family hosting the first meeting of Team Hackensack, a so-called community group that will back candidates in April's non-partisan school board election and next year's council race.

The Zisas ruled Hackensack for more than 30 years, beginning with the election of Frank Zisa as mayor in 1977.

Through the years, their influence was so pervasive, the city soon was cursed with the label of "Zisaville."

Zisa troika

On Wednesday night at the Crow's Nest Restaurant & Pub, supporters were greeted at the door of a meeting room by:

Former four-term Mayor Jack Zisa, former City Attorney Joseph Zisa; and disgraced former Police Chief Ken Zisa, a Democrat who once also served as a state assemblyman.

Ken Zisa, who was suspended without pay in May 2010, still faces an official misconduct charge relating to when he was police chief.

Jack Zisa told the crowd the new group, Team Hackensack, "is going to move the city forward."

No one choked on their food.

Non-partisan?

Hackensack elections are called non-partisan and candidates run under such banners as Citizens for Change, not party labels.

But party politics simmer just below the surface, and the city's Democratic Party machine was always the power behind the Zisa family political dynasty.

In 2011, 45.1% of the 19,123 registered voters were listed as Democrats, 10.4% were Republicans and 44.4% were unaffiliated.

'Real change'

After a slate of mostly Republican reformers was elected to the City Council in May 2013, they moved to eliminate past Zisa family influence by refusing to reappoint Joseph Zisa as city attorney, Richard Salkin as municipal prosecutor and the Scirocco Insurance Group as the city's insurance broker. 

Jack Zisa was a Scirocco insurance agent at the time.

At the July 1, 2013, meeting where 19 changes in municipal government were made, supporters held up signs reading, "Real change begins today!"

In the crowd

Assemblyman Gordon M. Johnson, the Democrat from Englewood, was the most prominent official in the standing-room-only crowd of more than 150 people on Wednesday night at the Crow's Nest.

Also in attendance were former Councilman Jason Some, former City Manager Andrew Rottino and Board of Education member Timothy J. Hoffman.

Fat guy sings

No one is going to read all of The Record's coverage today on Christie's anticlimactic decision to return to his duties as governor of New Jersey (A-1, A-4, A-5, A-6, A-18 and L-1).

On A-6, a full-page text-and-photo graphic labeled "It's Over" makes no mention of Christie's failure to deliver on his 2009 campaign promise to lower local property taxes, among the highest in the nation.

Despite his 2% cap, taxes have continued to rise in Hackensack, and just about every other town in the state. 

State residents are relieved Christie is returning, but also bracing themselves for bitter partisan warfare in Trenton in the nearly two years the GOP bully still has in office.

More than six years after he took over, the state continues to struggle with providing basic services, including expanded mass transit, affordable housing, a fully funded state public workers' pension system and a cleaner environment.

And Christie surely has set a record by executing more than 500 vetoes, cementing his reputation as New Jersey's worst governor ever.

Bimbo, bimba

If Christie is the state's official bimbo, then reality TV "star" Teresa Giudice is the unofficial bimba, closely followed by Columnist Virginia Rohan and Editor Deirdre Sykes.

Sykes made a ridiculous choice in running Rohan's Page 1 column on Giudice signing a new book, especially when a so-called news story on the same event appears on the Local front (L-1).

Today's local-news section continues the embargo on Hackensack news.

First Hackensack story in many weeks is really stale news

Visitors to Hackensack University Medical Center are treated to a panoramic view of the Manhattan skyline from the top of the parking deck -- little consolation to Hackensack residents whose taxes are higher because the medical complex claims a non-profit tax exemption on $257 million in property.

This sculpture, once displayed in the lobby, was modeled after Managing Editor Dan Sforza of The Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today again tries to pass off legal arguments in the 2012 criminal case against former Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa as legitimate news.

In the last month or two, Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza have virtually ignored municipal news from Hackensack, where the Zisa family political dynasty ruled for decades before the election of reformers in May 2013.

No reporter for The Record has covered the last three City Council meetings, and the Woodland Park daily hasn't reported at all on the city's free-spending school board.

Today, former Hackensack reporter Todd South does his best to get readers interested in Zisa's attempt to have an official misconduct charge thrown out (A-1).

Months after the 2012 guilty verdicts against Zisa, South reports, the trial judge, Joseph S. Conte, "in a rare move, dismissed three of the five convictions against him, a decision that outraged jurors and confounded legal experts" (A-6).

Governor Christie

Sykes, named as top editor in the newsroom a week ago, continues to waste an enormous amount of space and resources on Governor Christie's doomed campaign for the GOP presidential election (A-1).

Two bylines appear on today's story, Herb Jackson and Dustin Racioppi, over a New Hampshire dateline.

But The Record's reporting on financing of the Christie campaign is weak, compared to WNYC-FM, a public radio station (A-8).

Matt Katz reported this morning the founder of Home Depot withdrew his financial support of Christie in the last quarter of 2015.

Still, the Christie campaign received $70,000 from lawyers at Gibson Dunn -- the firm that issued a whitewash of the governor's role in the George Washington Bridge lane closures that cost taxpayers more than $8 million.

Local news?

Sensational crime and court news again dominates the section that is supposed to be devoted to local news (L-1 to L-6).

A filler photo has fans of the environment cheering the destruction of a gas-guzzling Cadillac Escalade in Old Tappan (L-6).

Confused critic

"Istanbul is among the biggest of a wonderful selection of Middle Eastern restaurants ... along Main Avenue in Clifton," says Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung (BL-16).

With that sentence, Ung completely ignores an equally wonderful selection of Middle Eastern restaurants just over the Clifton-Paterson border, on Main Street in South Paterson.

On Jan. 26, three days after the snow stopped falling, a bus stop remained buried under snow, above, and drivers were forced to use only one lane on two-lane Euclid Avenue, below.

Reporter's secret

Before she was hired as a reporter for North Jersey Media Group's weekly papers, Kristen Agnes was a sales associate at Victoria's Secret.

That may explain why her story on Page 1 of this week's Hackensack Chronicle is sending mixed messages about the lousy job city plows did cleaning up from the late January blizzard.

Her lead paragraph reports "ma[n]y residents attended the City Council meeting on Jan. 26 to voice their concerns regarding snow removal."

But her next four paragraphs quote City Manager David Troast, praising employees for an "excellent job handling over 24 inches of snow."

And the headline seals the deal:

"Officials laud snow removal effort"

Except for a photo or two, The Record completely ignored the botched cleanup in Hackensack, Teaneck and many other towns, as Sykes and Editor Dan Sforza have been doing for more than a decade.