Law may bar Hackensack foes from getting on ballot

At the Hackensack Street Festival on Saturday, two women turned the Main Street pavement into their own private dance floor, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The 1923 law under which Hackensack's government was formed bars initiative and referendum, such as the proposal to return to partisan elections put forward by administration critics.

In what appears to be an attempt by Democrats to regain the power and patronage they lost in 2013, a group has proposed partisan City Council elections every two years, and allowing residents to introduce or repeal ordinances.

"Then what's the point of having a government?" said Teaneck Councilman Mohammed Hameedudin, the township's former mayor. 

The group, Hackensack Citizens for Good Government, is trying to get 4,000 signatures to put the proposed government change on the ballot.

But the 1923 Municipal Manager Form of Government law doesn't permit such a referendum, city officials say. 

The Council-Manager Form of government is said to be the most widely used form of government in the United States, despite limited use in New Jersey, including Hackensack.

I spoke briefly with group spokesman Ray Dressler on Saturday, when he was trying to gather signatures at the Hackensack Street Festival.

Dressler didn't say how many signatures he has on the petition, and nothing appeared in The Record today, a day after a long story on the group's proposed referendum. 

However, Dressler acknowledged the group is largely made up of Democrats while most members of the City Council are Republicans.

The aroma of shish kebab, above; fish balls, below, and other ethnic food tempted people strolling along Main Street.

Filipino fish balls ($2 a skewer) were served with a sweet or hot chili sauce.

The street menu of Citrus Cafe, one of the restaurants on Main Street.

Martial-arts students showing their form.

Unusually warm weather encouraged strolling.

People who attended the festival had to park blocks away, because shoppers parking was reserved for VIPs. This Upper Main Alliance lot on State Street remained largely empty on Saturday afternoon. Police officers were assigned to keep out residents and visitors.

Today's boring paper

When you have to flip back to The Record's Sunday Opinion section for something interesting to read, it makes you wonder what the editors were thinking when they made up Page 1 and the Local news front.

Brigid Harrison isn't even a staffer, but she exposes another one of Governor Christie's mean-spirited policies (O-1).

Lately, the opinions of this political science professor go against the tide of the largely positive coverage the GOP bully receives from the paper's Trenton staff and its fawning editorial writers.

In her second paragraph, Harrison notes "Christie's willingness to placate national conservatives in order to boost his shot at the GOP presidential nomination while defying the will -- or best interests -- of New Jerseyans."

To keep residents from seeing cuts in food stamps of up to $90 a month, states have increased heating assistance to qualify the hungriest citizens for a "Heat and Eat" program, Harrison says.

But New Jersey is among four states that have refused to do so, even though Democrats in the Legislature have urged Christie to allocate unused energy funds so 160,000 can avoid the food stamp cuts.

Jeeter Schmeeter

The Page 1 hysteria over Derek Jeeter's retirement continues today, and even Columnist Mike Kelly gets into the act on the Opinion front, where his outdated, shit-eating-grin photo defies readers.

The front-page story on street gangs in Paterson might engage readers, if Christie hadn't written off the city in 2011 and cut state aid, forcing Silk City to lay off 125 police officers and dismantle an anti-gang unit.

For the first time since the 2011 layoffs, The Record attributes them "to a combination of mismanagement of the city budget and cuts in state aid," while carefully omitting Christie's name (A-9).

Alzheimer's column

The Road Warrior column today is packed with numbers, percentages and other data from a poll on road safety and distracted driving (L-1).

Rewriting a poll is a real disservice to commuters, especially those who take mass transit, which Staff Writer John Cichowski has largely ignored in the 11 years he has masqueraded as the Road Warrior.

If the past is any guide, Cichowski, who exhibits symptoms of early Alzheimer's disease, wasn't able to accurately transpose most of the numbers from a press release.

Hackensack officials deal more blows to taxpayers

A photo taken today of filled potholes on Euclid Avenue in Hackensack. On Monday, "Eye on The Record" published a photo from Feb. 26, below, and reported incorrectly that no potholes had been repaired on the street in the Fairmount section. However, Prospect Avenue, one of the city's premier streets, remains a disaster along almost its entire length between Euclid Avenue and Essex Street, and other potholes on Euclid weren't repaired as of this morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Instead of urging residents to recycle more, Hackensack officials have announced that twice-a-week garbage collection will start on March 17.

The e-mail from the city's official Web site doesn't say why once-a-week garbage collection is being doubled, how much it will cost and whether the city's already high property taxes will increase as a result.

"Recycling and rubbish collection will remain the same," the e-mail says. 

Who wants this?

I am sure I am not alone among Hackensack residents in saying once-a-week garbage collection is plenty.

As it is, I don't put out garbage for collection ever week, even though we prepare meals five to six days a week.

We have two disposals in our sinks, but would like to see the city collect food scraps for composting, which would be far better than increasing garbage collection.

I actually have to hold back recyclables -- paper, cardboard, bottles and cans -- which also are picked up curbside, and I recycle plastic bags and food wrapping and packaging at ShopRite.

Smelly garbage

I recall attending City Council meetings where residents of one ward complained their garbage smelled during the summer, and asked for twice-a-week collection.

The city didn't survey residents in other wards on whether they, too, wanted more garbage collection.

Hackensack is the most populous community in Bergen County, but it also is one of the most inefficient in terms of using renewable energy or adding hybrid and electric cars to its fleet.

Main Street app

The city seems to be largely influenced by property owners who belong to the Upper Main Street Alliance, a public-private group that is hoping to score big from downtown redevelopment.

Today, The Record reports the alliance has unveiled a free Main Street app, the first in the state (L-3), but the paper doesn't say the app ignores many merchants and restaurants outside of the alliance's arbitrary zone.

Much of the city's redevelopment is taking the form of luxury apartments, and one building going up on State Street won a big tax break from the city, shifting the burden to homeowners. 

Tax-exempt property

Another reason property taxes are so high is the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt property owned by Hackensack University Medical Center, Bergen County and Fairleigh Dickinson University. 

With Mayor John Labrosse, a hospital employee, in control, the city is in no hurry to ask HUMC to give back in lieu of taxes on at least $180 million in property that pays absolutely nothing, despite all the city services the hospital uses.

For example, the hospital could pave Prospect Avenue, which rocks patients in ambulances heading for the emergency room; or buy new cruisers for the city Police Department.

$78,000 mouthpiece

Labrosse and fellow members of Citizens for Change were swept into office last May, then chose Thom Ammirato, their campaign manager, as the city's chief spokesman, paying him an outrageous $78,000 a year, not $65,000, as I wrote earlier.

As a full-time employee of Bergen County, Ammirato won't be supporting in-kind contributions from the tax-exempt county, either.

Page 1 today

Transportation reporter Karen Rouse has written far more about NJ Transit service problems encountered by Super Bowl fans on one day February than she has in the previous decade about long-suffering commuters (A-1).

On the continuation page (A-6), the photo caption is wrong in describing fans "outside MetLife Stadium."

The photo clearly shows a platform at the transfer station in Secaucus, where the copy editor who wrote the wrong caption and everyone else who worked on the story obviously have never been.

Why is a story on winter snowstorms boosting business at carwashes on the front page today (A-1)? What's next -- a boost in the dry cleaning business?

Does anybody care which federal prosecutors -- in New York or New Jersey -- try to take down Port Authority Chairman David Samson, Governor Christie's crony (A-1)?

The powerful law firm headed by Samson has seen its lobbying and legal business skyrocket since Christie named him to the unsalaried position, and businesses he represents have benefited from his official actions.

Local yokels

Today's Local section brings more Passaic County news to Bergen County readers (L-2 and L-3).

Readers confused by Sunday's Road Warrior column reporting both an increase and a decline in pedestrian deaths were not alone, as this e-mail to managers and editors shows:

"In his Sunday column, the Road Warrior embarrasses himself by mistakenly advocating both sides of the argument that New Jersey pedestrian deaths have generally risen over the past decade and have generally fallen over the past decade based on his own made-up and cherry picked information.

"He spent most of his column indicating that pedestrian fatalities rose in the past decade since they went from 138 in 2003 to 163 in 2012.

"He then indicated that pedestrian fatalities fell in the past decade since they went from 176 in 2002 to 132 in 2013.

"To make matters even more absurd, he tried to do this while still misstating New Jersey State Police road fatality statistics for this time period that are readily available to him online.

"Road Warrior indicated that 132 pedestrians were killed in 2013 in New Jersey – 'the lowest yearly number since state police began keeping accurate counts in the 1970s.'"

"However, state police fatality statistics show there were only 130 pedestrian deaths in 2001." 

See the full e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior credibility continues to fall

Editors, residents ignore Hackensack's emergency

On the block of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack where city employee Albert H. Dib lives -- and on other blocks all over the city -- residents this morning continued to ignore officials' declaration of a snow emergency, failing to move their cars to allow snow removal. The city threatened to ticket and tow vehicles.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Like so many chickens running around with their heads cut off, The Record's local snowstorm reporters managed to visit only 17 of the 90 or so towns in the circulation area.

Coverage of winter's sixth major storm is pathetically thin, and Hackensack's snow emergency doesn't even rate a mention (A-1 and L-1).

Staff Writer Hannan Adely, who covers the city, filed a grand total of six paragraphs from Hackensack for today's paper (L-3), beginning her report this way:

"With the sidewalks covered in snow, most pedestrians walked in the street to get around."

Adely and other reporters don't answer the biggest question on residents' minds across the region: 

Have municipal crews and property owners made streets and sidewalks safe for drivers and pedestrians, and are town officials enforcing snow-clearing ordinances?

Lame reporting

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski, the befuddled reporter who hates leaving the office, rewrote a message to police chiefs from the widow of the only driver killed by roof snow in North Jersey in nearly 20 years (L-1).

Cichowski is too lazy to do what a TV news crew did on Thursday, following a vehicle with roof snow and questioning the driver about why he didn't clear off the roof.

On Page 1, a photo caption with the main weather story is awkwardly written and unnecessarily tells readers what they can clearly see in the close-up: 

The snow covering the clothing and beard of William Morales.

So, the caption says, "William Morales of Fair Lawn covered in snow as he cleared it [italics added] outside his home" (A-1).

A map showing snow totals in North Jersey inexplicably includes a town I have never heard of: Marcella (A-1).


  

Euclid Avenue near Grand Avenue in Hackensack.

Only one travel lane was available on Euclid Avenue near Main Street in Hackensack.

At Euclid Avenue and Main Street, as well as at many other intersections, uncleared snow makes clear Hackensack's Department of Public Works plows "don't do corners."

Slow driving

In a delayed opening, classes started at 10 a.m. today for students in Hackensack, where there is no busing.

It was slow going at Hackensack High School, where hundreds of parents lined up bumper to bumper to drop off their children, and hundreds of other students walked, many times in the street because of uncleared sidewalks.

About 10 this morning, Prospect Avenue at Passaic Street was closed for snow removal, and Passaic at First Street was closed after a large wooden structure, boarded up several years ago, collapsed into a V-shape under the weight of accumulated snow.

At Main and Anderson streets, as well as at many other spots in the city, pedestrians using crosswalks had to climb over dangerous mounds of snow.

Many bus stops in Hackensack, including this uncleared double shelter on Summit Avenue, were blockaded by snow pushed against the curb by city plows.

Will the real Dib stand up?

In the past few days, Hackensack residents received e-mails on the snow emergency from Albert H. Dib, a part-time city employee who is Web master of the city's official site, hackensack.org

Dib also is the unnamed editor of hackensacknow.org, a message board that is labeled "Hackensack's Online Community," where he has censored residents' postings.

Still, I received anonymous messages claiming hackensacknow.org is not "a public Web site" and that it is licensed to Dib, who is said to be an attorney.

Does that make sense to anyone but Dib and his anonymous lackeys?

Wearing yet another hat, Dib also is executive director of the Upper Main Street Business Alliance, a public-private partnership made up of landlords and other property owners who are pushing the redevelopment of Hackenack's depressed Main Street, hoping to get even richer than they are now.

To me, Dib's public and private jobs raise the potential of conflicts of interest.


King of the sea

Peter Panteleakis, founder of Peter's Whale and its successor, Oceanos, in Fair Lawn, has long been recognized as one of Bergen County's premier seafood restaurant owners.

Too bad the Better Living cover photo today shows a $34 order of day boat scallops that the Oceanos kitchen inadvertently burnt and made inedible (A-1).

Bad writing

The editing of the 3.5-star review by Staff Writer Elisa Ung shows the same carelessness as the photo selection:

"Prices are high, but many dishes offer high-end good value given the quality of the ingredients" (BL-16).

What is "high-end good value"?

Ung also describes "heaping portions of pristine quality."

Meanwhile, Ung serves readers heaping portions of bad writing.

5 lightweights seek election in Hackensack

This eyesore is among several shuttered storefronts on just 2 blocks of Main Street in Hackensack, on either side of Banta Place. See photos below.

A barber on Banta Place says the street hasn't been paved in 30 years.

Jerome J. Lombardo is chairman of C.J. Lombardo Co., as well as chairman of the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance, a public-private partnership set up in 2004 to promote Main Street and attract people to the shopping district. It's also called the Upper Main Alliance, because it doesn't represent all of Main Street.

No one is beating down the door to rent space on Main Street.

Another failed restaurant on Main Street.

When did Phiefer's, one of Hackensack's oldest restaurants, close?

Is it a conflict for Jerome Lombardo to own a lot of real estate on Main Street and head the public-private alliance that is pushing for redevelopment, with the full backing of a City Council that is trying to hold onto power in Tuesday's election?

The once-majestic United Jersey Bank headquarters on Main Street.

Maybe the Upper Main Alliance should have tried animal sacrifices to revive Main Street before this botanica was closed by a fire last week.

The 5 City Council candidates in the so-called Open Government slate are so many puppets whose strings are being pulled by the powerful political forces that have brought Hackensack to its knees.

Voters on Tuesday could elect independent Victor E. Sasson and other reformers who want to revive the city (vote Lines 11, 2, 3, 4 and 5).

Or, apathetic voters might allow the Open Government slate (Lines 6-10) to win and continue to line the pockets of lawyers, developers and other insiders who have thrived under the decades-long rule of the Zisa family.

'Dragon Lady'

Lynne Hurwitz, the city's Democratic boss, is a protege of longtime party bigwig Joseph Ferriero and the power behind Ken Zisa, the disgraced former state Assemblyman and convicted ex-police chief (see Page 1 of The Record today).

On Saturday, Newark Mayor Cory Booker and the widow of a longtime state senator shamed themselves by ignoring Hackensack's corrupt past and endorsing the Open Government slate -- in a display of divisive party politics.
 

Warehouses and other commercial businesses coexist uncomfortably with homes on Hobart Street in Hackensack, above, and near Elizabeth Street, below. With no park in the neighborhood, children use parking lots for recreation on weekends.

 

Candidate Victor E. Sasson is independent and honest, and owes no favors to special interests, unlike members of "the Zisa slate."

Mental lightweights

Let's take a look at the Zisa slate's 5 candidates:

• As a Hackensack police officer, Kenneth Martin couldn't spell "ambulance" and other words when writing reports. His first dumb move as a candidate was to remove opponents' signs in full view of a store surveillance camera.
• Jason Nunnermacker is a well-fed corporate lawyer and school trustee who has never spoken during the campaign about what he has accomplished in more than a year on the Board of Education. 
• Joanne Mania Colon boasts of more than 20 years of service as a volunteer on the city Planning Board, which has allowed the construction of warehouses next to homes, exposing residents to noise and fumes in their own backyards.
• Joseph Barreto is an educator in Manhattan -- not Hackensack -- and doesn't even send his children to the city's public schools.
• Scott Young apparently doesn't have what it takes to become a member of the city's Police Department, and is a volunteer or "special" officer.   

Lies, not reform
 
Campaign material sent out by the Open Government slate has been filled with lies and distortions about reformers on the Citizens for Change team, including Councilman John Labrosse, the only incumbent seeking another term.

Hackensack donors stray far from Main Street

Hackensack High School.

A fund-raiser for Hackensack High School students on Sunday offered food, wine and non-alcoholic drinks from more than 35 restaurants, caterers, bakers and liquor stores, but only eight were from the city itself.

And despite the participation of the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance, a public-private partnership, only five of them are on or near Main Street, the struggling shopping district that has yet to recover from the pullout of North Jersey Media Group and The Record in 2009.

Tickets to "The Taste in Hackensack" were $75, and raised money for the Hackensack Blue & Gold Scholarship Fund. 

In addition, there were raffles, including a $100 ticket to win an all-expenses-paid Indy 500 weekend and "admission to the private Alfred Sanzari Enterprises Suite at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway."

The event was held at The Shops at Riverside, and there was no mention of the alliance, also known as the Upper Main Alliance, in an entertainment program listing sponsors.

Alliance budget

The $360,000 alliance budget is included in Hackensack's overall budget, and the city and the business group share a $64,000-a-year employee, Albert H. Dib, who is the group's executive director.

The $360,000 is raised through an assessment on Main Street businesses, in a limited zone between Atlantic Street and Clinton Place, that appears as a surcharge on their property taxes.

That surcharge is undoubtedly passed along to city residents and other customers as a cost of doing business.

The alliance was formed in 2004, but empty storefronts, traffic congestion and other problems continue to stifle the revival of Main Street. 

Some of the Hackensack businesses at Sunday's fund-raiser, including Solari's and Fusion Empanada, are outside the alliance zone.

Merna Georges, owner of Main Dish in Hackensack.

Ghost town

Main Dish, which replaced the shuttered Naturally Good, is in the zone, and served delicious mini crab cakes on Sunday.

But owner Merna Georges says she is open only for breakfast and lunch, because Main Street is too quiet in the evenings.

Dos Cubanos, which is on Route 4 in Paramus, served wonderful ceviche and a salad with diced fruit, but Hackensack's own Cuban restaurant, Habana Casual Cafe on Main Street, wasn't represented. 

Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record, joined other Hackensack City Council candidates in attending the event.


Today's paper 

What do you think gripped readers more -- the cover price doubling to $1 or the second installment of a Page 1 series on white suburban heroin addicts?

As a former employee, Sasson pays $58.50 a year for 7-day home delivery -- or about 16 cents a copy -- compared to the regular price of $229.49.

Dissing Hackensack

The Local news section continues to ignore the City Council campaign in Hackensack, including false attack mailings by the Coalition for Open Government.

The coalition is backed by Lynne Hurwitz, the city's Democratic boss and the power behind the Zisa family political dynasty that has controlled Hackensack for decades, holding it up for ridicule as "Zisaville."

The lead coalition candidate, Kenneth Martin, a retired police detective, will stand trial for removing signs put up by a reform slate, Citizens for Change.

Another coalition member is Jason Nunnermacker, an active Board of Education member whose council campaign would appear to violate the board's own regulations against political activity.

In its latest attack mailing, the coalition lied when it claimed Kathy Canestrino, a Citizens for Change candidate, was involved in a lawsuit.

Meanwhile, Sasson plans to file a complaint with the Hackensack superintendent of schools over a coalition mailing sent teachers and support staff on a "confidential" list, in violation of school policy.