Upbeat story on Hackensack development ignores profits

Despite continued business failures in Englewood, above and below, where hundreds of luxury apartments were built downtown and on Route 4, Hackensack is pressing on with its plan to encourage apartment development on or near Main Street as a way of reviving the bigger city's struggling downtown.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Jerome J. Lombardo, CEO of C.J. Lombardo Real Estate Co. of Hackensack, certainly seems to have the ears of The Record's editors.

Today's upbeat story on plans for hundreds of new apartments in downtown Hackensack quotes Lombardo extensively in his role as chairman of the Upper Main Alliance, the business group that is pushing redevelopment (Local front).

But nowhere does Staff Writer Todd South report whether Lombardo and other downtown property owners have positioned themselves to profit from that redevelopment, and by just how much.

This isn't The Record's and South's first story on Lombardo and the struggles of downtown Hackensack.

But like the previous ones, this account makes no reference to Englewood, a smaller city only 6 miles away, that has failed miserably to revive its downtown through apartment development.

Who wrote the optimistic headline on today's Hackensack story, and why did the copy desk supervisor approve it?

"A brand new world downtown"

That's what Lombardo and other boosters are hoping for, but it's far from the reality today.

The story by South, who took over the Hackensack beat in September, also includes factual errors, namely the boundaries of the Upper Main Alliance's special-improvement district and calling Euclid Avenue a "street."

An empty storefront on Main Street in Hackensack.

Where's the fire?

If I lived in Glen Rock, I'd question why three police officers got to a house fire before firefighters (L-1).

Does Glen Rock have a professional department or rely on volunteers? The story doesn't say.

Port Atrocity 

The Record today carries yet another front-page story citing calls for reform of the behemoth Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (A-1).

Inside, a hand-wringing editorial notes Governor Christie has done nothing to control "salary excesses" at the bi-state agency (A-11).

The editorial doesn't mention that maybe it's just cops the GOP bully won't touch -- as in all the local police chiefs in North Jersey who make more than he does, and the 13 Port Authority officers whose total compensation exceeds the $289,000 annual salary of the agency's executive director (Friday's A-1).

Patronage mill

The Record doesn't seem to recognize the Port Authority has been immune to change, because it is an enormous patronage mill for Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, as it has been for their many predecessors.

And the agency is not supported by taxpayers, but rather by fees from shipping companies and airlines, and tolls and fares from commuters. 

Port Authority police officers have abused overtime pay for decades.

Instead of expressing shock, the Woodland Park daily should level with readers on the corrosive power of politics and patronage.

And The Record and other media should acknowledge their selfish interest in keeping that controversy alive to "sell papers."

New chapter in Hackensack's snow-removal follies

On Wednesday afternoon, cars parked on mounds of snow along Euclid Avenue in Hackensack show residents ignored a plea from city officials to move their vehicles off the street to allow plows to clean "from curb to curb."

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Snow is falling heavily in Hackensack this morning -- another in a seemingly endless series of winter storms -- and half-assed snow removal has made driving and even walking dangerous all over North Jersey.

But editors of The Record operate in a bubble, and they've filled today's front page with a silly sports column and breathless stories about the wreckage Governor Christie has made of running New Jersey -- a sad state of affairs that dates to 2010.

Parking woes

In Hackensack, many residents ignored the city's plea on Wednesday to move their cars off streets to allow plows to clean up all the snow they failed to remove in the last two weeks.

The city's past policy of approving apartment buildings without enough off-street parking has come back to bite officials.

The city said it would tow cars off of "snow streets," and on Wednesday night, my wife saw police towing a car parked on Prospect Avenue.

Walking woes

Meanwhile, another policy, the absence of school busing, forces students walking to and from classes to cope with many uncleared sidewalks.

Property owners shirk their responsibility, knowing the city doesn't enforce its own snow-removal ordinance.

One student, who walked from Hackensack High School to Euclid and Prospect avenues on Wednesday afternoon, described the experience as a "nightmare," explaining he had to climb over waist-high snow blocking crosswalks.

Hackensack 'emergency'

Today and Wednesday, Hackensack residents received e-mails on emergency snow removal and free off-street parking from Albert H. Dib of hackensack.org, the city Web site.

A news story based on the press release appears in The Record's Local section today (L-2), but the paper hasn't bothered to report on the effectiveness of snow removal in the 90 or so towns in its circulation area.

As snow turned to rain this afternoon, residents of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack clear sidewalks and driveways, above and below.

Chasing old news

On L-1 today, the lazy local-news editors continue to catch up to the clearing of dangerous mounds of snow blocking bus stops along Route 3 in Clifton, a problem reported on TV news last Friday.

Who is Dib?

Dib is a part-time city employee and executive director of the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance, a public-private partnership.

The group, created in 2004, has had little success in reviving the fortunes of Main Street, especially after The Record and North Jersey Media Group pulled out of Hackensack in 2009.

Dib also is administrator of hackensacknow.org, a community message board, where he has censored postings from Eye on The Record, as well as contributions from other residents.

Fort Lee news

Fort Lee is back in the news today with new developments in the state Legislature's Bridgegate investigation into local access lane closures on the George Washington Bridge (A-3).

But another Fort Lee report is really shocking, a seven-year contract for Police Chief Keith Bendul, who will be making $224,281 in 2019 -- about $50,000 more than the governor of New Jersey (L-3).

Deputy Police Chief Timothy Ford's pay "would jump" from from $187,313 to $197,460, the story says.

Fuzzy reporting

The story is unclear, reporting Bendul "has been awarded a seven-year contract" and "the council recently approved employment contracts for Bendul and the deputy police chief," but also that a public hearing on their salaries will be held.

So, if the contracts have been awarded and approved, what is the point of the public hearing on their salaries at this point?

The story doesn't say.

Is the truth about Christie finally emerging?

On the NJ Transit local to Hackettstown last Friday afternoon.

By Victor E. Sasson

Editor

Fewer than 50 percent of New Jersey's registered voters believe the state is headed in the right direction, and more than half believe Governor Christie has "a lot" to do with it, according to a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll being released today.

The Record didn't think the poll is worthy of Page 1, reporting the results under a small headline on A-3 today.

An unflattering photo of Christie with another story on the same page raises questions about whether the GOP bully's battle with his weight also is headed in the right direction.

More sloppy work

Copy editing and headline writing under Production Editor Liz Houlton continue at an historically low level.

On the front page today, the headline over the centerpiece is as clunky as you can get:

"That's a wrap, summer"

The word "summer" is totally unnecessary in the headline, which would be much more effective without it.

Also on A-1, a brief that sends readers to the Better Living section says, "Teenagers ... may want to think about turning to bed early."

"Turning to bed early" or "turning in early"?

Doesn't make sense

On A-4, a copy editor wrote "UNWAVERING SUPPORT FOR LABOR" over a photo of a huge  American flag suspended from the George Washington Bridge.

Do the exorbitant, ever-rising tolls at the bridge and other Hudson River crossings show the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's support for working men and women?

On the Local front, a story about a 5-mile run in memory of the "comfort women" forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military from 1932 to 1945 doesn't report that many of them were Korean until the continuation page (L-6).

Business-zone fees

Also on L-1 today, Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen wants to eliminate $20,000 a year in additional taxes being paid by the owners of residential properties in the Cedar Lane Special Improvement District.

Property owners along Main Street in Hackensack also pay a special assessment to support the Upper Main Alliance, a public-private partnership that critics say has done little to improve business downtown.

The city also pays half the salary of partnership Executive Director Albert H. Dib.

When is The Record going to expose Upper Main Alliance board members and property owners who are pushing for re-development, knowing how much they will profit from it?