Voter apathy stifles reform in Hackensack

Voters will find this flier in today's Hackensack Chronicle, which says it has a circulation of more than 20,000 in Hackensack and South Hackensack.

Victor E. Sasson and other reform candidates in the May 14 Hackensack City Council election are fighting an unseen enemy.

Voter apathy in "Zisaville" may prove to be more powerful than allies of the ruling family who are trying so desperately to hold onto power.

That 5-person slate is headed by alleged sign-stealer Kenneth Martin, a retired African-American police detective who boasts of having been the first resource officer at Hackensack High School.

His dumb move -- caught on Hackensack Market's video-surveillance camera -- is a cautionary tale for the few voters who are paying attention to the campaign.

Read it and weep

Another lesson in the sad state of democracy in Hackensack can be seen in the number of registered voters and the turnout in the 2009 and 2005 City Council elections.

On April 24, 2009, the number of Hackensack residents registered to vote totaled 19,868, according to figures released by City Clerk Debra Heck.

Only 3,731 of them voted in the May election, giving victory to all but one of the Zisa-backed candidates. 

That vote total was actually down from the May 2005 election, when only 4,568 residents voted out of about 19,000 who were registered.

On March 6, 2013, 21,090 people were registered to vote in Hackensack, Heck said.

Official apathy

Apathy isn't reserved for Hackensack voters.

Last week, an aide for state Sen. Loretta Weinberg told Sasson, the only independent cadidate, the senator does not get involved in municipal elections.

Sasson wanted Weinberg to pay for robo calls, urging Hackensack voters to back reform candidates in the May 14 election.

Sasson called Weinberg's Teaneck office again this week, hoping the senator would at least issue a neutral, get-out-the-vote message. But his call hasn't been returned.

Apathetic editors

More apathy is evident at The Record, which so far hasn't covered the Hackensack campaign, except to report on the arrest of Martin and related news.

The Woodland Park daily doesn't see voter apathy as the big story of the municipal election, because voters "everywhere" are apathetic.

Two other news outlets, News 4 New York and WNYC-FM (New Jersey Public Radio), also have declined to cover the campaign.

Borgs and Zisas  

Here is a fascinating glimpse into the relationship of the Borgs -- owners of The Record -- and the Zisas, including mention of Jack Zisa, Lynne Hurwitz and other Hackensack movers and shakers:

The Zisas and the Borgs 


End alliance now

The number of empty storefronts on or near Main Street in Hackensack and the limited jurisdiction of the Upper Main Alliance are two powerful arguments for disbanding the public-private partnership formed in 2004.

In The Record today, Jerry Lombardo, president of the real estate firm C.J.L. Lombardo and the alliance board chairman, discusses redevelopment efforts in Hackensack (L-8).

Lombardo doesn't disclose whether he owns property in the 163-acre zone and how much profit he will realize from redevelopment, which has been endorsed by the City Council.

When the alliance is disbanded, city employee Albert H. Dib, its executive director, should be ordered to devote his full time to economic development of the entire city, not just part of Main Street.

Dib also should be ordered to stop being the "Editor" of Hackensack Now.org, a Community Message Board.

Today's paper

Editor Marty Gottlieb devotes a huge part of Page 1 today to a "major heroin bust" that targeted spoiled brats from wealthy North Jersey suburbs who drive to Paterson to buy drugs (A-1).

You won't find a word in all this coverage (two stories, photos and a chart on A-1 and A-6) about the Paterson Police Department's lame efforts to control the drug trade or gun violence in the Silk City.

To be fair, 125 officers were laid off in 2011 after Governor Christie cut state aide to Paterson and other cities, part of the GOP bully's campaign against minorities. 

In June 2012, 37 were rehired.

More manure

Why is Gottlieb wasting precious front-page real estate on Ahmed Zayat of Teaneck, a multimillionaire gambler who gets high on the smell of horse manure (A-1)?  

And why does head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes keep on publishing anti-mass transit rants from Road Warrior John Cichowski, the self-appointed booster of drivers, cars, driving and related subjects (L-1)?

Today, Cichowski raises the "who will pay?" boogeyman in discussing extension of NJ Transit's successful light-rail system to Englewood.

He knows the real problem is not federal money, but lack of commitment to mass transit by Christie and Tenafly officials, and so-called journalists like himself.

Hackensack news

When I wrote this post, I overlooked an L-1 story on repairs to the Fanny M. Hilliers School, and an L-3 filler photo of the collision of a bus and "a vehicle" on Thursday at Summit Avenue and Passaic Street.

As usual, the photo caption is completely devoid of any information about whether either driver ran a red light or received a summons. 

Editors allow Tenafly to demonize mass transit

Rush hour at the Lincoln Tunnel, above; Manhattan's Penn Station and the Port Authority Bus Terminal, below, show North Jersey needs more mass transit, not less.

NJ Transit rail waiting hall at Penn Station in Manhattan.

NJ Transit commuters slowly making their way to an escalator that takes them to upper-level platforms and buses to Hackensack, Cresskill and other North Jersey towns.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

NJ Transit's fully electrified light-rail system takes cars off the road, eases traffic congestion, cuts pollution and saves gasoline. 

Yet, The Record has allowed Tenafly officials to turn those positives into negatives, culminating in NJ Transit's decision to scrap a plan to extend light rail to the wealthy community, which counts Publisher Stephen A. Borg as a resident (A-1 and L-1).

Mass transit can't catch a break in North Jersey, where two new Hudson River rail tunnels were scrapped by SUV-riding Governor Christie in October 2010.

NJ Transit Newark Light Rail cars crossing Broad Street to enter the Newark-Broad St. Station. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) 

Tom Davis is remembered fondly by Hackensack residents as a muckraking journalist who wrote a series of hard-hitting stories when he covered the city.

But when Davis was promoted to transportation reporter, he wrote negative stories about the extension of light rail to Englewood and other towns.

That tradition was carried on after Davis left the paper, which this year and last reported the wild claims of Tenafly officials without rebuttal from NJ Transit and light-rail commuters.

One explanation is that the current deputy local-news assignment editor, Dan Sforza, wrote at least two "highways of the future" takeouts when he was a transportation reporter.

Sforza did his best to ignore mass transit, even refusing to report on defective NJ Transit buses with screeching rear brakes that ruined the sleep of people living along such bus routes as Grand Avenue in Englewood.

Today's Local section has no news from Hackensack or many other communities, but readers will find three more engaging local obituaries on L-6.

Alliance strikes back

A public-private partnership called the Hackensack Main Street Business Alliance, also known as the Upper Main Alliance, is striking back at Eye on The Record and Victor E. Sasson.

Sasson reported in Wednesday's post he could not find the names of any Main Street restaurants taking part in Sunday's food-centered fund-raiser at The Shops at Riverside.

Sasson checked again today, and no Main Street restaurants are listed on any Web site connected to the event nor are they mentioned on The Record's Second Helpings blog.

On Hackensack Now.org, Editor Albert H. Dib, a city employee who is the alliance's executive director, wrote:

"Vsasson stated very inaccurately that the Alliance was not participating in the upcoming "Taste of Hackensack" [The correct name is  "The Taste in Hackensack"].  He made no attempt to check with the Alliance about its participation. The Alliance is participating in the event.   

"Vsasson has clearly violated this site's Registration Agreement terms not to post false or inaccurate statements. As a result, all of vsasson's future posts will be screened. For the record: This is the practice he currently uses on his own blog, wherein he screens all posts for content. [Eye on The Record screens all comments for content, not 'posts.']

 "Also, this 'Eye on the Record' topic thread has overstayed its welcome on this site and will likely be deleted in the near future. I am closing posting for this thread now." 

Albert [H.] Dib
Editor, Hackenacknow.org

Dib says on Hackensack Now that "four eateries from the Business Improvement District" are participating in the fund-raiser for the Hackensack Blue & Gold Scholarship Fund, which benefits Hackensack High School students, but he does not name them.

The alliance represents only Main Street restaurants and businesses between Atlantic Street and Clinton Place in Hackensack, and apparently does nothing for eating places or businesses in other parts of the 4-square-mile city.

Its work and half of Dib's city salary of roughly $64,000 is funded through an assessment on property owners, who must pay a property tax surcharge to the city.

One businessman calls the assessment "a grand ripoff," arguing the alliance provides services that the city properly should be supplying to residents and property owners.

Editors black out Hackensack election campaign

North Jersey Media Group, the Borg family's publishing company, hasn't disclosed whether the U.S.S. Ling, above, and a naval museum will be able to stay after it redevelops about 20 acres along River Street, including the old headquarters of The Record, below, empty since mid-2009.

The tallest part of the building at 150 River St., right, is an elevator shaft and stairs that would have accommodated the addition of a 5th floor. At least one editor arranged trysts with a secretary in the staircase above the 4th-floor newsroom, where no secret was safe.

Judging from coverage in The Record, readers outside Hackensack -- and thousands who live here -- might not know 11 candidates are involved in one of the most important municipal elections in city history.

The struggle between reformers and powerful allies of the ruling Zisa family is being played out in forums sponsored by the Prospect Avenue Coalition, Bergen County NAACP and others.

All 5 seats on the City Council will be decided on May 14 -- in an election that historically has never engaged voters, despite rising property taxes, declining city services and insider deals with a select group of lawyers that have looted the city treasury.

No campaign coverage

The Record hasn't covered any of the forums, and likely will publish a prefunctory pre-election story that will amount to little more than he said/she said.

That contrasts with more than 3 years of intense coverage of the city Police Department.

Starting in 2009, the paper printed a series of stories about Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, the former police chief and state Assemblyman, culminating in coverage of his trial and May 2012 conviction for official misconduct and insurance fraud.

Long, detailed stories about state and federal lawsuits filed against Zisa by police officers -- and administrative hearings for cops brought up on charges -- filled The Record, to the exclusion of routine coverage of the proposed city budget, school board election campaign and other news.

That pattern continued through 2012.

Since then, routine coverage of Hackensack has been hit or miss, even though it is the county seat, the most populous community in Bergen County and the city where The Record prospered for more than 110 years.

Ignoring change

Mike Mordaga, who became the city's first civilian police director on Feb. 4, stepped up patrols to fight street crime and started a crackdown on moving violations by drivers, among several other, sweeping  changes.

Mordaga also has asked the non-profit Hackensack University Medical Center and Bergen County to give back to the city in lieu of paying property taxes.

Today, Hackensack readers will search The Record's Local news section for that story or anything else about the city, as they have on so many previous days. 

They're responsible

So, get up from your computers and put down your mobile devices and give a big round of applause to Deirdre Sykes, the six-figure head assignment editor who apparently spends more time planning her next meal than she does the next day's Local news section. 

And don't forget to cheer Steve McCarthy, the assistant assignment editor who supervises Hackensack news coverage.

Two restaurants on Main Street in Hackensack are outside the zone represented by the Upper Main Alliance, a public-private partnership that was set up in 2004 to promote the struggling shopping district.

Main Street boycott?

No restaurants on Main Street in Hackensack will be taking part in "The Taste in Hackensack 2013," a food-centered fund-raiser set for Sunday at The Shops at Riverside.

Two restaurants from outside Hackensack and the Stony Hill Inn, the lone city representative, will join shopping-center restaurants in serving samples of signature dishes to raise funds for a Hackensack High School scholarship fund.

The event is named cleverly. It's "The Taste in Hackensack," not "The Taste of Hackensack."

The lack of Main Street participation raises a question about the effectiveness of the Upper Main Alliance, a public-private partnership set up in 2004 to promote the city's struggling downtown.