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.

Black heroin users don't concern prosecutor

This sign is planted on Hackensack's Passaic Street, near Summit Avenue, where a bus and another vehicle collided on Thursday. The lack of turn lanes on Passaic creates a traffic bottleneck during the morning and afternoon rush hours.

In running 88 photos of heroin-possession suspects today, the top editors of The Record -- all of whom are white -- overlooked one thing.

Apparently, no photos of black heroin users are shown on Page A-6, meaning Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli, like the editors, couldn't care less about them.

That's no surprise, given Molinelli's refusal to release information in the fatal police shootings of two African-Americans, Rickey McFadden of Leonia  and Malik Williams of Garfield.

Molinelli must be the first public official to file harassment charges against a citizen -- a man who called him and demanded information about the Williams shooting.  

Tabloid news 

But let's get back to today's sensational, tabloid-like front page from ex-New York Timesman Marty Gottlieb, editor of The Record since late January 2012.

"Suburbia's deadly secret" is the big, black headline over the Page 1 report on the "rising death toll" among suburbanites who use heroin, which many buy from evil black drug dealers in Paterson.

"Since the beginning of 2011, heroin has claimed at least 50 lives in Bergen County," according to the fourth paragraph.

Fifty? Haven't as many people died in traffic accidents or got run down by speeders and stop-sign runners?

Isn't the lack of traffic-law enforcement really "suburbia's deadly secret"? 

You can't tell from Road Warrior John Cichowski, who today offers another in a series of columns on tree trimming and tree clearing in Sandy's wake (L-1).

Editors loves GOP

More bias is evident on the front page in the Political Stile column, which suggests Chris Christie is "the nation's most popular governor -- and certainly among its most visible."

Yes, that last part is true: Christie is visible from the Moon. 

Gottlieb keeps on putting the Charles Stile column on Page 1, even though he knows readers are sick and tired of all the "politics" the media inject into election coverage, instead of focusing on issues.

But issues bore editors and reporters -- from municipal reporters to all the swells in the Trenton State House press corps.

At least the second slanted article about the  gubernatorial election appears on the front of the "Opinion" section:  

Ex-Republican flunky Carl Golden's assessment of Democratic candidate Barbara Buono.

The headline, "An uphill battle," describes Buono's chances with New Jersey media, all of which seem to be in love with Christie, hero of the 1 percent. (O-1).

Dissing Hackensack

In Local, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, could barely manage to fill 3-plus pages of local news, and still needed the photo of a minor car engine-compartment fire (L-3).

In Better Living, food coverage is missing, but there are 2 pages of ads for Mother's Day Dining (BL-6 and BL-7).

Reader exposes flaws

A concerned reader has sent yet another e-mail to management, highlighting errors in the May 1 Road Warrior column, which John Cichowski seems to write off the top of his head: 

"Why doesn't The Record management baby-sit every Road Warrior column to prevent his hazardous and mistake-riddled reporting?

"Why are readers subjected, as they were in his May 1 column, to Road Warrior's mistaken, misleading analysis, and reporting on fatalities, injuries, and need for police at road work zones?

"In response to a reader's question, he indicated it will be acceptable for bicyclists to use the Pulaski Skyway after construction is completed, just like they could before construction started.  How incompetent and deadly do the Road Warrior answers have tobe before there is a retraction of another answer that is NOT based on any facts?  Bicyclists were banned prior to construction and will be banned afterwards since it is unsafe.

"The Road Warrior devotes most of his column to providing irrelevant statistics in addressing similar readers' questions:

"'Why must police baby-sit construction and utility roadside jobs for safety since it also adds considerable cost to a project that is passed along to consumers and taxpayers?'

"Road Warrior NEVER makes any substantiated correlation between the use of full-time police babysitters at road work zones and prevention of fatalities and injuries.

"Road Warrior doesn't seem to realize NJ's Move Over Law is still in effect if there are construction safety flashing lights. There is NO need for flashing lights from a police car."

For the full text, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers: 

Arrest the Road Warrior and throw away the key

More evidence Hackensack residents come in last

Mount Olive Baptist Church on Central Avenue in Hackensack on Friday night was the scene of another forum for City Council candidates that was ignored by The Record.

Unlike many towns, Hackensack doesn't have an outdoor pool for city children and their families to enjoy or a community center where seniors and youngsters can mingle.

Yes. The sad truth is that Hackensack has been ruled by a Zisa family dynasty that has chosen to spend tens of millions of tax dollars on insider deals with politically connected lawyers and developers, not to improve residents' quality of life.

On Friday night, that corrupt legacy and other issues were discussed and debated at Mount Olive Baptist Church -- in another forum for the 11 candidates in the May 14 election The Record didn't cover.

Half a story

Today, the Woodland Park daily did have a story that illustrated the increasing desperation of the so-called Open Government slate, which is backed by Lynne Hurwitz, the city's Democratic boss and the power behind disgraced former state Assemblymen and Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa, a convicted felon.

The story on the Local front reports the slate mailed a campaign letter to teachers and support staff on a "confidential" list (L-1).

"We have a clear policy, no campaigning and no politics on school premises," interim Superintendent Joseph Abate is quoted as saying in the last paragraph on L-2. "If proven, it's a violation of our policy and we'll handle it on a case-by-case basis."

Sloppy reporting

But -- in another example of the sloppy journalism practiced under head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes -- the story fails to identify Open Government candidate Jason Nunnermacker as a member of the Board of Education. 

What could more relevant and why didn't the editors ask Nunnermacker if he used his influence as a school trustee to obtain the confidential list? 

And why didn't the editors ask Abate if Nunnermacker's entire campaign for City Council violates the schools' "no campaigning, no politics" policy?

Favoritism?

The Record seems to be bending over backwards for the machine-backed Open Government slate, which is headed by retired police Detective Kenneth Martin, who has been charged with stealing his opponents' campaign signs.

(It's believed campaign strategists pulling Martin's strings urged him to "steal the scene," but he thought he heard "steal the sign.") 

Desperate lies 

The paper hasn't told readers about the Open Government slate's Friday mailing, which is filled with lies and distortions concerning the city's $75,000 settlement in favor of Debra Labrosse, wife of opposition Councilman John Labrosse, the only incumbent seeking a second term. 

Debra Labrosse was a defendant in what apparently turned out to be a baseless defamation lawsuit filed against her by Ken Zisa.

The large postcard shows John Labrosse getting into his car, complete with a clear image of his license plate. 

Inependent, honest 

Candidate Victor E. Sasson, a former Record staffer who now writes Eye on The Record, is waging an independent campaign in the municipal election.  

Today, Sasson came across a 2012 story on NorthJersey.com, exploring the relationship among Ken Zisa, Lynne Hurwitz, Richard Salkin and others on the occasion of the former police chief being sentenced to 5 years in prison:


Will the real machine politician please stand up?    


At the Friday night forum, Mount Olive Deacon Robert H. Robinson urged members of the African-American community to go to the polls on May 14, and to tell their relatives and friends to do the same.

"If you don't vote, you lose the right to complain," said the church's flier for Meet the Candidates Night.

To that, Sasson says, "Amen."   

Today's paper

The last time The Record assigned homophobe Mike Kelly to do a shore story he completely ignored the role of gay couples from New York City in the renewal of Asbury Park.

But to his and the editors' eternal embarrassment,  Kelly's stale report on half-way houses and mental patients roaming the streets of Asbury Park was published on the same exact day as a New York Times story about homosexuals buying up homes and businesses in the faded resort.

On Page 1 today, Kelly assumes the role of pop psychologist, reflecting on "the deep and complicated emotional thread that links many who are trying to rebuild homes and businesses along the Jersey shore" (A-1).

Excuse me, I have to throw up.

Living dangerously

A story on the Better Living cover today (BL-1) ignores the dark side of cured meat, whether made here or imported from Italy:

Nitrates and other preservatives used to cure salumi and other pork and beef products have been linked to cancer.

The good news isn't in today's story:

You can buy uncured, unpreserved cold cuts, hot dogs and similar meat products at Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's and other stores, and most of them also are free of harmful animal antibiotics and growth hormones.