Borg family remains mum on 20 acres in Hackensack

There are signs of renewal in Hackensack, but not at the old headquarters of North Jersey Media Group and The Record, above and below. In 2009, they abandoned the city where the newspaper prospered for more than 110 years, and the pullout of hundreds of employees hurt an already struggling Main Street.

Today's Page 1 story on possible anchor stores for a 55-acre project in Teterboro appears to end speculation that the Borg family was courting Walmart for the 20 Hackensack acres once occupied by The Record.

Many residents of Hackensack reacted negatively to the Walmart rumors, fearing traffic jams.

But given the newspaper's low quality of local journalism in recent years, a retailer that offers low prices and low quality might be appropriate for the land on River Street.

Discussions with city

City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono has said officials have had discussions with the Borgs about their plans, but he wasn't at liberty to discuss them.

Today's story on Walmart and Costco Wholesale doesn't mention North Jersey Media Group's Hackensack property, which has become an eyesore.

The stores wouldn't open in Teterboro until October 2016, The Record reported.

How about a land swap? 

Many residents of Prospect Avenue would like to see the Borgs negotiate a land swap with the developer of a controversial, 19-story Long Term Acute Care Hospital proposed for a small parcel between Prospect and Summit avenues, near Golf Place.

Residents have been fighting the plan, which was rejected by the city's zoning board, 5-0, in 2012 after 3 years of hearings, but the developer has appealed the denial to Superior Court. 

Tonight, the Prospect Avenue Coalition is sponsoring a third forum for the 11 candidates in the May 14 City Council election, all of whom support the residents.

Well-traveled

On the front of Local, The Record's Hannan Adely  reports the Hackensack City Council on Tuesday voted to amend the city code to allow Class II police officers, "who have the power" of regular cops, "but make a fraction of the pay" (L-1).

The byline of Adely, who is assigned to cover Hackensack, also appears today on a front-page story about a walking tour of Paterson's Great Falls "that you can download to your smart phone" (A-1).

But I question the accuracy of the headline:

 "Historic tour goes high tech"

The tour, according to the story, is new, not "historic." 
 

Is a 27-minute City Council meeting a new record?

The first-floor Hackensack City Hall office used by Albert H. Dib, a city employee who wears a number of hats. He also spends half a day at the Main Street offices of the Upper Main Alliance, where he is executive director.

 

You couldn't call the city of Hackensack efficient.

The city apparently owns no hybrid or all-electric cars and operates a fleet of Ford Crown Victorias and other gas guzzlers.

No solar panels have been installed on any of its buildings; and no red-light cameras are operating to bring in the extra revenue the tax-poor city sorely needs.

The city gets points for opening a Recycling Center on Green Street that accepts computers, TVs and other electronics; light bulbs, batteries and lots of other stuff, but not for staffing it 6 days a week.

I brought recyclables to the center on Tuesday, the second time I visited in about 2 years, and saw the city employee reading the paper each time. I was the only resident there.

Where's the fire?

The Hackensack City Council is another matter.
 
On Tuesday night, council members raced through their agenda in 27 minutes, and about 10 minutes of that was taken up by comments and questions from two residents.

Is that a new record?

To be fair, they met as a Committee of the Whole, starting at 6:30 p.m. 

Council members are paid $10,400 a year, and the member who is designated as mayor gets several hundred dollars more.

Albert H. Dib

Albert H. Dib is paid $64,268 a year as an employee of Hackensack, City Manager Stephen Lo Iacono said on Tuesday, answering a query from Eye on The Record.

Dib has an office in City Hall, but spends half a day at the Main Street offices of the Upper Main Alliance, where he is executive director.

The alliance reimburses the city about $32,000, Lo Iacono said.

That $32,000 apparently comes from assessments on merchants who are members of the alliance, and they presumably pass that along to customers as a cost of doing business in the city.

Dib is the Web master for Hackensack's official Web site; he is the city's chief Information Technology specialist, and he handles some public relations chores, Lo Iacono said.

Dib also is the unidentified "Editor" of HackensackNow.org (Community Message Boards).

More Christie B.S.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes did a masterful job of editing The Record's story on Governor Christie's visit to Bergenfield on Tuesday, putting the GOP bully in the best light on the front of Local (L-1).

However, readers who turned to the continuation page discovered all the bad news (L-6) -- the income-tax credit Christie is pushing not only isn't funded in his proposed budget, but would save "the average property owner $100."

I guess middle- and working class residents who have a job can use that to help defer the outrageous toll hikes Christie rubber stamped.

They can also wonder what the state could do with the $1 billion in revenue from a modest tax surcharge on millionaires Christie has vetoed at least twice.

Also in Local, readers will find two long stories on the proposed budgets in Teaneck and Englewood (L-3), but nothing similar about Hackensack's budget plan.

In fact, The Record has only run a brief about Hackensack's 2013 budget, far less coverage than for other towns.  

Front-page follies

Just about all of Page 1 today is covered by more coverage of Boston and Rutgers.

Having seen and listened to hours of coverage on TV and radio, I just scan the headlines and captions of the Boston story.

I wonder if The Record and other media have explored why the marathon attack is the first time terrorists have succeeded in using bombs to kill civilians since 9/11 -- despite billions spent on homeland security.  

Why do editors continue to shaft older drivers?

The 14 acres of woodland that once served as Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's playground, behind a columned white mansion on Summit Avenue, are one of the few instances where Hackensack residents defeated a development proposal. In this case,  68 town houses were to be built on the land.

I am sick and tired of reading The Record's endless reporting on teen deaths in automobile accidents -- as in today's Page 1 column -- while the challenges faced by older drivers are virtually ignored.

Seniors get behind the wheel, mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal and kill themselves or someone else -- then become a photo op for head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, who uses accident photos as filler in the Local news section (see L-3).

You'd think Editor Marty Gottlieb, who is in his mid-60s, or veteran reporter John Cichowski would care about this issue, and report on the challenges facing older drivers and the help available to them. 

Today's Road Warrior column cites a number of reason for fewer deaths among 16- to 20-year-old drivers, including red decals on license plates.

Of course, Cichowski doesn't tell readers how many hysterical parents he allowed to vent in his column in opposition to the decals when they were first proposed, just as he has done for lead-footed drivers trying to kill another life-saving measure, red-light cameras.

If past Road Warrior columns are any guide, the statistics cited in today's piece are probably reported incorrectly by Cichowski, but don't look for corrections on Wednesday.

Donovan v. Democrats

I am sure I wasn't the only lifelong Democrat repelled by the greed of Bergen County's Democratic Party who voted for county Executive Kathleen Donovan, a Republican.

Now, Donovan, who has been hospitalized for a month, has vowed to veto a pay-to-play ordinance -- proposed by majority Democrats -- that would allow special interests to contribute up to $20,000 a year to county political parties (A-1).

Dissing Hackensack

Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, turn out another lame Local section today, with no Hackensack news.

A story on plunging gas prices (Business, L-7) includes photos from Vermont, suggesting that all of the gas stations near the Woodland Park newsroom have gone out of business.

The photo with the 15 Minute Chef, supplied by The Washington Post, makes Cumin-Cilantro Chicken Patties look like vomit (BL-2).

You have to read Page 1 from the bottom up

To vote against the well-honed political machine that has dominated Hackensack for decades, residents will have to go to Line 11 at the bottom of the May 14 ballot, below, to elect independent City Council candidate Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record and Do You Really Know What You're Eating?  Readers of The Record also have to employ this bottoms-up strategy.

After 7 straight days of front-page, sky-is-falling coverage of the Boston marathon bombing, local readers have learned to unfold Page 1 of The Record to find news that hits closer to home.

Editor Marty Gottlieb, who is walking around the Woodland Park newsroom humming "April in Paris," devotes most of the front page to the "big story" of the day, throwing crumbs to local-news readers.

Below the fold

Today, readers who look below the fold will find a story on the continuing decline of Catholic schools in Hackensack and other communities, and a report on towns investing in lightning-detection systems (A-1).

On A-2 today, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes acknowledges an error in the Dean's List she uses as filler in place of local news.

User unfriendly

On Sykes' Local section front, an interesting story on Fair Trade coffee farmers in Guatemala omits the address of the Teaneck General Store or any other place North Jersey readers can buy the coffee (L-1).

On L-2, a story on a proposal to limit comments by Englewood City Council members to 10 minutes doesn't say how much time residents have to comment or whether other municipal councils also impose a ceiling on their members.

In Hackensack, residents have a 5-minute limit, even though only a handful of people show up for the meetings.

Anyway, City Council members have been ignoring what they say for decades.


Better Living

The "Contact Us" box in Sunday's Better Living section continues to list Susan Leigh Sherrill as food editor, despite rumors she is leaving the job.

Sherrill has kept her Twitter handle as @susanlsherrill, but on the site she appears as Susan L. Axelrod, using her photographer husband's last name.

The Better Living editor is now Marc Schwarz, replacing Stephanie Rivers, who was hired in September 2011 to replace Barbara Jaeger.