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.