Should lawyers' opposition stop downtown progress?

An attractive property at Main and Bridge streets in Hackensack, not far from a planned open-air performance space that is being opposed by prominent members of the legal community.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack residents and visitors overwhelmingly prefer a downtown green and open-air venue for entertainment and community events over a city owned parking lot with meters.

But lawyers in firms lining Atlantic and Warren streets want to keep the lot for their convenience and the convenience of clients and visiting lawyers and stenographers.

This week, The Record reported an October groundbreaking is set -- in order to qualify for a county grant -- but the paper has been strangely silent on the conflict between the legal community and the city.

In May, Staff Writer Christopher Maag of The Record claimed the debate over what was then called the Atlantic Street Park "comes down to an age-old fight: parks versus potholes."

At the May 6 City Council meeting, attorney Arthur P. Zucker threatened to file suit against the city, comparing elimination of the parking lot to taking away the driveway of his home.

Maag's story never mentioned Zucker or attorney Seymour Chase, who at that time claimed inadequate parking is hurting his business.

Threat to sue

The lawyers threaten to sue to maintain the status quo -- even though there is ample parking across the street from their offices in an under-utilized city owned parking garage.

In an Anonymous comment, a foul-mouthed reader of Eye on The Record noted Hackensack "is not in a communist part of the world," and asserted the issue is "property rights."

Again, the City Council has approved financing to convert one of the city's own parking lots into an open-air venue near a planned performing arts center.

Of course, lawyers will say anything to win.

Today's paper

Editor Martin Gottlieb picks a new National Football League domestic violence policy to lead the paper today, and Columnist Tara Sullivan praises the league commissioner's "long-overdue veracity" (A-1).

Gottlieb's other bewildering choices for Page 1 of our local newspaper:

The Ebola outbreak, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, mourning in the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood and Bergen County's use of military vehicles.

Are you kidding? 

I am sure when Mylyn Liego agreed to talk to a reporter about an alleged brothel across the street from her North Farview Avenue home in Paramus, she didn't think her photo on the Local front today would be run much larger than the suspects' images or the actual house of prostitution (L-1).

And I am sure she was horrified to see her photo under a huge headline:

Alleged brothel raided

Did head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes or her her deputy, Dan Sforza, approve the layout?

Did Production Editor Liz Houlton go home early in time to spend some of her hefty earnings at the mall?

Didn't they think a reader who just glanced at the headline and photos might get the wrong idea about Liego, an innocent bystander?

Holiday blitz

Why is Road Warrior John Cichowski satisfied with a holiday crackdown on drunken drivers and other unsafe behavior behind the wheel (L-1)?

Instead, shouldn't he be calling for year-round enforcement of drunk driving, speeding, and aggressive and distracted driving?

On a diet?

Did Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung go on a diet or have the editors cut her eating-out budget?

Today, she recaps "North Jersey's top-rated restaurants," even though there are four more months left in 2014 (BL-18).

Lawyers have told the Hackensack City Council they prefer this city owned parking lot in front of their offices over an open-air performing arts venue that would replace it, and they won't hesitate to sue to stop the project.

Critics say attorney Seymour Chase faces loss of a handicapped parking spot for his white Mercedes-Benz sedan only a hop, skip and a jump from his office door at 1 Atlantic St. in Hackensack.