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| Today is the deadline for paying third-quarter property taxes in Hackensack. If your payment is not in before the Tax Collector's Office closes for the day, you might have to pay interest. I put my check into the City Hall lock box a few days ago, above. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Today, The Record publishes a second story on David R. Troast, the Hackensack City Council's choice for city manager, that fills in many of the blanks in the initial report and puts critics' "hysteria" in perspective.
But Staff Writer Todd South, who covered Tuesday night's council meeting, again fails to identify most of Troast's critics as being affiliated with the city's Board of Education and local Democratic Chairwoman Lynne Hurwitz, the power behind the Zisa family.
And he didn't tell readers two of those board members were on the council slate that was defeated in the May 2013 municipal election.
In fact, what has become clear since the Citizens for Change slate took office in July 2013 is a nasty battle among Republicans in power and Democrats who are still seething over being thrown out of office after decades of rule, cronyism and patronage.
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| Daniel Carola speaking to the Hackensack City Council on Tuesday night. The Record quotes him by name today (L-6), but doesn't identify his as a member of the Board of Education. |
South and Troast
Today, South, who worked previously at the Times Free Press in Chattanooga, Tenn., fills in details of Troast's professional and personal background that didn't appear in his story on Wednesday.
Unfortunately, without that background critics' complaints seemed more credible.
Troast, 54, was seated in the first row of the council chambers on Tuesday night, as was South, but they apparently didn't speak then or the reporter didn't use anything he might have learned in an interview.
Today, he reports Troast, who grew up in Wyckoff, "is a longtime Hawthorne resident who worked as a planner and township manager in Sparta from 1996 to 2013."
As for a Sparta employee's lawsuit, which was mentioned Tuesday night, Troast is not named as a defendant.
No criminal charges resulted from a complaint that Troast had an antique rifle in the trunk of his car on township property about the time he resigned from his township manager position in Sparta in August 2013.
South mistakenly identifies Troast's former position as "city manager" in Sparta (L-6).
Critics cited Sparta's lack of diversity, but Troast says he has a diverse family through marriage and adoption, "with nieces and nephews of Asian, Hispanic and African-American descent."
And Troast is now working as "a confidential assistant on development projects for the city of Passaic," where thousands of Mexican-Americans live, at a part-time salary of $25,000.
Troast also holds graduate degrees in public administration and urban planning, and would be the first city manager in recent memory who didn't commute in a city owned car.
Old and depressed
Angelo Talignani of Hasbrouck Heights was 85 and could no longer drive.
He showed signs of depression and "expressed regret that he was still alive," according to the prosecutor (A-8).
Is it so hard to understand why he might want to kill his close friend and his bedridden wife and then commit suicide?
But at The Record, a copy editor with no concept of what it means to grow old and depressed or to lose your freedom wrote a ridiculous headline over today's front-page story:
Boost for wealthy
On Governor Christie's first full day in Mexico on Wednesday, he made clear in a speech his only interest is in helping wealthy business owners get even richer at the expense of the environment (A-1).
The GOP bully was the wrong choice for governor of New Jersey and he certainly isn't fit to run the United States.
Christie and his 16-member delegation are living high on the hog in Mexico City thanks to Choose New Jersey, a corporate-backed non-profit "that aims to bolster business relations in the state" (A-8).
But who is paying the way for Staff Writer Melissa Hayes -- one of the governor's chief boosters -- who is in Mexico for the Woodland Park daily, hanging on Christie's every word, burp and fart?
Troast, 54, was seated in the first row of the council chambers on Tuesday night, as was South, but they apparently didn't speak then or the reporter didn't use anything he might have learned in an interview.
Today, he reports Troast, who grew up in Wyckoff, "is a longtime Hawthorne resident who worked as a planner and township manager in Sparta from 1996 to 2013."
As for a Sparta employee's lawsuit, which was mentioned Tuesday night, Troast is not named as a defendant.
No criminal charges resulted from a complaint that Troast had an antique rifle in the trunk of his car on township property about the time he resigned from his township manager position in Sparta in August 2013.
South mistakenly identifies Troast's former position as "city manager" in Sparta (L-6).
Critics cited Sparta's lack of diversity, but Troast says he has a diverse family through marriage and adoption, "with nieces and nephews of Asian, Hispanic and African-American descent."
And Troast is now working as "a confidential assistant on development projects for the city of Passaic," where thousands of Mexican-Americans live, at a part-time salary of $25,000.
Troast also holds graduate degrees in public administration and urban planning, and would be the first city manager in recent memory who didn't commute in a city owned car.
Old and depressed
Angelo Talignani of Hasbrouck Heights was 85 and could no longer drive.
He showed signs of depression and "expressed regret that he was still alive," according to the prosecutor (A-8).
Is it so hard to understand why he might want to kill his close friend and his bedridden wife and then commit suicide?
But at The Record, a copy editor with no concept of what it means to grow old and depressed or to lose your freedom wrote a ridiculous headline over today's front-page story:
"Inexplicable tragedy"
Boost for wealthy
On Governor Christie's first full day in Mexico on Wednesday, he made clear in a speech his only interest is in helping wealthy business owners get even richer at the expense of the environment (A-1).
The GOP bully was the wrong choice for governor of New Jersey and he certainly isn't fit to run the United States.
Christie and his 16-member delegation are living high on the hog in Mexico City thanks to Choose New Jersey, a corporate-backed non-profit "that aims to bolster business relations in the state" (A-8).
But who is paying the way for Staff Writer Melissa Hayes -- one of the governor's chief boosters -- who is in Mexico for the Woodland Park daily, hanging on Christie's every word, burp and fart?
