Front page is dominated by day old, gee-whiz crime news

A half-dozen TV news trucks set up shop on Wednesday morning in Paramus, above and below, across from the Route 4 west strip mall where break-ins ended with a police officer shooting a suspect in a fleeing car. The story all over the front page of The Record today appears more than 24 hours after he died in a hospital.

All eyes were focused on crime-scene trucks from the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and Sheriff's Department that were parked in the strip mall lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As a property tax payer in Hackensack, I've been searching The Record for a story on what happened at the City Council meeting I wasn't able to attend on Tuesday night.

Staff Writer Todd South was at the meeting, but I couldn't find anything on Hackensack in the paper on Wednesday or today.

In today's Local section, there are reports about council meetings in Paramus and Teaneck (L-3).

I guess I forgot the advice of local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza:

They tell readers to get involved in town affairs, because the editors can't be counted on to report local news.

Look to blog

The editor of a local blog, Hackensack Scoop, did attend Tuesday's meeting and reports three property owners have filed a legal challenge to the city's major downtown redevelopment initiative.

The redevelopment plan, launched by the previous administration and the Upper Main Alliance, a property owners group, is designed to increase ratables, which the cash-strapped city desperately needs.

Hackensack has spent millions defending lawsuits filed against former Police Chief Ken Zisa, who is under house arrest after he was convicted of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

And the county seat is being denied tens of millions of dollars in property taxes by tax-exempt entities, including Hackensack University Medical Center, a non-profit, and Bergen County.

Suspect killed

Three of the four stories on Page 1 today are a complete waste of time.

Even though the incident dominated TV news on Wednesday night, The Record devotes most of Page 1 today to the police shooting of a fleeing suspect, who died in the hospital (A-1).

Gee whiz. Look at that great photo of bullet holes in the windshield of the suspect's car from the gun of a police officer he tried to run down, but who was thrown onto the hood of the car.

The story doesn't say when this happened, but suspect Miguel Reyes, 20, of Manhattan died in a hospital at 5:25 a.m. Wednesday, more than a day ago.

Waste of space

And The Record continues to crank out copy on the cheap white trash who call themselves Teresa and Joe Giudice nearly a week after they were sentenced to federal prison, but allowed to stay free for Christmas (A-1).

It's not a surprise or newsworthy that a woman who pleaded guilty to mortgage and bankruptcy fraud (did that include lying on forms?) now claims she was "shocked" the judge sentenced her to prison. 

And really, who cares that a Franklin Lakes golf course is closing? Does this story really belong on Page 1?

What a mockery.

Oust the GOP

All of this trash in the paper distracts readers from the awful job performed by our public officials, including Governor Christie and Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, a Tea Party icon.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the other day it was "a mistake" for Christie to kill the Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010 -- something that every North Jersey commuter knows as well.

In a letter to the editor today, Carl N. Oerke of River Edge figures Garrett's "votes and actions, especially in regards to shutting down the government, have cost this country almost $24.5 billion" (A-18).

"The only job Garrett is protecting is his own ...," he writes. "He is filling his campaign coffers while the middle class suffers."

Hey, there is an election on Nov. 4, and Garrett is seeking a seventh term in the 5th Congressional District, which includes Hackensack, Fair Lawn and most of Teaneck.

Disregard all the nonsense about mall crime, reality TV and golf courses for the wealthy The Record is peddling, and get out and vote.

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Ex-Sparta official to be named Hackensack city manager

On Monday night, Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, right, called David R. Troast the "right candidate," and indicated the full City Council will name him city manager at tonight's meeting.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

The Hackensack City Council tonight is expected to name David R. Troast of Hawthorne as city manager.

At a Committee of the Whole meeting on Monday night, Mayor John Labrosse and Deputy Mayor Katherine Canestrino spoke positively about Troast's experience, education and qualifications for the key city job.

Labrosse, who called Troast the "right candidate," indicated the former Sparta official will get the nod at tonight's City Council meeting.

Background

Troast, 54, is a redevelopment planner who was township manager in Sparta (Sussex County) until a year ago, and before that headed the rural township's Department of Community Development and Services.

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.

Since 1989, he has owned David R. Troast LLC, which "specializes in professional planning services for municipalities and private clients in northern New Jersey."

His redevelopment background would seem to be a good fit in Hackensack, which has launched an ambitious plan to make over its downtown.

Sniping critics

Four of Troast's most vociferous critics come from Hackensack's Board of Education, which spends more to educate a student than does the highly regarded village of Ridgewood, according to state education officials.

Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin was fired from a second job as municipal prosecutor after the winning City Council members took their seats in July 2013.

Two other critics, Jason Nunnermacker and Joseph Barreto, are Board of Education members who were on the losing slate, which was backed by the Zisa-allied City Council members who didn't run in May 2013.

Another critic, Daniel Carola, also is a member of the Board of Education. 

His attacks on the mayor and other council members serve to deflect attention from the sad state of the city's crowded public schools.

A bigger concern is that The Record's reporters have filled stories with the critics' attacks on the council, smears about Troast and other fiction without ever telling readers of their school board affiliations or that they are basically sore losers.

Today's paper

The Record today reports state officials have approved a bond to settle $8.65 million in property tax appeals in Hackensack (L-1).

At the same time, the city adopted a plan to bring tax assessments up to date.

For a Tuesday, the Local section is filled with an unusual amount of police, fire and court news, and related photos on L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6.

They serve as little more than filler for local assignment editors too lazy to chase municipal news from the 90 or so towns in the circulation area.

Christie's hit list

The environment will be taking another hit from Governor Christie, who plans to grab more than $100 million from a lawsuit settlement to balance the state budget (A-1).

Only $50 million of the $190 million settlement with Occidental Chemical Corp. in the cancer-causing pollution of the Passaic River would go for restoration work.

As usual, The Record doesn't say how much of the $190 million settlement will go to lawyers.

Cleaning up the environment, expanding mass transit and other important programs have been sacrificed to the GOP bully's deeply conservative no-tax pledge and his refusal to impose a tax surcharge on his wealthy supporters. 

As tax revenue continues to lag, a greedy Christie makes desperate grabs for money from other sources, as he will doing with the pollution settlement.

Nancy's laughing face?

Is that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi with Christie on A-2 today? 

That's what the photo caption says, but surely, that is wrong.

Instead, she looks like a member of the governor's Overeaters Anonymous class.

Eye on The Record

 will return soon

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Corrective Hackensack story fails to identify council critics

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.

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:

"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?

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Candidate for top Hackensack job refuses use of city car

One of the Hackensack City Council's most persistent critics is Daniel Carola, a member of the Board of Education, above. Some might think Carola is just trying to deflect attention from the sad state of the city's public schools, including the food service in the roach-infested Hackensack High School cafeteria. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

David R. Troast, top candidate for Hackensack city manager, says he lives in Hawthorne, and would be commuting in his own car. 

In a brief conversation during a lull in Tuesday night's tumultuous City Council meeting, Troast told Eye on The Record he has already "refused" use of a city owned car, breaking with an age-old practice that inflames property tax payers.

Mayor John Labrosse and City Council members deferred action on a resolution to appoint Troast after what The Record today called "intense resident criticism of their presumptive pick for new city manager" (L-1).

The story, written by Todd South, identifies some of the critics by name, but doesn't report they are allied with local Democratic Chairwoman Lynne Hurwitz and the Zisa family's politics of greed, which dominated the city for decades. 

Troast is a planner

According to his LinkedIn page, Troast is a redevelopment planner who was township manager in Sparta (Sussex County) until a year ago, and before that headed the rural township's Department of Community Development and Services.

Since 1989, he has owned David R. Troast LLC, which "specializes in professional planning services for municipalities and private clients in northern New Jersey."

His redevelopment background would seem to be a good fit in Hackensack, which has launched an ambitious plan to make over its downtown.

The Record and North Jersey Media Group abandoned the city in 2009, knocking Main Street down but not out.

Back to school

Four of Troast's most vociferous critics come from Hackensack's Board of Education, which spends more to educate a student than does the highly regarded village of Ridgewood, according to state education officials.

Board of Education Attorney Richard Salkin was fired from a second job as municipal prosecutor after the winning City Council slate took their seats in July 2013.

Two other critics, Jason Nunnermacker and Joseph Barreto, are Board of Education members who were on the losing slate, which was backed by Hurwitz and the Zisa-allied City Council members who didn't run in May 2013.

Another critic, Daniel Carola, also is a member of the Board of Education. 

Carola, who harangues the council at nearly every meeting, appears to be reading from prepared remarks.

His attacks on the mayor and other council members serve to deflect attention from the sad state of the city's crowded public schools.

The City Council and acting city manager listening to a critic of David R. Troast, whose hiring as city manager was deferred on Tuesday night.

Newsroom idiocy

A front-page story today asks how a man who "seemed to have everything" -- including a good job, backyard pool in a wealthy community and "even Giants season tickets" -- could kill his mother (A-1).

What idiocy.

This is the same kind of clueless media speculation that occurred after Robin Williams' suicide on Aug. 11, with editors and reporters ignoring how depression and other demons could drive someone to suicide or murder.

The lead byline on the story about suspect Nicholas Piotti of tony Ho-Ho-Kus belongs to Christopher Maag, who was assigned to cover Hackensack for a few months before taking over the transportation beat.

Maag and other reporters covering the story of a son allegedly killing his mother should just assume the suspect is "crazy" -- as is any killer -- and go from there.

In fact, Piotti is being held in a "psychiatric hospital," according to the story.

Are the editors suggesting that the Giants miserable season last year had anything to do with the slaying?

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Local-news assignment editors miss big Hackensack story

Critics say attorney Seymour Chase is upset that an Atlantic Street Park will eliminate a reserved space where he parks his Mercedes-Benz sedan with his firm's motto on the license plate, "TAKE US TO COURT," below.

On Monday night, Chase reminded city officials that his law firm has been in Hackensack for 55 years. Was he stating his undying loyalty to the city or saying his decision to buy a building near the Bergen County Courthouse has made him wealthier than anyone can imagine?

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Hackensack City Council on Monday night voted, 4-1, to adopt a bond ordinance appropriating $650,000 to build a park on a city owned parking lot downtown.

Now, the 44 parking spaces are used mostly by clients of law firms along Atlantic and Warren streets, as well as visiting attorneys and stenographers.

Attorney Seymour Chase, who owns 1 Atlantic St., called the park plan "ill-conceived," and reminded council members that many other lawyers on the two streets oppose it, raising the specter of litigation.

Other speakers denounced Chase for putting his selfish private interests ahead of the public interest as the city seeks to revive its moribund downtown with new apartments and a new park.

Those in favor of the park, including Jerry Lombardo and members of the Main Street Business Alliance he heads, noted the park plan includes 43 new parking spaces elsewhere.

"We need a central green space like the park," said an owner of Brothers Carpet at 392 Main St.

Chase & Chase is at 1 Atlantic St., at the corner of Main Street, above and below.

Where was The Record?

In May, Staff Writer Christopher Maag of The Record reported the debate over the park "comes down to an age-old fight: parks versus potholes."

At that May 6 meeting, attorney Arthur Zucker threatened to file suit against the city, comparing elimination of the parking lot (in favor of a park) to taking away the driveway of his home.

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

Maag was nowhere to be seen at Monday night's meeting, and today's paper doesn't carry a word about final approval of the park bond ordinance.

The park would be built on this triangular, 44-space parking lot between Atlantic and Warren streets. At left rear, a 222-unit apartment building is scheduled to be completed in May 2015. The city's planned performing arts center is at right rear.

Before the fireworks over the downtown park, Genesis Liu, left, and members of Kids' Safety Awareness Program (KSAP) asked Mayor John Labrosse and council members questions about how they do their jobs.

Today's paper

A bike path on a narrow and dangerous 9-mile stretch of Route 9W is no closer to reality, despite the photos and thousands of words in a story that takes up a quarter of the front page today (A-1).

What is the point of the story? To bring readers up to date? On what exactly?

Marty's rabbi

In 2009, The Record gave unprecedented coverage to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, who bought an East Hill mansion next door to a Libyan-owned estate in Englewood, then complained about the planned visit of Moammar Gaddafi.

Boteach is back on the front page today, again giving a bad name to Jews (A-1).

Local news

Much of today's Local section is ripped from the police and court blotters.

McDonald's scam

A story on the first Business page today says "reporters and bloggers" ate a free McDonald's dinner "prepared by celebrity chefs using ingredients from the chain's menu" (L-8).

None of them were aware you can't polish a turd.

Cost cutting

To save money, the Borg publishing family has hired a couple of talent-less freelancers to write about food in Better Living, including Rita Cookson.

Today, Cookson tries to persuade readers they should drink certain beers with certain food, in yet another colossal waste of space (B-1).

Footnote

Even though Mike Kelly's column on Monday amounted to little more than a rewrite of all of the stories published on Robert Lintner, the burned-out reporter managed to screw up the man's first name twice on Page 1.

Lintner, you may remember, is the 65-year-old Saddle Brook man who was stabbed in the neck by his wife, leading police to find hundreds of guns and lots of ammunition in his home.

On Monday, Kelly called him "Richard," according to a correction on A-2 today.

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Christie's latest broken promise breaks media backs

Hackensack Mayor John Labrosse, right, reads a proclamation at Tuesday night's City Council meeting, accepting an oil painting from Parisian-born artist Marius Sznajderman. The artist painted the winter scene of the old Masonic Temple from his apartment window at Atlantic and State streets in 1956. The building is slated to become the city's new Cultural Center. The artist was accompanied by his wife, Suzanne Messing, a onetime reporter for The Record.

 

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An editorial in The Record today condemns Governor Christie's plan to cut $900 million from this year's pension payments in a desperate bid to plug an enormous hole in the state budget (Page 1).

The anonymous editorial writer notes Christie is blaming federal tax policy, previous administrations and public employees, but calls that "a snow job" (A-10).

That should be "latest snow job," given all the lies the GOP bully has told about lowering property taxes, job creation, surging state revenue under his obstinate no-tax policies, Sandy aid and the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Christie's first term was all smoke and mirrors, but that didn't stop The Record's editors, reporters and columnists from falling all over themselves to be the first to promote the mean-spirited conservative for a White House run.

Knows nothing

The politically motivated lane closures at the Fort Lee end of the bridge last September exposed Christie's infamous Office of Governmental Affairs, which ruthlessly pursued endorsements from Democrats before his reelection last November.

Matt Mowers, who worked in that office, became the latest former or current Christie aide to tell investigators he knows nothing about the lane closures, which critics have blasted as an abuse of power (A-3).

But Mowers testified Bridget Anne Kelly, then deputy chief of staff for Christie, called him on Aug. 12 to ask if Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was endorsing the governor, and he told her no.

Bully out of loop?

That was one day before Kelly sent the explosive e-mail, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to Christie's Port Authority crony, David Wildstein, who has been blamed for carrying out the lane closures.

Wildstein, who has since resigned, claims he told Christie about the lane closures last Sept. 11, during the 9/11 memorial ceremony in Manhattan.


 

Lynne Hurwitz, the political muscle behind Zisa family allies defeated in last May's municipal election, returning to her seat after speaking at Tuesday night's City Council meeting in Hackensack. Hurwitz asked City Councilman David Sims if he had used the N-word to refer to himself, as alleged by a police officer. Sims would not comment.

Hackensack news

News of Hackensack shared the front page of The Record on Tuesday with a story about nasal strips for a racehorse.

Editor Marty Gottlieb ran an inspirational photo of Hackensack High School senior softball team manager Erin Kelly, who was paralyzed for two years by illness, but has recovered.

The story on L-1 doesn't say whether her "rare ailment," a virus, was connected in any way to the mediocre food at the high school, where the cafeteria and presumably the kitchen is infested with roaches.

This is 'news'?

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, residents saw The Hackensack City News, an 8-page tabloid filled with upbeat stories on the accomplishments of the new administration.

The "newspaper" was written by Thom Ammirato, the former campaign official who was given the $78,000-a-year job as the city's chief spokesman.

Council officials said the tabloid will be distributed by The Record, but didn't give the cost of printing or distribution.

Ammirato's one-year contract expires in July.


 

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Delayed Hackensack N-word story raises questions

Staff Writer Christopher Maag of The Record, front, shown covering the Hackensack City Council work session on Monday night, didn't say anything about the alleged use of the N-word by Councilman David Sims in his story on Tuesday.

Councilman Sims, seated right, listening to a consultant's report at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If an African-American official uses the N-word to refer to himself, is that a "racial slur"?

The Record is reporting today that it was a slur, claiming Hackensack City Councilman David Sims has sparked "an intense debate in the city over language and race" (Local front).

Today's story reports Sims' alleged use of the term was the "focus of outrage and intense argument" at the council's Monday work session and its regular meeting on Tuesday.

Staff Writer Christopher Maag doesn't explain why his stories about those meetings -- which appeared on Tuesday and Wednesday -- didn't mention the controversy.

Why did The Record wait until today to report Monday night's "heated" debate? Sims denies using the term to describe himself.

(I attended both meetings, but left early each night, and didn't hear anything about Sims.)

More sloppy editing

Maag says Detective Travara Martin complained to Police Director Michael Mordaga that Sims -- the city's Police Commissioner -- walked up to her on April 4 and introduced himself this way.

"I am the Head N-----. It don't get no higher than me," Sims allegedly said in front of Hackensack High School, where he works as a paraprofessional.

But sloppy editing dropped one of the hyphens in "N-----" and missed a lower-case "i" as the first letter of the next quoted sentence.

Maag also doesn't say whether Martin, the detective, is African-American.

On the obesity front

On the Better Living front today, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung once again succumbs to her obsession with desserts and other sugary treats in a story on last-minute gift suggestions for mothers who love food or cooking (BL-1).

She recommends a strawberry huller -- "a major time-saver for jams and pies" -- as if the concept of eating the healthy fruit on its own is completely foreign to her.

Second look 

In his Thursday column, Staff Writer John Cichowski again showed his obsolescence as the Road Warrior by using six-year-old statistics from the National Safety Council.

The Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers reports Cichowski used 2008 statistics and ignored updated statistics for 2014.

Cichowski also committed a number of errors in transcribing the statistics:

He said they were for being "struck" by lightning, when they are for being "killed" by lightning; he said they were for being "killed" by an earthquake, when they include volcanoes, landslides and other earth movements; he said they were for pedestrians killed only when crossing the street, when they were for deaths of pedestrians anywhere.

See:

The Road Warrior crashes and burns again

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In Hackensack, a onetime loyalist turns vicious

Hackensack police officers, who are working without a contract, packed the back rows of Monday night's City Council work session. Christopher Maag, front, introduced himself to audience members as The Record's new Hackensack reporter, replacing Hannan Adely. Behind Maag is Steven V. Gelber, who writes the Hackensack Scoop.com blog.

Editor's note: This post has been updated and expanded.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Steven V. Gelber worked tirelessly for the Citizens for Change slate in last May's Hackensack municipal election, and was most visible after the polls closed, quickly counting the votes that confirmed the reformers' victory.

But in recent months, Gelber has turned against members of the new City Council, accusing them of the same kind of cronyism and abuse of power that marked three decades of rule by the Zisa family and their defeated council allies.

At Monday night's council work session, Gelber, who writes the Hackensack Scoop.com blog, spoke passionately against making acting City Manager Anthony Rottino permanent.

Rottino was a key member of the Citizens for Change campaign, providing advice and introductions to donors.

No experience?

But Gelber said Rottino had no municipal-management experience and even listed several monetary "judgments" against the official, who also is the city's economic development director with a total salary of $176,000 plus benefits.

The controversy is played out today on The Record's Local front, where Staff Writer Christopher Maag reports a majority of council members are engaged in "a power struggle" with the mayor and deputy mayor "for control of city government."

Maag incorrectly calls Citizens for Change the "Team for Change."

Three against two

Maag says three council members -- Leo Battiglia, David Sims and Rose Greenman -- may try to vote at tonight's public meeting to make Rottino permanent, against the wishes of Mayor John Labrosse and Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino.

Labrosse and Canestrino recently stopped using Thom Ammirato, their former campaign manager and now the city's chief spokesman, to write their press releases, but Ammirato held on to his full $78,000 salary.

Labrosse said when Ammirato was given a one-year city contract, he didn't tell the mayor he had a full-time job with Bergen County and other side jobs providing public relations to Republican officials, as revealed in Gelber's blog.

Gelber faulted the City Council for not launching a statewide or nationwide search for a city manager.

He ended his comments by telling council members, "Get rid of your cronies!"

On Monday night, the City Council heard a presentation on a proposed Atlantic Street Park downtown, near the city's Cultural Arts Center and a 222-unit apartment building, both still under construction.

Park-grant deadline

Maag's story today didn't mention the Atlantic Street Park, a proposal that is almost as controversial as Hackensack's next city manager.

The park, with a performance space, would cost $585,000 and the city would get a $268,000 county grant, but only if it is built by October.

Officials of the Upper Main Alliance, a public-private partnership pushing the redevelopment of Main Street, spoke in favor of the park.

But during the public-comment period, residents questioned the need to build the park.

One women said the money would be better spent on a community center and municipal pool. One man said the city should fix potholes instead.

Far from shocking

Is there anything else worth reading in the Woodland Park daily?

Page 1 carries the second part of Staff Writer Jean Rimbach's densely written opus on the state Board of Public Utilities.

Rimbach fulminates about "a revolving door that often takes government officials into employment in the industries they helped regulate" (A-1).

Is that so shocking?

In skimming the text on the continuation page (A-6), I couldn't find any discussion of whether this impropriety affected the setting of electric and gas rates or anything else affecting consumers.

In fact, the real failure of the BPU is in not levying huge fines on Public Service Electric & Gas Co. and other monopolies for the slow repair response to Irene, Sandy and other big storms.

Ignoring real failure

Leave it to transportation reporter Karen Rouse to write a story about NJ Transit employees who used agency vehicles for personal reasons (A-1).

She continues to ignore another issue that affects thousands of commuters every workday: 

The inability of the state agency to provide enough seats on buses and trains into the city.

Another GOP buffoon

On A-3, Staff Writer Patricia Alex reports former Republican Gov. Thomas H. Kean will replace Condoleeza Rice as the commencement speaker at Rutgers University.

There is nothing in the story about whether Kean will finally fess up to hiding huge deficits from James Florio, his Democratic successor, who was forced to raise taxes, leading to his defeat when he ran for a second term. 

Doughnut hole

A second story on the Local front speaks volumes about the high cost of home rule and Bergen County's nearly 70 police chiefs (L-1).

Frank Papapietro, New Milford's police chief and go-to guy for doughnuts, is slated to be paid more than $300,000 this year, including nearly $110,000 in one-time payouts for vacation and accumulated sick days.

The Record has never examined why Governor Christie placed a ceiling on the salaries of school superintendents, but did nothing to control the exorbitant pay and benefits of police chiefs.

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