Hackensack, NJ Community Message Boards

There's ethics and there's another factor at work on whether John Labrosse will step up and ask HUMC, his employer, to give back to Hackensack, and again, it doesn't necessarily have to be money. Among other things, it could be the paving of Prospect Avenue and starting vegetable gardens at the schools, where the food is inedible, according to my stepson. Like most employers, including The Record, HUMC isn't a democracy, and Labrosse will be bounced out if he dares suggest that the sprawling hospital pay anything in lieu of taxes.

See Eye on The Record for my account of Tuesday night's City Council meeting, which wasn't covered by The Record:

http://eyeontherecord.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-hackensack-reportrer-missed-last.html

I will be running as an Independent in the Hackensack City Council election on May 14, 2013, if I can get at least 250 signatures on petitions to put me on the ballot. Here is the letter announcing my candidacy that was published in Friday's Hackensack Chronicle. Please call me to sign a petition -- 201-488-3012.

261 Euclid Ave.,
Hackensack, N.J. 07601
Feb. 1, 2013

To the Editor:

I joke that I am running for the Hackensack City Council to get my street paved.

But the sad truth is that as property taxes have risen, the quality of life in Hackensack has declined dramatically.

My neighbor says our street hasn’t been paved in 20 years. Noise from low-flying business jets keeps me up or drowns out the TV. The city has been slow in installing solar panels, and still operates many inefficient Police Department vehicles.

I am a former reporter and copy editor at The Record. I am married and my stepson attends Hackensack High School.

If elected to a 4-year term, my goal in the first year is to halt the rise in property taxes. Then, I would work to deliver a property tax cut to residents in each of the remaining three years.

One issue the City Council hasn’t addressed in the past eight years is how much the non-profit Hackensack University Medical Center should pay to the city in lieu of taxes.

Unfortunately, council incumbent John Labrosse, who is seeking another term, works at HUMC, and likely would be ineffective in persuading the hospital to contribute more to a city that has so graciously accommodated its expansions over the years.

I am running as an Independent for Councilman-at-Large on a quality of life platform. The election will be held on May 14, 2013, and I need 250 signatures from registered voters to get on the ballot. I would be financing my campaign and would not accept money from special interests.

If elected, I will:

Work with Teterboro Airport to reduce aircraft noise, and work with federal officials to get a mandatory curfew on flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Get Hackensack to purchase more efficient vehicles, including hybrids, for the Police Department and other agencies.
Explore government grants to add hybrids to the city’s fleet, and encourage the installation of more solar panels on city owned property.
Start collection of garbage and recyclables after 6:30 a.m.
Ban landscaping work on Saturday and Sundays
Encourage police to establish routine patrols of neighborhoods, if that isn’t being done now.
Get police to crack down on speeders, stop-sign violators and loud motorcycles.
Encourage the city to undertake a major program to repave streets, including Euclid Avenue, which hasn’t been resurfaced in about 20 years.
Have turn lanes installed on Passaic Street, at Summit Avenue, and at other traffic bottlenecks.
Encourage the City Council to deliver a property tax cut to residents by passing along some of the additional tax revenue from major building projects, and gasoline and electricity savings.
Call me with suggestions: 201-488-3012.


Save the date, May 14, 2013. Vote for peace and quiet. Vote for Victor E. Sasson for City Council.


Victor E. Sasson



Hackensack, N.J.
201-488-3012
 

I am the author of Eye on The Record, a blog that takes a critical look at the journalism being practiced at The Record before and since it moved to Woodland Park last year. How do people feel about the thinning coverage of Hackensack in the last couple of years, as the staff investigated first Michael Mordaga, former chief of detectives in the Police Department, and Police Chief Ken Zisa? Does anyone know how Zisa, whose first name is Charles, got the nickname "Ken"?