North Jersey residents turn thumbs down on editor who says they must pay for news

The front page of The Record of Woodland Park on June 4, 2018, before reporter John Cichowski put readers out of their misery by retiring. He wrote The Road Warrior column for more than 14 years. The so-called commuting column focused almost exclusively on drivers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The executive editor of The Record today formally announced a policy that had been apparent to readers of NorthJersey.com for many months:

"A portion of our reporting will be available only to subscribers," Daniel Sforza said on NorthJersey.com -- the paper's website -- via a link from Twitter.

"These will be labeled 'For Subscribers' on NorthJersey.com and our mobile apps," said Forza, a former Record assignment editor who rose to executive editor of The Record of Woodland Park and these other Gannett properties:

North Jersey.com, The Herald News, The Daily Record in Parsippany; The Journal News, LoHud.com, and The Poughkeepsie Journal, the last three in New York State.

The job came with a modest raise, but unlimited mileage reimbursement, some wags have suggested.

Reader reaction

"So the number of readers you do have, which I can assure you is very limited, will continue to plummet just like CNN's ratings," Johnny B Good @mastrfriendship replied on Twitter. "An interesting strategy for an already failed news source."

Apple Ridge Something @AppleRidgeGuy wanted to know, "Do your 300 ads per page still pop up for subscribers?"

"I'll guess I'll u follow you now. Bye, said G.O. @bankerdad73. 

"$7.99 a month for a digital only subscription is way too much so sadly I guess I won't be seeing your posts," tweeted Paige Ryan @paigeonedesigns.

"Bye," said Pinky @NJPinkSky, showing an emoji with a waving hand.

Read: Tombstones for great local journalism

Read: The Record and NorthJersey.com

 lose even more readers in 2018

Layoffs, cuts in local news

In his statement, Sforza invokes the glorious history of The Record without mentioning the layoffs of more than 350 employees after the Gannett Co. paid nearly $40 million in cash to the Borg family for North Jersey Media Group in July 2016.

Then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg had engineered the biggest downsizing in The Record's history in 2008, then abandoned Hackensack in 2009, moving more than 1,000 employees to Woodland Park and Rockaway Township.

Gannett not only cut the payroll. Local news pages in the print edition dwindled and ads increased. 

The Record no longer runs an editorial everyday. And as the Local news section shrank, the Sports section was expanded.

A few weeks ago, The Record included an 8-page Sports section and only 3 pages of local news, much of it from Passaic County and of little interest to the heart of the readership in Bergen County.

Sforza's statement fails to acknowledge that he has helped Gannett turn The Record into a rag:

"In a few short months, The Record will be celebrating its 125th year of publication.

"That's more than a century of covering North Jersey, from its time as a rural farming community to the building of the George Washington Bridge to its place as a retail and residential hub in the shadow of New York City.

"Over that time, we've worked to deliver information that's important to you, to your families, to your businesses and to your future.

"The Record still does all of that, landing on newsstands and in your driveways each day. But it now does so much more.

"First and foremost, it's the storytelling engine behind NorthJersey.com, our virtual home where you can get not only our award-winning articles, but view fantastic videos, photo galleries, newsletters and more.

"That shift, which brings local news to you around the clock on your mobile phones, laptops and tablets, has also changed how we support the journalism that is so intrinsic to the way we live and to our democracy.

"Now more than ever before we are relying on our subscribers to support our news gathering.

"In recognition of that growing reliance on our readers’ support, a portion of our reporting will be available only to subscribers, starting Tuesday. This will include many of our exclusive stories unavailable from other news sources. These will be labeled “For Subscribers” on NorthJersey.com and our mobile apps.

"As savvy readers, you have no doubt noticed that we have been scaling back on the number of free stories available each month on our digital site. That's because we value our journalism and we know that you value it as well.

"Often, readers will tell me that they get their news through Facebook or Twitter. But behind the stories you find on social media networks are organizations like NorthJersey.com and The Record, where hard working journalists are doing the on-the-ground reporting to get to the bottom of a scandal, tell you about the new restaurant opening up, or analyzing the latest Yankees victory.

"It's important to realize that. And it's important to acknowledge that the content provided through social media is not generated by social media. 

"The success of local media will increasingly depend on support from our most loyal readers — those of you who subscribe to The Record and NorthJersey.com. 

"Many of you may already have subscriptions to The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal. But only The Record and NorthJersey.com cover the towns you live in, the schools in your neighborhood, and the high school athletics your sons and daughters participate in.

"In addition, as New Jersey is comprised of more than 500 towns, it's important to keep watch on what is happening in our local governments. Only reporters from The Record and NorthJersey.com are keeping tabs on our politicians, our school boards, our downtowns, our health organizations, public transit agencies and the environment.

"This type of reporting is critical to a functioning democracy. It's critical to watching how your tax dollars are spent. And it's critical to how you make decisions that are in the best interest of your family, your business and your career....

"We have also returned coverage of the New York Rangers to our sports pages, adding it to our already robust coverage of the Devils, Knicks, Yankees, Mets, Giants and Jets. And we do it like no other.

"In the coming months, we will be adding searchable online databases of everything from state employee salaries to tax data to education statistics.

"None of this would be possible without our subscribers....

"To get all your digital benefits, you just need to log in our activate your digital account. 

Dan Sforza (Photo: Tariq Zehawi/NorthJersey.com)

"As a lifelong resident of North Jersey, I know how passionate we all are about the role The Record plays in our lives. And I'm grateful to everyone who supports our efforts.

"Again, thank you, and please don't hesitate to reach out with your suggestions for coverage."

Daniel Sforza is the executive editor of the The Record, NorthJersey.com, The Herald News, The Journal News, LoHud.com, The Daily Record and The Poughkeepsie Journal. He can be reached at sforza@northjersey.com, on Twitter @sforzadan. Subscribe to our independent reporting that supports our local communities and our democracy.

Shit in driveway wasn't from dog walkers: The Record was delivered to us by mistake

READERS GET THE SHAFT: A report on the shutting down of nuclear reactors across the United States started on Page 1 of The Record of Woodland Park on Sunday and covered 5 full newspaper pages. Included were the bios of the 5 reporters for Gannett publications who worked on it. Loud yawns could be heard across northern New Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The dog owners in my Fairmount neighborhood don't always do a good job of cleaning up after their pets, as  we can see from the occasional turd in the grass in front of our house.

On Sunday, however, the biggest turd I've ever seen was left in our driveway: 

The Record of Woodland Park, folded inside a plastic bag, was delivered to us in error.

I stopped subscribing to The Record more than a year ago (or was it two), but see the daily paper occasionally at the hospital where I volunteer.

So, I looked at the first Sunday paper I've seen in a long time with a critical eye, confirming once again how former Publisher Stephen Borg and Gannett have brought this once-great local newspaper to its knees.

The front page was wrapped in an ad for hearing aids, a desperate bid for revenue that was started by Borg years before the family unloaded North Jersey Media Group on Gannett in July 2016.

State budget news?

A week before Governor Murphy is supposed to sign the state budget, a battle over renewal of the millionaires tax continues to rage in the state Legislature, but there were no news stories about it in the Sunday paper.

As far as I know, The Record has never explored the millionaires tax as an issue, only as a showdown between the state's most powerful Democrats

The rest of the first section is filled only with international and national news -- a colossal waste of space in a local daily newspaper.

Readers go nuclear

In a desperate bid to grab readers attention, the nuclear power plant opus included a story on Page 12A under the headline:

"This could

affect your

wallet and

your health" 

As with most readers, I would imagine, my eyelids grew heavy.

The lead reporter on the nuclear plant piece was Thomas C. Gambito, a former Record reporter now with the Rockland/Westchester Journal News.

Debra Vial, Gambito's wife, was an assignment editor at The Record.

Now, she is the communications director in Paramus for Suez North America, the water company that levies hundreds of thousands of dollars in public fire protection fees on Hackensack and many others towns and cities.

Vial and other Suez employees have ignored repeated requests from this blogger, who also worked at The Record as a reporter and copy editor, for the fees paid by other municipalities.

Local news?

Sunday's 8-page Local section included 3 pages of obituaries or paid death notices, and a full-page ad.

The lead story on 1L was about gay cops (the headlines included the words "in New Jersey").

But there was not a single story from the 86 towns in Bergen and Passaic counties about municipal government, spending or policies.

Other sections

On the Better Living cover, staffer Rebecca King appeared to rewrite two news releases rating Newark Liberty International Airport as "the worst in America," but claiming the air hub is "best for foodies."

No prices were given, lest readers experience the same sticker shock of travelers who don't bring their own food, and have to buy some of the most overpriced fare in the world.

Better Living also included a USA Today travel article warning Americans going to Mexico to "proceed with caution."

Opinion

Remember the New Jersey budget battle?

In the Opinion section, Governor Murphy appeared as a guest columnist, noting the millionaires tax was passed five times by Democratic Legislatures in the eight years before he took office [and vetoed by then-Governor Christie].

The Record also has endorsed renewal of the millionaires tax. Murphy's column appeared under this headline:

"Why state budget must

put middle class first"

I'm sure almost no one read the piece on the front of Opinion on Sunday by burned-out Columnist Mike Kelly on failed legal pot laws in New Jersey and New York.

Kelly's been boring readers to tears for decades.

The rest of the paper, including Sports, went immediately into the recycling bin.

Read: Tombstones for great local journalism

STRAIGHT TO RECYCLING: Many of the sections of The Record on Sunday were suitable only for the recycling bin.

The Record's old address markers serving as tombstones for great local journalism

DOOMED: One of the two address markers left after The Record's old headquarters at 150 River Street in Hackensack were leveled for the construction of apartments. The brick markers resemble tombstones over the spot where great local daily newspaper journalism died. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- There are only a few signs left that a great local daily newspaper was published for many decades at 150 River St.

Then-Publisher Stephen Borg of Tenafly moved The Record's headquarters to Woodland Park in 2009 after the biggest newsroom downsizing in the history of the daily, founded in 1895 and owned by the Borg family since 1930.

In July 2016, the Borg family sold out for nearly $40 million in cash to the Gannett Co., the biggest newspaper publisher in the United States, but retained ownership of nearly 20 acres along River Street.

Today, there are few remnants of the large, 3- and 4-story red-brick building where the presses roared nightly to publish a daily newspaper that once brought coverage of town council and school board meetings to readers the very next day.

In the 1980s, The Record of Hackensack was known for strong coverage of the environment, and for a daily, in-depth look on Page 1 at an issue in the news known as "the patch."

This week, all that is recognizable at the site are two brick address markers with the number "150" on them, and a bus-like shelter reporters and editors were told to use after smoking was banned in the newsroom.

Read: First, the Borgs screwed Hackensack ...

More sports than news

One look at a copy of The Record of Woodland Park shows how far the once-great daily has fallen after Gannett:

Laid off more than 350 employees of North Jersey Media Group, reduced the number of local news pages, eliminated a daily editorial, and generally gutted a paper many still refer to as "The Bergen Record."

This poorly edited Gannett rag devoted 8 full pages to sports in Wednesday's edition compared to only 3 pages of local news, most of it from Passaic County and far from the heart of the Bergen County circulation area.

Christie apologist

On Wednesday's Page 1, I found another boring political column by Charles Stile, a burned-out Trenton reporter who served as chief apologist for Chris Christie, a GOP thug who was the worst governor in New Jersey history.

Stile enjoys taking potshots at Governor Murphy.

This despite Murphy having to spend most of his time repairing the damage Christie did to mass transit, the environment, medical care, state workers pensions and so much more during the 8 long years of his reign. 

The lead story on the Business page is plans by Krispy Kreme to open its flagship store in Manhattan's Times Square.

A photo with the story shows a New York City police officer eating a donut. What an overused stereotype.

Breaking news

In Wednesday's Better Living section, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz bemoaned the closing of the Pig and Prince restaurant in trendy Montclair, which isn't even in The Record's circulation area.

Read: The Record's ghosts

 will be buried under new housing

DOWNTOWN DEVELOPMENT: The apartment site where The Record headquarters building once stood is considered part of the ambitious downtown rehabilitation zone in Hackensack. The Record has never reported the identity of the property owners who pushed for redevelopment and have been enriched by it.

SMOKING BAN: After smoking was banned in the 4th-floor newsroom, a bus shelter for smokers, center, was set up near a rear entrance to the building.

MAIN AND MERCER: A crane looms over the site of a 14-story apartment building under construction at Main and Mercer streets, about a block from The Record site.

RAISING THE SITE: The city Planning Board approved apartment construction as long as the Borg family and their development partners raise the site by 3 feet. They will be building in a flood zone.

USS LING: The Borgs have washed their hands of the USS Ling, a World War II submarine stuck in the mud of the Hackensack River. Only the periscopes are visible behind a towering heap of sand. The sub once was part of a naval museum.

THE WAY THEY WERE: Here are photos of The Record's old headquarters building and the USS Ling from Sept. 2, 2018, above and below. For many years, the Borgs monetized the parking lot by leasing spaces to Bergen County and to Hackensack University Medical Center, where lawyer Jennifer Borg once was a board member.

Bergen readers of The Record go begging when a lot of news is from Passaic County

Paramus was the focus of a front page story in The Record on Wednesday.

Retired NJMG employees receive 

notice of pension plan shortfall

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK -- Paramus residents must have swelled with pride when they saw a story about their borough on The Record's front page.

But Wednesday's "exclusive" report, which covered more than half of Page 1, had nothing to do with borough affairs.

Staff Writer Melanie Anzidei, the retailing reporter, was raving about a plan to turn the region's biggest shopping center into "something Paramus has never seen, a brand-new downtown" with luxury apartments "a stone's throw from their [residents'] favorite stores."

Passaic County news

But there was plenty of local news inside Wednesday's paper -- if you lived in Passaic County or were interested in sensational trials, crime or crashes.

Since Gannett Co. took over The Record of Woodland Park in July 2016, news of the towns in Bergen County, where the majority of readers live, has been harder and harder to find.

Stories from Paterson, Wayne and other Passaic County towns, as well as crime reports, often crowd out Bergen news in the paper's Local section, as they did on Wednesday.

No editorial

The 12-page Local section included only three and half pages of news and feature stories from Bergen and Passaic counties. 

The rest of the section was devoted to obituaries, Business and Opinion, though no editorial appeared.

Readers have responded by abandoning the print edition and NorthJersey.com in droves, as Gannett's annual report revealed:

The Record and NorthJersey.com

 lose even more readers in 2018

The absence of a daily editorial or two also is puzzling.

More Passaic news

The Local section a week earlier, on April 26, was led by a sensational trial, but the headline had readers scratching their heads:

"Sting's court docs

 reveal graphic talks"

The reference wasn't, as many undoubtedly thought,  to Sting, the English musician, singer, songwriter and actor. 

Instead, the reference was to a tri-state dating app sting that led to the arrest and Hackensack trial of 16 alleged sexual predators from three states.

Five Passaic County stories appeared in the section.

Pension plan

The North Jersey Media Group pension plan for employees and beneficiaries is now called the Fourth Edition Inc. Pension Plan.

A notice I received in the mail said the funded percentage of the plan as of Jan. 1, 2019, is 73.24%.

"Since the funded percentage of the plan is below 80%, certain restrictions apply," the notice said, but "if you are retired or a beneficiary currently receiving payment from the plan, you will not be affected."

This feature about a poetry reading in Paterson was one of three stories from Silk City that appeared on Page 3L of Wednesday's Local section along with a story from Wayne, below. Much of the Paterson news is credited to the Paterson Press.

The Record and NorthJersey.com lose even more readers in 2018, Gannett says

The Record of Woodland Park and the Hackensack Chronicle, a free weekly that no longer has its own staff, and reprints stories and photos from the daily newspaper. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Readers are fleeing The Record of Woodland Park and NorthJersey.com as if they were a sinking ship.

As of Dec. 31, 2018, daily circulation of The Record was 68,630, compared to 91,032 at the end of 2017.

The numbers include visitors to The Record's digital news site, NorthJersey.com, Gannett said in its 2018 Annual Report.

Sunday readership was 90,352, including visitors to NorthJersey.com, compared to 97,149 at the end of 2017.

That's a loss of 22,402 readers daily and 6,797 readers on Sunday in 2018.

'Bergen, N.J.'

The Record is listed 8th among Gannett's "major publications and their affiliated digital platforms." 

That means the once-great local daily newspaper published in Hackensack is ahead (in daily readers) of only The Des Moines Register and the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, N.Y., but behind both in Sunday circulation.

The annual report lists the location of The Record as "Bergen, New Jersey."

Under bylines in the print edition, The Record is referred to as "North Jersey Record."

End of 2016

At the end of 2016, readership of The Record and NorthJersey.com was 235,681 daily and 147,609 on Sundays, according to the 2016 Annual Report issued by Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper chain.

Gannett bought North Jersey Media Group from the Borg family in July 2016 for $39.3 million in cash.

NJMG published The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, North Jersey.com and about 50 weeklies.

Layoffs

More than 350 NJMG employees were laid off eventually.

Retaining such veteran columnists as Mike Kelly, Charles Stile and John Cichowski apparently had no effect on keeping readers.

The error-prone Cichowski retired this year after writing the Road Warrior column for more than 15 years. 

Meanwhile, platforms for local news, including TAPIntoHackensack, may be drawing readers away from The Record and NorthJersey.com, which have cut municipal news drastically.

Read: Gannett admits circulation

 dropped dramatically after 2016 takeover

Read: What the Borgs started at The Record

 Gannett finishes with a vengeance

N.J. bill hopes to revive local journalism, community information, civic engagement

HONEY, THEY SHRUNK THE NEWSPAPER: The weekly Hackensack Chronicle, part of the USA Today Network, once had its own staff. Now, it is smaller and just re-prints news stories written by reporters at The Record of Woodland Park, one of the eight New Jersey dailies owned by Gannett. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Civic Info Bill would create a public fund to "invest millions of dollars in ... projects designed to strengthen local news coverage" in New Jersey, according to FreePress.net.

That certainly would resonate with long-suffering readers of The Record, the Woodland Park daily that has drastically reduced local news since Gannett took over in July 2016.

The bill is backed by 14 state lawmakers -- including the Democratic leaders of both legislative houses  -- and thousands of New Jersey residents who have participated in public forums.

If passed and signed into law by Governor Murphy, the bill would create the New Jersey Civic Information Consortium, a nonprofit "that would provide funding to support quality journalism in New Jersey, promote promising media startups and other efforts meant to better inform communities," according to Free Press.

All funds would be donated.

See: Why the Civic Info Bill is such a big deal

See: Gannett admits circulation

 of The Record dropped dramatically

Many readers say editors from Gannett have turned once-great Record into a rag

For news of the extensive downtown rehabilitation in Hackensack, you'll have to do your own reporting. After The Record abandoned Hackensack for Woodland Park in 2009, stories about the city have been few and far between. The project shown above is on Atlantic Street, near Main.

The pavement of Main Street in Hackensack, above and below, has been left in disrepair in anticipation of the conversion of Main to two-way traffic sometime this year. State Street was converted to two-way traffic last year.

For drivers, Main Street is a rough ride.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I've dropped The Record of Woodland Park, the once-great local daily newspaper I read for nearly 40 years.

I refused to subscribe to the Gannett Co. strategy of offering less local news coverage for a lot more money, and stopped paying for 7-day home delivery in December (now about $180 a year).

When I tried to call about renewing for weekend delivery only, I could never get through.

So, Gannett kept on delivering the paper every day for three more months, finally cutting me off in March.

On Monday, a front page story from Dustin Racioppi of The Record, above and below, tried hard to mislead readers into thinking Governor Murphy planned to raise taxes on the middle class, but has now changed his mind.

A few months ago, Gannett editors changed bylines in The Record to read "North Jersey Record," a publication that doesn't exist.

#gannettruinedmypaper

Many readers now refer to The Record as "a rag."

The biggest losers in the July 2016 takeover of The Record were the 350 employees of the publishing company, North Jersey  Media Group, who were laid off in the next eight months or so.

Close behind were the vast majority of older readers who found most of Gannett's resources were poured into the paper's website, NorthJersey.com, even as editors cut space for local news in the print edition.

That also was troubling, because the tens of thousands of older readers were less likely to use the computers or smartphones they need to take advantage of the digital platform, with its annoying pop-up ads.

And the layoffs in March 2017 included a veteran reporter who wrote expanded obituaries of prominent local residents and had started an aging beat, so many of the concerns of older readers are no longer being addressed. 

See: Readers slam The Record as 'junk'

See: Readers hit corporate greed, price hike

See: Dated columns, chest thumping, errors

See: Abandoning River City

Hackensack news?

There is far more news of Paterson in Local -- the single section that purports to cover the 90 or so towns in The Record's circulation area -- than of Hackensack.

As part of a sweeping downtown rehabilitation project, hundreds of apartments are under construction in Hackensack, the county seat and the most populous town in Bergen County.

But no stories have appeared on the delays plaguing the biggest project, at Main and Mercer streets; to provide a timeline for conversion of Main to two-way traffic, and other redevelopment news.  

Food news?

Gannett's decision in 2016 to drop the weekly restaurant review removed the last piece of critical food reporting.

Now, coverage of the best dishes the food writers ate in the last month or a roundup of places where chefs eat is so totally promotional they sound like advertising.

In the latter article on April 11, The Record not only misspelled Restaurant Serenade in Chatham as "Seranade," but got James Laird, owner and chef of the fine-dining restaurant, to admit one reason he likes the cheap, low-quality burger at Five Guys is "I can eat it as I drive."

By the way, a cheeseburger is listed on Laird's lunch menu at $20, though the beef isn't described; at Five Guys, mystery beef cheeseburgers are $8.69 and $5.69.

Last Wednesday, an article in The Record's Better Living section listed 10 restaurants where you can eat outside, none of them in Bergen County, where the majority of readers live.

Antibiotics in food

The Record has never covered controversial food news, such as the use of harmful antibiotics and growth hormones to raise animals or the large amounts of pesticides needed to grow vegetables and feed crops.

On the March 25 Better Living front, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz did announce a major project:

"Over the next few months, The Record and NorthJersey.com will be presenting a slew of features on ... pizza," Davidowitz said.

"Consider this the ultimate guide to everything you need to know about pizza in North Jersey."

I didn't know I needed a guide to pizza, let alone an "ultimate" one.

Also on March 25, a story from USA Today on the Business front discussed extra-cost grocery delivery services.

A quote from a consultant was enlarged and used next to the headline:

"As more people get used to it, it's become more popular."

Gee. How enlightening.

Headlines

The art of headline writing -- which I practiced as a copy editor at The Record of Hackensack -- no longer exists at the Gannett-owned paper.

On April 27, the front-page headline on the tabloid Hackensack Chronicle declared:

"New school board

may help mend bridges"

I'm pretty sure the headline writer meant to say "mend fences" or maybe "build bridges."

Veteran reporters

Some of the veteran reporters kept on by Gannett also are among the least productive.

On March 25, in the lead position on the front page of the Sunday edition, I was shocked to see the rare byline of Jean Rimbach, who continues her nearly decade-long coverage of a lawsuit filed against the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office.

The big news? 

"The family of a reputed mobster slain execution-style in 2007 moved a giant step closer on Tuesday to obtaining sealed records from a more than decade-old organized crime gambling investigation at the heart of its claims of corruption" in the prosecutor's office.

Columnists

Four veteran columnists -- Mike Kelly, Charles Stile, John Cichowski and Bill Ervolino -- apparently have been told there is no limit on how much they can write -- as Gannett editors desperately try to fill the space once taken up by state and local news.

Cichowski, the so-called commuting reporter, largely avoids covering the biggest story on his beat: 

The decline of mass transit, and growing traffic congestion and pollution at the Hudson River crossings.

Instead, he writes column after column about pedestrian bridges being in disrepair and other obscure transportation subjects.

As for Kelly, an opinion columnist, loyal readers often slog their way through his overwrought verbiage, only to exclaim they don't know where he stands on an issue.

Nepotism

Another veteran, Staff Writer Deena Yellin, tackled a subject rarely discussed in The Record:

Home-rule communities trying to limit nepotism -- the hiring or appointing of family members to town or school district positions.

But she didn't mention Hackensack, once derided as "Zisaville" for the large number of Zisa family members, cousins and other relatives in city positions.

Nor was Englewood Cliffs discussed.

Another sign that her story was less than exhaustive is Yellin admitting she called the New Jersey League of Municipalities, but could not come up with a "precise count of towns with anti-nepotism ordinances."

For another perspective on the decline of The Record, see the discussion on Hackensack's Community Message Boards:

My favorite paper is not having a good day