Bounced from Hackensack slate, official accepts backing of discredited Zisa family

WHAT IS HE HIDING? In this April 2018 photo taken at a Hackensack City Council meeting, then Board of Education President Jason Nunnermacker, in a black hoodie, hides from a cellphone camera. Now, Nunnermacker is serving as spokesman for Deputy Mayor David Sims, who was dropped from Mayor John Labrosse's slate in the upcoming council election.

 Deputy Mayor David Sims

heads own ticket on May 11

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Deputy Mayor David Sims is a walking contradiction.

Sims has served on the Hackensack City Council since 2013, when he and four others first won election on a reform platform after decades of rule by the Zisa family and its allies.

But after he was dumped from Mayor John Labrosse's council slate for violating the Covid-19 lockdown at City Hall, Sims has enlisted Zisa allies to run with him and serve as his spokesman in the May 11 council election.

And they've chosen to call themselves the "Coalition for Clean Government."

So, here's the contradiction: 

Is Sims saying that since 2013, he's been part of a governing council that wasn't "clean"?

A third slate

A third slate of candidates in the non-partisan May 11 election is led by Leila Amirhamzeh, development director of New Jersey Citizen Action and a former member of the Hackensack Board of Education.

Sims "is turning to the Zisa political dynasty for financial and political backing," Jason DeAlessi, a spokesman for the Amirhamzeh slate, told NorthJersey.com.

"The people of Hackensack are tired of the same political fights of the past and deserve better," DeAlessi said.

MAIL-IN VOTING: We've already received our 4 mail-in ballots for the non-partisan Hackensack City Council election on May 11, as well as campaign material from the Labrosse Team.

MAYOR AND COUNCIL: From left, Councilwoman Stephanie Von Rudenborg, Deputy Mayor Kathleen Canestrino, Mayor John Labrosse (seated), Deputy Mayor David Sims and Councilman Leonardo Battaglia (2017 photo from City of Hackensack).

Sims' spokesman

In a March 19 story in the Hackensack Chronicle, NorthJersey.com quoted Jason Nunnermacker as a spokesman for Sims.

Nunnermacker, a lawyer who is a key ally of the Zisa family, served as Board of Education president and ran unsuccessfully for the City Council.

Nunnermacker noted Sims' past electoral successes, saying they were the result of "his devotion to our community," according to NorthJersey.com.

'Zisaville'

The Zisa family's decades-long grip on Hackensack turned the city into a laughing stock called "Zisaville."

Jack Zisa, the former 4-term mayor (1989-2005), tried to return to power in the 2017 City Council election by backing a 5-member slate, just as he is doing now.

His father, the late Frank Zisa, served 16 years on the City Council and as mayor for one term (1977-81); his brother, Ken Zisa, was the city's police chief for many years and served in the state Assembly (1994-2002); another brother, Frank Zisa Jr., served as deputy police chief; and a cousin, Joseph C. Zisa Jr., was the city attorney for many years.

When the Zisas ruled Hackensack, greed, nepotism and partisan politics were king, as I reported in 2017.

READ: When the Zisas ruled Hackensack...

READ: The Record was clueless 

on Zisas' bid to regain control of city

Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack lived a full life before a hit-run driver killed her

The funeral for Lilian J. Holmes will be held on Monday at the G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Home on Union Street in Hackensack.  (This image was provided by the funeral home). 

Victim was crossing street;

damaged BMW X-5 SUV

fled scene on Polifly Road

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Lillian J. Holmes was known affectionately by her family as Polly.

She was the first of seven children born to Junior and Juanita Walker in Osierfield, Ga., and in 1944, the family moved to Westchester County, N.Y.

After graduating from Yonkers High School, she began working at a hardware store there as a customer service representative. 

Lillian Walker married her high school sweetheart, Quentin "Butch" Hicks, and they had two daughters, Ruth and Lillian.

Years later, she met Zabdail Holmes. They eventually married (in 1982), and moved to Hackensack. 

She lived on Beech Street at the time of her death.

Love of bowling

The couple shared their love of bowling together in leagues, and Lillian served on the Board of Directors of the New Jersey State Bowling Association from 2010 to her death on March 4.

Holmes, 81, was crossing a darkened Polifly Road, between Sutton and Marvin avenues, when she was struck by a late model black 2013 or 2014 BMW X-5 SUV. 

The driver fled and remains at lodge, but a second driver whose vehicle also hit Holmes stayed on the scene, police said.

There are no painted crosswalks or traffic lights on or near those blocks of Polifly Road.

Holmes was going to the CVS Pharmacy on Polifly Road to pick up a prescription, family members told NorthJersey.com.

Family tributes

"She could turn a bad event into something good because of her smile," family members said in an obituary published by the G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Home, where her funeral will begin on Monday.

"She enjoyed life and always brought a smile to those around her. She also loved going out to eat with friends and family.

"She had an uncanny ability to find happiness wherever she went because of her loving and pleasant personality.

"Our beloved sister, mother, aunt, godmother and friend may have had her life taken, but this is heaven's gain.

"Her laughter, loving heart and joyful spirit have left a beacon of light for all who knew her."

'Didn't deserve to die'

"She didn't deserve to die like this," a niece said on social media after investigators posted an image of a black BMW X-5 like the one that hit and killed Holmes.

"My heart is aching for the family," Ginger Thompson commented on Facebook. "It was very scary to see the aftermath of the accident."

A black BMW X-5 SUV like the one that killed Lillian J. Holmes, 81, on March 4, 2021, according to the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office. Investigators are looking for a 2013 or 2014 model with damage to the left (driver's) side and front of the vehicle.

Editors of Consumer Reports can't shake addiction to gasoline cars, SUVs, pickups

KILLER CARS: Once again, the editors of Consumer Reports' widely anticipated Auto Issue seem to be ignoring climate change and the deadly impact of tailpipe emissions.

 

Only 3 environmentally friendly

cars make annual Top 10 list

 

Editor's note: I've revised and corrected the lead paragraph to indicate that the first gas-electric hybrid car sold in the United States, a Honda, arrived in 1999, and that Toyota introduced the Prius hybrid in 2000.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- More than 20 years after the first gas-electric hybrid car arrived from Japan, Consumer Reports is introducing readers to "our Green Choice designation."

In her column on Page 8 of the annual Auto Issue, a smiling Marta L. Tellado, CR's president and CEO, tells readers about "our Green Choice designations" -- dubbed "clean-air cars" -- denoted by a green leaf in the ratings pages.

"We will now incorporate data to identify how vehicles stack up when it comes to the amount of greenhouse gas and other pollutants they emit," which damage our health and the environment.

Leafing through the issue, all of the vehicles marked with that green leaf are either gas-electric hybrids like the Toyota Prius or fully electric, like the Tesla Model 3.

But only two hybrids, both from Toyota, and that lone Tesla Model 3 are among CR's Top 10 in the April 2021 Auto Issue.

The 2018 Auto Issue from Consumer Reports was the first to include an all-electric vehicle, even though a 2010 MIT study concluded 58,000 Americans die prematurely every year from tailpipe emissions.

And Tesla's Model 3 was the only fully electric vehicle on the 2020 Top 10 list.

Addicted to gasoline

Every single vehicle in the Top 10 should be either a gas-electric hybrid or electric, which have the least impact on our health and our climate.

Yet, for some unfathomable reason, the editors of Consumer Reports continue to recommend cars with gasoline engines, and large gas-guzzling SUVs and pickups, when there is a wide range of hybrids and electric cars available.

The magazine boasts the staff of its Auto Test Center "anonymously buy the vehicles, just like a consumer would, and we never base our ratings on models borrowed from the manufacturer."

Nor does Consumer Reports accept any advertising, so an auto issue that goes completely green won't affect the bottom line at the nonprofit Consumers Union, publisher of CR.

Caving in to Big Auto

Still, the magazine's auto testers cave in to automakers who have been slow to introduce hybrid and electric cars and trucks.

For example, the 2021 Toyota Sienna Minivan is being sold in the United States only as a gas-electric hybrid, and a gas-electric version of the 2021 Ford F-150 pickup -- the best-selling U.S. vehicle -- gets raves in an online CR report, but neither is on the Auto Issue's Top 10 list.  

The cover of the April Auto Issue shows three vehicles, including the new and unproven electric Rivian RIT pickup truck, and the fully electric Ford Mustang Mach-E, an SUV, the first Mustang with 4 doors.

The third vehicle is the Toyota RAV4 Prime, a plug-in hybrid.

But the RAV4 hybrid doesn't make the Top 10 list, either.

'She didn't deserve to die like this,' niece says of woman, 81, killed by BMW SUV

The Bergen County Prosecutor's Office and Hackensack police are searching for the driver of a 2013 or 2014 black BMW X5 SUV with tinted windows similar to this stock image. The driver is believed to have been involved in the hit-and-run death of an 81-year-old woman on Polifly Road last Thursday around 7 p.m. 

Driver fled scene, leaving parts 

of damaged vehicle behind

By VICTOR E. SASSON 

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- "The victim was my aunt," a woman said on Instagram in reaction to investigators who posted a photo of the type of SUV that killed an 81-year-old woman crossing Polifly Road last week.

"She didn't deserve to die like this," said the woman, who uses the Instagram handle of @lovaofmnms.

Four days after the hit-and-run death on a darkened 4-lane road that leads to the entrance of Route 80, investigators still haven't released the identity of the victim.

Seeking that information today, I called Maureen Parenta, a spokeswoman for the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office, and Capt. Nicole Foley of the Hackensack Police Department, but neither returned my calls.

READ: Penalties for killing a pedestrian

 don't act as a deterrent

READ: Family members remember

 Lillian J. Holmes

Where did accident happen?

An initial online news report said the woman was killed crossing "Polifly Road near Standish Avenue when a dark SUV with tinted windows struck her and kept going shortly after 7 p.m." last Thursday.

A news release the following day from the Prosecutor's Office said the pedestrian was struck "on Polifly Road, between Sutton and Marvin avenues," a block or so from Standish.

There are no painted crosswalks or traffic signals on those three blocks of Polifly Road.

A second vehicle struck the woman, but that driver remained on the scene, investigators said.

It was not known if the woman had patronized the CVS on the block between Sutton and Marvin or was walking to an apartment building across the street.

When I visited the scene on Sunday night around the same time of the hit-run death, the 4-lane street was dark, illuminated by street lamps, but a city official later complained a fourth street lamp was dark.

'My heart is aching'

A woman who lives near the accident scene and read a news account commented on Hackensack Daily Voice's Facebook page:

"My heart is aching for the family," Ginger Thomson said. "I pray it is not someone I know."

"It was very scary to see the aftermath of the accident," she said. "I live just a few feet from the accident and was able to see the [victim's] body from my window very clearly in the street."

OXO and Costco may rhyme, but they are worlds apart on excellent customer service

If you find the expensive OXO Brew 9-Cup Coffee Maker isn't your cup of tea, the company will make you pay around $30 in postage to return it, then force you to jump through many hoops to get a refund. OXO is in effect saying, "How dare you dislike our product."

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- I just got off the phone after talking to a woman named Dee who assured me she would look into why I haven't received a refund for an OXO coffee maker I returned more than 6 weeks ago.

The coffee maker, which has a retail price of $199.99, arrived at OXO International in South Haven, Miss., on Dec. 26, 2020, the post office said.

Dee said she would send an email, presumably to a supervisor, with all the details of my request.

I had asked to talk to a supervisor, but was told all of them are "in a meeting."

She is probably the fourth or fifth woman I've talked to at 1-800-545-4411 since I returned the coffee maker, and she asked me for a tracking number to confirm once again that the coffee maker I returned actually arrived.

Bad service

So far, I've received terrible customer service from OXO, even though the company's guarantee promises:

"If you’re not satisfied with your purchase, we want to hear about it. We’ll replace it or refund you, because we’re here to make it better – guaranteed."

The terrible customer service from OXO just highlights the great customer service available at other retailers, especially Costco Wholesale, Amazon and Lands' End.

Full refund plus $20

For example, I ordered a Valentine's Day bouquet and vase for my wife from Costco Wholesale (Costco.com), and delivery was promised for Feb. 13, the day before the holiday.

But bad weather delayed the package until Feb. 15.

On Feb. 13, I received an email from Costco.com, offering an apology and promising a full refund of the $54.99 purchase price, plus a $20 Costco cash card.

Last summer, I purchased a beautiful hammock fashioned from laminated wood from Costco.com for $599.99, plus tax.

Besides manufacturing flaws that made assembling the hammock difficult, the layers of wood began to separate after a couple of months of use, and my wife asked me to return it.

Costco provided free shipping for the return and refunded the full purchase price.

I could go on and on about all of the hassle-free returns and full refunds at the warehouse and on Costco.com I've experienced as a Costco member for more than 20 years, but you get the idea.

Flawed coffee maker

I was excited by news that OXO was offering a 9-cup coffee maker in addition to the 8-cup version, and that I could avoid having hot water coming in contact with plastic.

But the single button-and-dial control on OXO's stylish machine (made of stainless steel, glass and silicone) was difficult to fathom for this older American, and I could never set the time.

There were bigger problems:

If you wanted to pour a cup of Joe before the brewing process was complete, the coffee wasn't hot enough, and the spring used was too weak to prevent hot water from dripping onto the hotplate for the stainless-steel carafe.

Finally, 9 cups were simply not enough for our family.

Back to a percolator

After I shipped the OXO coffee maker back to the company, I returned to making our coffee in a 12-cup Farberware Superfast Automatic Percolator my parents used about 30 years ago.

I bought the OXO coffee maker online on Nov. 27, 2020, and got a good deal, paying only $102.35 after Black Friday and other discounts, plus free shipping.

Now, 6 weeks after I returned it, I'm still chasing a refund of the purchase price, but have no hope of getting back the $30 in postage OXO forced me to pay.

OXO guarantee

—

Here is the full guarantee from the OXO website: 

"At OXO, we believe in better – better design, better functionality, better experience – and that’s exactly how we make our products. For more than two decades, we’ve made tools that delight and exceed expectations. Our curiosity drives us. 

"Your satisfaction inspires us. And we hope our attention to detail is why you’ll reach for our products again and again. If you’re not satisfied with your purchase, we want to hear about it. We’ll replace it or refund you, because we’re here to make it better – guaranteed."

Don't choke on your coffee.

Staffers at The Record and 2 other dailies owned by Gannett are trying to join union

The Record of Woodland Park and the Hackensack Chronicle, a free weekly that reprints stories and photos from the once-great daily newspaper known far and wide as the Bergen Record.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Employees of The Record of Woodland Park and two other daily newspapers owned by Gannett are seeking recognition of a union after hundreds of them were laid off in recent years.

The other papers are the Daily Record of Morristown and the New Jersey Herald of Newton.

"The three papers represented by members of our union have provided local news to northern New Jersey for more than 100 years," Record reporter Terrence McDonald told the New Jersey Globe.

"In fewer than 5 years, Gannett has turned each into a shadow of their former selves," McDonald told The Globe. 

"We organized to bring more power to the writers, photographers and web producers who are dedicated to providing our communities with the journalism they deserve," he said.

The union effort includes employees of NorthJersey.com, The Record's website, where some stories are labeled "for subscribers" only.

If Gannett turns down the voluntary request, the employees can petition the National Labor Relations Board to conduct an election.

No comment

Globe Editor David Wildstein, who was a key figure in the Bridgegate scandal during the Christie administration, reported that Gannett appeared to have "embargoed" coverage of the bid by editorial staffers to unionize.

The Record has covered other bids by private sector employees to form labor unions, including bids by non-Gannett journalists to organize at the Los Angeles Times, Wildstein reported.

Dan Sforza, The Record's executive editor, did not respond to several requests for comment.

72 employees sign

Employees of the 3 newspapers are seeking recognition after "almost 90% of eligible employees -- a total of 66 -- signed on with the NewsGuild of New York," The Globe reported, later amending the total number seeking to unionize to 72.

Those employees posted a mission statement at TheRecordGuild.com, their website (and it appears in full in the comments section at the end of this post).

Previous union attempts

When The Record was headquartered at 150 River St. in Hackensack and owned by the Borg family, several efforts to unionize press room workers were made, but they were unsuccessful.

In the 1980s, a number of reporters also wanted to join the New York Newspaper Guild, but could not reach a consensus.

The Record closed its headquarters in Hackensack in 2009, and moved employees to 1 Garret Mountain Plaza in Woodland Park.

Sale to Gannett

The Borg family sold North Jersey Media Group to Gannett in July 2016 for nearly $40 million in cash.

Stephen A. Borg, who was then the publisher, engineered the biggest downsizing in The Record's history in 2008, targeting veteran employees who were earning high salaries.

He then froze newsroom salaries for several years before the sale.

NJMG published 2 daily newspapers, The Record and Herald News, numerous weekly newspapers and (201) magazine. 

350+ layoffs

By March of 2017, Gannett had laid off more than 350 NJMG employees.

Gannett was acquired by GateHouse Media in 2019, and the company reportedly plans to outsource 485 jobs to India this year.

Ultimately, SoftBank, a Japanese conglomerate, owns the equity fund that controls The Record and (201) magazine. 

Stephen Borg and his partners are now building hundreds of luxury apartments on nearly 20 acres of land along River Street after tearing down NJMG's headquarters and a diner in Hackensack.

Read: Shit in driveway wasn't from dog walkers:

 The Record was delivered to us by mistake

Read: Readers turn thumbs down

 on editor who says they must pay for news

Read: The Record and NorthJersey.com

lose thousands of readers 

Antibiotics, salted water, dead animal bits and other bad things hiding in raw chicken

After reading what isn't in the Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings I bought at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, N.J., I wondered if other big poultry companies like Perdue and Tyson are as careful.

With some supermarket brands,

you never know what you're eating

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- My wife is roasting close to 5 pounds of chicken wings she seasoned and the aroma is filling our kitchen and spilling into other rooms.

I'm a pescatarian who gave up meat and poultry more than a decade ago, but I live with and help shop for 3 family members who eat beef, pork, poultry and various animal parts a few times a week. 

This week, I picked up a package of Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings for $3.99 a pound at Whole Foods Market, and before I recycled the large plastic tray, I read a label on "what makes Bell & Evans different."

The price label of the Bell & Evans Cut Chicken Wings.

No retained water

Bell & Evans wings (and the rest of the chicken) aren't injected with salted water, and are raised without antibiotics "ever," including no ionophores (a class of antibiotics), in the feed, water, through injection or in ovo (egg).

Human antibiotics are used to raise chickens, cows and other farm animals, and that may cause the transfer of drug resistant bacteria to humans, reducing the effectiveness of drugs prescribed by doctors.

Also missing from Bell & Evans chicken:

• No growth hormones in the vegetarian diet.
• Soybeans without hexane, a byproduct of gasoline.
• No ethanol byproducts.
• Feed with no "junk," meaning no animal byproducts (bits of dead animals), and no expired bakery goods, grease or arsenic.  
• All chicken is fed grains grown in the U.S.A.

READ: Rotisserie chicken at Costco

 makes great dog food