Hackensack Chronicle from Hackensack, New Jersey • A1

March 25, 2005 Your independent weekly news source The Chronicle OF HACKENSACK AND SOUTH HACKENSACK PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER SADOWSKI Welcome to The Chronicle Welcome to our first issue of The Chronicle, the only weekly community newspaper serving the residents and businesses of Hackensack and South Hackensack. The Chronicle is dedicated to providing objective local news and useful information for its readers in a high-guality publication. The Chronicle mailed and carrier delivered to households in Hackensack and South Hackensack. The Chronicle is a community newspaper of North Jersey Media Group, which publishes newspapers in Bergen, Essex, Morris, Passaic and Sussex counties. Our award-winning community newspapers have rich histories in their communities, serving some for more than 100 years.

To better serve you, we encourage clubs, organizations and individuals to send press releases, photos, story ideas, and letters to the editor about Hackensack or South Hackensack issues to our editorial office. Please submit by e-mail to Hackensacknorthjersey.com; mail to The Chronicle, 300 Knickerbocker Road, Cresskill, NJ 07626; fax to (201)568-4360; or call (201) 568-3720. We look forward to being a part of the Hackensack and South Hackensack communities. INSIDE Art Lpkutp 23 Opinion Letters School Npw 14 Sports The best medicine Laughter is certainly the best medicine, as 2-year-old Besart Hajdari and his mother, Denise, discover when they are greeted by "Dr. Ivy Lane." The doctor is part of The Happy Heartbeats, a group that "treats" patients and families of the Tomorrows Children's Institute at Hackensack University Medical Center.

HACKENSACK HIGH SCHOOL Plan promises green pastures New Delia Torre Field A proposed renovation project will include a new artificial "field turf" playing surface, new bleachers, new track and renovations to the field house buildings on and around Delia Torre Field. $750,000. Construction costs will run about $300,000, and the expense for the track is approximately $150,000 according to the Muller Bohlin plan. If approved, the city will receive $737,000, half of the project's total cost, from Green Acres funding. The other half would be loaned interest free for 20 years.

The city would owe $36,000 each year of the loan. City Manager Peter Capone said that he was assured the project would be approved. The city already submitted most of the plan to the State Department of Environmental Protection. Densely populated Hackensack, SEE FIELD, PAGE 8 BY VINCENT CAVALIER Staff Writer Hackensack High School's Del-la Torre Field is in disrepair, but the city council has developed a plan to fix it. According to Principal Joe De Falco, the grass field morphs into a plain dirt surface by the beginning of each November.

He attributes the poor playing conditions to the months of heavy use by school and recreational fall sports teams. "Everybody's using it," DeFalco said. The city intends to submit a renovation plan to the state that would qualify for Green Acres funding. The proposal includes new bleachers, new "field turf," a acquisition or renovation of open space lands for recreation and conservation. The Green Acres project began in 1961, and more than $1 billion dollars has been spent for "land acquisition and park development." By making the project larger than field repair, council members hope to grab a bigger portion of the funds set aside for Green Acres.

A representative from Muller Bohlin Associates, a managing firm, presented the plan to the council at a recent town meeting. "The project has gotten larger than what was originally envisioned," Mayor Jack Zisa said. The field turf is the biggest expense, carrying a price tag of new track, and renovations to the buildings on and around Delia Torre. The Department of Environmental Protection appropriates money for State Green Acres projects, described as projects for.