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| Packed NJ Transit buses and trains, and increasing traffic congestion, are commuting nightmares The Record's editors and reporters do their best to avoid exposing -- in favor of creating controversies over obscure transportation-related problems that affect few readers. Above, the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. |
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| NJ Transit passengers rushing for a train in Manhattan's Penn Station. Readers who want to complain about service problems must write letters to The Record's editor, as Leslie A. Kruegel of Oakland did (A-10). |
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| Another bad morning at the Lincoln Tunnel. |
By Victor E. Sasson
Editor
(Updated at 7:06 p.m.)
Road Warrior John Cichowski lashes back at an Englewood reader who questioned the intelligence of drivers without E-ZPass whom the columnist claims are confused by GWB toll lanes marked "E-ZPass" and "All Others."
In fact, thousands of readers wondered why Cichowski was making such a fuss about a nearly 10-year-old, no-cash policy after 11 p.m. on the lower level of the George Washington Bridge or why Editor Marty Gottlieb put the July 9 column on Page 1.
Blaming the reader
The Englewood reader is identified in today's Road Warrior column as "D.T."
"What kind of blithering idiot is confused by the signage? ... I dub these buffoons Generation S for stupid," the reader said (L-5).
Amen.
He refers to The Record as the "Bergen Evening Record" decades after the masthead was changed and the paper switched to morning publication -- not uncommon among long-time readers, who also call it "The Bergen Record."
Columnist hits back
But Cichowski bristled. He is accustomed to never being challenged by his editors or anyone else, as demonstrated by the hundreds of inaccurate columns he has written ince he took over the beat in September 2003.
The columnist fired back at the reader:
"Your assessment is much too harsh," says Cichowski.
Then, the reporter belittles him or her as being among readers who misread "the name of their favorite morning newspaper while pecking on their laptops."
Of course, the reader misread nothing. And how does Cichowski know the reader has a laptop?
More arguing
The columnist also argues with another reader, Will Nelson of Wayne, who pointed out Cichowski was wrong in a Sunday column on so-called road hogs when he said passing on the right "is a violation."
He was wrong, as the statute Cichowski cites in his answer shows, but the columnist won't just admit it and the paper didn't bother to run a correction.
Today's Road Warrior column actually provides useful information about "physical and cognitive tests to assess driving fitness," as well as road tests, available to the elderly and disabled (L-1).
But his advice comes years too late.
A favorite tool of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes is to fill Local with accident photos, including those that show the death and damage caused by seniors who mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal.
Facebook page
Cichowski is likely the only columnist who has inspired a Facebook page to expose his "bloopers."
See: Read all about the latest Road Warrior screw-up
A concerned reader has e-mailed top managers and editors on numerous occasions, asking for corrections of Cichowski's repeated errors and erroneous advice, but The Record's reaction is to circle the wagons.
His column has become known as "Driving Lite."
Money talks
You can count on The Record's editors to concentrate almost exclusively on how much money a candidate has raised and not on the issues voters want to read about.
Today's front-page account of how much celebrity cash is flowing to Newark Mayor Cory Booker sounds just like all the stories about how much money Governor Christie has raised in his bid for a second term (A-1).
Of course, if The Record reminded readers of how regressive Christie's policies are, how he broke his promise to lower property taxes and how he's mismanaged the state's economy, it wouldn't be much of a race.
What scandal?
Another front-page story today reports that Christie isn't troubled at all about The Record's expose concerning Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who is being paid by two companies now doing millions of dollars with the university (A-1).
Better living?
North Jersey cardiac wards were put on alert after the paper was delivered today, complete with another unhealthy, artery clogging recipe from Kate Morgan Jackson, a clueless food blogger from Upper Saddle River (S'mores with Bacon, BL-1).
Hackensack news
The big Hackensack news today is a water main break on Main Street, near the YMCA (L-3).
I had hoped Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely would have done a follow to her L-1 story on Tuesday about the removal of school trustee Kevon Larkins.
Was Larkins removed by the other school board members because he "moved out of the district" or because he tried to oust administrators who were perceived to be allies of the Zisa family, onetime rulers of Hackensack?
Tuesday's story contains a lot of he said/she said on the question.
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes had other fish to fry -- a follow-up to the huge controversy over 65-foot telephone polls in wealthy Ridgewoood (L-2).
More road noise
The Road Warrior column on Sunday began this way:
"Kathleen Catlett was treated last week to an outdoor concert in Lyndhurst that she didn't attend. The Catletts live in Rutherford way across busy Route 3 from Lyndhurst, yet music and crowd noise easily reached their Lincoln Avenue home."
Of course, the reader misread nothing. And how does Cichowski know the reader has a laptop?
More arguing
The columnist also argues with another reader, Will Nelson of Wayne, who pointed out Cichowski was wrong in a Sunday column on so-called road hogs when he said passing on the right "is a violation."
He was wrong, as the statute Cichowski cites in his answer shows, but the columnist won't just admit it and the paper didn't bother to run a correction.
Today's Road Warrior column actually provides useful information about "physical and cognitive tests to assess driving fitness," as well as road tests, available to the elderly and disabled (L-1).
But his advice comes years too late.
A favorite tool of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes is to fill Local with accident photos, including those that show the death and damage caused by seniors who mistake the gas pedal for the brake pedal.
Facebook page
Cichowski is likely the only columnist who has inspired a Facebook page to expose his "bloopers."
See: Read all about the latest Road Warrior screw-up
A concerned reader has e-mailed top managers and editors on numerous occasions, asking for corrections of Cichowski's repeated errors and erroneous advice, but The Record's reaction is to circle the wagons.
His column has become known as "Driving Lite."
Money talks
You can count on The Record's editors to concentrate almost exclusively on how much money a candidate has raised and not on the issues voters want to read about.
Today's front-page account of how much celebrity cash is flowing to Newark Mayor Cory Booker sounds just like all the stories about how much money Governor Christie has raised in his bid for a second term (A-1).
Of course, if The Record reminded readers of how regressive Christie's policies are, how he broke his promise to lower property taxes and how he's mismanaged the state's economy, it wouldn't be much of a race.
What scandal?
Another front-page story today reports that Christie isn't troubled at all about The Record's expose concerning Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who is being paid by two companies now doing millions of dollars with the university (A-1).
Better living?
North Jersey cardiac wards were put on alert after the paper was delivered today, complete with another unhealthy, artery clogging recipe from Kate Morgan Jackson, a clueless food blogger from Upper Saddle River (S'mores with Bacon, BL-1).
Hackensack news
The big Hackensack news today is a water main break on Main Street, near the YMCA (L-3).
I had hoped Hackensack reporter Hannan Adely would have done a follow to her L-1 story on Tuesday about the removal of school trustee Kevon Larkins.
Was Larkins removed by the other school board members because he "moved out of the district" or because he tried to oust administrators who were perceived to be allies of the Zisa family, onetime rulers of Hackensack?
Tuesday's story contains a lot of he said/she said on the question.
Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes had other fish to fry -- a follow-up to the huge controversy over 65-foot telephone polls in wealthy Ridgewoood (L-2).
More road noise
The Road Warrior column on Sunday began this way:
"Kathleen Catlett was treated last week to an outdoor concert in Lyndhurst that she didn't attend. The Catletts live in Rutherford way across busy Route 3 from Lyndhurst, yet music and crowd noise easily reached their Lincoln Avenue home."
"It seemed as if my neighbors were having a party," she said. "This never used to happen."
A concerned reader says, "It still never happened and [it] defies the laws of nature and physics."
In effect, Cichowski fabricated the noise problem out of whole cloth. Here is why, according to the concerned reader:
"Her home is blocked by more than half a dozen houses and a large number of trees that greatly isolate any noise coming across Route 3 from a Lyndhurst concert, which was more than half a mile away.
"Concert noise from Lyndhurst is blocked by an elevated earth berm for trains right next to the Lyndhurst park, plus almost a half a mile houses and trees in Lyndhurst.
"Noise is also further blocked by full length sound barrier walls on the south side of Route 3."
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