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| Empty storefronts in downtown Englewood, above and below, persist despite the construction of hundreds of luxury apartments on Route 4 and others on Palisade Avenue. A new residential project reported in The Record today isn't expected to change that significantly. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
The Record has never bothered trying to shed light on Englewood's segregated schools or its fading downtown.
Even when Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg -- who lives on the city's East Hill -- was publisher, reporting about the small city was superficial at best.
Today, Staff Writer Stephanie Noda says work has begun on a 195-unit apartment complex "that will become one of the city's first new tax ratables in years" (L-1).
That's all it will become, if the past is any guide.
No benefit
Two luxury apartment complexes, Towne Center on Palisade Avenue and The Sheffield on Route 4, were built about six years ago, but the city's fading downtown hasn't benefited.
More apartments went up on Route 4, opposite The Sheffield.
Even when a free shuttle ran between the complexes and downtown, restaurants and merchants continued to struggle.
Once you get past the clunky headline on today's story, you still won't find any discussion of downtown Englewood, as if it is on the moon.
"Operations
begin on
apartment
complex"
Councilman Wayne Hamer calls the site of the new apartments "attractive," ignoring the relentless assault of road noise and pollution.
The new apartments will be built in front of The Sheffield, where tenants will lose their view, but may gain a little peace and quiet from the complex acting as a buffer to Route 4 noise.
Irrelevant news
In the last week, The Record's front page has looked like the Christian Science Monitor.
Story after story on Catholic high school football teams, and today, a big story on the Vatican (A-1).
Like the vast majority of readers, I am not gay, seeking a divorce, Catholic or the parent of a high school football player, so how are any of these stories relevant to me and so many others?
Paper backs Christie
A long front-page "ANALYSIS" on the history of the state's pioneering Transportation Trust Fund backs Governor Christie's refusal to sign an increase in the gasoline tax to revitalize the bankrupt source of road-repair and mass-transit money (A-1).
"Christie's stance seems to make political sense: Just last week, a poll ... found 58 percent of New Jerseyans oppose a gas tax increase" (A-6).
But Staff Writer Christopher Maag reported earlier in the story the gasoline tax is "heavily subsidized by out-of-state drivers but mostly benefits New Jersey drivers" (first column on A-6).
And do we really want Christie doing what is "political" or do we want the governor to act in the best interests of the region, such as our need for expanded mass transit to ease crushing traffic congestion?
And shouldn't The Record's editors be pushing for a viable road-and-bridge repair fund, not endorsing Christie's regressive policies?
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| Celeste is one of the shuttered businesses along Englewood's Engle Street, just two blocks from Palisade Avenue. |
Englewood update
After I wrote this post, I had lunch in Englewood, and was shocked to see all of the empty storefronts on Engle Street, a block or two from Palisade Avenue.
Two of the shuttered businesses are Celeste, a high-end women's clothing store, and Dean Street Greenery, a flower shop that is featured in a photo slide show on the city's own Web:
See: cityofenglewood.org/
The Record's local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, have ignored the health of downtown Englewood, Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns.
They send reporters to cover mall retailers, who reward the paper with hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue.
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| Was this the entrance of Celeste, above and below? |
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| The former Dean Street Greenery, above and below. |
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| This restaurant closed. |
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| Another empty storefront. Are downtown Englewood rents too high? The Record doesn't know or care. |
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