Looking forward, looking back -- but missing the news

Governors Christie and Cuomo vetoed a package of reforms for the massive Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, but proposed replacing the antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal, above and below, where North Jersey commuters have faced rush-hour delays for years. The Record hasn't followed up or even asked commuters for their reaction.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Newspapers editors, including those at The Record, love to assign long retrospectives of the past year and predictions of what lies ahead.

That allows them to ignore what is happening right under their noses.

Mike Kelly kicks off the first day of the new year with a whimper -- an exceedingly boring column filled with lots of rhetorical questions and trite observations (A-1).

And from the look of Kelly's shit-eating grin, the editors haven't resolved to update the thumbnail photos used for the past seven or eight years by most of the paper's columnists.

By the way, the caption with Kelly's A-1 column claims the people in Times Square are shown "on Wednesday night," but readers can clearly see the photo was taken in daylight.

Talented photo staff

The Record's photo staff gets belated recognition today, with photographers describing their favorite shots in 2014 (L-1 and L-3).

The editors ignore the photographers the rest of the year, using photos from around the world in the Shot of The Day feature on A-2 (today is a rare exception), and relegating some of them to ambulance chasers.

Inside Local, readers find the obituary of Bob Brush, longtime chief photographer of The Record (L-6).

Blaming the victim

Also on L-6 today, NJ Transit calls Jorge Arcila, 52, of Hackensack a "trespasser" after he laid down on the tracks and was killed by a commuter train on Wednesday.

Was Arcila homeless or a father, brother or son?

None of that humanizing information appears in the story in order to keep the focus off of how little NJ Transit does to protect people from their trains.

As the L-6 photo shows, NJ Transit has negligently failed to put up fences along its tracks on Railroad Avenue, showing contempt to the many working-class residents of the Hackensack neighborhood.

And when is the last time you saw an NJ Transit police officer at rail crossings or stations?

Eat-O-Rama

The Better Living editors today look at what is supposedly coming in the arts, entertainment, food and dining in 2015 (BL-1).

This is a selective list, mentioning only one restaurant, Orama, which will replace the long-shuttered Matsushima in a building behind Mitsuwa, the Japanese supermarket and food court in Edgewater.

Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, does a great imitation of Orama's public relations spokeswoman, carefully omitting mention of prices at what is probably going to be one of Bergen County's most expensive restaurants (BL-1).

The name, Orama, recalls Bowl-O-Rama, Eat-O-Rama and even Barack Obama.

The moderately priced Matsushima closed in May 2010 after 14 years in business. 

Matsushima replaced a far-more expensive Japanese restaurant that flopped.

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Columnist lies in misguided bid to kill red-light cameras

Saturday was a sunless, bitterly cold day in lower Manhattan, where people sought refuge in art galleries, above. I saw a bride and groom posing for photographers on 10th Avenue, opposite the High Line. They were married in the High Line Hotel, a former seminary, choosing the date -- 12/13/14 -- over the weather.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer John Cichowski deliberately twisted comments by Newark Mayor Ras Baraka to boost the columnist's campaign against red-light cameras.

The Record's Road Warrior claimed in the first paragraph of his Dec. 6 column the mayor called for extension of the state's 5-year experiment "in an effort to prevent a crippling financial loss that could cost his cash-strapped city $4 million next year."

But NJ.com had a totally different take, reporting that Baraka, flanked by a dozen lawmakers, argued at a press conference his city should be allowed to keep its 19 cameras "because they reduce car crashes and promote safety."

In fact, NJ.com reported that when asked about the revenue generated by the cameras, Baraka said he'd be pleased if the fines would end all red-light violations:

"Baraka added later that the fines associated with the tickets could be a deterrent to drivers ignoring the traffic signals.

"If people are concerned about the money then we should do what we can to make sure they don't break the law," Baraka said. "As we stated earlier we trying to get to zero, zero is where we want to be and the red-light cameras help us get to zero."

For more details on the distortions in the Dec. 6 Road Warrior column, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In last Saturday’s column, the Road Warrior falsely made up what the mayor of Newark said at a Dec. 5 press conference about the reason for extending New Jersey's five-year program for red-light cameras.

"The Road Warrior indicated the Mayor stated that the reason for extending this program is due to a potential loss of $4 million in annual revenues to the city from the red-light fines.

"The mayor actually stated the reason for extending this program is due to the safety benefits and the significant reductions in crashes at the red-light camera intersections in Newark.

"In fact, the mayor stated his administration wants to get revenues down to zero, which would mean no running of red lights at these intersections by anyone."

See: Road Warrior sides with speeders who kill


Two Road Warriors columns, which quoted far more critics of red-light cameras than boosters, were followed by an editorial calling for an end to the experiment, which has saved lives.

The controversial red-light cameras have been challenged as inaccurate, in much the same way the Breathalyzer device was in the early years of DWI enforcement.

Today's paper

Staff Writer Jean Rimbach has one of the cushiest jobs of any reporter at the Woodland Park daily, and her byline appears infrequently.

Rimbach is part of the newsroom sisterhood that formed around head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes years ago.

Today, a story Rimbach likely worked on for months dominates Page 1 -- another bewildering choice by Editor Martin Gottlieb.

This story on an Alpine church is of absolutely no interest to the majority of readers, including Jews and Muslims.

Below the fold

A far more compelling story that any parent can relate to is below the fold: 

A mother's book on the Bergen County heroin epidemic that took the life of her 19-year-old son in their own home.

Don't miss the A-12 photo of an upstanding citizen from Upper Saddle River who allegedly mixed the drug cocktail that killed Danny Lajterman of Ramsey.

More claptrap

A front-page column on Hackensack by Mike Kelly also isn't worth much (A-1).

Kelly claims an ordinance designed to return civility to public discourse is really a muzzle on free speech, despite the complete absence of any civil or criminal penalties.

Check out the shit-eating grin in Kelly's outdated column photo, a sure sign he's putting another one over on readers.

Stile column

Could the Political Stile column on Page 1 today be one of the few since January 2010 that doesn't glorify Governor Christie's war against the middle class and the GOP bully's White House aspirations (A-1)?

Staff Writer Charles Stile reports on an early effort in New Jersey to raise money for Hillary Clinton, the Democrat who will give Christie a good spanking, if they both win their party's presidential nominations.

Check out the Margulies cartoon on the sad state of New Jersey's employee pension funds, thanks to another good public screwing from Christie (O-2).

Ung column

Staff Writer Elisa Ung follows last week's column on beef with today's report on "navigating the labels" on fish and seafood (BL-2).

She ignored the health angle in her report on beef, but here she touches on the issue of harmful mercury deposits in fish (BL-8).

Still, her columns could be more consumer friendly.

Instead of telling readers which antibiotic-free farmed salmon she buys, she could have reported Whole Foods Market pledges that all of its farm-raised fish and seafood are free of antibiotics, preservatives and other additives.

And there is nothing wrong with previously frozen wild salmon, which is available as fillets or smoked at Costco Wholesale.

Ung's beef and seafood columns are welcome, but the restaurant reviewer has thrown around the word "quality" for years without ever backing it up.

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To Christie, New Jersey has become an 'afterthought'

The Little Ferry Circle may be history, but construction continues, narrowing Route 46 to one lane in places, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie's veto of a bill to ban or limit smoking in public parks and on beaches has generated a lot of news coverage and outraged editorials.

But I haven't seen any coverage of Christie also vetoing a bill to allow New Jersey's Medicaid program to pay for abortions, as reported this morning on WNYC-FM.

Today's Page 1 column on the smoking-ban is another rote recitation of the political reasons for Christie's move (A-1).

As usual, Staff Writer Charles Stile can't muster an opinion -- the stock-in-trade of columnists who work for every other newspaper on the planet.

An editorial urging the state Legislature to override the veto also doesn't condemn or, God forbid, even criticize the GOP bully (A-18).

For that, you'll have to read the editorial on myCentralJersey.com, a Gannett company.

Here is an excerpt:

"Gov. Christie’s national ambitions have gotten in the way of good public policy in New Jersey yet again, this time with his veto of a bill that would have banned smoking in public parks and limited it at many beaches.

The proposed ban was overwhelmingly supported by the Legislature, and it’s really nothing more than a common-sense public health measure. There are dangers from secondhand smoke even in open-air places, and the ban would have also reduced litter and fire hazards.

But none of that matters to Christie. He explained the veto with predictable and tired blather about unwanted government intrusions on local jurisdictions — even though he’s perfectly happy to intrude when it suits him.

In the meantime, remember, Christie isn’t governing for any of us, even though that’s his job. He’s governing for himself. You may not mind when you agree with him, but wait until you don’t. Then you may not be quite so content with a governor for whom his own home state is an afterthought."

You can read the entire editorial by clicking on this link:

Christie says no -- to good public policy


13 times 9/11

Ignore Staff Writer Mike Kelly's second lame column in as many days (A-1).

Then, turn to Local for moving coverage of 9/11 anniversary observances in Hackensack and other towns (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Why bother?

Staff Writer Elisa Ung gives a lukewarm, 2-star rating to Marmaris Cafe in Edgewater, a Turkish restaurant that served her dry chicken kebabs and gamey lamb shanks (BL-20).

Does the place serve fish or shrimp? Not a clue. Ung confines herself to two food groups -- meat and dessert.

And the restaurant reviewer never grills restaurant owners on the origin of meat and poultry they serve, but when she encounters low-quality food, as she did here, why bother with a full-blown review?

A few paragraphs of warning would suffice, leaving room for an appraisal of a place all of us would want to visit.

Kates Bros.

Joan Verdon, The Record's retail reporter, writes mostly about malls, and big box and luxury stores -- big sources of North Jersey Media Group's advertising revenue.

But on Tuesday's first Business page, she did a terrific job reporting that the 73-year-old Kate Bros. shoe store in Hackensack won't be closing after all.

Like many reporters, Verdon assumes readers are intimately familiar with Hackensack's Main Street.

The address -- 329 Main St., at Berry Street -- is mentioned only in passing near the end of the story.

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Another crappy column from a burned-out reporter

In Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and many other towns, as well as on state highways, hundreds of potholes like this one remain unfilled, and pose an obstacle course for drivers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

No. This post isn't about Staff Writer John Cichowski, whose Road Warrior column is known for hype, exaggeration and numerous inaccuracies, which may be caused by the aging reporter's confused state of mind.

This is about Mike Kelly, whose Page 1 column today in The Record is another in a series of unfocused, rambling pieces that is completely devoid of a point of view.

Kelly presents the usual set of observers and experts, publishes the usual quotes and calls it a day. 

Yet, readers have to look at his thumbnail photo's shit-eating grin, as if the reporter knows he is getting away with more crappy writing and reporting.

This "column" is indistinguishable from a news story (A-1).

Sloppy reporting

And he can't even manage to accurately quote the infamous e-mail that blew open the investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures, known far and wide as Bridegate, a word The Record refuses to use.

Kelly says Bridget Anne Kelly "suggested 'some traffic problems in Fort Lee.'"

But Kelly, who was Governor Christie's deputy chief of staff, didn't "suggest" anything.

In an e-mail to David Wildstein, who was Christie's crony on the Port Authority, she called for the lane closures in no uncertain terms:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Blame game

The report on the "internal" review commissioned by Christie places the blame for the lane closures on Bridget Kelly and Wildstein, and clears the GOP bully.

But it was met with widespread skepticism, and denounced as little more than a self-serving whitewash.

Today -- a week after the report was leaked to The New York Times -- Kelly the reporter cites a "debate" over descriptions of the former aide's personal life and her alleged relationship with Christie's campaign manager. 

Is anyone but Mike Kelly debating this? Isn't the real debate over whether Christie has lied about his knowledge and role in the lane closures from the beginning?

And if Mike Kelly is offended by the report's use of personal details, why does he repeat them in his column?

And why doesn't he act like a real journalist and call for Christie lawyer Randy Mastro to go before an ethics panel for dragging Bridget Kelly's personal life through the mud?

No news today

I know Sundays are "slow news days" and Monday's front page is usually filled with scene-setters and other canned copy.

But, really, are trimming trees around power lines so controversial that they are on the front page today (A-1)?

Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza and the other supremely lazy local-news editors have these words on a save/get key:

"No other information was available."

Those words appear today in a photo caption on a fatal accident "early Sunday" on New Bridge Road in Teaneck (L-1).

The 29-year-old driver was killed, but The Record doesn't identify him or say whether he was speeding.

If Teaneck police wouldn't release the information, shouldn't the editors address that and not constantly cheat readers?

Deliberate distortion

In his Road Warrior column last Wednesday, Cichowski focused on a disabled man who lived in Union Township, and claimed he could be served by a proposed car service to get to his doctor in Hackensack.

But the man is in his 50s, and would be ineligible to use the service, which is for people 60 years old and older, according to a concerned reader.

This was no innocent oversight by Cichowski. 

It was deliberate distortion accomplished by omitting from the column both the man's age and the minimum age of people who could use the proposed service.

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Road Warrior gives false hope to disabled

See previous post

on Hackensack's new train shelter

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Local cross-dresser, idiotic headline and boring columnists

A moving truck from Philadelphia at the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel on Friday.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The most remarkable thing about Roger Bowne of Pompton Lakes -- a 6-foot-3 man who cross-dressed in public for 30 years -- is that The Record's local news editors apparently ignored him until he died.

His obituary is just about the only interesting bit of reading in today's Sunday edition, which is weighed down by leaden campaign coverage, an idiotic Page 1 headline and boring columns from Staff Writers John Cichowski and Mike Kelly (L-1 and O-1).

The headline over the front-page photos of Barbara Buono and Governor Christie declares:

Last shots of campaign

So, are readers to believe the GOP bully and his Democratic challenger are taking a day off from campaigning on Monday, the day before the gubernatorial election? 

Aren't the last salvos going to be fired then? What moron wrote that headline, and what supervisor approved it?

Forked tongue

The supposed big news is that Christie is watching his infamous tongue, but what is unreported in this so-called analysis is the foul, expletive-filled language he must use in private (A-1).

Can you imagine what he says about the homosexuals, low-wage workers and teachers he targeted during his first term?

The Record's coverage of the campaign has failed miserably by ignoring Christie's terrible record, including his inability to revive the state's economy after the recession or to keep his promise to lower property taxes.

He's just 'Roger'

The Bowne obituary mentions only one publication that paid any attention to the cross-dresser, the magazine Weird N.J., which featured him in a photo spread in 2009, when his "legend peaked" (A-4).

Of course, there are a number of freaks among the paper's local news editors, and that might explain why Bowne escaped notice until now.

Still lazy

After an absence of a couple of weeks, Road Warrior John Cichowski is back with another column that ignores the commuting woes of the majority and focuses on a driver's complaint, this time about towing charges (L-1).

The lazy columnist misses the biggest lesson here: Don't neglect regular maintenance if you plan to drive your car into the ground.

More Kelly crap

What's the point of Kelly's O-1 column about Cory Booker, who was sworn in on Thursday as a U.S. senator?

Harrington Park and Bergen County's other overwhelmingly white suburbs may have tolerated an occasional mixed-race family such as the Bookers, but they certainly don't deserve any medals for integration.

Virtually all of the county's minorities live in three communities, Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

That is no coincidence. Sadly, it the dark side of home rule The Record has ignored for decades.

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NJMG cuts off health insurance to retirees under 65

A 1,500-pound pumpkin is being displayed on Essex Street, near Summit Avenue, in Hackensack.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

The Record's lead Page 1 story today and Wednesday reports on the cancellation of thousands of "bare-bones" health policies outlawed by the Affordable Care Act.

Today's breathless account raises an alarm, noting some of the policies cost as little as $100 a year.

But one student, Jhon Alzate, 20, is facing $1,000 in bills from two "emergency room visits to treat a still-undiagnosed illness" (A-4).

What good is a health-insurance policy that socks a 
20-year-old you with $1,000 in bills?

Why is The Record portraying the cancellations as a bad thing, and as just another problem with federal health-care reform?

NJMG cancellations

And where are the stories about companies such as North Jersey Media Group cancelling health-insurance policies?

NJMG, which publishes The Record of Woodland Park, has informed retirees and their dependents under 65 that "we have decided to eliminate" medical benefits, effective Jan. 1.

This year, I have been paying $1,004 a month to cover my wife and son. I am covered by Medicare.

The letter notes "the Affordable Care Act now offers other choices," and even provides a telephone number (1-800-318-2596) to avoid the problem-plagued Web site, www. HealthCare.gov.

"In the Marketplace, you could be eligible for a new kind of tax credit that lowers your monthly premiums right away," according to the letter, which is signed by Thomas G. Heffernan, NJMG vice president, chief financial officer and treasurer.

Election issue

The Record has waited until five days before the gubernatorial election to report on the candidates' differences on controlling property taxes (A-1).

The story says property taxes have continued to rise despite Governor Christie's policy changes, but doesn't specifically remind readers the GOP bully promised to cut property taxes and realize other savings through consolidation of home-rule communities (A-1).

Christie broke both promises.

Democratic challenger Barbara Buono would use revenue from a so-called millionaires tax to provide more middle-class property tax relief (A-4).

An estimated $1 billion would be raised by a tax on the wealthy, including the Borg family, but Christie has vetoed it at least three times.

Shitting bricks

Did anyone read more than a few paragraphs of Mike Kelly's lame column on "two distinct portraits" of Newark, also known as Brick City (A-1)?

The front-page photo shows the "gleaming Prudential Center sitting alongside older brick buildings." 

Older brick buildings? Horrors. Check out Kelly's shit-eating grin in his dated column photo. 

Two embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

On A-3, a photo of Christie almost makes overweight first lady Mary Pat Christie look petite.

Readers lost in valley

Endless coverage of the proposed Valley Hospital expansion in Ridgewood continues today on the Local front.

Considering that the hospital would add space without going outside its current boundaries, The Record should be ashamed of itself for giving so much space to opponents in the past several years (L-1).

Hackensack University Medical Center's many expansions virtually destroyed the surrounding neighborhood, but The Record didn't provide anything close to the kind of coverage we see in the Ridgewood controversy.

The Borg factor

Today, the hospital's ambulance service keeps many Hackensack residents awake, and its non-profit status inflates homeowners' nightmarish property tax bills.

Where are those stories?

In the past, the gentle handling of the medical center could be explained by the presence of  NJMG Vice President and General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg on the HUMC board.

But what is the excuse now? She left the board several years ago.

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Trying to guess where North Jersey racists live

A new cafe is opening in the space on Sussex Street in Hackensack once occupied by John's Coffee Shop, above, and a sign on a storefront at 159 Main St. promises a new Indian restaurant, below.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Extremism and racism were central to the doomed U.S. Senate campaign of former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan, who called Newark "a black hole" and released a map with a city neighborhood labeled "West Africa." 

Now, readers of The Record can finally look at the vote totals for the Tea Party crackpot and winner Cory Booker, and amuse themselves with trying to find North Jersey's closeted racists.

Many of them are voters who complain Democrats are trying to take away their guns or who fall for the classic Republican big lie: lower taxes.

Racial backlash?

The belated town-by-town vote totals in Wednesday's special election show that Booker carried Bergen and Hudson counties, but lost Morris County to the GOP right winger (A-6).

Among the towns giving Lonegan more votes were Allendale, Alpine, Carlstadt, Emerson, Hasbrouck Heights, Mahwah, Montvale and Paramus.

But Lonegan lost his hometown, Bogota, as well as Englewood, Teaneck, Hackensack and Tenafly, where Publisher Stephen A. Borg lives in a $3.65 million McMansion.

Booker trounced Lonegan in Teaneck, where the vote total was higher than in Hackesnack, the most populous community in Bergen County, but one that is known for voter apathy and low turnouts.

Booker is New Jersey's first African-American senator, and one of only two blacks in that august body, but will he encounter the same racial backlash as President Obama has?

The Record's chart is confusing, with county vote totals listed before individual towns instead of after.

Local-news drought

What is the point of Road Warrior John Cichowski's column about Westwood's former traffic safety officer and his 250 DWI arrests (L-1)?

Today's thin Local section is missing Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood news, and an expanded local obituary, but Deputy Assignment Flunky Dan Sforza found room for another Dean's List (L-6).

Page fizzles

In Better Living, free-lancer Jeffrey Page's entertaining story about a "real seltzer" maker from Fort Lee doesn't tell readers how much the stuff costs -- likely because Page is hiding sticker shock (BL-1).

Instead of trying to scoop the competition or writing about a subject no one else has the courage to tackle, Columnist Mike Kelly rehashes "the lessons" of Booker's victory (O-1).

Kelly also is sticking with his dated, unflattering column photo and silly shit-eating grin. 

Forced busing

In a letter to the editor, Denise Black of Egg Harbor relates the atrocious service she received when she took an NJ Transit bus to Manhattan from Atlantic City, and then an extremely long line at the Port Authority Bus Terminal that resembled a "herd of animals" for the return trip (O-3).

That's funny. Why is a reader reporting on the quality of bus service and not The Record's transportation reporters, including Cichowski and Karen Rouse?

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