Editors keep on selling home-rule savings

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Readers want John Cichowski and Elisa Ung to follow this sign to Newark airport, get on a plane, relocate and never write another column for The Record of Woodland Park.

Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes are such big fans of the wasteful form of government known as home rule, any merger of services earns big headlines, large photos and upbeat copy -- with the tantalizing possibility that property taxes finally will go down for once.

Readers of The Record were treated to more of that B.S. this past Thursday, when most of Sykes' Local front was devoted to Montvale and two other towns beginning a joint municipal court, with a potential savings of $260,000 year, Staff Writer Matthew McGrath reported.

But Sykes, McGrath, and his assignment editor were pulling a fast one on readers -- taking pains to mention nothing about the millions of dollars in debt hanging over Montvale taxpayers since purchase of a commercial building for a new municipal complex, where the joint court is held. 

Here is the real story from Montvale resident Kurt F. Kron:

"The observation in Eye on The Record that the “newspaper” is filled with triviality is painfully accurate, and the inclusion of the Pascack Valley shared court in the triviality would be accurate, too, if it weren't for the fact that the story behind the placement of the shared court is a colossal insult to Montvale property taxpayers.

"The municipal building that houses the court was headquarters for the Wella cosmetics firm in its most recent prior life, after Wella moved from Englewood. Then, Wella was acquired by a German firm, and in fairly short order the building became the “Wella White Elephant.” Nobody wanted to buy it. But elected Montvale empire builders snapped it up, taking it off the tax roles and converting it to a use for which it was never intended, at great expense.

"The value of all Montvale debt at original issue was $13,560,000, “$7,885,000 attributable to the municipal complex,” according to an April 12, 2011 budget presentation, at which the council president thanked a former mayor for his foresight in buying the elephant so others could come to his court. A lot of the expense of converting the Wella building is attributable to construction of an escape-proof, bomb-proof, earthquake-proof holding pen for accused perps.

"At Dec. 31, 2010, $12,098,000 in Montvale debt was still outstanding. In the fiscal year beginning on July 1, Montvale debt service will be $1,855,175. Montvale taxpayers may not know the value of the Wella building, but they do know it's had an expensive face-lift."

Today's paper

The two main stories on the front page of the Woodland Park daily today are so far from being news as to be a laughable waste of space.  Is this the best Scandale can do for a Sunday paper?

The straightforward headlines sound idiotic, because they state what readers already know:

N.J. a hub for drug trade

Mothers who kill kids not so rare

In the story about mothers who kill, The Associated Press (not Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, as I said originally) takes a casual approach, making no attempt to tell readers why on Page 1.

In the drug story, Staff Writer Peter Sampson pored over records to document Newark airport as a major smuggling hub, but the headlines let him and readers down. 

The moral of the third A-1 story -- about how little corruption or waste was found at the North Jersey District Water Supply Commission -- is: If you mess with The Bull (Governor Christie), you get the horns.

Hook, line and stinker

The major news on the front of Local today is Road Warrior John Cichowski's 400th column on long lines at Motor Vehicle Commission offices.

Why is this such a big deal, if the average driver only has to go to the MVC every two to three years? 

From hunger

Six weeks after a food blog called Off The Broiler published a long post with photos of El Caney -- a tiny Cuban takeout place in Bergenfield -- Staff Writer Elisa Ung gushes about her "find" in her Sunday column (F-4).

Then, she quotes blog author Jason Perlow on how good El Caney's food is, without giving him any credit for finding the place. 

The bottom line is El Caney is more appropriate for the Marketplace feature, but Ung has long run out of ideas for her restaurant column and desperately cribs from others.