Editors continue to screw commuters

The Record of Woodland Park publishes another story about the Port Authority's 50% hike of Hudson River tolls months after it might have figured in the public debate.

The Record's editors -- and the reporters who do their bidding -- don't cover mass transit and commuting; they cover the meetings of the agencies that provide those services.

A perfect example is the story that leads the paper today -- the Port Authority violated its own policy   when it raised Hudson River tolls to $12 last year.

But the story amounts to so many sour grapes, coming many months after the public debate and after Governors Christie and Cuomo caved in to the profligate bistate agency.

Page 1 boo-boo

On top of that, the front-page graphic doesn't agree with the text of the story, which says, "Through 2015, tolls are set to increase by 75 cents each year, starting this December."

So, if I read that correctly, the toll -- now $12 -- will go up 75 cents in December and 75 cents in 2013, 2014 and 2015, a total of $3. 

But the A-1 graphic shows the 2016 toll as "$12.50."

Christie's screwing

Does Christie give a shit about New Jersey commuters? No. 

He cancelled the Hudson River rail tunnels, grabbed $1.8 billion in tunnel money to fix highways and packed the Port Authority with his cronies.

Does Road Warrior John Cichowski give a shit about commuters? No.

The Mad Journalist has been knocking himself out in recent years writing about roof snow, potholes, suicidal pedestrians, head lice, teen drivers and a bunch of other irrelevant topics -- anything to avoid writing about commuting problems. 


Screwing Hackensack

Editor Marty Gottlieb's recently renewed focus on Hackensack appears to culminate today with a Page 1 piece by Mike Kelly, who is running neck and neck with Cichowski and Bill Ervolino for the title of "The Record's Worst Columnist."

Hackensack is one of the best-run communities in North Jersey, and its police force has overcome the burden of being led by Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa to give residents both service and security.

So, what's Kelly take? The headline declares:

Zisa case, 

lawsuits

leave city

in 'havoc'

On what does Kelly base his overlong piece? Did he interview any of the 43,000 residents? No.

He quotes one of the City Council's chief gadflies, so-called reformer Emil Canestrino: "It's havoc in this town."

On March 26, an A-1 Zisa story in The Record carried this sub-headline:

Drawn-out case has 

Hackensack in limbo

What was the basis for that? Did that reporter, Stephanie Akin, interview residents? No. 

She quoted Canestrino's wife, Kathy, as saying Zisa's long-standing legal troubles have "put a lot of things in limbo."

Well, at least readers know the Canestrinos feel the city has deteriorated from 'limbo' to 'havoc.' 

But does Gottlieb really expect readers to take seriously this kind of lazy, amateurish journalism from two reporters working for head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes?

Is this what he learned in the all the years he spent at The New York Times -- hanging a story and a Page 1 headline on such flimsy reporting? That's just shameless.  

Where's the beef?

The rest of Gottlieb's Sunday edition is pretty thin.

In Better Living, Staff Writer Elisa Ung squanders her entire Sunday column on promoting a so-called Korean taco at T.G.I. Friday's, one of those restaurant chains that charges a lot of money for low-quality food (BL-1).

She never questions the use of the word "Korean" to market a taco without kimchi or gochujang, a Korean red-pepper paste.

Readers expecting an exploration of restaurant issues from the customers' point of view are disappointed again by Ung's misnamed column, The Corner Table.

She might want to rename it The Owner's Table.