Drought worsens for local-news readers

Hackensack officials are thinking of hiring a Town Crier to climb the steeple of Church On The Green and call out news to residents, who are suffering through a drought at the hands of The Record's editors, including head Assignment Honcho Deirdre Sykes.

I've scoured the Sunday edition of The Record for news that has meaning to me as a longtime resident of Bergen County who moved to Hackensack in 2007, and I've come up empty -- again.

Editor Marty Gottlieb's Page 1 is dominated for a second day by the shooting in trigger-happy Colorado. Three other elements on A-1 are putting me to sleep.

The Colorado story runs under the headline, "Day of mourning."

It's readers who are mourning the death of their local newspaper.

Get a load of the silly column on a woman tennis player's devoted mom. That's front-page news?

More tree news

Today's thin Local section from head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes leads with the "issue" of towns protecting trees.

We have plenty of trees in Hackensack's Fairmount section, so how come the city's municipal affairs are rarely reported in the Woodland Park daily?

Road Warrior John Cichowski discusses the commuting woes of a minority -- in this case, bicycle riders (L-1) -- as he continues to ignore overburdened mass transit and paralyzing traffic jams.  

Paving Mac's street

A long story about Englewood, where I lived for decades, involves the reconstruction of a single street on the wealthy East Hill (L-3).

It happens to be the street where Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg lives. What about the pock-marked Hackensack street where I live?

Sports is local?

There is so little local news today, Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza sent the Ridgewood reporter to cover a book signing by Paterson native Victor Cruz, who plays for the Giants (L-3). 

Out of gas

On July 4, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais explored whether a gallon of gasoline was headed "below $3."

I guess he hasn't noticed a recent spike in prices -- above $3.50 a gallon for regular at some stations -- nor that readers are looking to him for an explanation.

Kelly flops

On the Opinion front, readers confront a tedious, boring account of the demolition of a historic house once used by generations of former slaves (O-1).

Don't look for outrage from Columnist Mike Kelly, who prefers pushing around words and padding his column with useless background than calling the destruction of the Paramus house what it is: greed.

You'll find what should have been his first paragraph all the way at the end of the column (O-5): 

"I approached him [the unnamed developer] to ask his side of the story.

"'Please get off my property,' he said." 

From hunger

On the Better Living front today (BL-1), The Corner Table columnist, Elisa Ung, discusses another compelling issue facing restaurant goers: ceviche.


In Friday's Better Living tab, Ung reviewed and recommended Spuntino, a pricey small-plate restaurant in Clifton (Good to Excellent).


The concept is hardly original. In Manhattan and Brooklyn, Frankies Spuntino has been packing them in for years. 


And Frankies is dedicated to serving "fresh, healthy, local, humanely raised fare," according to its Web site. 


Ung doesn't even discuss the origin of any of the food she sampled at the Clifton pretender (BL-16-17).


But the data box with her review contains something new: a description of liquor and wine, and an unusually frank warning: "expect substantial markups." 


That's certainly welcome from her after many Sunday columns lavishly promoting wine service in restaurants.