Brand-new section, same tired voices

Even without dumpsters, The Record's old building and parking lot at 150 River St. have become eyesores. Three years after the Borgs abandoned Hackensack, neither the wealthy family nor their flagship paper have said what will replace it.

The third edition of the new Signature section fills the house with the awful smell of prolonged flatulence from three of The Record's stale columnists.

Readers are so sick of Columnists John Cichowski, Mike Kelly and Bill Ervolino, they are beginning to regard newsprint as little more than toilet paper.

"Signature" suggests a section filled with stories that are as individual as handwriting, but all readers get today is rubber-stamp journalism.

New voices, please

You'd think a new section would sparkle with fresh voices, especially in The Record, which is blessed with many talented writers.

Cichowski, Kelly and Ervolino aren't among them.

On the cover today, Cichowski, the failed Road Warrior columnist, discusses whether it is safer to drive children to school in towns with school busing.

Of course, he doesn't discuss one of the most populous communities in North Jersey without school busing -- Hackensack.

It's hard to tell what Kelly is writing about today in his rambling column on Cresskill's "idle chatter," also on the cover.

On SIG-2, Ervolino's Then & Now column focuses on Prozys on Main Street in Hackensack -- when readers really want to know what is going to replace The Record's vacant headquarters on River Street.

The building and parking lot have become eyesores. 

GOP fanatic

The main story today is about "conservative icon" Scott Garrett, a fanatical Republican whose House district now includes overwhelmingly Democratic towns like Hackensack and Teaneck.

Garrett's opponent -- Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen -- is quoted a few times in the overly long profile.

Still, Gussen has been largely ignored by The Record since he won the Democratic primary in June, so it's no wonder he's the underdog.

Bad headline, reporting

The headline -- "CONGRESSIONAL CULTURE CLASH" -- is awful.

The "clash," if you will, is in North Jersey: 

A rabid, white racist who might soon be serving another term representing some of the most diverse towns in the state.

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson again disappoints with his gentle handling of the right-winger.

Front-page rehash

Today's front page from Editor Marty Gottlieb rehashes recent stories:

The firing of Jay Alpert, one of Governor Christie's cronies; three women who were murdered before their houses were set on fire, and another political column on Christie and Mitt Romney, the GOP's Laurel and Hardy.

Our worst governor

A story based on a news release from the U.S. Census Bureau shows how badly the state economy was lagging in 2011, the second year of the Christie administration (A-1).

More bad economic news came from the Department of the Treasury -- tax collections are $100 million behind the governor's projections (A-1 and A-3).

How long will it take before The Record christens Christie as our worst governor ever?

A toll on readers

A major error appears in a story on A-6 about Port Authority tolls.

Tolls at the agency's bridges and tunnels were raised a year ago to $12 from $8 during peak travel times -- not to $9.50.

Zisaville dispatch

In Local, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes continues to regard the Ken Zisa legal saga as just about the only Hackensack news worth printing (L-1).

The former police chief was sentenced today to 5 years in prison without parole, but Superior Court Judge Joseph S. Conte allowed Zisa to remain free until his appeal is decided, North Jersey.com reported.

A ruling on his appeal might take a year or more, given the state's famously slow court system.