Editors give finger to commuters

New Jersey commuters lining up for rush-hour buses in Manhattan.

The Record's car-centric editors and transportation reporters have never done a good job covering mass transit, and they're not going to start now.

The Woodland Park daily has published more stories about NJ Transit since Superstorm Sandy than in the previous decade, but all of them have been focused on who screwed up to expose the system to more than $400 million in damage (A-1 today).

Where are the stories on why Governor Christie and the Port Authority have refused to expand a bus and rail network that reached capacity years ago?

F.U. to commuters

On today's Local front, the great road sage John Cichowski has parlayed his laziness into another column based entirely on e-mailed complaints from drivers, many of whom have gotten their names in print before (L-1).

Here is another silly Road Warrior Top 10 list from a weary columnist who loves to give the finger to commuters who use mass transit.

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, are taking a holiday from local municipal news.

Boring readers 

On Page 1 today, Editor Liz Houlton's copy editors couldn't come up with anything more imaginative than "RETRACING KEY STEP TO THE REVOLUTION" for the annual photo showing the reenactment of Washington and his troops crossing the Delaware.

When readers turn to the story on A-3, they learn weather and high water prevented the river crossing.

How about this for an A-1 photo overline?

"GLOBAL WARMING STOPS WASHINGTON" 

Or:

"WEATHER STOPS WASHINGTON"      

More, not fewer guns


The National Rifle Association will probably recommend we arm firefighters after a madman set fire to his house, then murdered two of the volunteers who responded with the same kind of military-style rifle used in Newtown, Conn., to kill 20 first graders and six adults (A-1).

The NRA will do anything to stimulate gun sales.