Saturday, January 26, 2013

Hospitals, police gird for 2014 Super Bowl

The Meadowlands of New Jersey
So many cars and SUVs will pack the roads of the Meadowlands during the Super Bowl a year from now, pedestrians will be able to walk on their roofs. (Dougtone)



The National Football League is giving hospitals and police departments a year to prepare for the fallout from next year's Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, The Record reported on Friday's front page.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of readers and hundreds of thousands of other North Jersey residents are planning cruises or other vacations during Super Tidy Bowl Week in 2014 to escape the traffic chaos that is sure to ensue.

The medical community will be beefing up hospital cardiac surgery units to perform emergency coronary by-passes on all those football fans who consume tons of artery clogging beef at tailgate parties.

Beer, vomit, piss

Meanwhile, police are planning hundreds of DWI patrols to cope with the oceans of beer that will be consumed and the resulting geysers of vomit and piss.

The culture of inebriation will be matched only by out-0f-control corporate greed exhibited by the football league, team owners and the conservative Fox Network.

Friday's Super Tidy Bowl story noted New Jersey has to face "the reality of living in the shadow of New York."

That's especially true with the state being mismanaged by Governor Christie, the GOP bully who lags behind New York State and city on gun control, mass transit and in so many other areas.

More A-1 errors

Editor Liz Houlton's copy desk screwed up big time again on Page 1.

On Friday, the A-1 box on insurance premiums, with a story on new state standards for building in flood zones, conflicted with other information printed on A-6, the continuation page.


But the information was inaccurate. (See "comments" at the end of this post.)

Christie surgery?


The best thing Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg could do for Christie is to finance bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese politician, not hold a fundraiser in his California home (A-3 on Friday).

Besides New York, California is putting New Jersey to shame (A-11 on Friday).

Gov. Jerry Brown has not only balanced that state's budget by raising the sales tax and the income tax on high earners,  he has committed to a $68 billion high-speed rail project.

Christie, on the other hand, killed two Hudson River rail tunnels, setting back the expansion of mass transit a decade, and continues to fight a tax surcharge on millionaires. 

Road whiners 

On Friday's L-1, Road Warrior John Cichowski continued to give voice to traffic whiners like Anthony Bernice of Hasbrouck Heights.

The column, which relies completely on reader e-mails, also contains the usual inaccuracies, according to a concerned reader:

"The Road Warrior's Jan. 25 column continues his unending efforts to mislead readers and make up or grossly exaggerate information to fill up his columns with some crazy "gripes" about everyday road issues.

"In addition to checking his math mistakes, I suggest someone use a calendar to correct Road Warrior's inability to judge how long ago major events occurred.

"The Record continues to sacrifice its own integrity if it cannot prevent these gross mistakes, some of which are inexcusable, such as not knowing it is 12 weeks and NOT 8 weeks, as the Road Warrior claims, since Superstorm Sandy.

"The Record should also NOT publish the rantings of anyone who "wants to blow their brains out" or fictitiously "cry" over frustrating, but trivial road matters. 

"It wouldn't take much for The Record to stop the Road Warrior's mistaken reporting."

The full -e-mail to management can be found on Facebook:

Standing up for road whiners 


Hackensack news

On Friday's L-3, a story reports four of the  Hackensack City Council's five members announced on Tuesday night they would not run for a new term.

A slate of candidates will be running, headed by John Labrosse, the sole incumbent seeking election. 

The story doesn't say what Labrosse has accomplished since he took office in 2009. 

Crumbs for readers

Staff Writer Elisa Ung is taking a break from restaurant reviewing -- hoping to lose weight after consuming hundreds of desserts -- but the new reviewer is as weak as she is when it comes to reporting on food origin.

In  Friday's Better Living, Bob Probert declares the food at The Kitchen in Englewood to be "remarkable," and said the veal rib chop "was the finest I've ever had."

But with chicken priced at $26 and that chop at $39, don't readers deserve to know whether the poultry and meat were raised naturally?

Horse manure

In today's Local section, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, deliver big news -- the signing of "a ceremonial beam" at the site of the new Meadowlands Gambling Addicts Racetrack grandstand (L-1).

Can't you just smell the manure?

The Local front also carries municipal news from Teaneck and Englewood, but nothing from Hackensack.

A filler photo on L-3 shows that a driver dying a slow death from eating McDonald's food escaped injury when the minivan's engine burst into flames.      



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13 comments:

  1. Following up on confusing miscue about flood insurance premiums, not only did The Record contradict themselves on p. A-1 & A-6 on Friday, they simply did NOT report it correctly based on what Christie actually said.

    A-1 indicated up to $31000 additional increase in annual premium if built to old standard. It indicated a total annual premium of about $7000 if house raised to new fed std. It indicated a total annual premium around $3500 if raised 2 ft above fed std.

    A-6 then contradicted A-1 by indicating an additional increase of $3500 to annual premium if house raised 2 ft above fed std.

    However, The Record simply reported it ALL wrong.

    What Christie clearly stated, which was correctly reported in NJ.com and USA today, was that total annual premiums (not additional increases to current premiums) could be:

    Up to $31000 total annual premium if built to old standard. A total annual premium of $7000 if house raised to new fed std. A total annual premium of $3500 if house raised 2 ft above fed std.

    The Record finally got the premiums right in Saturday's A-6 question and answer box.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hackensack News - other than Coucilman Labrosse no other council member/mayor has spoken out about the corruption or dysfunction in Hackensack. The other 4 are walking away. He is continuing the fight. Hmmm, what has he accomplished? Stay tuned, the groundwork has been set in place. More to come

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  3. If you can't say what Labrosse has done in four years on the council, then I guess the answer is nothing. Taxpayers can't afford "status quo" officials like him.

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    Replies
    1. If you don't know what Mr Labrosse has done then you have not been paying attention. Supposedly you keep an eye on the record. Go back and check how many times he is quoted as saying things need to change. He's one of 5. The others voted as a block, like mindless sheep following their experts (Malagiere & the Zisas). That is what has cost the taxpayers so much in legal fees and other follies. The fact that you have to wonder makes me wonder where you have been the past 4 years. He is not interested in the status quo. He wants change!

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  4. Saying things need to change and actually trying to change things are vastly different. Just voting against the others is meaningless.

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  5. How silly. What else could he have done? Four of a kind beats one Ace!

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  6. Replies
    1. I've got no problem defending an honorable man. If he had not spoken out publicly we'd still be stuck with the 4 amigos. Like I said, stay tuned, more to come.

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    2. What else could he have done? What would you do?

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  7. Under John Labrosse tenure: removed a now-convicted police chief, installed a new police director, halted construction of a police emergency center in an often-flooded Johnson Park, removed a questionable-at-best zoning attorney, initiated investigation into building dept, removed a $2M "slush" fund from the city budget, expedited police settlements, ended the reign of the 4 member council majority - to name a few. All done as the 1 to 4 minority. Where have you been Mr Sasson??

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  8. Hackensack residents aren't so gullible as to swallow these wildly exaggerated claims. Labrosse and his slate are headed for certain defeat at the polls, if they take credit for removing Ken Zisa and so forth.

    The Labrosse slate won't be running unopposed. These preposterous claims won't survive the light of day.

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  9. To the Labrosse supporter hiding behind Anonymous or perhaps you are Councilman Labrosse himself:

    I am going to cut you off right now unless you have the courage to back your accusations with your name, as I do. I will not publish your last two comments.

    I am sure it was the prosecutor and a Superior Court jury who removed the disgraced police chief, not Labrosse, and it was the city manager who named the new police director, not Labrosse.

    Did Labrosse even attend any of the many interviews of prospective police directors?

    You may read my blog, but you choose to ignore my calls for the resignation of City Attorney Joe Zisa, cousin of the disgraced chief, and the identification of the property owners who will be profiting from the redevelopment of Main Street the council has approved.

    Why hasn't Labrosse and the council declared The Record's eyesore property as an area in need of rehabilitation?

    You also missed my two letters about city issues that were published recently in the Hackensack Chronicle.

    I also have complained for years about the lack of Hackensack coverage in The Record outside of city's Police Department. For the past two years, the paper didn't even publish a story on the city budget or tax rate.

    During the public portion of the last council meeting, I asked Labrosse and the others why the council hasn't delivered a property tax cut to residents, and he sat silent as the city manager made their excuses.

    I also asked Labrosse and the others if they are running for another term, and again, they were silent.

    Taxpayers are tired of all the excuses from Labrosse, other council members and the city manager when they ask why their streets aren't paved, why the city has been so slow to embrace alternative energy and why we are behind neighboring communities in so many areas.



    ReplyDelete

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