Today's edition lists more things Christie opposes

At Tuesday night's Hackensack City Council meeting, the audience included two members of the losing slate in last May's election; fired Municipal Prosecutor Richard Salkin; and sitting next to him, Lynne Hurwitz, who is said to have been the power behind the throne when the Zisa family ran the city that was derided as "Zisaville." Their presence and an occasional attack on the current administration is what is known as sour grapes with a vengeance.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Page 1 of The Record today reports a scramble to enroll for new insurance under the federal Affordable Care Act that Governor Christie did his best to sabotage in New Jersey. 

On A-3, Christie blasted the public employees union for disrupting the dog-and-pony show he put on in hard-hit Union Beach to hide how badly he bungled Sandy aid.

But Rutgers students wanted to know why $4.8 million in federal Sandy aid is going to the developer of a 240-unit high rise in New Brunswick, in exchange for providing 48 affordable units (A-3).

Christie opposes all other affordable housing in New Jersey.

SUV lover

And an editorial today reports the breaking news that "Governor Christie has shown little or no interest in promoting mass transit" (A-12).

That has been evident since the GOP bully took office in January 2010, but this is likely the first time the Woodland Park daily has actually stated it. 

Why is The Record showing such lukewarm support for finding the money to extend electrified light-rail service to Bergen County?

It appears to be part of a pattern of promoting commuting by car and ignoring all of the service problems encountered by NJ Transit bus and rail users.

Today's editorial notes "the crush at many gates inside the Port Authority Bus Terminal during the evening rush is unbearable" (A-12). 

But those strong words are based on angry letters from commuters, not on reporting by the lazy transportation editor and reporter or the clueless, car-centric Road Warrior.

Gridlock at Main and Anderson streets in Hackensack on Tuesday morning.

Anti-light rail stories

In fact, several years ago, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza guided then-reporter Tom Davis when he wrote at least two anti-light rail takeouts for The Record.

And in 2012 and 2013, The Record reported the exaggerated claims of Tenafly officials who opposed extension of light rail to their town, without bothering to seek rebuttal from NJ Transit.

More road kill

On the front of Local today, the addled Road Warrior foams at the mouth about dark highways.

Of course, the column he should be writing is one condemning poorly lit local streets, such as River Road in North Arlington, where a 74-year-old waitress was struck and killed by a car.

"The driver never saw her," a police captain told The Record (L-1).

When Jerome S. Some was killed crossing Prospect Avenue in Hackensack last October, a sister of the 87-year-old businessman told a reporter a street light was out.

That driver also said she didn't see Some, founder of a uniform company on Main Street.

Today's story about the death of Barbara Gangi, who worked the early shift at the Arlington Diner, says nothing about street lighting or whether River Road and other antiquated local streets in North Jersey are adequately lit.

Seeing red

For another view of Cichowski's  confusing, mistake-ridden Sunday column on red-light cameras, see the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

Stopping the facts dead in their tracks