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| A busy crosswalk near the J.C. Penney entrance to Westfield Garden State Plaza was closed on Saturday afternoon, prompting many visitors to cross where there was no crosswalk or pedestrian signal, below. The Paramus mall, the biggest in the state, apparently couldn't find an employee to help shoppers cross the road, as it does when that crosswalk is open. |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Federal auto safety officials have expressed concern about the high rollover risk of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van similar to the one involved in a crash that left comedian Tracy Morgan in critical condition.
On A-3 today, the Record used an Associated Press story about the New Jersey Turnpike chain-reaction crash on Saturday that left a fellow comedian dead and two others seriously hurt.
The driver of the Walmart tractor-trailer that rammed Morgan's Mercedes-Benz "limo bus" has been charged with death by auto, the wire service reported.
But the story makes no mention of National Highway Transportation Safety Administration officials who rated the 2012 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 Van's risk of rollover at 84.3%.
The vehicle -- on which the limo bus is based -- was given a safety rating of one star, the lowest on the 5-star safety scale, according to safecar.gov, the NHTSA Web site.
I have spoken to drivers of the M-B Sprinter Van who say they have to be careful when turning corners because of the vehicle's high center of gravity.
Morgan's vehicle ended up on its side. The AP story also neglects to mention whether the comedian and other passengers were wearing seat belts or were protected by air bags.
Horse's asses
Today's front page carries a story on Saturday's Belmont Stakes by Staff Writer John Rowe, a lifer.
What a waste of space. Which horse's ass in the newsroom decided to give this turd of a story Page 1 play?
A-1 also brings us yet another column speculating on what Governor Christie's former chief of staff will tell investigators about the George Washington Bridge lane closures in Democratic Fort Lee.
Columnist Charles Stile could have written just one word: "Nothing."
Older drivers
On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski wastes our time with another boring column on teen drivers (L-1).
Cichowski knows older drivers like himself are the ones who need safety retraining, but he has resisted reporting on that issue since he took over the column in 2003.
Teaneck reporter Aaron Morrison should get a bonus for being one of the few writers who profile prominent residents while they are still alive (L-1).
Today, he writes about jazz photographer Chuck Stewart.
On the Business front, a photo caption shows Taro Eizumi outside Fort Lee's BNB Hana Bank, which "caters to Korean-Americans" (B-1).
But judging from his last name, Eizumi is Japanese, not Korean.
Selling out
Staff Writer Elisa Ung today has a second column about no-show restaurant customers, as if this is such an overwhelming problem (BL-1).
If she chose to write about issues facing customers in her column, The Corner Table, she could do 52 columns a year on the slave wages restaurant owners pay servers and how they expect the customer to tip well to make up the difference.
Drew Nieporent, John Pilourias and the other wealthy restaurateurs or chefs she quotes have duped her into ignoring this conflict.
When the kitchen burns your food or serves you cheap fish instead of the red snapper listed on the menu, what are you going to do?
If you stiff the server, you're letting the owner off of the hook, but isn't that the whole point of the corrupt tipping system?
Tipping likely tops restaurant customers' complaints, but it's been a few years since Ung even made any attempt to discuss the issue.
And we know why. Restaurant advertising is a major source of revenue for North Jersey Media Group.
Ung is not about to bite the hand that feeds her. OK. She eats enough for two or three. So, it's the hand that stuffs her face.
Haggard traveler
Travel Editor Jill Schensul likely shocked readers a week ago, when she published "selfies" of her haggard face on a bad-hair day -- a stark contrast to her column's thumbnail photo (T-1).
Today, the column photo, which was taken more than a decade ago, appears on the Travel front above one of her selfies.
Other outdated column photos appear in the paper today: Mike Kelly's shit-eating grin on O-1, and John Rowe's uncharacteristic smile on A-1.
Poor Virginia Rohan. A new, unattractive column photo of The Record's TV writer has been used for the past few months, showing her bloated face.
Saturday's paper
Lodi and Hackensack taxpayers' blood was boiling after reading stories on A-1 and L-3 of Saturday's paper.
Lodi Police Chief Vincent Caruso is one in a long line of department heads who collect hundreds of thousands of dollars for unused time off -- in his case, $342,000, according to the front-page account.
The Record has never questioned why Christie put a ceiling on the salaries of school superintendents, but not on police chiefs, or failed to reform these outrageous payouts.
In Hackensack, allies of the disgraced Zisa family, which ran the city for decades, may cost taxpayers $20,000, according to a report from Staff Writer Christopher Maag.
The $20,000 would cover legal fees in a dispute over copies of bills submitted by City Attorney Thomas Scrivo between October and Jan. 15, Maag reported.
Maag notes the new City Council "fired Richard Salkin, the city attorney with close ties to the Zisa family and to city Democratic Party Chairwoman Lynn Hurwitz, and replaced him with Scrivo."
But that is wrong. Salkin, a double dipper, was municipal prosecutor as well as Board of Education attorney. He continues in the school board job.
I didn't see a correction in today's paper.
Masterful editing
In Saturday's lead story on Page 1, I didn't see a single reference to the hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks Christie has given wealthy business owners and the pitifully few jobs created in return.
The story reported the national economy has replaced all of the jobs lost in the recession, but New Jersey "so far has recovered only half of its vanished jobs."
This kind of irresponsible editing ensured the GOP bully's reelection last November, despite one of the worst records of any New Jersey governor.
Have you counted the ads in the food pages? It doesn't look like restaurants are that big of a revenue source.
ReplyDeleteTell me about the pressure when you were the restaurant reviewer.
Most of the restaurant ads run on Fridays in the entertainment tab.
DeleteI wrote on a freelance basis, either Food section cover pieces, reviews of so-called budget restaurants or the Marketplace feature about small markets and bakeries.
Few advertised and only the reviews had a critical component.