Breaking news: Borough's files are moved out of storage

Are these directional signs unique to New Jersey? This one is on Grand Avenue in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer Mary Diduch of The Record did her best today to elevate a routine contract dispute into an important local news story, reporting "it's not something one witnesses every day" (L-1).

In fact, readers do see the Woodland Park daily scrambling to assemble a comprehensive local news report, and usual failing, as the editors do today.

A story on 1,100 file boxes being returned to Bogota Borough Hall shouldn't be leading the Local news section.

For even more compelling local news, see the L-3 photo of a Ridgewood employee cutting a fallen tree limb "that blocked traffic" on Thursday morning.

Home rule

There is so much wrong with the home-rule system of government in North Jersey -- including the ruinously expensive duplication of services -- the editors should never, ever run out of important local news.

Take a look at a letter to the editor from Michele Talamo, a Cliffside Park resident who is upset over high taxes and the "oppressive" cost of living (A-18).

Talamo is opposed to just about everything -- from a proposed hike in the gas tax to raising the minimum wage to $15.

Of course, the real problem is in Cliffside Park, where one family has ruled for decades, as was the case in Hackensack.

Yet, The Record's local news staff has ignored the attempted political comeback of former four-term Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother Ken, the disgraced former police chief.

This year, the city's mayor and council members --who defeated a slate of Zisa allies in May 2013 -- are estimating that a citywide revaluation will deliver $400 in tax savings to most homeowners.

Casinos

Atlantic City's disastrous experience with casinos doomed the expansion of gambling to North Jersey long before all the recent stories about a state takeover.

Still, The Record can't stop promoting passage of a November referendum that North Jersey residents are expected to soundly reject.

As you'd expect of a former sports reporter, Staff Writer John Brennan claims a conference he covered "gave the give-and-take ... the feel of the opening round of what figures to be a hard-fought battle until voters go to the polls" (A-1).

Readers can expect The Record's editors to continue to insist the constitutional amendment has a chance of passage, even though it's headed for defeat.

Dining puzzle

Staff Writer Elisa Ung usually devotes a paragraph or two to the chef or cook, but in today's Informal Dining review, she doesn't say who prepared the food at ReBAR in Lodi (BL-14).

The review also is unusual in that her meals there didn't end with a couple of artery clogging desserts.