Here's another black mark against Garden State Plaza

A driver from Pennsylvania gets a warm New Jersey welcome at a toll booth on the Garden State Parkway.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus -- often called the state's biggest mall -- appears well on its way to becoming the baddest.

The only story worth reading on Page 1 of The Record today is the heart-tugging account of how a Macy's escalator mangled the foot of an 11-year-old girl, and how a surgeon stepped in to prevent its amputation (A-1).

Westfield in the mall's name is for the Westfield Group, the Australian owner of Garden State Plaza and 90 other shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Garden State Plaza receives lavish news coverage in The Record -- payback for all of those full-page ads from Macy's and other mall retailers that are keeping the Woodland Park daily afloat.

Recently, a story in Business heralded the construction of a wing of luxury stores at the Paramus mall -- just what we need as North Jersey continues to struggle with high unemployment and low job creation.

Lawsuits filed

The Aug. 16 accident that nearly killed Juliana Valdez of Bergenfield has sparked two lawsuits, including the family's federal action against Macy's and the company that maintained the escalator, ThyssenKrupp (A-10).

A second black mark against the mall -- and its apparent lack of security -- is the Nov. 4 invasion by gunman Richard Shoop, who committed suicide there, triggering panic among shoppers and a massive police response that proved completely ineffective. 

For a change, The Record's copy desk did a nice job on the injured girl's story, especially the set of bright headlines.

However, Production Editor Liz Houlton missed a major discrepancy: 

The story reports the girl is "getting around on crutches and a walker," but the big A-1 photo just above that shows her in a wheelchair, which isn't mentioned anywhere.

Wrong number

The 10th anniversary issue of (201) magazine landed with a thud on my doorstep.

As usual, the December 2013 issue is a celebration of the wealth and success of Bergen County's white residents.

OK. A few token blacks and other minorities appear in what Publisher Stephen A. Borg calls the pride and joy of all of his North Jersey Media Group publications.

In the current issue, a profile of Englewood stylist Rachel Johnson is the story of how an African-American woman succeeds by exploiting wealthy black athletes who don't have a clue about how to dress (Pages 76-77).

'Spic Paterson' and other comments

Paterson (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Editor's note: Whether you're a blogger or a newspaper reporter, one thing is clear. Many of your readers are racist or just out of their freaking minds. That's especially true of readers who hide behind the 'Anonymous' tag. Here are a few of the reactions I've received to posts at Eye on The Record.

In response to commentary on an affordable housing story, a reader who apparently lives in affluent Sadde River had this to say:
 

"Well, you can see the difference between all white Saddle River and all black and spic Paterson."

Later, I received another comment, apparently from this same racist, concerning my complaints The Record is doing a poor job of covering Hackensack:

"I am living in almost pure white luxury and you are in boogie land crying for coverage of a city no one cares about."

I cited this passage from the affordable housing story:

"New Jersey remains one of the most racially and economically segregated regions of the country."

 And got this comment:

"And lets hope it stays that way.

"My town, Saddle River, was one of the first to challenge Mount Laurel."


PSE&G 
  
On criticism of PSE&G's slow repairs after Superstorm Sandy hit:

"They did a great job who are you kidding? You do know it was a once in a lifetime storm?" 

Math errors 

On math errors in a Page 1 story:

"I guess math isn't the reporters/editors strong suit and the reason they decided to become journalists instead of mathematicians."

Other errors

As errors continue to mount in headlines, photo captions and stories, one reader claimed Production Editor Liz Houlton, supervisor of the copy desk, is "universally respected," but didn't say in which universe.