Image by birdphone via FlickrI am searching the Page 1 story on hospitals seeking new sites for expansion, and wondering which genius among the editors at The Record of Woodland Park came up with this lame story idea. Anything to avoid running legitimate news.
Is the former Hackensack daily trying to broker a deal between protesters and The Valley Hospital (photo), which wants to expand on its Ridgewood site? Or to be cynical, are the Borgs trying to unload their nearly 20 acres along the Hackensack River to get the hospital out of residents' hair? After all, Publisher Stephen A. Borg is on the hospital's council.
Does anyone recall a similar story when Hackensack Medical Center expansion plans ran into stiff community opposition?
What relevance to densely populated Bergen County is there in the experiences of hospitals in the Voorhees, Hopewell and Princeton areas? Or is this another example of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes neglecting basic coverage of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood, so one of her pals, Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton, can spend a week or more on a flawed story? How about better coverage of the BP catastrophe?
Another A-1 story, on whether Governor Christie is packing town hall meetings with supporters, made me laugh, because he doesn't have to do so in North Jersey, where he has fawning Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin in his corner on nearly every issue.
Isn't Doblin in a sticky situation writing favorable opinion columns about Christie budget cuts, then approving, and possibly writing, editorials that review the governor's policies? Has any other editorial page editor before Alfie done both? Shame on you.
Are readers more interested in the ending of oyster cultivation in the polluted Hackensack River (A-1), or in what growers in cleaner, southern New Jersey waters are doing to replace Louisiana oysters devastated by the BP disaster in the Gulf?
Does Columnist Mike Kelly (L-1) expect us to feel sorry for all those greedy investors who fell for Bernie Madoff's scam, then paid taxes to the state on profits that never existed? How about writing about real victims for a change?
In Sunday's Local section, an L-3 story on Harrington Park kids was written by Mark J. Bonamo, identified as "staff writer." In The Hackensack Chronicle on Friday, Bonamo wrote the front-page story and was identified as "managing editor." Which is it? Surely, the answer lies with Mother Hen Deirdre, who likely favored covering this story about her hometown.
