Readers' eyes rolling at the me generation of columnists

Although The Record and North Jersey Media Group left 150 River St. in Hackensack in 2009, the Borg family have made the property pay by charging hundreds of thousands of dollars for parking spaces leased to Bergen County during the construction of a new courthouse and to Hackensack University Medical Center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers of The Record's Sunday edition are puzzling over the restaurant reviewer's rant about customers who wear too much cologne or perfume.

And those in search of local news can only wonder whether Road Warrior John Cichowski's column about drivers in European cities is his clever way of trying to write off his vacation on his income taxes.

I promise. 

I tried to get into the Page 1 feature story about the Paramus woman who spent 25 years searching for her Canadian birth mother, but it is just too long (A-1).

The top of the front page carries yet another story about the kindness of Gander, Newfoundland, to airline passengers diverted on 9/11 (A-1).

Staff Writer Lindy Washburn, who wrote today's story, actually was sent to Gander only days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America to pretty much write the same account that appears today.

So, that makes two stories with Canadian ties on today's front page.

Is anybody reading the other Page 1 stories -- another Charles Stile column on politics and the 2017 election for governor, or the annual end-of-season assessment of the health of the Jersey shore economy (A-1)?

Ung's rant

Few people live as high on the hog as Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, who has been eating out morning, noon and night on a Record expense account for more than a decade.

So, excuse me if I don't get the point of her Sunday column, The Corner Table, or the problem of servers and customers wearing too much perfume or cologne (Better Living front).

She claims those scents prevent her from tasting the food she is evaluating, but readers can only hope she focuses more on the basics.

On Friday, she awarded 3 stars (Excellent) to From Scratch, a small cafe and market in Ridgewood, despite shockingly high prices, unprofessional service and cramped seating.

For example, she loved a bronzino fillet served with an eggplant-tomato gratin, even though at $30, you'd pay more than at restaurants serving the whole fish.

Mind on vacation

Staff Writer John Cichowski is back from a vacation with the breathless news that drivers in small European cities are more polite and don't lean on their horns, as we do in New Jersey (Road Warrior on L-1).

Of course, he could make the same observation in downtown San Francisco during the rush hour.

But as an opinion columnist, Cichowski fails to provide any leadership in the impasse over funding the Transportation Trust Fund, and for that reason, he is of absolutely no use to North Jersey commuters.

Bus commuters sure to love story from press releases

North Jersey-bound commuters at the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan terminal waiting for an NJ Transit bus during the afternoon rush hour in March.

Large, free-standing touch screens have been helping commuters find their bus platforms at the midtown Manhattan terminal for well over a year, but The Record's transportation reporter hasn't noticed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has a long tradition of lazy transportation reporters dating to Dan Sforza, who spent most of his time writing about "highways of the future."

Later, when he was promoted to the pivotal job of assistant assignment editor, Sforza directed one of his successors to write at least two major stories that seemed to argue against the extension of NJ Transit's light-rail line to Englewood and Tenafly.

Meanwhile, for nearly a dozen years, Road Warrior John Cichowski has written about every form of transportation -- bicycles, scooters and cars, to name a few -- except trains and buses.

And no reporter at The Record has ever been enterprising enough to actually ride the trains and buses, and report on the lack of seats and rush-hour crowding at Manhattan's Penn Station and midtown bus terminal.

Attend meetings

The paper's transportation reporters religiously attended meetings of NJ Transit's board, but weren't aware of the crisis at the Port Authority's midtown bus terminal until angry letters to the editor started pouring in last year.

Today, the lead story on the Local front warns riders on 55 bus routes, including 40 NJ Transit lines, their platforms and floors will change on Tuesday "as part of an effort to reduce delays" (L-1).

The story makes no mention of large, free-standing touch screens on the first and second levels of the bus terminal that have been helping commuters find their departure gates for well over a year.

Today's front page

The story on the lower left of Page 1 today -- on the transportation-funding and pension crises in New Jersey -- seems like an afterthought.

And the reporter wastes no time in casting the two issues as a partisan political battle between Democrats and Republicans.

This allow The Record to once again skip its responsibility to report what outcomes would be good for the people of New Jersey. 

Most of A-1 today is devoted to the obligatory end-of-season story about the Jersey shore.

Clueless media are complicit in obesity epidemic

The opening of a licensed Starbucks Coffee at the Target store in Hackensack has been delayed. On Wednesday, a security guard said the Starbucks is scheduled to open on Sept. 23. It would be the second Starbucks in Hackensack.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor


The one and only column I ever wrote for The Record of Hackensack blasted fellow reporters for making fun of Joseph "JoJo" Giorgianni, a 565-pound Trenton restaurant owner who was convicted in 1980 of carnally abusing and debauching the morals of a 14-year-old girl.

But -- as someone who has struggled with his weight since age 13 -- I have come to realize that people like Giorgianni, Governor Christie and the obese local editors at The Record simply don't have the discipline or will power to deny themselves fattening food.

Food porn

Not that they are getting much help from the media, as today's lavish Better Living cover story on new Italian and French bakeries demonstrates (BL-1).

Today's ode to "refined treats" is by Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the Woodland Park daily's chief restaurant reviewer, who has made no secret of her obsession with dessert.

Since 2007, her orgasmic descriptions of fattening, artery clogging cakes and pastries have crowded out stories on healthy, nutritious fare -- a disservice to readers who are fighting the battle of the bulge.

Ung has plenty of company, especially among the reporters who have wasted hundreds of thousands of words trying to whip up a controversy over New York City's attempted ban on large drinks sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which is linked to the obesity epidemic.

Obesity politics

On Page 1 today, Columnist Charles Stile tries to make a big deal over a comment by Democratic gubernatorial candidate Barbara Buono, who said:

"I don't know about you, but seeing Chris Christie frolicking on the beach is not going to drive me to go to the Jersey shore."

Stiles said the context of the comment was "a withering critique that accused Christie of turning a taxpayer-funded Shore promotional campaign into a reelection ad ...."

Many failures

But Christie -- trying to deflect attention from his failure to revive the shore after Superstorm Sandy -- complained Buono's comment "was mocking his ample girth," Stile reports.

Of course, Stile and other reporters know Christie is as much a failure in trying to control his weight as he is in so many other areas -- such as reviving the state economy, expanding mass transit and championing the middle class.

But Stile, Staff Melissa Hayes and others have ignored his weight problem in the same way they have ignored his many flaws and broken promises.

In response to Wednesday's post, All of a sudden, Christie is sensitive about his weight, I received two anonymous comments:

Anonymous September 4, 2013 at 8:26 PM

I'm sorry, but I've got to throw my 2 cents in here. When is it going to become NOT ok to torment someone about their weight? Politics aside, obesity is a struggle. In 2003 I had weight loss surgery. It saved my life. And, weight and all, I still managed devote 40 years of my life to that little rag that was formerly printed in Hackensack. Please lets stop picking on people because they're fat.

Anonymous September 5, 2013 at 6:46 AM

I appreciate Victor making the comments. There is no room in this world for fat people. They're taking up all the space for everyone else. Victor and his fat-hate speech is welcome in their politically correct time, no matter what people say.

More errors

The last two attempts by Road Warrior John Cichowski to discuss school-bus inspections were riddled with errors and contradictions, according to a concerned reader:

"In his column on Wednesday, the Road Warrior turns into a repeat offender for failing to report accurately and responsibly about MVC inspections for school bus safety as he misdirects parents and provides them with unreliable and contradictory information.

"He engaged in similar offenses in his Sept. 1 column about this same topic.

"The Road Warrior fails or is unable to do his job to provide a specific MVC Web site sub-link address so readers can quickly get to the referenced school bus inspection results.

"He indicated that initial bus inspections generally put as much as 40% of a local fleet out of service, even though MVC Web site's reported results show as much as 60%, 70%, and in one case 100% of a local fleet out of service after inspections.

"Road Warrior looks even more foolish when he states that car owners complain about taking a few minutes out of their busy schedules for emissions inspections when he has frequently reported about the endless inspection lines, which many times are more than one hour."

Read the full e-mail on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, including details on how Cichowski -- "The Addled Commuter" -- mangled statistics on school-bus fatalities from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, quoting  them inaccurately:

Road Warrior won't go back to school

What's wrong with this picture?

The Record's Jersey shore coverage -- usually one Memorial Day and one Labor Day story -- doesn't appeal to older readers, who have had their fill of skin cancer.

If you're an older reader, the front page of The Record will leave you cold today -- dominated as it is with major stories on the family oriented Jersey shore and "a quiet makeover" at K-12 public schools.

But readers of all ages are wondering why two photos of incoming freshman at Northern Valley Regional High School in Old Tappan show girls violating the dress code -- this at orientation.

Are those two photos even appropriate to illustrate a story on improving math and language-arts skills  (A-1 and A-8)? 

What was the news copy editor thinking when he or she wrote the photo captions? Where was Production Editor Liz Houlton or the head of the photo?

Shore enough

The editors today deliver the obligatory, annual Labor Day story on how the shore economy is doing.

But this sun-splashed report and all of the previous stories fail to discuss just how expensive it is to own a home or even stay there for a week or two -- thanks to greedy property owners and real estate agents.

The value of shore homes didn't take a hit in the recession, unlike property in North Jersey, and you'd have to be as rich as the Borgs to afford a summer place there. 

Another thin edition

There isn't much else in today's Labor Day edition of the Woodland Park daily:

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin pulls out every Hollywood and non-Hollywood cliche in his column on Clint Eastwood's shameless performance last week at the Republican National Convention (A-11).

On the front of the Local news section, Mike Kelly loads his column on soil contamination with question upon question, and fails as usual to provide any answers or even any strong opinions about polluters (L-1).

On the front of Better Living, a story on two Bergen County chefs competing in the "Hell's Kitchen" finale on Fox TV doesn't explain why Bergen readers should care who wins (BL-1).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung should stop wasting her time writing breathless accounts about celebrity chefs, and spend more time helping readers find a decent place to eat in North Jersey's own hell's kitchen.

Also on the Better Living front, a story on the health benefits of potatoes lays an egg: why is there no mention of the incredible sweet potato? 

Related article

• An ugly speech from a truly ugly man

You wouldn't know it's Sunday

Image via Wikipedia

My news sections are here, but they are so boring, you wouldn't know this is the The Record's Sunday paper -- once filled with special stories reporters slaved over.


On Page 1, there is the obligatory Memorial Day weekend story on the shore economy, but Local contains no Teaneck, Englewood or Hackensack news. 

I'm glad to see the Gulf oil spill fiasco is on A-1 for the third day in a row. That's where the story belongs. Now where is the editorial slamming BP and the government for this colossal failure?

See previous post: No news sections today