Wake up the editors to our daily 'traffic turmoil'

Another Friday evening commute, another traffic jam in the northbound lanes of the Garden State Parkway. It's bad enough the parkway north narrows from 5 lanes to 3 (just past Route 280), but commuters were further slowed by two fender benders on the shoulders and mesmerized by the flashing lights of the investigating trooper's SUV at one of the minor accidents.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor


North Jersey and the rest of the metropolitan area are experiencing a transportation crisis of unparalleled proportions.

Little relief is in sight -- given Governor Christie's anti-mass transit policies and the media's well-known indifference to the plight of drivers caught in nightmarish traffic jams and other commuters packed into buses and trains.

Today's Page 1 headline in The Record -- "Another forecast of traffic turmoil" -- could run every day in one form or another.

Lazy reporting

Meanwhile, the Woodland Park daily wastes a salary on addled Staff Writer John Cichowski -- aka the Road Warrior -- whose error-filled column has only nibbled around the edges of the crisis.

Cichowski and the paper's other transportation writers could be of most service to readers by driving in rush-hour traffic or riding SRO buses and trains, and then asking officials the hard questions:
 

• Why does Christie rubber-stamp higher and higher tolls, but fails to encourage transit agencies to add more capacity, especially into Manhattan?
• When is the Port Authority going to add a second reverse lane into the Lincoln Tunnel, doubling bus capacity?
• Why aren't the new Amtrak rail tunnels into Manhattan being fast-tracked?

Get out and see
 
A drive around the metropolitan area on Friday  clearly demonstrated how heavy traffic is, and how easily it can be slowed to a crawl by lane closures, minor accidents and even the distraction of a state trooper's flashing lights on the side of the road.

New Jersey drivers were everywhere -- in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the Staten Island Expressway and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge; picking up their relatives at John F. Kennedy International Airport and clogging Manhattan streets with their enormous SUVs.

Undoubtedly, hundreds of those New Jersey drivers were among those who insist on driving everywhere and reserve the right to complain about astronomical tolls, high gas prices and congestion.

Jammed terminals

Meanwhile, waiting areas at Penn Station and the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan were overflowing with thousands of commuters competing for seats on crowded trains and buses.

It's typical of The Record that today's front page focuses on delays experienced by a minority of drivers between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. on the George Washington Bridge -- and ignores what the majority experience daily during the rush-hour breakdown of the transportation system.

Let them eat cake

Today's Better Living section carries a breathless report from Elisa Ung, the recently returned restaurant reviewer, on a greasy fried pastry just the thought of which gives many readers heart palpitations (BL-1).

Friday's paper

If you missed Friday's newspaper, you didn't miss anything.

A Page 1 story on American Dream, the stalled retail-entertainment project in the Meadowlands, quotes big wig Jon F. Hanson, best friend of Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg (A-1).

Repainting of the ugly exterior (like Christie, it's another Jersey joke) is described in the story as "remodeling of the multicolored exterior," but clueless Staff Writer John Brennan fails to tell readers what they most want to know -- when?

Hackensack news

On Friday's L-3, a story reports former Hackensack City Council candidate Kenneth Martin was fined $150 and ordered to pay $158 in court costs.

Martin was found guilty of stealing his opponents' signs outside Hackensack Market on Passaic Street, where the store's surveillance camera caught the retired detective in the act.

The story reports incorrectly that Martin's slate, Coalition for Open Government, lost all 5 seats in the May 14 election. It held only 4 seats.

Local dining

Better Living's reviews of local restaurants are crammed into less space than before, but the editors found room for a story from The Washington Post on amateur and professional food critics that runs on and on and on (BL-20 to BL-24).

'Disabled' reporter

There was so much missing or wrong information in Wednesday's Road Warrior column on handicapped parking tags and plates.

A concerned reader notes:

"The Road Warrior indicated the new law is only for qualified disabled drivers. But the new law covers any qualified disabled person, including those who do not drive, that needs handicap parking.

"He failed to address differences in requirements for those with temporary v. permanent disabilities.

"He was negligent to not provide the MVC Web site page with all requirements of the new law that went into effect on Thursday, and other disabled parking provisions."

Lazy editors are Road Warrior's crutches 

Vote against Hackensack's politics of greed

Some of the best lawns in Hackensack are sprouting a new sign from independent City Council candidate Victor E. Sasson, above and below. The non-partisan election is Tuesday, and Sasson is urging all city residents to get out and vote for reform.

Euclid Avenue in Hackensack.

Spring Valley Avenue in Hackensack.

Today's edition of the weekly Hackensack Chronicle is filled with stories, essays, photos and a letter aimed at voters in Tuesday's City Council election -- a day after The Record ran a Page 1 story about one of the most important contests in the city's history.

Whether you are affiliated with a party or not, you can vote in the non-partisan election. Polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Here is the 300-word essay from independent candidate Victor E. Sasson, editor of Eye on The Record (Page 3 in the Chronicle): 

"If elected to the Hackensack City Council, I will work tirelessly to return the focus to the property tax payer, and reverse the trend of rising taxes and falling services.

"I am independent and honest, and owe no favors to the special interests that have controlled Hackensack for so long. I want to restore pride in a city that is widely mocked as 'Zisaville.'

"I am financing my own campaign, and will return $2,500 of my salary as a councilman to the city or a charity.

"I will do so to encourage Hackensack University Medical Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University and other tax-exempt entities to follow suit and give back to Hackensack -- a city that has squandered so many of its tax dollars on insider deals with the politically connected.

"Mine is the original 'quality of life' platform, emphasizing changes city residents can feel -- from smooth streets to less aircraft noise to saving money by running the city more efficiently with hybrid cars and solar panels.

"As the parent of a Hackensack High School student, I am disturbed by the divisiveness on the Board of Education, and believe term limits should be imposed on school trustees.

"I am also troubled by the low quality of food served to students.

"I love Hackensack, but deplore the politics of greed that have been practiced by the Zisa family and their powerful allies for decades, and how they are trying to perpetuate their rule by backing a slate in this election.

"I urge voters to go to the polls on May 14 in one of the most important elections in city history. If you haven’t voted in past municipal elections, you have only yourselves to blame for the crummy government we have."

Sasson, who is financing his own campaign, miscalculated the impact of lawn signs, and didn't order them right away.

This morning, Sasson went to Hackensack Market to add his signs to those of the other candidates, but managers of the market refused.

Sasson is trying to contact the owner.

Open Government City Council candidate Kenneth Martin, a former police detective, will stand trial on charges he removed opponents' lawn signs at Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

Employees of Hackensack Market complained of all the trouble Open Government candidate Kenneth Martin caused when he allegedly removed opponents' signs, and was caught red-handed on the store's surveillance camera.

Martin heads "the Zisa slate," which is  trying to hold onto power in Hackensack.

Say it isn't so, Joe

Three public forums for the 11 candidates were held in high-rises on Prospect Avenue, where residents have joined a coalition to stop the construction of a 19-story hospital, with 5 floors of underground parking, near Golf Place.

The Hackensack zoning board rejected the plan, 5-0, but Prospect Avenue residents fear a Superior Court judge will rule in favor of the developer, who has appealed.

So they want whomever gets elected on Tuesday to retain City Attorney Joseph C. Zisa Jr. and former zoning board attorney Richard Malagiere, who are defending the city.

Malagiere resigned from the zoning board after he was cited for owning homes with alleged building violations.

Now, there are rumors Joe Zisa may be leaving Hackensack.

Zisa is the cousin of Ken Zisa, the disgraced former state Assemblyman and police chief, and father of Lauren Zisa, editor-in-chief of The County Toilet Seat, a weekly paper. 

Joe Zisa has made major improvements to his shore house; and his building at 77 Hudson St., where his private law office was located, is listed for lease, not sale.

He also has spoken to a Realtor about listing his home in the city's Fairmount section.   

The Record

There is big news on Page A-2 of The Record today: no corrections, clarifications or retractions.

A good laugh

Hackensack residents don't have much to laugh about, but Sasson can recommend a photo essay on Hackensack Scoop that features the Zisas, city officials and others:

Separated at birth 

Should editors, columnists 'come out,' too?

This sign greets drivers, bicyclists and pedestrians who cross the newly reopened Dillard Memorial Bridge from Bogota.

Objectivity in journalism died a quiet death decades ago.

Now, you have editors, columnists and others developing their "voice" and expressing a strong point of view on the issues of the day, including legalizing gay marriage.

The front page of The Record today reports that by announcing he is gay, Jason Collins has become a hero on and off the basketball court (A-1).

I've never heard of Collins, and could care less about him and his sexual orientation.

But I think it's hilarious how sports columnist Tara Sullivan tries mightily to show readers how "normal" Collins appeared to a coach and other players before his big revelation.

I don't care about Sullivan's sexual orientation, either, but wonder whether editors and columnists who advocate legalizing gay marriage or write about other issues affecting homosexuals should also "come out"?

Christie's agenda

The Record long ago lost any objectivity it might have had about Governor Christie, and today, it continues to promote his re-election agenda with a Page 1 story on $1.3 billion in "publicly funded higher education projects" (A-1).

Little attention is being paid to how he has mismanaged the state's economy since he took office in January 2010, leaving New Jersey with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.

Page A-2 today carries an embarrassing correction of a photo caption that ran on Sunday with one of Editor Marty Gottlieb's pet stories -- the alleged reverse migration of New Jersey residents to New York City.

Living or dead?

Local-news coverage of the living in Hackensack and other towns continues to decline, but Staff Writer Jay Levin is doing a bang-up job of giving the dead a royal sendoff.

Today, three of his local obituaries appear on L-1 and L-6.

Get a load of the editing in the lead story on the Local front about the Rev. Michael Fugee, a Catholic priest "who served probation on allegations he groped a boy in his Wyckoff home in 2001" (L-1).

The second paragraph refers oddly to "weekend press revelations." How 19th century that sounds.

Then, the paragraph sails on for another 60 or so words before ending. I'm out of breath.
  

An opponent's alleged crime involving the removal of campaign signs from in front of Hackensack Market on Passaic Street, above, has given hope to some City Council candidates, who are trying to oust the Zisa family regime that has dominated the city for so long.

Honestly, folks

Another forum for candidates in the May 14 Hackensack City Council election was held Monday night at the Camelot, a condominium building on Prospect Avenue.

A resident's question referred to the upcoming trial of retired police Detective Kenneth Martin, who heads the Coalition for Open Government slate, which is backed by city Democratic boss Lynne Hurwitz.

Hurwitz was the power behind former state Assemblyman and Police Chief Ken "I Am the Law" Zisa, who was convicted nearly a year ago of official misconduct and insurance fraud.

Martin didn't respond to allegations that he took four signs put up by the opposing Citizens for Change slate, allowing running-mate Joseph Barreto to defend him.

Barreto said Martin "had a right to be there," but the rest of his answer was incomprehensible.

Independent candidate Victor E. Sasson has faced delays in designing and financing his own lawn signs, which he hopes will be mounted on I-beams and planted deep into the ground with a pile driver to prevent a similar theft.

Are residents fleeing Christie's New Jersey?

Extensive patching of Euclid Avenue, above, and other streets in Hackensack have encouraged some drivers to start speeding and blowing through stop signs again.

Good luck trying to make any sense of today's Page 1 story in The Record on North Jersey allegedly dealing with "reverse migration" to New York City.

This poorly edited story tries to wring meaning from just about anything -- including "The Tonight Show" returning to Manhattan and two sports teams setting up camp in Brooklyn.

It is completely devoid of statistics, and it's so poorly edited, readers are exhausted after the first few paragraphs of back and forth, as the story jumps from one topic to another.

Editor Marty Gottlieb -- a veteran New York Timesman who traded Paris for Paramus -- must have hounded Stephanie Akin, the reporter who wrote this essay, to make numerous changes, including packing the piece with New York City history dating to 1957.

Reverse migration caused by Governor Christie's conservative policies on everything from mass transit to taxing the wealthy doesn't earn a mention.

Defensive lawyer

Readers who turn to Local find a story on courts banning smart-phone photos -- written by Staff Writer Kibret Markos, who covers the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack (L-1).

Markos, a lawyer, has yet to report on what is really cutting down access to the courts -- high legal fees.

Tear-jerker

You'll find one of the best stories in the paper at the bottom of L-1 -- a local obituary on Rose Fernandez of Wyckoff Florist & Gifts.

This is a real tear-jerker about a generous woman who didn't let family tragedies dampen her spirit. 

The "CONTACT US" box on BL-2 of the Better Living section no longer lists Susan Leigh Sherrill as food editor, so readers can assume she is history.

No tears are being shed over her departure.

Campaign follies

Victor E. Sasson, the independent candidate in the May 14 Hackensack City Council election, today was approached by a voter, who said, "I see you were caught in the act." 

The man apparently confused Sasson with Kenneth Martin, a retired Hackensack police detective who is charged with removing lawn signs put up by rivals in front of Hackensack Market on Passaic Street.

Martin heads the Coalition for Open Government slate, which is backed by the Zisa family political machine and Lynne Hurwitz, the boss of the city's Democratic Party.

The last I saw of the man he was going home to check the story in The Record on Martin's scheduled trial.  


 

Anonymous comments are enabled once again

Lawn signs are growing on Euclid Avenue and other places in Hackensack, a sure sign of the 4-year City Council hopeful, some of whom are as annoying as the 17-year cicada. Candidate Kenneth Martin, a retired police detective who is on the Hackensack Coalition for Open Government slate, has been charged with removing signs put up by a rival slate.

Editor Victor E. Sasson has once again enabled Anonymous comments on Eye on The Record.

Frustrated readers of the blog were posting comments anonymously on Sasson's other blog, Do You Really Know What You're Eating?

Of course, Sasson won't be publishing any personal attacks.