Heavy reliance on crime news exposes print-edition flaws

The provinces of Cuba and the island's flag are painted on the front plate-glass window of La Pola, a West New York luncheonette that specializes in the Cuban Sandwich or Cubano.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you are the editor of a local newspaper that covers breaking crime news as much as The Record does -- and uses Page 1 to sensationalize murder and mayhem -- you need an editing and reporting staff that hustles, and late deadlines.

Editor Martin Gottlieb has neither.

The ex-New York Times editor often embarrasses himself with stale coverage like today's lead story on an "apparent murder-suicide" in a luxury Edgewater high-rise, where a man shot both his wife and 8-year-old daughter in the head before killing himself (A-1).

The Woodland Park daily managed to get something onto Saturday's front page, but the editors couldn't hold the paper for the prosecutor's press conference on Friday night.

So, all Staff Writer Jeff Green could report was that "three people were found dead on Christmas" before padding the story with four paragraphs at the end that amounted to little more than a shameless plug for the high-rise where the "holiday tragedy" unfolded (Saturday's A-8).

Nothing like the suspicious death of three people to drum up business at a luxury high-rise, but that is so typical of the commercialism that taints too many stories in The Record.

SUV hit-and-run

More dated police news appears today -- the hit-run death of a 59-year-old Teaneck man crossing the street just before 7 p.m. on Christmas Day (A-1 and L-1).

Even two days after the accident, there is not a word on Steven J. Leitbeg, the victim, except to describe him as a "resident of the township."

He's treated as so much roadkill by the lazy, incompetent local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

Today's story doesn't say whether he was in a crosswalk when he was hit by an SUV "at Garrison Avenue and Cedar Lane" (L-1).

Nor does the reporter explore whether limited holiday police staffing was a factor in why the driver was able to get away on what is normally a heavily patrolled downtown street.

Law & Order news

After a major newsroom downsizing and 2009 relocation of the newsroom to Woodland Park, The Record's coverage of municipal news declined dramatically.

Thanks to Sykes and Sforza, Law & Order news became the new local news as they scrambled desperately to plug holes in their section with gee-whiz photos of fires and rollovers, police news and sensational trials.

That trend continues today, even though home-rule governments and rising property taxes deserve far more scrutiny than they are getting.

Can local readers hope for a change when Gottlieb retires at the end of January, bringing to a close four years of failure?

Best photos

Once a year, the editors publish images from Record photographers that "stood out" (L-1 and L-3), but none of those photos appeared in a daily fixture on A-2, "SHOT OF THE DAY."

Typically, those photos are supplied by the wire services from all over the world in what amounts to a slap in the face to all of the talented staff photographers.

'Humble' food

On the Better Living cover today, Staff Writer Elisa Ung recalls the best dishes she ate in 2015, what she calls "humble creations" (BL-1 and BL-3).

Ung swoons over mystery chicken sandwiches and a thin-crust pizza, but also touts a pricey platter of sushi.

This feature and Ung's "Informal Dining" reviews on Friday show the limits of her competency as the paper's chief restaurant critic.

She is in way over her head on most Fridays, when she reviews expensive steakhouse and other fine-dining restaurants and ignores how the dishes she sampled were raised or grown.

Readers can see that on Sundays, especially when her Corner Table column makes excuses for why wealthy restaurant owners aren't serving more organic or naturally raised food.

Ramen and pho

On Friday's BL-12, there were a few omissions in Ung's reviews of Menya Sandaime in Fort Lee and Pho Miu in far-off Washington Township.

She reports the Fort Lee ramen restaurant has only 25 seats, but fails to mention customers also are seated at tables in the employee break room to cut down on waiting times.

Ung also didn't report the kitchen can make vegetarian versions of at least two main dishes, as I discovered during a visit on Saturday night.

And her detailed description of the soup at Miu Pho doesn't mention the anise flavoring that sets the Vietnamese broth apart from all other Asian noodle soups.

On top of all that, the headline was a real clunker:

"Where noodles step up"

'Newsmakers'

In the past two decades, The Record has been derelict in covering the obesity epidemic; heart disease, the nation's No. 1 killer; and the large number of uninsured in New Jersey.

The editors prefer to assign medical writers to describe in excruciating detail children with rare disorders or a public official who survived a brain aneurysm.

On Saturday's front page, they were described as "newsmakers."

How would The Record describe all of those the editors routinely ignores?

As "losers"?

LOL: Republicans say tax hike to hurt low-income drivers

Low pump prices make this the ideal time to raise the gas tax -- which hasn't changed since 1989 -- and stabilize funding of the state's Transportation Trust Fund. The fund pays for repairs to roads and bridges, as well as projects to improve mass transit.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The biggest laugh line in today's paper comes from state Sen. Jennifer Beck, one of the many Republicans opposing a higher gas tax.

"This particular tax hurts low-income, working-class people the most," Beck says, according to Salvador Rizzo of The Record (A-3).

What a joke. When has Beck, Governor Christie and other Republicans ever expressed any concern for the working or middle classes in New Jersey?

More politics

Rizzo and other reporters at The Record think their job is to present important state issues only in terms of Democrats v. Republicans, as today's story on "competing economic plans" shows.

Let's hope Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin sees through the GOP's nonsense, and backs the logic of drivers paying for the wear and tear they cause on roads and bridges.

If New Jersey residents are "overtaxed," as Beck and her colleagues claim, that has to be a reference to local property taxes, which are continuing to climb in Hackensack and other communities.

Working-class drivers who can't afford a hike in the second-lowest gas tax in the nation after Alaska should sell their cars and take mass transit.

Shoot 'em up

You don't see much municipal news in The Record, because the editors waste so much space today on a new 'Star Wars' movie and local Law & Order stories (A-1, BL-1, L-1, L-2 and L-3).

Readers get the full gamut -- from the "mystery" of why a Maywood man crashed a car in Rochelle Park (A-1) to the molesting of 14 teens at a church event (L-1) to tons of court and crime news -- nine stories and a photo in Local alone.

Incorrect letter

The Record's news editors and opinion writers still are solidly in Christie's corner on the GOP presidential campaign trail, despite the wreckage he has left behind in the Garden State.

That's why readers like Joseph A. Del Buono of Allendale try to set the record straight (A-10).

But Del Buono errs on  the number of vetoes Christie has executed since he took office in early 2010.

He says it's 59, but The Record quoted Christie himself taking credit for more than 430.

So why was Del Buono's letter published without correcting the number of vetoes?

NJMG's Hackensack development raises flood concerns

The Hackensack City Council met as a Committee of the Whole on Tuesday night, when officials discussed potential flooding from development of 150 River St. -- the old headquarters of The Record and North Jersey Media Group.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

An upbeat story in the Local section today ignores officials' fear of flooding after redevelopment of The Record's former headquarters in Hackensack.

Because the 19.7 acres owned by North Jersey Media Group are in a flood plain, bordering the Hackensack River, city planners already have called for raising the land 3 feet.

The Hackensack City Council voted unanimously to  introduce the site's redevelopment plan on Tuesday night (L-3).

But at its Committee of the Whole Meeting, council members wondered where the water would go after construction of a mixed-use residential and retail complex at 150 River St. and adjoining parcels.

The fear is that flood waters would be diverted to Foschini Park, turning it into "Foschini Lake."

Cashing in

NJMG closed The Record's headquarters in 2009, and set up shop in Woodland Park, several years after printing of the newspaper was moved to Rockaway Township.

Now, parking spaces at 150 River St. are being leased to Bergen County during construction of a Justice Center and new parking structure near the courthouse and old county jail.

NGMJ's 19.7 acres are expected to fetch $20 million or more.

Today's paper

You know Editor Martin Gottlieb isn't serious about presenting the news of the day when two of the four major Page 1 stories, as well as one brief, involve pro and college athletes (A-1).

In Local, Law & Order news is the order of the day with the exception of a few other stories, including one on bears closing a state forest and a column on a ticket blitz against pedestrians (L-1, L-2 and L-3).
  

Editors are calling all Catholics and ignoring the rest of us

Teaneck Road and Forest Avenue, where two lanes merge into one, is one of the many traffic bottlenecks in Teaneck that frustrate motorists.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page coverage of Pope Francis' visit to Cuba and the United States drones on today for the fifth day in a row.

From Havana, Columnist Mike Kelly managed to push around tens of thousands of words about Cuba on Saturday, Sunday and Monday without discussing the impact of the decades-long U.S. trade embargo on the island's economy.

GOP bully

In other news, political Columnist Charles Stile is back with another effort to keep Governor Christie's struggling presidential campaign alive (A-1).

"Christie isn't showing any signs of leaving this race anytime soon," Stile reports, basing his conclusion on interviews with "political analysts" (A-4).

Readers say...

Of course, readers became disgusted with Christie months ago, but The Record's lazy assignment editors aren't about to interview any of them.

Their only forum is Your Views (A-8), where letters to the editor appear:

"His refusal to pay for the special costs for his security detail during his presidential run while allowing our state to further decline is inexcusable," says Vince Giovinco of Mahwah.

"The governor should stay home and run the state."

Hackensack news

In Local, the editors managed to find room among all of the Law & Order and Passaic County news for a story about Hackensack (L-1).

For the second year in a row, the state has approved a long-term bond that allows the city to settle another portion of an estimated $30 million in property tax appeals, Staff Writer Todd South reports.

Pope in N.Y.

On Monday, The Record's transportation reporter provided more tips and advice to commuters (and people going to see the pope) than has ever appeared in the paper at any one time.

Also on Monday's front page, The Record focused on drivers who pour tens of thousands of dollars into their cars to get them to ride inches above the ground.

As if that isn't bad enough, the story was assigned to Christopher Maag, the transportation reporter.

If commuters wonder why their awful experiences on NJ Transit buses and trains rarely make the paper, the answer may be that the editors think of a horse race, low riders and other fluff as "transportation" stories.

Isn't it time to put 9/11 anniversary below the fold on A-1?

A large delivery truck parked in front of Giant Farmers Market prevented this No. 165 NJ Transit bus from stopping at the curb to discharge passengers on Main Street in Hackensack at around 1:45 on Thursday afternoon. But when the truck pulled away, the bus driver didn't move, forcing three people carrying plastic bags to run to the door and board.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Given the mess our absentee governor has made in New Jersey and all of the other problems in the region, the nation and the world, the horrors of 9/11 are a distant memory.

As such, the anniversary of the attacks on America shouldn't  be played so prominently on Page 1 of The Record.

That's especially the case with the hackneyed Mike Kelly column on the 14th anniversary leading the paper today -- a rewrite of every story the veteran reporter has done on the ceremony at the old Twin Towers site. (A-1). 

Victims' photos? 

And readers wonder why Production Editor Liz Houlton continues to insist on running a dated thumbnail column photo of Kelly flashing what looks like a shit-eating grin.

Editor Martin Gottlieb and his minions could have honored 9/11 victims from North Jersey far more effectively by replacing all of the Law & Order filler in the Local news section today with their thumbnail photos (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Some of the victims' photos could have started at the top of the front page, demoting Kelly's tedious column to below the fold, as well as in place of the story on the legislative probe of the George Washington Bridge lane closures, an investigation that has gone nowhere in two years. 

Migrant crisis

After weeks of covering the refugee crisis in Europe, The Record and other media finally are paying attention to how little the United States has been doing (A-1).

But instead of focusing on the vibrant Syrian community based in Paterson, Gottlieb chose a wire service story for the front page today with inserts by Staff Writers Hannan Adely and Melissa Hayes that appear deep on the continuation page (A-8).

Adely reports "the first wave of Syrians moved to New Jersey a century ago," but doesn't bother telling readers they were overwhelmingly Christian, unlike the refugees now fleeing the civil war in Aleppo and other cities in Syria.

She also doesn't say how many refugees have been welcomed by the Syrian community in Paterson, Prospect Park, Wayne and nearby towns.

Adely may have reported those numbers in previous stories on the Syrian community, but Gottlieb, Houlton and other editors shouldn't expect readers to remember them.

Cuban food

Based on the meals I've enjoyed at Casual Habana Cafe on Main Street in Hackensack, I'm looking forward to trying the second Casual Habana, which was rated 2.5 out of 4 stars today (BL-16).

Sugar-obsessed restaurant critic Elisa Ung sought comfort in the unhealthiest food on the menu -- three artery clogging desserts -- after she ran into unprofessional service at the New Milford restaurant.

Some of her other choices, such as bacon-wrapped dates and pork-belly chicharrones, also are unfortunate given the restrictive diets followed by tens of thousands of her older readers.

But Ung was mistaken in saying Chef-Owner Benito Rivero "wanted to go beyond Cuban sandwiches" for his second and much bigger restaurant.

Rivero did that years ago in Hackensack, where many creative dishes and drinks are served alongside his Cuban classics. 

What to do when not just coverage, but paper is all wet

Two police officers and a metal detector await visitors to Municipal Court in Hackensack, above. On Monday afternoon, I pleaded not guilty and asked the judge to dismiss a $37 ticket my son received for violating alternate-side parking on Euclid Avenue, the first we've received in eight years of living there. He denied my request, and hit me with an additional $39 in court costs and related fees.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I just spent 8 minutes and 44 seconds on hold and then speaking with a woman about a replacement for my copy of The Record, which was delivered soaking wet this morning.

The paper was in its usual place on the driveway, but folded inside a single plastic bag that was open.

I'd publish a photo of what the wet paper looked like when I unfolded it, but the litigious Jennifer A. Borg, vice president and general counsel of North Jersey Media Group, would likely file a copyright infringement suit against me.

On my second call for a dry paper, the woman I spoke with had a very pleasant voice. 

She explained The Record starts delivering replacement copies at 10 a.m., so they hadn't reached me by 10:30, when I called.

She said my earlier request for a replacement was noted in "the system," and I would be getting a dry copy.

While I was on hold, I heard repeated promotional messages for The Record, including a claim the Woodland Park daily has the "best" local-news coverage around.

I also heard part or all of three recorded pieces from the Ridgewood Symphony Orchestra.

Today's paper

The word "Alzheimer's" makes a rare appearance on the front page of The Record today, but this story is about whether the state or municipalities should have the power to oversee group homes for those suffering from the disease or dementia (A-1).

The Record has largely ignored Alzheimer's disease and the obesity epidemic in favor of covering autism.

Commuting

The editors also largely ignored the nightmarish commute to New York City in the past decade, but now you see a story about train and bus delays on Page 1 every couple of days.

Yet, most of A-1 today is devoted inexplicably to Governor Christie's "drug stance," and how it will affect a presidential candidacy experts say is doomed to failure.

Meanwhile, the editors can't bring themselves to declare that a governor who has made such a mess of his home state isn't fit to run the country, and certainly doesn't deserve front-page coverage of his campaign.

Corrections

Two more embarrassing corrections appear on A-2 today.

Instead of local news, the editors of Local bring us lots of Law & Order news today (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Hard to believe local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza couldn't find any municipal news from Bergen County's biggest towns -- Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood. 

Coincidentally, the local obituary reports the death of Amos C. Saunders, 81, a retired Superior Court judge in Paterson (L-1).

Postscript

My replacement copy of The Record was never delivered today, and I worked from the soaking copy I had dried in the sun.

In July, when I returned from a 10-day vacation, I received papers from only three or four days of the time I was away, even though I requested that all of them be delivered.

It's no surprise The Record's delivery apparatus is so pathetic.

As the old saying goes, the fish stinks from the head (publisher's office) down.

Page 1: Dead and dying politicians, murder and mayhem

In the Fort Lee Public Library, a display on the bitter World War II battle against 21,000 Japanese troops dug in on Iwo Jima notes that "256 men [U.S. Marines] went up to Mount Suribachi to place the flag on top" and "only 22 men came back down."  In the 2010 census, about 1,300 Japanese residents were counted in Fort Lee.

By VICTOR SASSON
EDITOR

Nearly the entire front page of The Record today is devoted to dead and dying politicians, a motorcyclist who lost part of a leg on a poorly engineered highway and a businessman murdered in South Hackensack.

What was Editor Martin Gottlieb thinking when he assembled this schlomozzle?

I can certainly see the obituary for Gerald Calabrese of Cliffside Park, New Jersey's longest serving mayor, as front-page news (A-1).

But it doesn't look like his death will bring to end the Calabrese family dynasty that continues to rule the borough, and that point isn't made forcefully enough.

Look what a sorry mess the Zisa family made of Hackensack, where reformers struggle to repair the damage to the city's treasury from defending and settling lawsuits filed against a corrupt police chief and former state assemblyman.

But what about the lawsuit over a poorly engineered stretch of S-curves on Route 23 in West Milford, where Jim Smetana crashed his motorcycle and lost part of his left leg (A-1)?

Why is that on Page 1 today? 

Ditto for another boring Charles Stile political column, this one on twice-failed former presidential candidate John McCain, a war hero long past retirement.

Corrections

Two major editing errors are corrected on A-2 today. 

In one, the lame assignment and copy editing staff couldn't get right the name of a kid who donated his organs to three others after his death in October.

Local news?

Most of the stories on  the Local front today are from the courts or the police blotter (L-1).

Instead of according Mayor Calabrese a privileged place on A-1 today, the editors could have given better play to the death of actress and director Judith Malina, whose credits include "Dog Day Afternoon" and "The Sopranos" (L-1).

You'll find more Law & Order news inside the local-news section.

Hard landing

As an example of how out of touch the editors are, a photo caption on L-3 today of a corporate jet landing at Teterboro Airport notes low aircraft are "an all-too-common site for motorists."

But it's homeowners in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns near the airport who endure the noise of those jets around the clock, a quality of life issue The Record has ignored for many decades.

Reporter John H. Kuhn set an example that few follow

On River Street in Hackensack, you can make one stop for cheap gasoline and even cheaper, low-quality hamburgers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I seriously doubt that many of the reporters at The Record will read the obituary of John H. Kuhn on the Local news front today.

And if they do, it's unlikely they'll try to match the disabled reporter's energy or his insistence on going out into the field to cover a story (L-1).

"He [Kuhn] churned out many thousands of stories over 43 years, often four or more a day," Staff Writer Jay Levin says.

"In the newsroom and in the leafy, affluent towns he called his own, the longtime Norwood resident was known as Mr. Northern Valley."

Today, the bylines of some members of the staff appear infrequently, as they take it easy under the protection of their benevolent local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

Stories are longer, though often not complete, and many of them are done by telephone or are based on press releases.

At The Record of Woodland Park, local news is no longer a priority, and Law & Order and court stories often dominate the section called "Local."

Brendan Jordan

The coverage of Brendan Jordan's death in a New Milford school gymnasium on Jan. 7 is typical of how the local-news staff covers stories.

Today, 10 days after the 7-year-old was fatally injured by a falling bench, a front-page story reports a safety mechanism wasn't engaged and a backup safety device was missing, "according to a police report released on Friday" (A-1).

The staff didn't attempt to do any independent reporting or ask the obvious questions about maintenance before release of the police report.

And New Milford School Superintendent Michael Polizzi "declined to comment" on the report, firm in the knowledge The Record's reporters always take "no" for an answer.

A sidebar with comment from the boy's parents, Tyler and Veronica Jordan, also on Page 1, doesn't ask the obvious question:

Will the Jordans hire an attorney and file a lawsuit against the district that may ultimately force the superintendent and his maintenance staff to pay more attention to school safety?

Eye on The Record 

will return next week

New Hackensack reporter isn't asking hard questions

At first blush, a proposal to change Hackensack's form of government, hold City Council elections every two years and allow residents to vote on repealing ordinances belongs in the toilet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Buried in the Local section of The Record today is a long story on changing Hackensack's form of government that raises a lot of unanswered questions.

Staff Writer Todd South reports opponents of the mayor and other City Council members -- calling themselves Hackensack Citizens for Good Government -- are seeking 4,000 signatures on a petition to get their proposal on the ballot (L-3).

South, the new Hackensack reporter, says "defenders of the current administration charge that the group is linked to the government that was swept out of office in May 2013 and is trying to take back the City Council."

He said, she said

But nowhere does South ask Ray Dressler, identified as spokesman for the new group, if that is true, and whether he and others are allied with the Zisa family, local Democratic Party chairwoman Lynne Hurwitz and members of the Zisa-backed school board.

In fact, the Zisas and Hurwitz aren't even mentioned in the story.

'Zisaville'

The Zisa family ruled Hackensack for decades, and former Police Chief Ken "I Am The Law" Zisa is under house arrest as he appeals his 2012 conviction and 5-year prison sentence for official corruption and insurance fraud.

Under the Zisas, the city was referred to derisively as "Zisaville," and the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group abandoned Hackensack, taking its flagship paper with it and speeding the decline of Main Street.

'The committee'

South, the reporter, refers to Hackensack Citizens for Good Government as "the petition committee," and identifies its members as Dressler, Frank Rodriguez, Pargellan McCall, Ralph Rivera, Clara Krejsa and Rachel Velez.

But the story doesn't identify them further or say whether they are affiliated with a political party, an important detail given the group's proposal to return to partisan elections.

A Facebook page for Raymond Dressler says he lives in Hackensack. Dressler is the construction official in Mahwah, the same job he once had in Franklin Lakes.

City Democrat 

Another member of the group, Pargellan McCall, was appointed chairwoman of the Hackensack Housing Authority in 2004, when the Zisa family was in power, and is a former school board member.

She also is a Democratic committeewoman, suggesting that many of the most vocal opponents of the City Council are members of the party thrown out of power in 2013.

Clara Krejsa is listed in the story as another member of the group, and a Web site called Spokeo Inc. lists a Clara A. Krejsa, 77, of Hackensack, and actually shows a satellite photo of her home on Mary Street, near Route 80.

The group plans to gather signatures today at the Hackensack Street Festival on Main Street.

New reporter

South has covered at least two contentious meetings of the Hackensack City Council, and he failed in those instances to identify critics as being affiliated with the Zisa-backed school board, including two members who ran unsuccessfully in the 2013 City Council election.

The reporter previously worked in Tennessee, and doesn't seem to understand the ruthlessness of Jersey politics.

The worst kind of reporter to assign to Hackensack --where political factions are out for blood -- is one who doesn't bother digging for critics' real motivation.

That's especially the case at The Record, where the lazy, incompetent local assignment editors have been out to lunch for several years when it comes to Hackensack, the paper's home for more than 110 years. 

Today's paper

Page A-2 lists two more embarrassing corrections of stories that appeared in the Local section, which should be renamed the Loco section for saying Bogota Mayor Tito Jackson is running for re-election.

He is running to keep the job he was appointed to last November.

On the Local front, a story on a turnpike crash in Ridgefield Park that killed a tractor-trailer driver lacks even basic information on what caused a Jeep driver to lose control and hit a barrier (L-1).

Was the driver speeding, did a tire blow or did something on the vehicle break? 

And there is not a word on the resulting traffic backups, which were reported on TV news as stretching back to where the truck and car lanes merge in Newark.

For the third day in a row, the Local editors fill their columns with a single car crash photo and caption with no information on the cause (L-3).

There are more than 10 stories or photos in today's Local section with police, court and other Law & Order news, and even one story about the police.

I take an NJ Transit bus from hell into Manhattan gridlock

An hour and 15 minutes after I boarded NJ Transit's 165 local in Hackensack on Wednesday afternoon, the driver was jockeying for position at the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel. In a few minutes, a Port Authority police officer ordered the driver -- who was trying to get into the left lane of the tube -- to use the right lane, denying us direct access to ramps of the midtown-Manhattan bus terminal and consigning us to gridlock hell on city streets.

My bus was immobilized on West 35th Street at 10th Avenue, where the traffic light turned red, green, red and green, but the driver couldn't turn the corner because of other buses blocking the way. I got off here and walked the seven blocks to the terminal, where I had to catch a subway uptown. Many other passengers asked to get off even before we reached this intersection.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've taken NJ Transit buses into Manhattan for many years to enjoy restaurants, Broadway shows and jazz concerts, but my trip on Wednesday afternoon took me directly into gridlock hell.

After more than 90 minutes, my 3:02 p.m. local from Main Street and Euclid Avenue in Hackensack was stopped dead on West 35th Street at 10th Avenue.

And we couldn't turn the corner, because we were blocked by other buses that were frozen in lines heading to the ramps of the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan terminal.

Many of the buses had no passengers and were returning to the terminal from New Jersey to pick up weary commuters heading home to the suburbs.

Drivers' newspaper

Empty buses frozen in traffic have been cited as the chief reason for weekday afternoon delays at the antiquated terminal -- a story The Record ignored until late last year, when the paper published angry letters from commuters.

That led to a state legislative hearing, and a decision by the Port Authority board to approve $90 million in emergency terminal repairs, but the problem of empty buses caught in gridlock is expected to remain.

Beneath contempt

The Record's lazy local editors, including Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, have treated North Jerseyans who use mass transit as lower forms of life not worthy of the editorial coverage given drivers in the lame Road Warrior column, which once appeared at least three times a week.

No transportation reporter in memory has ever ridden a rush-hour bus or train to or from the city and reported on the quality of service, and the paper refuses to call for expansion of PATH, light rail and bus operations -- despite mounting traffic congestion.

Reverse lane needed

One change that could speed the empty buses into the city during the weekday afternoon rush hour is a reverse lane into the Lincoln Tunnel like the one that usually accommodates hundreds of commuter buses heading to Manhattan during the morning rush.

But an afternoon reverse lane wouldn't have helped me on Wednesday afternoon, because my bus approached the tunnel from Boulevard East, not the Route 495 helix.

The trip through the tunnel was smooth, but even buses that use the helix can get caught in Manhattan gridlock, if PA police deny them access to terminal ramps.

Bus trip from hell

Despite the nightmarish trip, I enjoyed a wonderful seafood dinner at Fulton Restaurant on East 75th Street, then walked uptown to the 92nd Street Y to hear Cecile McLorin Salvant perform the songs of Newark-born Sara Vaughan, backed by a quartet. 

The young singer was just divine.

But next time, if I want to go into the city at mid-afternoon, I'll drive, despite the traffic and extra cost.

The MCI Cruiser buses I rode to and from the city on Wednesday have seen much better days. 

They are noisy, with screeching rear brakes; the ride is rough and interior panels rattle. It took several tries to find a seat back that wasn't broken. 

And when drivers speed around curves on Boulevard East, there is nothing to hold onto. 

Today's paper

On the conflict in Gaza, The Record continues to run sensational body count stories from The Associated Press, denying readers the kind of insight provided by WNYC-FM and other media outlets (A-1).

This morning, National Public Radio reported Hamas was able to acquire sophisticated arms, including rockets, that crossed the border from Egypt during the year-long reign of another militant group, the Muslim Brotherhood.

As for the cement and other material that went into building the tunnels Hamas uses to send terrorists into Israel, they were brought in when Israel eased the blockade of Gaza.

Sanitizing the news

Another front-page story -- on the resignation of the state's chief economist after optimistic tax-revenue predictions -- doesn't mention that Governor Christie vetoed a surcharge on millionaires at least three time, shooting the state Treasury in the foot (A-1).

The densely written, complicated story, from Trenton reporter John Reitmeyer, seems aimed more at accountants and actuaries than long-suffering property tax payers.

Doughnut delivery

What can you say about the Bergen County sheriff's plan to acquire two armored vehicles, weighing nearly 15 tons each, except that they can carry a lot of doughnuts and boxes of Joe (A-1)?

All the armored vehicles and SWAT teams in the world couldn't have prevented a gunman from invading Westfield Garden State Plaza last Nov. 4, and firing random shots that panicked shoppers and employees before he committed suicide.

For that, you need good security at the mall, not military surplus.

Law & Order section

I suppose Editor Marty Gottlieb intended the Page 1 armored-vehicle story as an appetizer for today's Local Section, which is filled with Law & Order news.

The most sensational crime is the theft of "nine luxury cars" in Paramus since January, with drivers inviting the disappearances by leaving their keys in the unlocked vehicles or the engines running (L-1).

That is just one of more than a dozen police stories in the thin section, which is devoid of Hackensack municipal news for yet another day.

There is even a photo of three officers being promoted to sergeant in the city of Passaic just to show the editors don't ignore the impoverished city (L-2). 

On Wednesday afternoon, this line of buses on 10th Avenue and West 38th Street stretched back to West 35th Street -- where my bus was frozen at the light -- and beyond.

Bus drivers say you can't get to the terminal from here.

Empty buses on the way to the terminal were immobilized on a side street.

Another empty bus.

Buses stretch as far as the eye can see, above and below.

As I walked to the terminal, I passed buses that had finally reached access ramps, above and below. A pigeon scored a direct hit on the top of my baseball cap, adding insult to injury. But I was able to clean my cap in a terminal restroom before getting on the subway.

One small improvement inside the bus terminal are touch screens listing departure times and gates, but that doesn't guarantee your bus home will leave on time. 

After 10 p.m., North Jersey residents have to catch NJ Transit buses home at one of the 300 gates, above. My 165 local was scheduled to leave Gate 325 at 11:35 p.m. on Wednesday, but was about 15 minutes late. A young woman says the 165 is "always late." On board were 56 people, including standees, and even though the driver was speeding most of the time, the trip back to Hackensack, with frequent stops, took more than an hour.

Seen from the bus: On the way to the city on Wednesday, I saw that the Little Ferry Circle is history, though construction continues.

Late Tuesday morning, I rode a packed 7 train from Queens to Manhattan. Another passenger said it is even worse during the rush hour.

A homeless man taking a nap on Tuesday, oblivious to his surroundings on the subway platform at 42nd Street.

At Penn Station in Manhattan, noisy fans are needed to help cool the hall used by NJ Transit train riders.