PA big again dupes reporter on new Manhattan bus hub

At mid-afternoon on Tuesday, an NJ Transit 165 local bus to Hackensack flew through the Lincoln Tunnel. The round-trip senior fare is only $4.10.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's transportation reporter is proving to be as gullible as his predecessors on Lincoln Tunnel congestion and plans for a new bus terminal in Manhattan.

Today, Port Authority Vice Chairman Scott Rechler duped Staff Writer Paul Berger into writing an elaborate Page 1 argument for a new bus hub in New Jersey (A-1).

That would mean commuters from Ridgewood, Hackensack and other towns would have to transfer to a city-bound train, which won't be built for a decade or more.

What incredible nonsense. 

Of course, the Lincoln Tunnel is congested -- the Port Authority operates an exclusive bus lane only in the morning, and buses parked in New Jersey during the day have to fight rush-hour traffic to pick up commuters at the antiquated midtown Manhattan terminal.

Rechler and everyone else at the Port Authority fear the easiest and quickest solution to that congestion -- more exclusive bus lanes operated weekday mornings and afternoons.

They would be a victory for bus riders, but anger thousands of drivers whose toll money keeps the bi-state agency afloat.

On Wednesday, Hackensack senior citizens gathered for a St. Patrick Day's Luncheon of corned beef and cabbage at the city recreation center on Holt Street.

The buffet luncheon included entertainment.

Mayor John P. Labrosse Jr., second from left, and other City Council members posed for a photo.

Tax-exempt hospitals

Residents of Hackensack, Englewood and other towns with non-profit, tax-exempt hospitals are chagrined Governor Christie is seeking a moratorium on lawsuits that seek more money from them (A-1).

In Hackensack, officials settled tax appeals by agreeing Hackensack University Medical Center will pay the city $4.5 million over three years.

If medical center property was taxed fully, Hackensack would receive more than $10 million a year in new revenue, stabilizing or reducing taxes paid by homeowners and commercial property owners.

Local news?

A long story on Teaneck approving a preliminary school budget on Wednesday has Hackensack readers wondering why they haven't seen anything in The Record on their school budget plan, which was approved on March 1 (L-3).

If you're watching your cholesterol, be sure to steer clear of Axton's by Chef Anton Testino in far-off Pompton Lakes (Better Living).

The "huge" scallops come with bacon, pasta with crab meat is topped with pork, and cheese flows like lava out of the open kitchen (BL-16).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung doesn't say whether Chef Anton Testino will broil fish for a customer or hold the meat in his other dishes.

And despite her lukewarm, 2-star revue, she raves over the "luscious cannoli cream" in a totally superfluous dessert.

PA backing of rail tunnels is really bad news for bus riders

NJ Transit buses were gridlocked outside the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan bus terminal during the afternoon rush last summer, above and below.

After dropping off commuters in the morning, many NJ Transit buses return empty and park near the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and in other lots until they are needed in the afternoon, causing massive congestion on tunnel approaches.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Port Authority backing for new Hudson River tunnels is great news for rail commuters, as you can see on Page 1 of The Record today.

But it looks like bus riders will be stuck in traffic for the foreseeable future.

The massive bi-state agency has been screwing North Jersey's bus patrons for decades, refusing to add a second reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel in the morning and start a new reverse lane in the afternoon. 

That means city bound NJ Transit riders must scramble for rush-hour seats in the A.M., and wait on long, serpentine lines in an antiquated bus terminal for their home-bound buses in the P.M.

The Record's transportation reporter, Christopher Maag; Road Warrior John Cichowski and all of the other transportation writers in the past couple of decades likely have never taken a bus into the city.

Otherwise, they would be aware of an easy way to cut delays for NJ Transit bus commuters.

Of course, the hitch is all about money: 

The Port Authority doesn't want to add Lincoln Tunnel lanes reserved exclusively for buses, because that would mean fewer drivers paying exorbitant Hudson River tolls and less money to cover cost overruns on such projects as the new World Trade Center.

Ben E. King

If you're black, there are only a few ways to get on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park:

Accomplish what soul singer Ben E. King did (A-1); get shot and killed in one of the drive-by shootings the Paterson police are unable or unwilling to stop; or commit a crime so heinous you catch the attention of Editor Martin Gottlieb.

If you're black or Hispanic, there is even less chance of getting a job in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Correction

For the few history buffs who read Thursday's front-page story on the Lusitania sinking in 1915, a correction on A-2 today tells you the editors still can't get the facts straight even with 100 years of perspective.

Local news?

Is it possible that Scott Garrett, the crackpot Republican in the 5th Congressional District, just held "his first town-hall-style meeting" (L-1)?

The darling of the Tea Party has been in office since 2003, and now represents residents of Hackensack, Teaneck, Fair Lawn and other towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

Why didn't I read about that when Garrett was challenged by Hackensack attorney Roy Cho last November?

Turkish -- again?

Given the over-saturation of Turkish restaurants in North Jersey, many readers are questioning Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's decision to praise another one in Cliffside Park (BL-18).

She gives 3 stars to Cinar (Excellent), even though there wasn't enough sugar in the rice pudding ($5.95).

As usual, she tells readers nothing about how the chicken, beef and lamb on the menu were raised.

I also wonder why Ung, in July 2014, wrote a brief about a noodle-and-cheese dish served at Istanbul Borek and Kebab in Cliffside, but never sampled the the new restaurant's dinner menu.

Why are these columnists wasting their time and ours?

On the upper level of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, you can get your shoes shined for $5 while waiting for your overdue NJ Transit bus.

A week ago, I gave the man who shined my shoes a $2 tip, and he seemed miffed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Road Warrior column is supposed to focus on commuting issues.

But that would take real legwork, including riding trains and buses, and reporting on the quality of service.

Or, challenging the Port Authority on why it doesn't add a second bus lane to the Lincoln Tunnel, and run the two lanes mornings and afternoons.

Instead, Staff Writer John Cichowski has ranged far afield in the more than 11 years he's written the column, often taking the lead from readers who pepper him with emails in hopes of seeing their names in print.

Transit's present

On Sunday, the veteran reporter devoted an entire column to a solar-powered monorail system in the Meadowlands that may not be built for another five, 10 or 15 years -- or ever (L-1 on Sunday).

I guess it's OK to write about "transit's future," as the headline put it, but what are commuters supposed to do now when they can't find a seat on a train or bus or they get home an hour or two late because of Manhattan gridlock?

Cichowski's Sunday column reminded me of the stories on "highways of the future" that Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza wrote when he covered transportation for The Record.

Sforza could have looked into why new NJ Transit cruiser buses, the ones that ply routes to Manhattan, had defective rear brakes and were much noisier than their predecessors -- to the consternation of people who live on such bus routes as Grand Avenue in Englewood. 

But that would have taken a lot more work than writing about highways that would never get built.

Out of touch

If Sforza and Cichowski are out of touch with the needs of their readers, what can you say about Staff Writer Mike Kelly, whose Sunday column sounded like he had assumed the mantle of Road Warrior (O-1 on Sunday)?

Kelly filled his column with potholes and ruts in the road, dented and bent guard rails, and aging bridges.

Sounds like he ran out of ideas again, and found himself in another writing rut. 

Overfed and boring

Meanwhile, Staff Writer Elisa Ung's The Corner Table column took on an issue that really put me to sleep on Sunday.

The headline says it all: "Why do waiters automatically give the check to the man?"

As the paper's chief restaurant reviewer, Ung routinely ignores the universally hated tipping system, slave wages paid to servers, how those aged steaks she loves are raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones, the outrageous restaurant markup on wine and other far more compelling issues. 

Today's paper

One of the stories on today's front page takes on the "financial and political drawbacks" of raising the gasoline tax to revive the bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund -- the same subject Kelly tackled on Sunday.

The Sunday column and today's takeout by Staff Writer Christopher Maag never ask this question:

If drivers don't pay for road and bridge repairs and mass-transit improvements through higher gasoline taxes, who should pay for them?

Gagging on Gaga

What was Staff Writer Jim Norman going for with the bewildering first paragraph of his story on the settlement of a lawsuit filed by the woman who discovered Lady Gaga (A-1)? 

And with all such stories that dazzle readers with multimillion dollar legal settlements, why not put the windfall into perspective and report that up to a third or more will be going to the lawyer?

Violence against women

The main story on Page 1 today is about an Englewood high school football coach who encourages male athletes "to become advocates in the fight against violence toward women" (A-1).

With women facing brutality, lower wages than men and other forms of discrimination and inequality, is who gets the restaurant check really that big of a deal?

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.

Columnists make fools of themselves on Page 1

Before and after a crew patched potholes at Euclid and Prospect avenues in Hackensack, above and below. The private contractor spent the entire day Monday repairing only two blocks of Prospect between Ross Avenue and Clinton Place.

The severely pockmarked pavement along the blocks of Prospect Avenue lined by high-rises wasn't touched on Monday.

Editor's note: In 2018, four years after this was written, Columnists John Cichowski and Bill Ervolino still are boring readers to tears while so many talented reporters were laid off by the Gannett Co.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I'd be surprised if more than a few dozen commuters from Bergen and Passaic counties drive past the Lincoln Tunnel and use the Holland Tunnel to enter one of the world's most-congested cities.

But here is Staff Writer John Cichowski of The Record, also known as the demented Road Warrior, wasting his and readers' time with a Page 1 column today on the Pulaski Skyway, the elevated roadway that reaches a choke-point at the old, two-lane tube to Manhattan.

The drop headline on A-1 asks if the gasoline tax is the best way to fund future road repairs and mass-transit improvements.

But Cichowski's dementia took hold, and readers who stick with this column to the bitter end on A-6 never find the answer.

Commuters in Bergen and Passaic counties would much rather see more stories and columns on whether any improvements are planned at the congested Port Authority Bus Terminal, where bus riders encounter long lines and the lack of such basic comforts as benches.

Or, whether any widening projects are planned for such antiquated roads as Passaic Street in Rochelle Park, Maywood and Hackensack, a major thoroughfare that is often backed up behind turning vehicles.

Ruining Rooney

The other fool on Page 1 today is Columnist Bill Ervolino, who can't help reminding readers he once interviewed actor Mickey Rooney, 93, who died on Sunday after a show-business career of nearly nine decades (A-1).

Ervolino reaches back 21 years, and makes a "short joke" at Rooney's expense, noting the actor was seated on a couch, but that his "sneakers" only occasionally touched "the ground" (the carpet in the actor's hotel room). 

Who gives a shit that the unfunniest man at The Record once interviewed Rooney?

Meanwhile, does anyone understand the densely written story on Verizon's high-speed internet service or what is at stake for consumers from the first few long paragraphs on the front page today (A-1)?

More accident news

Two traffic accidents, one of them fatal, dominate the front of Local today as Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza seems to be relying more and more on crash coverage to fill out his thin local report (L-1).

The stories don't answer readers' questions on the cause of the accidents, even though the fatal crash occurred more than three days ago.

The reporter who went to the funeral home for the wake of Nick Romano, 17, couldn't reach the Wayne Police Department's Traffic Bureau on Monday (L-1), and the investigating prosecutor apparently wouldn't talk to her.

The second accident involved a tanker truck that flipped on Monday at 3 in the morning on Route 287 near Mahwah, injuring the driver, who wasn't identified (L-1).

The photo caption notes 2,000 gallons of milk spilled from the tanker, but doesn't say whether 12 ounces of coffee would have prevented the accident.

More highway related news appears on L-2, where a photo shows a brush fire on Route 17, near Route 80, in Lodi. Gee whiz.

A story and photo reports Paterson is having financial problems from the extra cost of removing snow and patching potholes, but where is the story about Hackensack and other Bergen communities who are in the same boat (L-3)?

It's back to the same old clueless reporting

Commuters line up for NJ Transit buses in the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal.

In today's and Monday's editions, The Record discusses the return to normalcy in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, but there are signs the editors also have lapsed into the clueless reporting of the past.

You'd think the "DIGGING OUT FROM SANDY" package on Page 1 today would have enough to report without more blah, blah, blah about Governor Christie's proposal for an income-tax cut.

Every story about the proposal should explain who will benefit most from a tax cut, but for some reason, the editors seem to be trying to hide from readers that Christie's plan would help the wealthy far more than the middle class (A-1).

2016 election already?

There's even more about Christie on the Local front (L-1): 

A Charles Stile column promoting him for the Republican Party's standard bearer in 2016. 

Seriously, is The Record going to start covering the next presidential election just 7 days after the last one? Give us a break.

Bitter Herb

If the Christie-for-president column is way premature, the lead L-1 story is weeks late for people who live the 9th Congressional District, where Democrats think Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, can be beaten in 2014.

Aided and abetted by the local-news editors, The Record's so-called Washington correspondent, Herb Jackson, did everything he could to slant coverage in the Nov. 6 election, largely ignoring the campaign of Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, a Democrat, early and often. 

Dissing Hackensack 

Meanwhile, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza became so accustomed to ignoring Hackensack before and after Hurricane Sandy that readers won't find any news from there today except the death of a former resident in Middletown, N.Y. (L-3).

Also on L-3, Sykes and Sforza return to reporting disruptions in mass transit, but continue to ignore  the overburdened bus and rail systems, and the resulting hellish traffic congestion.

Is it really necessary for the photo caption about Lincoln Tunnel and Route 495 accidents to describe the pedestrians as "morning" commuters.

Readers can plainly see the sun shining.  
 

Editors give belated nod to mass transit

Traffic has reached the point of no return.

A "looming" traffic nightmare on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge is expected to boost mass transit use, The Record reports on Page 1 today, in belated recognition of the region's bus and rail service.

Car-centric coverage by the editors and their transportation writers, including Road Warrior John Cichowski, makes readers think "bus" and "train" are synonyms for the F-word.

Daily nightmare

Commuters are caught in traffic nightmares every weekday and an overburdened mass-transit system can't provide much relief now or in the immediate future, especially after Governor Christie killed a major expansion of rail service.

 

Buried in today's GWB story is a "never mind" on the massive traffic jams The Record predicted in March in connection with repair of Route 495, the so-called helix to the Lincoln Tunnel (A-4).

Now, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg reports, the Port Authority plans to do the work between 10:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. on weeknights, so the roadway can be reopened for the morning rush-hour commute.

Second bus lane?

But Boburg still has not asked agency officials why they have ignored repeated calls to add a second reverse lane into the tunnel to relieve crowding on Manhattan-bound buses.

The best thing on A-1 today is a touching obituary for Steve and Polly Gerdy, a Little Falls couple married for  64 years. They died 17 hours apart in separate hospitals.

Keep on trucking

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes ordered an artistic photo of an overturned truck in Fort Lee blown up as big as possible to fill a huge hole on the front of the Local news section (L-1).

Sykes also needed stories about an OTB parlor and a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Giants and Jets to plug other holes in municipal-news coverage (L-1 and L-3).

Hackensack reporter Stephanie Akin helped cover a hearing in Superior Court -- the only connection to her beat being the location of the courthouse (A-1).

Second look

One driver who contributes to daily congestion is Irvin Gordon, a Long Island man who claims to have rolled up nearly 3 million miles in his 1966 Volvo.

On Monday's A-5, a photo shows an overweight Gordon wedged in the door of the sports coupe after years of driving from one fast-food restaurant to another and taking all of his meals there.

Wheels of misfortune edition

Image via Wikipedia

Sen. Frank Lautenberg doesn't mince words in describing Governor Christie.

What's with the front page of The Record today?


Did Editor Francis Scandale concoct a themed edition -- with car wheels, bus wheels and the wheels of a military Humvee, the only vehicle strong enough to carry Governor Christie, the state's Big Wheel?


And it's all bad news. Atlantic City developers are vowing to pull out, if Christie runs for president. Why do they need him here? Did they bribe him?


The off-lead A-1 story reports carefree suburbanites not only leave their luxury cars unlocked, they leave their electronic keys in the vehicles, so theft is easy. Why is this kind of moronic behavior front-page news?


Forced busing


The A-1 patch notes hundreds of buses are parked in New Jersey lots between rush hours, then driven into the city to pick up commuters bound for New Jersey, leading to big delays.


Now, the Port Authority has dropped plans to build a bus-parking garage in Manhattan, claiming even higher toll revenue won't cover the cost. 


The story seems to say this is catastrophic. That the mass-transit world is about to implode. 


But instead of regurgitating the views of the bi-state agency, transportation writers Shawn Boburg and Karen Rouse should be hammering away at the Port Authority for not adding a second, reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel and refusing to expand the PATH system.


An why not ask the bi-state agency for the logic of charging another public agency, NJ Transit, to use the tunnel? 


Or why all those parked buses aren't used during the day to replace the decades-old white buses that ply the No. 780 (Englewood/city of Passaic) and other local routes?


Newsroom idle


Some genius on Liz Houlton's news copy desk wrote the buses "idle" in the parking lot shown in the A-1 photo. Doesn't that suggest their motors are running, when, in fact, they are parked with their engines off between morning and evening rush hours?


With fire breathers like head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes, maybe the air quality in the Woodland Park newsroom is affecting the copy editors' judgment.


But what's the excuse for Houlton and other copy desk supervisors for headline, text and caption errors that appear in the paper every day?


Doblin loves Christie


Turn to Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin's A-11 column on Christie today. You can almost hear him sigh, "My Hero." 


Doblin finds Christie "intoxicating." (Others are nauseated by the governor.) Compare Doblin to what Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., had to say about Christie in Saturday's paper:


Christie is "a persistent liar," "abusive to women, "a bully" and "strictly a divider," Lautenberg said (A-6).


Same old news


Sykes, the head assignment editor, appears to have given the Hackensack beat to one of her best reporters, Stephanie Akin, but Akin seems mired in the ins and outs of Police Chief Ken Zisa's legal problems (Local front), as was her predecessor, Monsy Alvarado.


Police news appears on L-2, L-3, L-5 and L-6 today -- all of it involving motor vehicle mayhem of one kind or another. 


The message seems to be to stay away from your car or drunks, predators and bad drivers will kill, maim, injure or rob you.


Indigestion


If you dry age a steak, you'll win over Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung, who won't question whether the beef was raised with harmful additives.


I'm still trying to digest her description of the steaks she sampled at Wayne Steakhouse.


In her review this past Friday, Ung said "they lacked the distinctive mineral funk of other dry-aged steaks I’ve eaten at North Jersey’s top steakhouses." 


How informative.