On many news stories, an A for effort, but C for execution

Homeowners on Forest Avenue in Teaneck , above and below, and on a surprisingly large number of other township streets have been cursing officials who keep on raising property taxes, but refuse to pave their streets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

NJ Transit's broken promises to commuters who moved into Wood-Ridge's Wesmont section certainly deserves front-page coverage in The Record today.

But the state mass transit agency has screwed so many others who ride its buses and trains you have to wonder why Staff Writer Christopher Maag is making such a big deal over a train station that is years behind schedule (A-1).

The paper's transportation writers, including Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski, have ignored all of the commuters who can't find rush-hour seats on NJ Transit buses and trains.

How's that?

Maag focuses on Alex Kernitsky, a commuter who lives in the Westmont transit village, but who has to drive to a park-ride lot, take a bus into Manhattan, then board a subway and, finally, walk four blocks to his office -- a total of 90 minutes (A-1).

If Kernitsky could take a train to the city, that would save him "an hour of commuting time every day," Maag reports.

But after arriving in Manhattan on an NJ Transit train, the commuter still would have to take a subway and walk four blocks to his office, so readers wonder how he could do all that in 3o minutes.

Too many Bergers

Below the fold today, a story on the delayed hiring of a new chief executive at the Port Authority never explains why filling the job is so important, and why the agency can't simply get along without one (A-1).

In the story, Staff Writer Paul Berger quotes Stephen Berger, executive director of the bi-state agency from 1985 to 1990, but readers don't know whether they are related.

Devorah Stubin 

The front of the local-news section today is dominated by the death of Devorah Stubin, 22, an Orthodox Jewish woman from the city of Passaic "whose body was recovered in the Passaic River this weekend," according to the first paragraph (L-1).

Yet, a few paragraphs later, Staff Writer Linda Moss confuses readers by saying "there was a body in the car [found at the bottom of the river], and as of Sunday night, authorities still had not officially identified the corpse as that of Stubin." 

Which is it?

The story raises more questions than it answers, says a reader in Hackensack:

Victor -- I read the article in this morning's Record about the young woman from Passaic who died in the tragic accident and there are more questions than answers in the article. 1.  If the police had not identified the body, how could she have been buried? Traditional Jewish law calls for immediate burial, but was there not a death certificate.

2.  There is really no description of what happened.

By chance, I ran into a Hasbrouck Heights police officer who told me that the woman went through a fence behind a funeral home in Wallington which backs onto the Passaic River.  

She must have entered the parking lot and then went through the fence and into the River.  If she was going to Passaic I can see driving through Wallington to find a bridge to cross the Passaic River, but it still does not make sense to me.

3.  Where was the rest stop on the Parkway where she was going to meet her brother?  Was it south or north of Maywood.  The stop was never identified.

4.  Most importantly, if the police officer in Maywood stopped her on the Esplanade and we want to go to the Parkway, why did he follow her to Summit Avenue in, I presume, Hackensack.  All he had to do was direct her to Passaic Street in  Maywood, which I believe is a block from the Esplanade, and she could have turned right on Passaic Street and picked up the parkway south in Rochelle Park.

Imagine sick kids wearing hospital gowns to a party

The 5,500-seat auditorium of Radio City Music Hall in Manhattan on Sunday afternoon as ticket holders were being seated for the 2014 Christmas Spectacular starring the high-kicking Rockettes, a huge orchestra, dancing Santa Clauses and much more.

The lobby of Radio City, an art-deco masterpiece that opened on Dec. 27,1932, and was restored in 1999, including the replacement of all seats, carpeting and wallpaper, and the restoration of murals, including "Men Without Women" in the lounge outside the lower-level men's bathroom, below.

After the 90-minute show, we walked less than a block to see the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and, frankly, we were underwhelmed. The tree is towering, as usual, but this year, they skimped on the lights. Even the smaller Christmas tree on Main Street in Hackensack makes a bigger splash. Imagine that.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

There are reporters at The Record who don't need editing, others who don't get editing and still others who should have their heads examined.

Veteran Jay Levin, who writes the local obituaries after many years of thankless duty on the night copy desk, is a reporter who doesn't need editing, as two of his pieces in today's Local section show (L-1 and L-6).

Levin is at the top of his game, in stark contrast to Road Warrior John Cichowski, a confused reporter who gets no editing and who has committed hundreds of errors, not to mention all the wrong advice he's given drivers, young and old.

Another veteran, Mike Kelly, also gets no editing, and the result is one long, rambling column after another as he pushes around thousands of words in search of a strong opinion, which the reporter doesn't seem to have.

Party for sick kids

Then, there is Linda Moss, a reporter who covers commercial real estate for The Record, according to her Twitter profile.

On Sunday, Moss was on weekend duty when she was assigned to cover the 30th annual holiday party of the Tomorrow's Children Fund for kids who have been treated at Hackensack University Medical Center for cancer and serious blood disorders.

There was so little real news in Monday's paper that I found myself reading Moss' story on the Local front all the way through.

I was shocked at a sentence on the continuation page (Monday's L-3)

A photo showed two of the cutest children you could imagine posing with Santa Claus at a Hasbrouck Heights hotel where the party was held:

"The girls and boys were dressed up in their nicest attire, not hospital gowns, for the party," Moss reported [italics added].

How many editors and copy editors saw that and allowed "not hospital gowns" to get in the paper? 

Where was Production Editor Liz Houlton, who supervises the news and copy desks and is paid six figures to keep such an inappropriate image out of the paper?

Did the children with cancer and blood disorders once attend the annual holiday party in hospital gowns? Why even mention them?

Covering advertisers

The Record's editors may be insensitive to children with cancer, but they bend over backwards to cover their biggest advertisers, such as Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, Victoria's Secret and other retailers (Page 1 today and Monday).

The local assignment editors also seem to be ordering more coverage of wealthy communities.

Monday's Local front was dominated by an article and photos about schools districts in Tenafly, Ridgewood and Glen Rock, all of which are reexamining their homework polices.

When is the last time you read a story -- any story -- about Hackensack schools?

Upscale restaurants

The Better Living cover story on Monday recommended eight "great" restaurants, but five of them are expensive.

You have to turn the page to find three that are moderately priced.

The recommendations come from Elisa Ung, the paper's restaurant reviewer, who is lucky enough to have The Record pay for all of those artery clogging steaks and desserts she eats so obsessively.

Maybe she would appreciate value, if she had to pay for some of that food herself.

Today's paper

The Record's coverage of the Affordable Care Act has been largely negative, echoing the complaints of such conservative Republicans as Governor Christie.

Staff Writer Lindy Washburn and her assignment editor also continue to obscure how Christie and Republican governors in 35 other states tried to sabotage what they labeled "Obamacare," a derogatory term The Record and other media love to use.

In more than a year of covering the roll-out of the Affordable Care Act, Washburn and the paper's other medical writers have never actually interviewed the people who applied for health insurance.

Today, The Record's lead story reports that North Jersey residents who bought insurance "came from towns that are rich, poor and middle class, as well as municipalities where a majority vote Republican" (A-1).

Imagine what Record reporters could find out, if they actually interviewed readers and other residents of North Jersey instead of endlessly quoting experts, pollsters and spin doctors, and examining the politics of every issue under the sun.

Red-light cameras

In a letter to the editor, Keith Remland of Lincoln Park says of red-light cameras:

"Their biggest plus is safety" (A-10).

Remland said in a few words what two Road Warrior columns tried to hide from readers as Cichowski foamed at the mouth over "Big Brother," and quoted critics of the $85 fines, which many cash-strapped towns welcome.

Women's news?

Did a male editor lay out L-3 today, hoping to package stories on two different women?

In the bottom right corner, a story about a substitute teacher facing more sex charges appears next to one on Ridgewood's second woman firefighter.