Hackensack news blackout returns

The Record's restaurant reviewer complains the cured salami she found in a dish of grilled mushrooms at a new place in Ridgefield Park "could have been more obvious."

Long-suffering Hackensack residents can be forgiven for thinking a Navy SEALs team that landed on Friday was intended to take out The Record's apathetic assignment desk.

City readers, who were hit by more than six weeks of intense coverage of Zisaville, will now have to endure police-blotter and gee-whiz items until next week's court hearing for suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa, a convicted felon.

Mountain fortress

In their Woodland Park redoubt, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes; her deputy, Dan Sforza; and their clueless minions think so little of the newspaper's former home, the SEALs' visit to Paramus appeared on the Local front (L-1), while a photo of the helicopter at Hackensack High School was relegated to L-6.

Stories about municipal finances in Bogota and Cresskill appear in Local today, but Hackensack readers remain in the dark about the city's budget and tax rate.

There is so little town news Sykes and Sforza needed a big photo of a minor Ridgewood accident with "unknown injuries" and unidentified "parties" to fill out L-3.

Roof collapse

The big Hackensack news today -- besides the appearance of the SEALS -- is the partial collapse of a vacant building's roof (L-2).

North Jersey readers get a good pucking from Editor Marty Gottlieb, who thinks a sports columnist's drivel about hockey is Page 1 news.

The major front-page stories today are trend pieces about the homeless using hospital emergency rooms for shelter and food, and proposed pension-like payments to volunteer firefighters and rescue workers.

Go with the pros

Why hasn't the paper ever reported that many residents of Hackensack and other communities feel secure in knowing their  firefighters and rescue workers are professionals?

Thank God I don't have to live in a town where my life is entrusted to the care of well-intentioned volunteers -- one of the worst features of North Jersey's home-rule governments, despite high property taxes. 


Jersey swamp

An elaborate Jersey joke appears today in Better Living, where the cover story reports the opening of the state's  "own version of Jurassic Park" (BL-1).

One 90-foot dinosaur is visible from the Empire State Building, reinforcing New Yorkers' impression the Garden State is nothing more than a swamp.

Bad for your health

On Friday, Better Living carried a restaurant review that damned with faint praise an ambitious new place in Ridgefield Park.

Even though she gave 2 and a half stars to MK Valencia (Good to Excellent), Staff Writer Elisa Ung apparently was so underwhelmed by what she ate, only one food photo appears with the review -- and that's an artery clogging dessert (BL-18-19).

Given all the obesity, diabetes and heart disease among her readers, what's the point of Ung wasting money on four desserts? 

Vegetarian alert

And she wasn't even able to recommend a seafood dish, preferring to promote mystery steak and pork chops (cover photo).

When she discovered soppressata "buried" under a dish of grilled mushrooms, she complained the cured dry salami "could have been more obvious."

Like how? Shoved whole down her gaping maw?

Pussy chef

Also in Friday's Better Living tab, an item about Chef Anthony Bourdain corrects a post by Food Editor Susan Sherrill on the Second Helpings blog, which erred in reporting he grew up in Englewood.

Bourdain grew up in Leonia, but the pussy went to private school in Englewood (BL-22), as did Publisher Stephen A. Borg.

Today's big news isn't on Page 1

Image via Wikipedia
Electrified NJ Transit light-rail cars such as these would serve commuters under a plan to extend the line to several Bergen towns, including Leonia, Englewood and Tenafly.

Martin "Marty" Gottlieb finally has taken over as editor of The Record of Woodland Park -- as readers can see from a change in the masthead at the bottom of the Editorial Page today (A-10).


Gottlieb's name and title appear between those of Publisher Stephen A. Borg and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin.


Readers are hoping the former New York Times editor will usher in much-needed change at the North Jersey daily as caretaker Douglas Clancy returns to his newsroom budget chores.


Gottlieb, 64, certainly can ask for better writing and editing from the staff, and a more even-handed approach to such important issues as mass transit.


Two glaring examples appear on the front page today under the main headline, which just as easily could have read:

New day for The Record

The first paragraph of the lead story on Governor Christie's historic nominations to the state Supreme Court is awkwardly written, especially the phrase between the dashes -- "hailed by him Monday for their diversity and 'pure judgment.'"

What an abomination. Did a committee write that lead?

Trashing transit

Given the huge amount of advertising revenue from car dealers, it's no surprise that news stories are anti-mass transit, as demonstrated again by today's A-1 centerpiece on the proposed extension of light rail to Tenafly.

Tenafly officials appear to be the only ones opposing the plan, claiming they will have to give up $200,000 in tax revenue from the loss of commercial property to create parking lots for commuters.

But why add parking? The commuter ferry at River Road and Route 5 in Edgewater is thriving with a shuttle bus and no public parking. Why couldn't light rail do the same?

The A-1 photo caption for the light-rail story also contains an error, calling Englewood "one of the cities affected" by the plan. It is the only city; none of the other towns have a city form of government.

The boring photo of a man crossing the tracks isn't worthy of appearing on the back page, let alone the front page. Where is a photo of the electrified light-rail cars that would serve Englewood and Tenafly?

Hack attack

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section is missing any Hackensack news.

But I love that photo of a horse carved from snow in Cliffside Park by talented Staff Photographer Tariq Zehawi, who Sykes has had chasing ambulances for too many years (L-1).

The Road Warrior column didn't run on the front of the section on Sunday, as it usually does, and there was no explanation in the paper. It is scheduled to appear again on Wednesday. 

Mixed message

On the front of Better Living, the promotional Starters restaurant feature reports MK Valencia in Ridgefield Park serves "American-Italian" cuisine "with an emphasis on seafood," but a photo shows two dishes with meat and none with fish.

At The Times, Gottlieb served as global edition editor, associate managing editor in charge of the weekend editions, deputy culture editor and an investigative reporter and editor on the national and metro staffs. 

He has also been editor-in-chief of The Village Voice, managing editor of The New York Daily News, and a reporter at The News and The Record when it was in Hackensack.