Older readers are begging for an 'age-friendly' newspaper

A woman catching the spirit at a free concert Friday night in Hackensack's Atlantic Street Park, where a Colombian band played salsa and cumbia tunes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The predominantly older readers of The Record rarely see a story about themselves like the one that led Saturday's paper.

Staff Writer Colleen Diskin, who spends most of her time writing about the institutionalized elderly, reported that five Bergen County towns "are on a mission" to become places where residents "can grow old" (A-1 on Saturday).

The headline:

"Towns map an 'age-friendly' future"

Isn't that rich? The Record has never seemed interested in becoming an "age-friendly" newspaper.

Road Warrior John Cichowski consistently ignores the challenges facing older drivers -- his peers -- but writes column after column about teenagers.

(On Saturday' front page, Cichowski wrote about one of the most pressing issues facing older drivers -- tinted windows in cars -- and today on L-1, he goes on and on about license-renewal lines at the Motor Vehicle Commission.)

The No. 1 killer in the United States, heart disease, and dementia have consistently been ignored in favor of covering autism.

Editor Deirdre Sykes also ignores the biggest reason residents leave New Jersey -- a highly inefficient home-rule system of government supported by increasingly higher property taxes.

And The Record's editorial board has never urged towns to consolidate and lower costs by sharing services or to replace do-nothing police chiefs with police directors who are paid less.

Superficial story

In her superficial Saturday story, Diskin mentions high taxes in passing, suggesting more seniors "could cope ... by moving in together, sharing costs, rides and lives."

Then, on the continuation page, Diskin says Micki Shalan, 82, of Teaneck has used her home, her only asset, "to make ends meet, taking out a reverse mortgage and renting out a room to a number of different tenants over the past few years" (Saturday's A-6).

That's pathetic. A reverse mortgage means the poor woman will lose her home upon her death, and won't be able to pass it on to survivors.

Is that the best Teaneck and the other towns can do? 

The best solution isn't to force seniors into the sharing economy, but to make fundamental changes that will lower taxes and retain residents.

Today's front page

Except for photos from the Rio Olympics and several news briefs, Page 1 today is filled with politics:

The lead story is a deadly dull discussion of "Rule 3" at the Port Authority -- the patronage mill that keeps on giving to Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who have vetoed reforms.

Record Columnist Charles Stile delivers yet another boring exploration of Senate President Stephen Sweeney positioning himself for the 2017 gubernatorial election.

And Columnist Mike Kelly seems to be the last journalist to report wacko racist Donald J. Trump has shot himself in the foot so often lately supporters are abandoning his GOP presidential campaign.

A second major article on Trump's racist supporters appears on A-4.

More Trump news

If you think Kelly said all he wanted about Trump on A-1, you're mistaken.

His second column appears on the Opinion front, predicting Tump's defeat on Nov. 8 and how that will affect Governor Christie, the head of the businessman's transition team (O-1).

Affordable housing

The Real Estate front today carries an upbeat story on the affordable housing that replaced Paterson's notorious Alexander Hamilton projects (R-1).

You haven't seen a similar story about a town in Bergen County, because many have fought units for low- and moderate-income residents, fearing an influx of minorities.

Searching another Sunday edition in vain for local voices

One of the charms of Hackensack's Fairmount section is this shady alley off of Prospect Avenue, but the neighborhood also is plagued by noisy business jets heading for Teterboro Airport.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Another Sunday edition of The Record almost completely ignores the concerns of the vast majority of North Jersey residents.

A front-page story on the alarming number of assaults on vulnerable patients at Bergen Regional Medical Center, which treats the neediest, certainly is important (A-1).

But why -- in more than two full newspaper pages -- doesn't the story ask and answer the question on most readers' and taxpayers' minds:

Why does Bergen County still own a hospital -- the state's biggest, no less?

Rail commuters continue to scramble for seats aboard crowded NJ Transit trains, so why is Staff Writer Christopher Maag going on and on today about a safety system called "positive train control" (A-1)?

And why does political columnist Charles Stile think anyone is interested in his boring assessment of Senate President Stephen Sweeney's chances in the 2017 gubernatorial election (A-1)?

Local news?

Don't look for local news today.

Another Road Warrior column on the MVC, and a huge graphic on the redevelopment of Fort Lee dominate the Local front.

Long-time Fort Lee residents have been very vocal in their opposition to the Hudson Lights project, but you won't hear any of their voices today (L-1).

Inside the section, there are stories from Waldwick, Oakland, Ramsey, Bloomingdale, Haledon and Pequannock, but nothing from Hackensack.

More bad news: Christie says he's the new Reagan

On West Passaic Street in Maywood, two trees appear to have been trimmed by passing NJ Transit buses and trucks.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

Do you remember President Ronald Reagan's "trickle-down" economics?

Reagan's two terms in office (1981-89) seemed like an eternity to many Americans, who believe he was the worst president we ever had until George W. Bush took office.

As a reporter for The Record, I was assigned to do a story on Reagan's budget cuts, and my Page 1 story detailed how he had slashed social programs for minority children, among others.

Now, Governor Christie has "compared himself to Ronald Reagan," The Record reports in a Page 1 column today on the GOP bully's TV appearances on Sunday.

Reporting every fart

It looks like The Record has committed itself to chronicling Christie's every word, every fart and every mean-spirited act, and to spinning them for what they mean for his presidential aspirations in  2016.

That election is three long years away, and if Christie actually gets the nomination, he faces certain defeat at the hands of Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Reader weighs in

Reader David B. Simpson of Tenafly is already sick of all the space The Record is devoting to its "endless speculation about Governor Christie's presidential ambitions and the prospects of his success" (Your Views, A-13).

Instead, Simpson says, The Record's "journalistic function" is to provide "a genuine factual  inquiry into the performance of Christie in office as to whether he really is accomplishing what he claims."

Take a hike

Hey, Simpson, don't you know Editor Marty Gottlieb and his gang of Christie-loving columnists and reporters don't give a shit what you think? 

And you have a nerve telling Gottlieb and the Borg family how to perform their "journalistic function."

Simpson voted for Christie, but bemoans the governor's "one-shot gimmicks to close budget gaps, and his willingness to subsidize public projects with extensive public money, such as in the case of the failing casinos of Atlantic City and the monstrous Xanadu project in the Meadowlands [American Nightmare]."

"You owe it to the people of New Jersey, and the nation, to provide an unvarnished portrait  of Christie's tenure in office, identifying both successes and failures," Simpson's letter says.

Don't hold your breath.

Hackensack mystery

For Veterans Day, the front page also carries a story about 1st Lt. Raymond Sachtleben, a World War II pilot from Hackensack whose B-24 bomber crashed in an English village in 1944.

The cause of his death was shrouded in mystery until villagers, a researcher in New Jersey and Hackensack High School students worked together on a memorial and a Web site (A-1 and A-8).

Clueless readers, including a boater, continue to consult Road Warrior John Cichowski on MVC rules and regulations, apparently unaware he has lost it completely (L-1).

Restaurant focus

Better Living's cover story reports on children who followed their parents into the restaurant industry (BL-1).

Issues faced by restaurant goers -- including service, tipping, rising prices and the quality of the food served by restaurants -- continue to be largely ignored.

More shoddy reporting from the Road Warrior

Three of four Toyota Prius hybrids parked on Thursday morning at Jackson Hole on Grand Avenue in Englewood. Only two had a green E-ZPass, which gives hybrid owners toll discounts on the parkway and turnpike and at the Hudson River crossings.

At least Road Warrior John Cichowski is consistent:

Just about every one of his columns in The Record is flawed, according to a reader concerned about all the misinformation being peddled as fact:

"While enduring triple doses of shoddy, misleading and false reports each week, the last thing readers need is the Road Warrior's  malarkey and false report in his April 24 column about the very simple Motor Vehicle Commission policy about waiving the trip to an MVC office for driver-license renewal.

"There was no need [for a reader] to contact the Road Warrior for this type of assistance and worry about being subject to a misleading story about her personal plight.

"A simple call by a person with a debilitating medical condition to their New Jersey state representative would have solved the problem. The state representative would arrange with MVC to get them in and out of an MVC office as quickly as possible without having to wait on long lines.

"Road Warrior and The Record owes an apology to:

"All those 48 years and younger and their families and friends for dismissing their pain and suffering due to debilitating medical conditions as not being worthy for waiving the MVC trip.

"Those born on Dec. 1, 1964, including families and friends, for mistakenly indicating they do not qualify for waiving the MVC trip."

The full e-mail can be read on the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers: Exploiting the sick

Clumsy headline ruins Page 1

Lance Armstrong in the prologue of the Tour de France in July 2004 in Liege, Belgium (Wikipedia)

It's unclear how Editor Marty Gottlieb justifies covering nearly half of the front page today with two sports columns and a photo of that dope, Lance Armstrong, who turned the Tour de France into the Tour de Lies.

But any reader interest is squelched by the clunky headline from the copy and production desk of Editor Liz Houlton, The Record's Queen of Errors.

Here's the headline:

Cheater and inspiration

The lack of parallel construction completely throws readers. 

"Cheating and inspiring" or "From hero to liar" would have been better, but almost any other headline would have drawn rather than repelled readers.

How screw-ups like this happen time and again on the premier page of the paper is unknown. 

This, after all, is presumably the best story of the day, according to the sports-obsessed Gottlieb. 

Maybe the solution is to cut the clumsy, error-prone Houlton and her six-figure salary, just as the solution to a much better Local news section is to force head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes into early retirement.

Reporter is shut-in

On the front of Local, Staff Writer John Cichowski -- the so-called commuting columnist -- can't be bothered to report on the mass-transit crisis brought on by Superstorm Sandy.

Today, the Road Warrior column is filled with more inane questions from drivers about license plates and the MVC, written from the comfort of his desk chair  (L-1).

Senior moment

And on L-9 today, Your Money Columnist Kevin DeMarrais gets into the act by publishing a reader's question on E-ZPass charges he didn't recognize.

His consumer advice used to be called Your Money's Worth.

Most of DeMarrais' column is about those complex gym contracts, but he apparently doesn't know seniors like him can get the last laugh.

Some Medicare supplemental health insurance policies include free memberships in 24 Hour Fitness and other gyms. LOL.

Where have I read all of this before?

The Record continues to serve as the personal public relations journal for Governor Christie. (From Wikipedia)

With 10 months until the election, The Record today continues to promote Governor Christie for a second term and, ultimately, the presidency.

Editor Marty Gottlieb leads the paper with a so-called ANALYSIS, as well as a news story, all under an upbeat headline:

Recovery is Job 1 for Christie

In typical Gottlieb style, only a few of Christie's failures are mentioned, and they're relegated to the continuation page (A-6).

Our obese leader

Even the A-1 photo of the GOP bully is skillfully cropped to hide his grotesquely swollen body -- as if he is literally fattening up for the campaign ahead (see full photo on A-6).

You won't find a word about how Christie has fought to preserve low taxes for millionaires by cutting middle-class programs and benefits.

The problem with leaving any negatives to A-6 is that many readers -- weary of The Record's endless promotion of Christie -- won't ever get that far.

This kind of slanted journalism also leaves Gottlieb and his reporters open to insinuations they are taking their marching orders from the filthy rich Borgs, who are grateful for Christie's rabid anti-tax policies.

To make matters worse, today's Opinion cover carries yet another piece on Christie from Carl Golden, who was the press flunky for two other Republican governors, Tom Kean and Christie Whitman (O-1).

Uncanny journalism

The thin Sunday edition was wrapped in a ShopRite Can Can Sale advertising flier, declaring it as "The Greatest Sale Ever!"

Sadly, the Can Can Sale isn't what it used to be -- nor is The Record.

Praise for 'Final Words'

Also on A-1 today, Gottlieb focuses unprecedented attention on Staff Writer Jay Levin's "Final Words" -- last Sunday's moving takeout on hospice residents nearing the end of their lives -- and refers readers to a half-dozen letters on O-3.  

Today's front page also carries the photo of Staff Writer Elisa Ung and her column logo, The Corner Table, with a heart-warming story on the reopening in Moonachie of Bazzarelli Restaurant, which was devastated by Superstorm Sandy.

Ung did a great job, leaving readers to wonder why she continues to churn out weak restaurant reviews and even weaker Sunday columns, and avoids more reporting on such crucial issues as tipping and the low-quality beef and poultry served in many restaurants. 

Customers' burden

Taking up the slack is the paper's only consumer columnist, Kevin DeMarrais, who writes about tipping on the Business front today (B-1).

DeMarrais reports that servers make $2.13 an hour and if customers' tips don't bring them up to the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, the difference is made up by restaurant owners.

That's hard to believe. 

Still, even if true, DeMarrais doesn't explain why the burden falls on customers -- not restaurant owners -- to give servers a decent wage.

By the way, even though Christie appears to be eating everything in sight, he is on record as opposing an increase in the minimum wage in New Jersey -- another thing not mentioned in today's rah-rah coverage. 

Broken record

Favorable Christie stories aren't the only ones repeating on readers like a bad meal.

Staff Writer John Cichowski, who has carjacked the commuting column, has yet another piece today on lines at the MVC (Local front).

There are so many other issues the broken record could cover, if he just acted like the journalist he is supposed to be instead of the Local section's chief space filler -- under the whip of local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

New local buses

Chief among them is NJ Transit finally completing renewal of the local bus fleet, including the decrepit No. 780 between Englewood and the city of Passaic.

Gone are the creaking, decades-old white elephants familiar to the largely minority riders. They've been replaced with modern "talking buses" that even have bicycle racks. 

Cichowski also hasn't noticed:

That new E-ZPasses are half the size of the old; that hybrid owners can get toll discounts with a Green E-ZPass; or that paper license plates have replaced those large pieces of paper in the back windows of new cars. 

Also in Local today, the new Hackensack reporter is sounding a theme residents are all too familiar with: more legal action by police officers who allege their complaints of corruption were met with retaliation (L-3).

Is this really the best Sykes and Sforza can manage?

Reader blasts Road Warrior errors

Could more frequent use of the Google search engine by The Record's editors and copy editors help improve the accuracy and completeness of the thrice-weekly Road Warrior column?

Editor's note: At least one reader has brought frequent errors and omissions to the attention of Staff Writer John Cichowski, who has been writing The Record's Road Warrior column for more than nine years. His latest e-mail to the Road Warrior appears below:

John,

It would help if you stopped publishing articles, such as your 10/3 article, with clueless, misleading, incomplete, or false/incorrect info that you mistakenly report and then confuse or mislead readers with a review that contradicts or miscomprehends the facts.   It does not promote the integrity of The Record and offends informative readers.

Your clueless reporting and responses are truly most frequently glaring and troubling when you respond to readers' questions, who many times can get better answers by simply contacting state agencies.

You have a repeated habit to NEVER directly answer a reader's specific question.  Instead, you respond with other info, which typically is not correct, and that may not be related to the question.

This is the 5th article on which I've alerted you about your mistaken reporting since your 9/12 article.  You have made no attempt to correct or respond to your mistaken reporting and advice.

If no effort is being made to resolve these matters or respond to me, I am beginning to publicize these matters with other media personnel, news organizations, and your readers.

You reported that, initially, MVC's "Skip the Trip" will affect motorists born before 12/2/64. You FAIL to mention that it will also affect people born before 12/2/64, who renew their non-driver IDs.

You reported that MVC estimates that "Skip the Trip" could take 1 million people off long lines.  MVC estimates have actually stated that "Skip the Trip" could take UP TO 1 million people off long lines.

If you think the words "UP TO" are meaningless to your readers, anyone who advertises knows that inserting the words "UP TO" completely changes the meaning of a stated savings (i.e. savings of up to $400, which could be $1-$400, is a completely different meaning than savings of $400).
  
You confuse readers by cluelessly misreporting that MVC's estimate for the number of people eligible for "Skip the Trip" will not be reached because it doesn't subtract out exceptions for commercial licensees, convicted drunken drivers, and other categories that tend to complicate licensure.

MVC was very clear in their statements & news releases that their stated initial estimates for those eligible for "Skip the Trip"  already subtracts out these exceptions.

You FAILED to report on other factors, which are not included in their statements, that the MVC realizes would reduce their stated estimate of people eligible for "Skip the Trip."

You reported "4 years from now, [older] trip-skippers will be back to have their pictures taken". Then, "They'll still be in line with you."  This is ABSOLUTELY WRONG since in four years time the younger drivers will be allowed to renew their licenses on-line and NOT have to stand in line at the MVC with these older trip-skippers.

You FORGOT to report that renewals will still require in-person registration at an MVC office every 8 years.  How many times do you have to be reminded, and still not report this???

In response to a question about whether senators wait in line at the MVC, you indicated that "MVC insists state officials are offered no preference.  But I'm still waiting for a reader to say he has spotted one member of the New Jersey Senate and Assembly standing in line with him."

Readers are still waiting for you to simply ask a more relevant question to NJ legislators to indicate if they stand in line at the MVC for license renewal.  I was easily able to get answers today from legislator offices that appear to verify they stand in line.  Sorry, to burst a bubble of mystery you wanted to leave readers with. 

It would be interesting to see a picture posted online of NJ legislator(s) (smiling or not) standing in line with someone at the MVC.

You NEVER responded directly to a reader's question about "What happened to the court decision that said we don't have to [provide a SS number to renew a driver's license]"?

First of all, you NEVER referenced the specific court decision and if (Yes or No) or how it was actually relevant, or subsequently overruled, to the SS requirement since this was what she wanted to know.

You proceeded to answer with a very tenuous tangent for requiring the SS numbers based on incomplete and clueless reporting about the 1974 Privacy Act and post 9/11 security issues.

You misreported that "[1974 Privacy] act only limits the requirement [for SS numbers] in those cases in which there IS a clear authority to collect the number."

The [1974 Privacy] act actually only limits the requirement [for SS numbers] in those cases in which there WAS a clear authority [statute] prior to January 1, 1975 to collect the number.

Tax Reform Act of 1976 also already exempts MVC & state agencies from any restriction to the extent that Social Security numbers are collected "in the administration of any driver's license or motor vehicle registration." 

While 9/11 security issues reinforced these needs, Washington and New Jersey did NOT need 9/11 to allow collection of SS numbers, as you so stated.

As we say in watching political debates, "Thanks for not answering the question that was asked."

Here's hoping for change and better fact checking & reviewing (Googling?) by The Record's editors, columnists, & reporters, for more reliable, accurate, and common sense info prior to publication.

You won't find any news here

Image via Wikipedia

Route 9W in Cornwall, N.Y.

What's the point of running a long Page 1 piece on conflicts between motorists and bicyclists on Route 9W, if there are no plans for more police enforcement, better signs or a real bike path?


This "status quo" story could run anytime -- and it certainly doesn't belong on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park today.


Stale views


How long was this long and winding story in the can? Just think, the editors can freshen up the quotes and run it again next year or the year after when they have nothing better for A-1.


Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes specialize in this kind of static reporting, because it allows their minions and their reporters to stay indoors and use the unlimited calling plan. 


You won't find a lazier local assignment desk in the entire metropolitan area.


Calling all cars


Readers get another editorial on A-11 about service at the MVC, so I guess Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin is still looking for a Broadway or Hollywood analogy for the Port Authority's onerous toll-and-fare hike plan.


In Sykes' Local section, a 14-inch story reports Rockleigh's purchase of a used firetruck (L-2). 


This is her idea of ground-breaking local news. 

Copy desk saves another reporter's ass

Image via Wikipedia

Lawyers for long-suffering Upper Ringwood residents settled a huge negligence lawsuit, fearing Ford Motor Co. would declare bankruptcy. Why didn't The Record ever report this legal and financial miscalculation? Above, Henry Ford in 1919.

Just when you thought the marginalized copy editors were asleep at their computers, they saved the ass of a veteran reporter who thought she could peddle the same old news in a Page 1 story today.


Staff Writer Mary Jo Layton covered a meeting of Upper Ringwood residents and EPA officials, but buried the lead -- just like the Ford Motor Co. buried toxic sludge in their neighborhood four decades ago and made everybody sick.


It almost sounds as if Layton pre-wrote the story to beat The Record's ridiculously early deadlines, then was forced to leave the real news to the continuation page. 


Did her assignment editor go home early? Where was Editor Francis Scandale?


But in a rare save, the news copy editors told the story in the headlines:

TOXIC LANDSCAPE: UPPER RINGWOOD

'We're the living dead'

EPA urges testing, but residents want buyouts

The copy editors not only saved Layton's ass, they saved the larger posterior of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.

I read to the continuation page, A-6, and found something new in this long-running saga of government incompetence, corporate irresponsibility and media indifference:


Residents want Ford to use some of its huge profits to buy their homes so they can relocate away from the pollution.


One of the newsroom prima donnas, Staff Writer Jean Rimbach, has a rare byline today, but why is her story on a lawsuit judgment on the front page?

Clear age bias

What was the wire editor thinking? 

Why run a Washington Post story on President Obama's 50th birthday (A-5) that is full of "old" references, and reports "he still gets up and down a basketball court without reaching for an oxygen tank"?

A letter to the editor on A-8 describes the Tea Party as no editor has the guts to:

"The Tea Party is a joke," says Francis A. Tutelo of Teaneck. "... They are Republicans who don't care about the elderly and poor. They keep voting again taxing millionaires .... But the truth is: Would Republicans really tax themselves and their friends?"

Tutelo could extend his description to Governor Christie.

What's my line?

On the front of Sykes' Local section, Road Warrior John Cichowski has yet another column on long lines at the MVC. It's time for him to join a line -- the one at the unemployment office.

Readers won't find any Hackesnack, Teaneck or Englewood news today.

Look at all those morons from "Jersey Shore" on the front of Better Living today. Why does the worst of New Jersey gets such prominent play in the paper?

Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill recommends another charred hunk of beef, even though meat grilled at high temperatures has been linked to cancer (F-1, F-2).

Witch hunt claims college president

Image via Wikipedia

You can have sleazy journalism delivered to your door.

President G. Jeremiah Ryan under-spent his annual expense account in raising $3.8 million last year for the Bergen Community College Foundation, but he was voted out Tuesday night -- thanks to a witch hunt by The Record (A-1).


So, you see, when critics attack the Woodland Park daily for its poor job of covering local news, Editor Francis Scandale, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and Staff Writer Pat Alex can point to  how their public-service journalism brought down Ryan.


Baking news


The heat wave began Sunday. The weather picture on Page 1 today seems a little late.


When will The Record examine the questionable practices at tycoon Rupert Murdoch's properties in the United States, including  the New York Post and Fox Television (A-1)?


Murdoch has reaped untold riches from sleazy journalism. A sidebar on A-8 gushes over the actions of his gold-digging wife at a hearing Tuesday in London.


Readers weigh in


For every letter supporting President Obama, Editor Charles Saydah seems to print two from his critics (A-12). 


Does crackpot James Bell of Washington Township expect anyone to take him seriously when he calls the country "Obama's Marxist utopia"?


Letter writer Catherine Walsh of Englewood finds a huge hole in Sykes' coverage of the city, noting "half the shops are empty in town."


Imagine what Sykes could have printed on the front of Local today if she didn't run a story and photo on a non-injury fire at a used-car lot in Little Ferry.


Good appetite


Road Warrior John Cichowski gives readers his fifth column in a row on long lines at the Motor Vehicle Commission (L-1). 


Another filler photo appears on L-3, showing a car deliberately driven into a deli to protest its fatty pastrami.


After you spend $30 0r $40 and a couple of hours preparing lobster stew from the recipe on the Better Living front today, make an appointment with your doctor to have your cholesterol checked  (F-1).