Road Warrior's parking, travel guide is a bust

Leaving Manhattan through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Editor's note: A concerned reader says don't bother relying on a recent Road Warrior column the next time you visit Manhattan, because Staff Writer John Cichowski is peddling his usual brand of misinformation.

 

Once again, the Road Warrior provides misleading, incomplete, or false information that is a disservice to readers.

This is the 15th time I've notified the Road Warrior and The Record about his mistaken reporting since his 9/12 article without any corrective action taken to prevent these problems.

The Road Warrior mentions many mythical Roman Latin obstacles, including. Parkus Interruptis, for discouraging travel to mid-town Manhattan for out-of-state house guests.  The biggest Roman Latin obstacle may be Amnesia by the Road Warrior.  The second biggest obstacle may simply be Confusio Ad Nauseum by the Road Warrior.

Road Warrior column of 11/18 should have been user friendly and educational for out-of-town guests and not mysteriously confusing.

Amnesia by the Road Warrior, who forgot to mention very important helpful info noted below.

1. Paid parking garages/lots are available in Manhattan - While expensive, many times this is the easiest, safest, & most convenient way to park.  It avoids confusing street parking signs or endless searches for a street parking space, which sometimes can be hard to find, particularly for out-of-state guests.  Less expensive parking lots & more street parking are available on the far West 
Side.  Google "Manhattan Parking" for links to paid parking garages/lots.

2. PATH trains service is running limited service from 5 am to 10 pm seven days per week from Newark Penn Station through Jersey City's Journal Square Station to Manhattan's 33rd St. Station.   There is currently no PATH service from Hoboken or to downtown Manhattan due to outages from Sandy.  See www.panynj.gov/path for info and further updates to more complete PATH service.

Let's not leave out-of-town guests guessing about this vital public transportation option. [The Road Warrior said there was no PATH service -- Editor].

3. Park and Ride service for NJ Transit trains to Manhattan's Penn Station is available at the Secaucus Junction train station ( accessible via Route 3 or the NJ Turnpike via Exit 15X) seven days per week.  See parkfast.com/content/secaucus-parking.jsp for parking info and njtransit.com for train schedules.

This has been reported and promoted by The Record and Road Warrior in the distant past.

4. Complimentary bus shuttle routes are available from NY Waterway's Manhattan 39th St. Terminal for ferry customers - Buses travel to/from various destinations as far north as Lincoln Center or as far south to Greenwich Village. Check 800-533-3779 or nywaterway.com.

No need to take taxis or the subway if out-of-town guests utilize this forgotten info.

Confusio Ad Nauseum by the Road Warrior: (All Road Warrior readers favor accurate info)

1. Misleading False Statement - "Some Road Warrior readers favor aquus velocitis, New York Waterway's eight speedy ferries, which have been shuttling New Jerseyans to Manhattan daily since the early 1990s."

CORRECT FACTS - There are currently nine speedy ferries.  Only 3 shuttle New Jerseyans to Manhattan (39th St. Terminal only) daily, seven days a week.  Call or check website just prior to holidays for schedules, which can be a modified weekend schedule.  The other 6 operate on weekdays only, excluding holidays.  Six ferries arrive at the 39th St. terminal.  Three ferries only offer service to downtown Manhattan. Check 800-533-3779 or nywaterway.com.

I'm sure The Record and Road Warrior would not want to be responsible for out-of-state visitors to arrive at 6 out of the 9 ferries on weekends or holidays, only to find them closed.

2. Misleading, Confusing, Incomplete, and False Statements -   "But daily round-trip fares [for ferries] are pricey — as high as $18, although cheaper for students and seniors if bought in monthly lots. Add $10 to $12 parking costs, too."

CORRECT FACTS -  Daily round trip fares are pricey - from $12 to $20.50.  Round trip tickets are cheaper for seniors.  10 one-way trips can also be discounted. Check 800-533-3779 or nywaterway.com .

Road Warrior forgot to mention that tickets for children 6 -11 are discounted, with children 5 and under free, since many out-of-state visitors might bring along their children.

Student monthly passes are only for full time students studying here in the NYC metropolitan area and would not be applicable for out-of-state visitors.  Other out-of-state visitors are not going to be interested in Road Warrior's monthly passes, unless they are planning to be working 5 days a week in NYC to support all of their shopping and entertainment.

Weehawken Port Imperial ferry location has parking costs of $10 to $12 with a $2 online coupon for weekend and weekday evening parking.  Many of the other ferry locations do not have paid or metered parking.  Check 800-533-3779 or nywaterway.com.

I'm sure The Record and Road Warrior would not want to be responsible for out-of-state visitors driving many of the ferries only to find parking is not available.

3. Misleading Unsafe Statement - "Try limiting your trips only to Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Parkus [Interruptis] naps on those days, as well as on New Year's Eve."

CORRECT FACTS - Your guests should try to use public transportation into Manhattan if they decide they must abandon you and travel to NY City on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year's Day, or New Year's Eve because while Parkus Interruptis naps on those days, Life Interruptis and Traffic Interruptis are wide awake and at their most dangerous for the year for those riding in cars.

The Record and Road Warrior would be kind of negligent in advising out-of-state visitors to drive their cars into the city on some of the most dangerous traffic days of the year.

4. Misleading Statement Due to Missing Item -   A reader "offers this Black Friday tip: Lord & Taylor on 38th Street at 7 a.m. when the store is empty and quiet and the sales are good."

CORRECT FACTS -   Who knows if anything will be available at 7 a.m, since the store at 38th and Fifth Ave. (it's nice to give a cross street for locating the store) will open at 5 a.m. on this coming Black Friday.

5. Typos Interruptis -  "you're left with pedaling into the city — cyclis compulsis — which requires you to compete with serious athletes, often in groups of three more as you cross the George Washington Bridge"

CORRECT TYPING - "you're left with pedaling into the city — cyclis compulsis — which requires you to compete with serious athletes, often in groups of three OR more as you cross the George Washington Bridge"

Here's hoping for change and better fact checking, corrections, reviewing (Googling?), and screening of readers' ideas in the Road Warrior columns by The Record's editors, columnists, & reporters, for more reliable, accurate, and common sense info prior to publication. 
 

How to ruin the front page

Image via Wikipedia

The Dakota as seen from Strawberry Fields in Manhattan's Central Park.

Any reporter knows how lucky The Record's Mike Kelly was in finding a North Jersey connection for his story on the 30th anniversary of John Lennon's death in Manhattan. Then, the veteran journalist loses readers in just his second paragraph on Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily -- as he desperately tries to craft an introduction that will hook them.

That's Kelly big flaw. He can't write it straight and allow the power of the event to come through. He has to push around words, and in the process, his awkward, occasionally inaccurate sentences stun readers with their stupidity.

On his assignment Wednesday, he encountered Bill Purdy, a former Passaic County assistant prosecutor who specialized in homicide cases, so he reports in his first paragraph that Purdy "made his way to an old murder scene." Interesting, even if Kelly is unclear on whether the onetime prosecutor went to the Dakota, where Lennon was shot dead, or to Central Park. 

Then, Kelly blows it:

"He [Purdy] didn't carry his prosecutor's tools, though -- no handcuffs or law books or subpoenas. Purdy carried his guitar."

Reporting is laughable

Can you hear lawyers and detectives guffawing in North Jersey prosecutor's offices? Prosecutors don't carry handcuffs. And they wouldn't bring their heavy law books with them. It's also unlikely they would bring a subpoena to a murder scene. Who would a prosecutor serve -- the body?

Where was Kelly's assignment editor or the news copy editor on weeding out this laughably inaccurate copy?

The headlines were a puzzle, too, but at least they got me into the story. But Kelly stopped me cold. If he was so inaccurate there, where else did he err? Quotes, observations, conclusions?

Editor Francis Scandale allowed Kelly and Road Warrior John Cichowski to continue as columnists, but got rid of the former Hackensack daily's only Hispanic and only black columnists, and its only female news columnist. What a great editor he's been.

List all cast members

The lead story on A-1 -- about the Democratic-controlled Bergen County Freeholder Board bailing out bergenPAC in Englewood -- makes no mention of the role of Frank Huttle III, a lawyer who now is mayor of that city, in reopening the John Harms Theater, the performance venue. 

Huttle, listed as founder on the bergenPac Web site, is married to Assemblywoman Valerie Vaineri, a former Democratic freeholder in Bergen County.

News about police

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section has another L-1 story on the Hackensack police -- the best-covered police department in North Jersey, though Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado keeps residents in the dark on just about every other city agency.

The Local section is filled with police, accident and court news, as is becoming commonplace. An L-1 story on a plea by an ex-councilwoman doesn't say she appeared in state Superior Court.

Kibret Markos, the reporter covering the courts, again fails to include any information on how much of $1.5 million awarded to an Oakland woman injured in a three-car pileup might be going to the lawyer (L-3). 

Also on L-3, you'll find a gripping story on leaf removal in Paramus.

This is transportation coverage?

Image via Wikipedia

Let's all thank Staff Writer Tom Davis and clueless head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes for more cutting-edge transportation coverage. The editors at The Record of Woodland Park gave him a big part of Page 1 today for his non-story on training simulators used by drivers for the small PATH system.


Davis and the other transportation writers, including Road Warrior John Cichowski, have been simulating journalism for years. They've long ignored the shabby local bus service and the huge quality-of-life impact in Hackensack, Maywood and other towns from the business jets that bring fat cats to Teterboro Airport.

Davis, Cichowski and Staff Writer Karen Rouse have consistently refused to report how inferior local buses are when compared to the newer NJ Transit fleet that carries mostly white commuters to Manhattan. Of course, the local buses are patronized heavily by minorities, many of whom can't afford cars, so they may not be the paper's "demographic."


This is undoubtedly in keeping with the "responsible journalism" practiced by the Borgs' North Jersey Media Group from Woodland Park.


At least the editors found room on A-1 for another pissing match between Governor Christie and teachers, and the launching of a criminal probe against BP and the company that operated the oil platform that blew up and sank in the Gulf on April 20. But the paper and Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin have virtually ignored the slow death of an ecosystem.


Local has a detailed story on cuts to the Teaneck school budget, but readers in Hackensack are still waiting for a story on the proposed city budget and tax hike from Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado. But like a pit bull that won't let go of its prey, she has another story on a hearing in the Ken Zisa saga, and that's all she wrote about Hackensack for the umpteenth day. 

The only Englewood story -- a homicide -- leaves readers in the dark on a motive three days after the crime.


Marketplace returns to Better Living today, but only one new food outlet is featured, in contrast to the two a week that ran in the past. Is this column going to run only once a month now? That saves freelance fees, but cheats readers. Maybe a better solution would be to cut Food Editor Bill Pitcher's inflated salary.