Breaking news: Borough's files are moved out of storage

Are these directional signs unique to New Jersey? This one is on Grand Avenue in Englewood.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Staff Writer Mary Diduch of The Record did her best today to elevate a routine contract dispute into an important local news story, reporting "it's not something one witnesses every day" (L-1).

In fact, readers do see the Woodland Park daily scrambling to assemble a comprehensive local news report, and usual failing, as the editors do today.

A story on 1,100 file boxes being returned to Bogota Borough Hall shouldn't be leading the Local news section.

For even more compelling local news, see the L-3 photo of a Ridgewood employee cutting a fallen tree limb "that blocked traffic" on Thursday morning.

Home rule

There is so much wrong with the home-rule system of government in North Jersey -- including the ruinously expensive duplication of services -- the editors should never, ever run out of important local news.

Take a look at a letter to the editor from Michele Talamo, a Cliffside Park resident who is upset over high taxes and the "oppressive" cost of living (A-18).

Talamo is opposed to just about everything -- from a proposed hike in the gas tax to raising the minimum wage to $15.

Of course, the real problem is in Cliffside Park, where one family has ruled for decades, as was the case in Hackensack.

Yet, The Record's local news staff has ignored the attempted political comeback of former four-term Hackensack Mayor Jack Zisa and his brother Ken, the disgraced former police chief.

This year, the city's mayor and council members --who defeated a slate of Zisa allies in May 2013 -- are estimating that a citywide revaluation will deliver $400 in tax savings to most homeowners.

Casinos

Atlantic City's disastrous experience with casinos doomed the expansion of gambling to North Jersey long before all the recent stories about a state takeover.

Still, The Record can't stop promoting passage of a November referendum that North Jersey residents are expected to soundly reject.

As you'd expect of a former sports reporter, Staff Writer John Brennan claims a conference he covered "gave the give-and-take ... the feel of the opening round of what figures to be a hard-fought battle until voters go to the polls" (A-1).

Readers can expect The Record's editors to continue to insist the constitutional amendment has a chance of passage, even though it's headed for defeat.

Dining puzzle

Staff Writer Elisa Ung usually devotes a paragraph or two to the chef or cook, but in today's Informal Dining review, she doesn't say who prepared the food at ReBAR in Lodi (BL-14).

The review also is unusual in that her meals there didn't end with a couple of artery clogging desserts.

Christie's racism toward Obama is hurting medical reform

At the Great Falls, now part of a national park, the historic industrial city of Paterson says, Hear me roar.

The hydroelectric plant at the base of the falls still provides power to the city.

Mary Ellen Kramer Park is a new section with picnic tables and benches. Although it hasn't opened officially, visitors who find a break in the cyclone fence are leaving their mark, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie did his best to sabotage the roll-out of President Obama's Affordable Care Act by blocking a health-care exchange in New Jersey.

Now, in a series of stories on surprise medical bills, The Record still hasn't told readers where the GOP bully stands on reform efforts, which have succeeded in other states but not here (A-1).

Deep on the continuation page today, Staff Writer Lindy Washburn reports:

"New York has the most comprehensive law, an accomplishment made possible in part because Gov. Andrew Cuomo and state insurance regulators pushed for action...." (A-6).

Any reader who got that far might be asking themselves, What about Christie? But his name doesn't appear in the overly long story.

And even though most experts are dismissing Christie's chances in the scramble for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, political Columnist Charles Stile continues to polish the governor's image of being all-powerful in the Garden State (A-1).

As an antidote, see Margulies' Sunday cartoon on our part-time governor (O-2).

Another correction

On A-2, The Record corrects a Saturday story on the Cresskill family mourning Youngrok Lee, a 13-year-old killed by a tractor-trailer while he was riding his bike to school on Wednesday mother.

A photo showed his grieving mother and a banner hanging on the boy's door.

"In bold, black Korean letters, it says, 'Look forward and go higher,'" Staff Writer Mary Diduch reported.

Except the characters are Chinese, today's correction says.

The boy's name previously was given as Young Rok Lee, even on Saturday's front page, and there was no explanation why Saturday's L-1 story and today's correction calls him "Youngrok Lee."

Deadly week?

Saturday's front page was dominated by a story, graphic and photos appearing under this over line:

"DEADLY WEEK AROUND NORTH JERSEY"

The headline was clunky:

"Spate of tragic endings"

The story reported a number of accidental and violent deaths in 10 days, including two teens killed in traffic accidents, two bodies found on the Palisades, a Hackensack man shot by police and an off-duty state trooper killed in a one-car accident.

But the round-up appeared designed to justify Editor Martin Gottlieb's frequent reliance on sensational crime and court news on Page 1 to sell newspapers.

And it served to obscure the laziness and incompetence of local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who seem unable to fill their section with legitimate municipal news (see Saturday's and today's Local sections).

Of course, every week is "deadly" in North Jersey, if you count heart disease, dementia, obesity and other causes the editors largely ignore year-round.

In the kitchen

Staff Writer Elisa Ung, who can't resist sampling artery clogging desserts for her weekly restaurant reviews, today brings us a long column on a celebrity pastry chef (BL-1).

That shuts out readers who would like to see The Corner Table column tackle the broken tipping system, restaurant owners who charge high prices for low-quality food and other consumer issues.

Christie: I'd beat Hillary Clinton just like I defeated Buono

Our weird weather hasn't ended. I encountered fog on Woodland Street in Tenafly on Monday morning.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie isn't even the GOP candidate, yet The Record today devotes a long front-page story to the wannabe president's saber rattling and talk of taking on China, Iran, Russia and Syria.

And buried deep in the story by Salvador Rizzo is the biggest laugh line of all:

The GOP bully said "he would be able to beat Hillary Clinton, if he decided to run for president, because it would be similar to the race he ran against another Democratic female senator, Barbara Buono" (A-6).

Who is this State House Bureau reporter, Rizzo? "Another Democratic female senator"?

Clinton was President Obama's first secretary of state, not "another Democratic female senator," and Buono was a state senator, not in the U.S. Senate, which is where the onetime first lady served.

By the way, the byline on the story says "Salvador," but a credit at the end of another Page 1 story says, "Salvatore."

Big defeat ahead

Christie is just setting himself up for the biggest humiliation of his political life, if he thinks beating Clinton would be as easy as his 2013 defeat of Buono, who was put up as a sacrificial lamb by the sheepish state Democratic Party.

For one thing, Christie was so desperate for a second term he exacted political retribution against Democrats who didn't endorse him for reelection.

And all the reporting on politics by Charles Stile of The Record and other media turned off registered voters to the point that fewer than four in 10 cast ballots in the gubernatorial race -- the lowest turnout in history for such an election.

Obama in Camden

The president visited Camden, showing the kind of leadership in addressing police violence against blacks that Christie could never display (A-1).

In fact, Christie, from his second home in New Hampshire, belatedly referred to all of the gun violence in Paterson, where three young blacks were gunned down in drive-by shootings in about 15 months.

Christie said he is ready to work with Paterson to create the same kind of community policing credited with cutting crime in Camden.

But the last of the three blacks slain in Paterson, basketball star Armoni Sexton, 15, died about a month ago, so why is Christie just now making the offer?

Teaneck horse

Multimillionaire Ahmed Zayat was born in Egypt and owns race horses, including American Pharoah.

But Zayat, a Sephardic Jew, has lived among other Orthodox Jews in Teaneck for 30 years.

Now, the editors are making a half-hearted effort to show township residents are behind him and his horse, and are rooting for American Pharoah to win the Triple Crown (L-1).

That's likely because twice on the front page recently, victories by the horse have been called "wins" for Teaneck. That's preposterous.

The story by Mary Diduch reports Zayat Stables are in Hackensack. Boy, does that make me feel good.

And I got a good laugh out of her first line: "Bergen County isn't exactly horse country."

Of course it is. 

The Bergen Equestrian Center at Overpeck Park, Leonia, has a long history, and many Bergen residents actually stable their horses there and ride them frequently.

A second county horseback riding facility is in Franklin Lakes.

Here's a line that is irrefutable: 

Local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza -- who assigned this stupid story to a clueless reporter and then embarrassed themselves no end by missing her ridiculous first sentence -- are horse's asses.

Better Living

Today's story on the popularity and health benefits of olive oil omits one important fact:

Unlike the vast majority of corn, soy and rapeseed (canola) used in cooking oils, olives aren't genetically modified and olive oil doesn't contain GMOs (BL-2).

There is no explanation why this piece runs under the heading of 15 MINUTE CHEF.

Editors continue to ignore the issues facing voters

A rare sight at the Lincoln Tunnel: Hardly any waiting at the tollbooths.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With only two weeks to go before the Nov. 4 election, readers aren't seeing much coverage of the issues -- what the candidates believe in and what they propose to do to help New Jersey and the region.

Stories about candidates on A-3 and L-1 of The Record today reflect the editors' continuing obsession with politics.

Two other stories, on L-3, do involve a rare discussion of issues.

Bare-bones coverage

The Record's editors and reporters have never liked covering elections.

Years ago, coverage of school board elections was reduced to briefs -- four or five paragraphs -- and only contested elections merited a full-fledged story.

Is it any wonder hardly anyone votes in those elections, despite all of the property taxes that go to run the schools?

Cho v. Garrett

The Record didn't bother covering a candidate forum and debate in Ridgewood on Monday night, when Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, was a no-show.

In an e-mail to supporters, Democratic challenger Roy Cho said, "Scott Garrett has millions in campaign funds from lobbyists and special interests, but our campaign relies on grassroots support from people like you."

Garrett, one of the most conservative members of Congress and a Tea Party idol, is seeking a seventh term from the 5th District, which includes Bergen County.

Idiotic editing

A perfect example of the editors' dislike of elections -- and their contemp for voters -- appeared on the front page of Saturday's paper, in the very first paragraph of a story about a Fort Lee man who sells T-shirts that portray Russia's leader in a positive light.

I can't imagine why any editor would approve this introduction:

"NEW YORK -- Julius Kacinskis does not consider himself political -- he does not even vote."

Since when is voting a political act?

Hey Staff Writer Mary Diduch, if you vote for a candidate who believes in equal pay for women, is that political?

How about if you vote for a president who wants all of us to have health insurance to help reduce the charity care burden on the nation's hospitals?

That's not "political," even if you and the other pea brains at the Woodland Park daily say so.

What Marty believes

If you want to know whether elections are important to Editor Martin Gottlieb, take a look at Page 1 today:

Just above the fold we get the breathless news that Saks Fifth Avenue will be closing its store in The Shops at Riverside in Hackensack (A-1).

This is Gottlieb's way of keeping the focus off of the struggling downtowns of many communities, including Hackensack's.

That's especially egregious, given how the departure of North Jersey Media Group and The Record from 150 River St. sent the city's Main Street into a tailspin.

Local goes tabloid

The biggest local news in the paper today?

It leads L-1 -- the arrest of "a Paterson civic leader and former school board member" after police allegedly saw him leave a motel with a 12-year-old boy.