We're stuck with cronies, corruption, patronage, home rule

This 2012 photo from NJ.com focuses on the natural beauty of the Meadowlands.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today -- dominated by two articles on the 40th anniversary of the Meadowlands Sports Complex -- is about as exciting as watching paint dry.

A story on the pivotal role of young voters in the Nov. 8 presidential election completely ignores the real problem -- apathetic voters of all ages (A-1).

And Staff Writer Pat Alex repeats a common theme in media coverage of the presidential race -- that wacko racist Donald J. Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton "are among the most unpopular candidates in the history of modern polling."

The media adore polls -- unreliable indicators that allow Alex and other reporters to portray the contest between Trump and Clinton as a horse race.

And such coverage surely contributes to apathy among readers and voters, because The Record and other media refuse to focus on such issues as gender equality, a higher minimum wage and taxing the wealthy.

Local news?

Law & Order coverage is dominating local news again, as readers can see from today's lead story on Paterson's 11th homicide in 2016 (L-1).

And in recent days, the local editors have needed a long Dean's List to fill holes in news coverage (L-3).

L-3 also carries the Monthly News Quiz, which asks readers, "How well do you know what happened in N.J. and beyond?"

That's a question readers want to ask the editors and reporters who put out the pathetically thin Sunday edition and its Local section.

Margulies

Let's hope Margulies' cartoon on O-2 today doesn't become reality, though you never know with Governor Christie.

"Have you heard about Christie's Motor Vehicle Commission efficiency plan," a wife asks her husband.

"To automatically get a gun license when you renew a driver's license?"

Saturday's paper

Staff Writer Jeff Pillets could have gone deeper in his review of more than a decade of "missed deadlines and broken budgets" on publicly financed projects (A-1 on Saturday).

He shows how Trenton has left "the public on the hook for helping to fund failed or stalled projects," but doesn't explore a system of local and state government that thrives on cronyism, political patronage and corruption.

So, the story played next to it was no surprise:

To help his campaign, Trump tapped Bill Stepien, a former Christie crony "whose ascent in Republican politics was shot down by the politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge."

Rudy Van Gelder

Editor Deirdre Sykes probably has run more animal stories on Page 1 then the obituaries of prominent local residents.

But below the fold on Friday, she ran a story about a starving pit bull from Paterson next to the obituary for Hackensack native Rudy Van Gelder, who died on Thursday at 91.

Staff Writer Jay Levin and Carla Baranauckas, an assignment editor, called him "perhaps the most influential recording engineer in the jazz genre, who brought to life the sounds of such legendary artists as Thelonious Monk, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock and Freddie Hubbard."

The dog got better play, though.

And the Van Gelder obit erred on where he recorded Monk's "Hackensack" and other jazz classics.

The Van Gelder family home in Hackensack was on Prospect Avenue, not "Prospect Street." 

Schnitzel+

Kosher restaurants usually are more expensive, but do customers get food of higher quality than at non-kosher places?

In Friday's Informal Dining Review, Staff Writer Elisa Ung doesn't bother answering the question.

As is usually the case in her reviews, she doesn't say whether the kosher chicken and turkey served at Schnitzel+ in Teaneck are naturally raised.

And a photo of what she describes as a "huge platter" shows five falafel, a single pocket bread cut into four piece and some hummus. 

The price is an inflated $11.95.

Editors promote Kelly book, gas guzzlers, unhealthy food

An office building on Union Street in Hackensack, opposite John A. Earl Inc., has been torn down, and some residents believe apartments will be built there.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You'll have to read and read and read today's Page 1 column to find out what The Record's Mike Kelly means by "a new reality" in Israel, where four Jews were killed while praying in a synagogue.
In fact, the column is so poorly written and edited you'll have to turn to the continuation page and chose between two new realities he mentions:

The broken "trust" between Jews and Palestinians or "murders [that] seemed all too close and personal" (A-6).

The entire, murkily written column seems designed to promote a book Kelly wrote about a 1996 suicide bus bombing, which he mentions at the end of his overlong piece.

The book has been promoted by both (201) magazine and NorthJersey.com.

More Christie P.R.

Governor Christie's chances of getting the Republican presidential nomination get better play today (A-1) than the resignation of one of his closest advisers from a council that invests the state's $80 billion public employee pension fund (A-3).

An ethics complaint alleges Robert Grady allowed political contributions to Republican groups to influence investments.

Press hysteria

Instead of encouraging readers to take mass transit, The Record continues to scandalize the $1 lease between the Port Authority and NJ Transit, two public transportation agencies, for a commuter parking lot (A-1).

If NJ Transit had to pay $1.2 million a year for the land, the agency might have to raise fares.

Similarly, the business editors run a wire-service report noting "green cars" are the focus at the L.A, Auto Show, but no photos of Toyota's and Honda's emission-free cars are used on L-8.

Instead, an Audi with a 605-horsepower V-8 engine is featured.

Unhealthy recipes

Better Living editors continue to run the recipes of freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson, who specializes in turning healthy food like carrots and butternut squash into unhealthy dishes (BL-1).

All of her Thanksgiving recipes contain artery clogging butter or bacon (BL-3).

Second look

On Sunday, Road Warrior John Cichowski's column on a future form of mass transit was filled with errors, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"In his Sunday column, the Road Warrior provides a very dim-witted and mistake-filled report about the first ever, potential use by JPod Inc. of its privately funded, personal rapid-transit system with small overhead passenger pods in Secaucus.

"Road Warrior tried to convince readers that a JPod system designed to handle up to 1,000 passengers, at best, could have easily handled the crowds leaving MetLife stadium from the last Super Bowl.

"It would not have handled the large crowds since he forgot that he previously reported that there were 33,000 passengers that were trying to utilize the train system that day.

"Road Warrior claimed that construction for a JPod system would start no later than early next year since it would be easily approved by the Secaucus City Council.

"Secaucus administrators dispute his wild guess since no formal plans -- which are subject to reviews, delays and rejection by local, Meadowlands and state officials -- have been submitted.

Cichowski also described the system inaccurately as a "monorail." 

See: Road Warrior buries accuracy in Meadowlands

More speculative news for gamblers lands on Page 1

Fort Lee police closed the Route 4 approach to the George Washington Bridge without warning on Sunday morning, then after a delay of about 5 minutes, opened one lane. Serious accident? Carjacking? As I drove by, two police officers were standing outside of their cruisers, looking down at a large pothole.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What hold does Staff Writer John Brennan have on the clueless editors?

How did the former sports reporter get another speculative story on whether North Jersey will get a casino in a couple of years on Page 1 of The Record today?

Brennan -- honorary chairman of the Garden State chapter of Gamblers Anonymous -- has loudly talked up his Meadowlands stories for many years, wearing down local-news Editors Tim Nostrand, Deirdre Sykes and others.

His ridiculous stories on the racetrack and the possibility of casinos appear on the Local front and front page, aimed directly at gambling addicts.

Now, he's got Editor Marty Gottlieb in his grip, but that means the vast majority of readers have to turn the pages of the Woodland Park daily, looking for something relevant to their lives.

Local news

On the Local front today, a story on a Colombian festival moving from Hackensack to a larger Leonia site doesn't mention Englewood's annual Colombian celebration (L-1).

Two other stories report on express bus service to link Englewood with the Secaucus Junction rail hub (L-1), and the replacement of the shuttered Lincoln School and a firehouse with a $60 million residential/retail project (L-3).

'Children not at play'

But the small city already has built hundreds of apartments downtown and on both sides of Route 4, with no discernible positive impact on Palisade Avenue merchants.

The segregated Lincoln School was more than 100 years old when it was closed in 2008, and a plan to convert it into a recreation center was rejected by city officials, who cited the high cost.

More mass transit

Englewood continues to develop its mass transit, with the plan for the awkwardly named Bus Rapid Transit and making Englewood Hospital & Medical Center the terminus for NJ Transit's Hudson-Bergen Light Rail system.

Meanwhile, Tenafly has rejected light-rail service, and officials have cited residents' constitutional right to drive enormous SUVs into the city, pollute the air and waste fossil fuel.

Tenafly counts Publisher Stephen A. Borg among its wealthiest residents.

NJ Transit's electrified Hudson-Bergen Light Rail in Jersey City. Englewood hopes agency officials will extend the system to the hospital and medical center north of downtown.

Hospitals, police gird for 2014 Super Bowl

So many cars and SUVs will pack the roads of the Meadowlands during the Super Bowl a year from now, pedestrians will be able to walk on their roofs. (Dougtone)

The National Football League is giving hospitals and police departments a year to prepare for the fallout from next year's Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, The Record reported on Friday's front page.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of readers and hundreds of thousands of other North Jersey residents are planning cruises or other vacations during Super Tidy Bowl Week in 2014 to escape the traffic chaos that is sure to ensue.

The medical community will be beefing up hospital cardiac surgery units to perform emergency coronary by-passes on all those football fans who consume tons of artery clogging beef at tailgate parties.

Beer, vomit, piss

Meanwhile, police are planning hundreds of DWI patrols to cope with the oceans of beer that will be consumed and the resulting geysers of vomit and piss.

The culture of inebriation will be matched only by out-0f-control corporate greed exhibited by the football league, team owners and the conservative Fox Network.

Friday's Super Tidy Bowl story noted New Jersey has to face "the reality of living in the shadow of New York."

That's especially true with the state being mismanaged by Governor Christie, the GOP bully who lags behind New York State and city on gun control, mass transit and in so many other areas.

More A-1 errors

Editor Liz Houlton's copy desk screwed up big time again on Page 1.

On Friday, the A-1 box on insurance premiums, with a story on new state standards for building in flood zones, conflicted with other information printed on A-6, the continuation page.


But the information was inaccurate. (See "comments" at the end of this post.)

Christie surgery?


The best thing Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg could do for Christie is to finance bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese politician, not hold a fundraiser in his California home (A-3 on Friday).

Besides New York, California is putting New Jersey to shame (A-11 on Friday).

Gov. Jerry Brown has not only balanced that state's budget by raising the sales tax and the income tax on high earners,  he has committed to a $68 billion high-speed rail project.

Christie, on the other hand, killed two Hudson River rail tunnels, setting back the expansion of mass transit a decade, and continues to fight a tax surcharge on millionaires. 

Road whiners 

On Friday's L-1, Road Warrior John Cichowski continued to give voice to traffic whiners like Anthony Bernice of Hasbrouck Heights.

The column, which relies completely on reader e-mails, also contains the usual inaccuracies, according to a concerned reader:

"The Road Warrior's Jan. 25 column continues his unending efforts to mislead readers and make up or grossly exaggerate information to fill up his columns with some crazy "gripes" about everyday road issues.

"In addition to checking his math mistakes, I suggest someone use a calendar to correct Road Warrior's inability to judge how long ago major events occurred.

"The Record continues to sacrifice its own integrity if it cannot prevent these gross mistakes, some of which are inexcusable, such as not knowing it is 12 weeks and NOT 8 weeks, as the Road Warrior claims, since Superstorm Sandy.

"The Record should also NOT publish the rantings of anyone who "wants to blow their brains out" or fictitiously "cry" over frustrating, but trivial road matters. 

"It wouldn't take much for The Record to stop the Road Warrior's mistaken reporting."

The full -e-mail to management can be found on Facebook:

Standing up for road whiners 


Hackensack news

On Friday's L-3, a story reports four of the  Hackensack City Council's five members announced on Tuesday night they would not run for a new term.

A slate of candidates will be running, headed by John Labrosse, the sole incumbent seeking election. 

The story doesn't say what Labrosse has accomplished since he took office in 2009. 

Crumbs for readers

Staff Writer Elisa Ung is taking a break from restaurant reviewing -- hoping to lose weight after consuming hundreds of desserts -- but the new reviewer is as weak as she is when it comes to reporting on food origin.

In  Friday's Better Living, Bob Probert declares the food at The Kitchen in Englewood to be "remarkable," and said the veal rib chop "was the finest I've ever had."

But with chicken priced at $26 and that chop at $39, don't readers deserve to know whether the poultry and meat were raised naturally?

Horse manure

In today's Local section, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, deliver big news -- the signing of "a ceremonial beam" at the site of the new Meadowlands Gambling Addicts Racetrack grandstand (L-1).

Can't you just smell the manure?

The Local front also carries municipal news from Teaneck and Englewood, but nothing from Hackensack.

A filler photo on L-3 shows that a driver dying a slow death from eating McDonald's food escaped injury when the minivan's engine burst into flames.      

Editors need to clean up their act

Image via Wikipedia

Governor Christie plans to hire private highway snow plowers so he can vacation next winter in Florida without running into any flak.

Who is the infrastructure editor at The Record of Woodland Park?

Is it Editor Francis Scandale or head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes who champions all these Page 1 stories about garbage-dump cleanups, highway maintenance and the rest of the infrastructure crumbling around us? 

The EnCap project and cleanup have been a disaster from their beginnings more than a decade ago, so why are cost overruns and delays worthy of the patch on A-1 today?

Holes in their heads 

Is the privatization of highway pothole-filling and snow plowing all a task force could come up with to save the state money?

I guess Governor Christie is saying that with private plowers, he can spend weeks at Disney World next winter without having to worry about blizzards burying New Jersey.

The first paragraph of the lead front-page story today reports the state "has confirmed it is considering privatizing maintenance" of a section of highway, but the third paragraph quotes a DOT spokesman as saying the agency is "preparing to issue" a request for proposals.

Why is Staff Writer Karen Rouse hemming and hawing? "Preparing to issue" goes far beyond "considering," doesn't it?

Anyway, why such fussy and constipated language? This is Page 1, after all. Did her assignment editor look over the lead or just hit the spell-check program before sending the story to the copy desk?

Why not just say, The state may privatize snow plowing, etc., as the headline does? 

Judging from all the stories she writes from news releases and meetings, Rouse is another in a long line of transportation reporters who have followed the example of Dan Sforza in never riding buses or trains and writing about the quality of the service.

News potholes

Do Scandale and Sykes think readers are eager for all these process stories on garbage dumps and highway upkeep? Or are the editors and their sub-editors so desperate to fill holes on A-1 simply because they have no other legitimate news?

The third story on Page 1 raises an unanswered question: Where are the New Jersey celebrities lobbying state lawmakers on such important issues as obesity, education aid, and cuts to school-meal and health-care programs for low-income families?

Hey, Scandale and Sykes, are you telling us Queen Latifah, Martha Stewart, Tony Bennett and the others inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame (A-3) no longer give a hoot about the Garden State and all the havoc Christie is wreaking?

Let them eat cake

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung breathed a sigh of relief and had another slice of cheesecake to celebrate news that vegetable sprouts grown in Germany caused the E. coli outbreak that has killed at least 22 in Europe (A-7).

Ung hasn't eaten any vegetables or salad since she was hired in 2007.

What's hot in Local news?

Fish that eat mosquitoes, Peruvians voting in their nation's election, 50,000 hip-hop fans attending a Meadowlands concert and another infrastructure and process story, this one on Ramsey's water system (Local front).

Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood news? 

Be sure to breast-feed your babies, urges Englewood Hospital and Medical Center  (L-2). And a road dispute in Teaneck is blocking affordable senior housing (L-3).

That's all they wrote.

Mac Borg and mogul Jon F. Hanson share private jet

Image via Wikipedia

Look for Malcolm A. Borg's and Jon F. Hanson's private jet at an airport near you.

Editor's note: Since this post was written, Jon F. Hanson has been identified as one of Governor Christie's chief fundraisers, and his real estate company arranged the sale-leaseback of North Jersey Media Group's plant in Rockaway Township, where The Record and Herald News are printed.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Malcom A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, and his family are sharing a  private jet with Jon F. Hanson, a fellow multimillionaire who is Governor Christie's adviser on the New Jersey sports and entertainment industry, including the Meadowlands.

Hanson's recommendations for reviving the Meadowlands Sports Complex appear in a story on the Local front today -- only the latest in a series of stories on Hanson that have appeared recently in The Record of Woodland Park, NJMG's flagship publication.


At the same time, Borg has prevailed on Editor Francis Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes to keep stories on aircraft noise out of the paper, despite the impact all those private jets at Teterboro Airport have had on the quality of life of people living in Hackensack and other towns. 


I can just see some poor schmuck, awakened by another private jet roaring over his house, turning to his wife and complaining, "It's that scumbag Mac Borg again!"


Hanson is chairman and founder of The Hampshire Companies, a sponsor of real estate funds, and has 50 years of experience in the real estate industry.  

Borg, Hanson and Christie -- just three of the powerful men who nurture ties across publishing-journalism, real estate and politics, often hidden from public view.

A Web site listing recent sales by Freestream Aircraft Ltd. says a Citation Excel was "exclusively purchased on behalf of Mr. Malcolm Borg and Mr. John Hanson" (Hanson's first name is misspelled). 


The price isn't given, but Freestream sells jets that cost $10 million to $50 million.

Borg discusses the process of buying the plane in this testimonial about Rebecca Posoli-Cilli, president of Freestream's U.S. office in Hackensack:

"Rebecca’s sales team, but especially Rebecca, was the best thing that happened to us when my friend and I decided to sell our 1984 Citation III and upgrade into a late-model Citation Excel. She had the patience of Job in dealing with me, the lead partner, in the acquisition of our Excel. Without her, we would not have made the great choice we did. She found us a plane with 1100 hours that was 95% equipped with everything desired; she took care of all the pre-buy inspections and details; and she negotiated the upgrades to our avionics with Duncan Aviation.


"Without Rebecca, my friend [Hanson] and his family and my family and I would not be enjoying the wonderful convenience of having our own jet at our disposal. She was simply incredible on all counts, and I recommend her to any potential airplane purchaser without reservation."

• Malcolm A. Borg, Managing Partner – Trio Air Holdings, LLC

A reader commented on northjersey.com about Borg and Hanson in reaction to a Political Stile column that ran  on Jan. 23, 2011:

Sunday January 23, 2011, 2:32 PM - PaigeAve says:
"It also amazing how the prestigous Bergen Record and their insane strong defense for the metropolis of Teterboro, which endorsed County Exe.Donovans position on Teterboro, keep forgetting to mention that the owner of the Bergen Record Mac Borg has a conflict with his alleged sharing of a corporate jet with his BFF, John Hanson, who is a large Teterboro property owner and Christies goto guy on Meadowlands development."

See previous post, Did the Borgs meddle in the news?

The paper is an enthusiastic booster

Image via Wikipedia

There is more -- a lot more -- about the state makeover of the Meadowlands and Atlantic City all over the front page and inside The Record of Woodland Park today. In fact, the only other Page 1 story is about the first bear hunt in five years.


"Christie details bold plans," the subhead tells readers, putting the newspaper firmly in the corner of Governor Christie. That support is reinforced in an unusually long editorial (A-18). 

The edtorial calls Xanadu "arguably the ugliest structure in the state." Readers of The Record reserve that description for 150 River St., the paper's ghostly former headquarters in Hackensack -- once at the center of Publisher Stephen A. Borg's get-rich-quick scheme in the face of declining readership and ad revenue.

But nothing in today's coverage tells readers whether there is a relationship between Jon F. Hanson, the real estate mogul who headed the state advisory panel on gaming, sports and entertainment, and the Borgs, owner of North Jersey Media Group. Hanson is an ex-sports authority chairman who served as Governor Christie's chief fund-raiser.

I also question the wisdom of following the recommendations of the balding Hanson, who doesn't have the good sense to wear a Panama hat under the broiling sun (see A-1 photo). 

A second day of major coverage and it's still hard to tell when anything may happen to change the Meadowlands and Atlantic City. But what became clear today is that a number of North Jersey groups would likely lose casino revenue-sharing funds. 


Local leads with a story on late tax bills by Staff Writer Erik Shilling. The penultimate paragraph on L-6 reports incorrectly that Hackensack passed its budget "in June." I called the City Clerk's Office and was told the budget was adopted on July 13. The budget probably was introduced in June.

Hackensack reporter Monsy Alvarado apparently ignored passage of the budget, and I didn't see a story by her or anyone else in the paper on July 14, July 15 or any day since, although passage of budgets in Tenafly and other towns have been reported regularly.


Alvarado does have a story today on Hackensack high-rise residents being able to return to their apartments briefly (L-6), the sixth straight day of coverage of the parking-garage collapse. The previous record was five straight days of Hackensack coverage in April and May after Police Chief Ken Zisa was charged with fraud.


Since June 2009, Alvarado and head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Mother Hen" Sykes have allowed 28 days or more to pass on four occasions without a story of any kind about Hackensack.  But not reporting adoption of the city budget and tax levy is a new low for the pair in a long series of journalistic lows they have been responsible for.


On the seventh day of the latest heat wave, Local breaks its silence on the high temperatures this summer.

(Photo: Flag of Atlantic City.)