From great local journalism to hawking 'luxury' apartments

UNDER CONSTRUCTION: The first of 5 apartment buildings planned for 150 River St. in Hackensack -- where The Record and North Jersey Media Group were located -- is under construction, below. The roughly 20-acre building site is between River Street and the Hackensack River. The rendering is from JLL Capital Markets.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Generations of the Borg family prospered in Hackensack for roughly 110 years operating The Record and North Jersey Media Group.

Then, Stephen A. Borg pushed aside his father, Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and took over as publisher in 2006.

By 2009, he had moved printing of The Record and Herald News to Rockaway, executed the largest downsizing in the once-great local daily newspaper's history, closed 150 River St. and decamped to Woodland Park.

The younger Borg also ended separate local news sections for Bergen and Passaic counties, and often news of Paterson, Wayne and other communities would dominate the single Local section.

That saved newsprint, but alienated Bergen readers and reduced circulation.

Sells out to Gannett

Then, in July 2016, he sold the family's publishing company to Gannett for nearly $40 million in cash, and laid plans to become an apartment developer, using 19.6 acres cleared of The Record's landmark headquarters and parking lots as his building site.

Now, the Borgs' Fourth Edition Inc., with a nearly $49 million construction loan and two partners, has begun work on the first of 5 buildings with a planned total of 654 units.

The first building of these so-called luxury apartments is sited roughly where The Record's executive offices were located, as well as circulation, advertising and the 4th-floor newsroom.

Think of this: 

Tenants of luxury apartments will be moving their bowels on the site of a great local daily newspaper Stephen Borg helped turn to shit.

Read: Japanese conglomerate

 is ultimate owner of The Record, (201) magazine

Read: Shit in my driveway: 

The Record was delivered to us by mistake

Read: Malcolm A. 'Mac' Borg

 settles porn-suit allegations

Gannett's 'great new look' for print edition means a lot more white space, far fewer stories and much less news -- period

Today's New York Post cover  reports that after Ivanka Trump appeared on Sunday's "60 Minutes" with her father the president-elect, her jewelry company sent out an email blast to fashion reporters about her $10,800 bracelet.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The payroll-slashing Gannett Co. today springs a surprise makeover of The Record's print edition on readers who were already wondering where all the local news went.

Page 1 carries only three stories -- compared to eight stories and briefs on Tuesday's A-1 -- and a cleverly worded Gannett  promotion to mask how the changes will reduce content even further:

"More great news, great new look."

Local or Section L carries only a handful of local-news stories -- if you don't count 2.5 pages of death notices -- and those stories are outnumbered by wire-service and staff stories in an expanded Business section.

In addition to employing a great deal of white space and larger photos, Gannett even revised page numbers: A-1 becomes 1A, L-1 is 1L and so forth. 

Under The Record masthead on Page 1, Gannett has replaced the Borg family's boastful but inaccurate motto -- "North Jersey's Trusted Source" -- with the address of the North Jersey.com website.

Staff slashed

The editorial changes coincide with Gannett cutting in half the remaining 426 positions at North Jersey Media Group.

That resulted in a great many retirements among employees in their 60s who received only one week of severance pay for each year of service.

And production of The Record was moved from Woodland Park to a Neptune design center, where six other Gannett New Jersey dailies are put out in the headquarters of the Asbury Park Press.

NJMG publishes The Record, Herald News, (201) magazine, a reduced number of weekly papers and North Jersey.com, which was revised on Tuesday.

Those reporting and editing staffs have been consolidated in Woodland Park.

In July, Gannett, the nation's largest newspaper publisher, purchased The Record and other NJMG assets from the Borg family for a reported $40 million.

Borgs have returned to Hackensack as the Fourth Edition

The former headquarters of The Record at 150 River Street in Hackensack are expected to be torn down after the Borg family sell 19.7 acres to an apartment developer. The city has already designated the land for redevelopment. The old staff entrance is shown above.

The bus shelter, left, was supposed to be used by employees after smoking was banned inside the building.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After selling North Jersey Media Group to Gannett for a reported $40 million in July, the Borg family have formed a new company and returned to Hackensack, where their flagship paper, The Record, was headquartered until 2009.

The new company, Fourth Edition, retained the pension and retirement funds, and starting this month, pension checks were issued under its name.

Little else is known about the company, including its address in Hackensack.

The Borgs still own 19.7 acres along River Street in Hackensack that are expected to fetch $20 million to $30 million when sold to an apartment developer.

The property is held by Macromedia Inc., according to city tax records.

The privately held Macromedia was set up in 1921.

Front pages

From the looks of Page 1 today and Friday, Editor Deirdre Sykes and her minions started their Labor Day weekend on Thursday.

This coming Tuesday, Sykes will be replaced by one of Gannett's super editors after only seven months in the job, and will assume what the company calls "a new leadership position in the newsroom."

Healthy eating

Readers who watch their weight and cholesterol might question why the entire Better Living cover today promotes the grilling of artery clogging food, including pork ribs, Chinese long beans with butter and chicken with sour cream (BL-1).

Meanwhile, the only healthy recipe -- for grilled catfish -- appears on BL-3.

Friday's paper

Below the fold on Friday, two stories explore attempts to right historic wrongs.

Three Korean men rode their bikes across the country to Palisades Park to "honor" women who were sexually enslaved by the Japanese army before and during World War II.

Next to that story on Friday's A-1, The Associated Press reported Georgetown University will give preference in admissions to descendants of slaves the Jesuit-run institution sold.

Keystone Kops

Thanks to all of those shopping centers, Paramus homeowners pay some of the lowest property taxes in Bergen County.

But in terms of police protection, residents are getting shafted, according to a shocking story on Friday's Local front.

Staff Writer Melanie Anzidei reports that police apparently have thrown up their hands over "a spike in residential burglaries."

On Thursday, Deputy Chief Robert M. Guidetti issued yet another "alert" to residents and gave them advice on how to protect their homes, such as locking doors and windows "when away or while sleeping."

Seventeen residential burglaries were reported since January, but 13 of them occurred between May and August.

Gannett replaces editor who spent years fighting way to top

In this Jan. 29 photo from NorthJersey.com, newsroom staffers applauded the promotion of Deirdre Sykes, left foreground, to editor of The Record of Woodland Park, succeeding Martin Gottlieb, center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Deirdre Sykes of Harrington Park worked in nearly every desk job in The Record's newsroom before she was promoted in January to top editor of the daily paper she joined in 1987.

Now -- exactly seven months later and less than two months after Gannett Co. bought The Record -- the announcement came that Sykes will be replaced on Sept. 6.

Sykes, who is in her 60s, will be given "a new leadership position in the newsroom," according to NorthJersey.com.

Richard A. Green, who was president and publisher of The Cincinnati Inquirer and The Des Moines Register, will become vice president/news and editor of The Record, replacing the second woman to serve as editor.

In a second appointment announced by Gannett, Nancy A. Meyer, 52, formerly publisher and CEO of the Orlando Sentinel Media Group, has been named president of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record.

Worked overnight

Sykes joined The Record in 1987, when it was an afternoon paper headquartered in Hackensack, editing stories, and writing headlines and photo captions on the copy desk overnight shift -- the most thankless job in the newsroom.

She held numerous jobs over the years -- not all of them promotions -- including Passaic County bureau chief in Wayne, state editor, and day and night news editor, but she always managed to return to a position of control.

Her last job before she was named editor on Jan. 29, 2016, was as assignment director in charge of local news, the Trenton staff and the paper's mediocre news columnists.

Her salary at the time was believed to be $100,000 annually.

Her grandfather was John J. Walters, mayor of Harrington Park in the 194os.

Decline in local news

In her years as head assignment editor, Sykes named Staff Writer John Cichowski to the Road Warrior column, signaling an end to its usefulness to commuters, especially those who use mass transit.

Trenton staffer Charles Stile began writing a political column that appeared often on Page 1, and interpreted every burp, cough and fart from Governor Christie.

Despite Bridgegate, Christie's failed presidential campaign, his endorsement of wacko racist Donald J. Trump for president and more than 500 vetoes, Stile remains the GOP bully's chief apologist.

With Sykes as editor, The Record was the only major daily in the state that didn't call for Christie's resignation after his endorsement of Trump in February.

Mother Hen

Sykes also guided the reporting careers of Staff Writers Jean Rimbach, Lindy Washburn and others who formed a sisterhood under a woman who was widely viewed as a Mother Hen in the newsroom.

Meanwhile, local-news coverage declined, and in desperation, Sykes and her then deputy, Dan Sforza, began to fill holes with numerous accident and fire photos, Dean's Lists, long obituaries of obscure people, and crime and court news -- a practice that continues.

Incompetent local editors are now running the newsroom

Behold a colorful mural by local artists on Main and Bridge streets in Hackensack, above and below, where Choripan Rodizio, an Argentinian grill restaurant, and upper-floor apartments burned down on April 26, 2015. The fire originated in the restaurant.

The mural has upset some residents, who say city codes only allow a chain-link fence around vacant land, like the one across Bridge Street, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

There were two cakes at a farewell party on Thursday for Martin Gottlieb, the veteran head-in-the-clouds editor who ran The Record's Woodland Park newsroom for the last four years.

One was to wish bon voyage to Gottlieb, who is retiring to Paris, and the other was to celebrate the birthday of Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood, the North Jersey Media Group chairman who hired him twice -- in 1971 and 2011 -- 40 years apart.

Mac, who didn't give his age, is believed to be in his late 70s, and many noticed how the already overweight senior had added more unwanted pounds.

Cub to editor

Marty, who celebrated his 68th birthday on Jan. 10, began his long journalism career in 1971 as a cub reporter covering Bergen County towns for The Record, and ended it as top editor of a newspaper once known for its comprehensive local coverage.

At the party, Publisher Stephen A. Borg, Mac's son, had his cellphone glued to his ear, as usual.

And on Friday -- in a decision that had everything to do with money and nothing to do with journalism -- the younger Borg put the paper's failed local assignment editors in charge of the entire newsroom (Saturday's A-3).

Neither had strong  journalism credentials when they came to the paper.

Local yokels

Former head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes worked on a weekly before she was hired in 1987 as a night copy editor, one of the most thankless jobs in the current newsroom.

And Dan Sforza, who was her deputy, began as a lowly clerk in the old Hackensack newsroom right out of college in 1994.

Stephen Borg named Sykes as editor and Sforza as managing editor, and there is disagreement over whether either will be getting a raise.

The younger Borg imposed a freeze on raises for editorial assistants, reporters, copy editors and editors more than five years ago, when Francis "Frank" Scandale was the top editor.

Scandale was fired in late 2011, and Gottlieb arrived in January 2012 after taking a buyout at The New York Times, where he had risen to editor of editions in Paris and Hong Kong.

Always had Paris

That international experience proved to be a really poor fit at a local daily newspaper.

Readers in Hackensack and many other towns have seen coverage of their communities and schools decline drastically under Gottlieb, Sykes and Sforza.

The local editors scrambled every day to fill their thin, misnamed section, Local (see today's pathetic effort), as Gottlieb ran sports, politics and international news on A-1.

Searching in vain for municipal news, readers eyes rolled at all of the filler -- long Dean's Lists, sensational crime and court news, and gee-whiz photo after of gee-whiz photo of non-fatal accidents and fires.

Then, they were pelted with mindless blather from that moron, Road Warrior John Cichowski, who refused to cover commuting issues, as demonstrated by his statistics-filled L-1 column today.

Sykes was known to keep a shit list, and to form bonds with Jean Rimbach and other women on the reporting staff whose bylines are few and far between, and that isn't expected to change.

A good front

On today's Opinion front, Gottlieb's farewell column explores the fantasy world of journalism he inhabits.

Gottlieb ignores the major newsroom downsizing imposed by Stephen Borg in 2008, the move out of Hackensack in 2009; and the decline in the quantity, quality and accuracy of local news under Borg's watch (O-1).

The biggest laugh line is Gottlieb comparing The Record's Mike Kelly to streetwise, big-city columnists Jimmy Breslin and Mike Royko, as shown by Kelly's exceedingly boring take on Atlantic City (A-1 today).

He praises many newsroom staffers by name, but offends just as many by not acknowledging their hard work during his reign.

The photo with Gottlieb's column shows him on Thursday with Mac Borg and two of his children, Stephen and NJMG General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg.

Typical A-1

Gottlieb's last front page on Saturday is typical of his reliance on sensational crime news and politics to sell the paper to an apathetic readership.

Gottlieb has been hitting readers over the head with coverage of the GOP candidates, including Governor Christie, even though Iowa voters have failed to choose the party's nominee in the last two tries.

Every story in the past year or two on the so-called presidential campaign has meant one less on the mess Christie has made in New Jersey, where he has ruled by executing more than 500 vetoes.

What did local readers get on Saturday?

Another long story, this time on the Local front, about a 6-year-old boy bitten by a rabid raccoon, and lots of news about crime or the courts.

The standing photo of a minor house fire appears on L-3.

Today's paper

"Deirdre Sykes, Editor" appears for the first time on today's editorial page, and her first Page 1 is a real snoozer. 

The package on Atlantic City's future couldn't be more irrelevant to North Jersey readers, who know all too well what a disaster casino gambling has been (A-1).

They will be sure to vote down any attempt to bring casino gambling to the Meadowlands, a desperate move The Record seems to be behind.

Yet another crappy Christie column from Charles Stile, the governor's chief apologist, also appears on Page 1 today.

The veteran Trenton reporter was sent to Iowa at great expense despite the newsroom-wide wage freeze, and I'll bet that is pissing off a lot of staffers. 

Local news?

The alleged husband-wife murder that led Saturday's front page is the biggest news on the Local front today (L-1).

Just below that is the burial of Messiah, 1; and Saniyah, 4, who died of carbon-monoxide poisoning, as did their 23-year-old mother, Sashalynn Rosa.

In a Thursday story, which reported Saniyah's death, the girl was said to be 3 years old. 

The exhaust pipe of their idling car, with the mother and children trying to keep warm inside, was blocked by snow on Jan. 23 as father Felix Bonilla Jr. tried to clear the vehicle after the blizzard.

Unfortunately, the story appears next to today's Road Warrior column, reminding readers how the inept Cichowski failed to warn about that common danger as readers tried to dig out their parked cars after the storm.

Today, Cichowski, as he has done many times before, begins his column with a bewildering non sequitur:

"It's cheap enough to fill a car's tank with gas these days, but the cost of road crashes remains higher than ever" (L-1).

And the Monthly News Quiz on L-3 today shows just how desperate Sykes and Sforza still are to fill the pages of Local.

Fat face?

The best dishes Elisa Ung ate this month show the reporter doesn't flinch from sampling mystery meat and a "chocolate-covered strawberry milk shake" in the name of food criticism (BL-5).

Her contemporaries also may eat such unhealthy fare, but she is out of step with most of her readers, who are far older and watching their weight, and their cholesterol and sugar intake.

That thumbnail of her chin poised over a wine glass is close to 10 years old, and many readers are speculating that her presumably fatter face wouldn't fit into an update photo.

Lack of security at public buildings, malls is really criminal

As a non-profit, Hackensack University Medical Center doesn't pay millions of dollars in property taxes. Yet, the medical complex in Hackensack gouges visitors and patients by charging $10 for valet parking, a service that is free at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center. 

Editor's note: Today's post has been expanded to comment on other stories in today's paper besides the attack that killed 14 in San Bernardino, Calif.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Would metal detectors or armed guards have prevented the worse mass shooting since the 2012 attack that killed 20 first-graders and six adults in Newtown, Conn.?

Would better security at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus have prevented a man with a rifle from invading the mall and firing random shots that panicked hundreds of shopper and store employees in November 2013?

After the mall rampage and the murder of 14 in San Bernardino, Calif., the police response was immediate -- and on Wednesday, massive -- but the damage had already been done.

Why aren't those police resources devoted to providing better security at malls and public buildings?

The United States sees a mass shooting -- the death of four or more people -- every day on average, according to the news media.

Yet, the tens of millions of dollars spent on equipping local, county and state police with tactical weapons and armored vehicles after 9/11 have rarely gone to preventing mass shootings or protecting our schools and shopping centers from gunmen.

After the Paramus rampage and suicide of the rifleman, The Record didn't question security provided by Westfield Garden State Plaza, because the mall is one of North Jersey Media Group's biggest advertisers.

Dated coverage

Today, The Record's front page is dominated by wire-service stories from California that are sadly out of date, when compared to this morning's radio and TV reports.

With fast-moving events, The Record and other print media are useless, especially when they cover mass shootings in the same old way.  

For example, none of the stories say whether there is any security at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, where the killings occurred during a holiday party of county employees.

You would have to watch TV news this morning to find out the masked, heavily armed gunman was Muslim and the woman who was killed with him in a shootout with police was his wife. They had a child.

They were identified as Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, a San Bernardino County employee, and Tashfeen Malik, 27, according the news reports.

Real estate news

Road Warrior John Cichowski put on his Realtor's hat today, going to bat again for three homeowners along a 1,000-foot stretch of Route 17 south in Waldwick (A-1).

That's where an out-of-control tractor-trailer crushed a patrol car on radar duty and killed Police Officer Chris Goodell in July 2014.

Cichowski criticizes state officials for not installing "horizontal steel and concrete barriers," such as those on the northbound side, to protect homes on the edge of the southbound roadway.

But the addled columnist doesn't question the wisdom of putting an officer in harm's way, when speed cameras could do the job just as well, nor the sanity of people who buy homes next to Route 17.

Basically, homeowners Jenny Ramirez Ayala, Allyson Cobin and Ed Tavitan saved tens of thousands of dollars when they bought homes no one in their right mind wanted.

Now, they couldn't give them away, so they're crying to Cichowski, the so-called commuting columnist.

Local news

Bergen County readers find Passaic County news on every page of today's Local section, making them wonder why Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza couldn't find more stories relevant to the lives (L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6).

Three Paterson stories appear on L-3 alone.

Buying publicity?

What did the owners of American Cut Bar & Grill do to get Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, to write an upbeat story about their Englewood Cliffs restaurant, which is "slated to open in March" (BL-3)?

The silly headline: 

"Englewood Cliffs scores new restaurant"

The story is accompanied by a photo of rare "pastrami hanger steak," but Ung doesn't say whether the expensive restaurant will be serving naturally raised beef and other red meat.

As the chief restaurant reviewer, Ung betrays her readers by essentially rewriting a glowing press release months before she has had a chance to sample the fare and rate the service. 

NorthJersey.com calls Englewood assemblyman an 'ass'

The intersection that replaced the Little Ferry Circle doesn't allow drivers heading east on Route 46 to turn left onto Bergen Turnpike. Meanwhile, reconstruction of the bridge over the Hackensack River limps along, with only two of the four lanes open.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A NorthJersey.com story on a bill to help downtown businesses refers to a supporter, Democrat Gordon Johnson of Englewood, as an "ass".

The story, which was updated at 5:46 p.m. today, abbreviates the title before the lawmaker's name as "Ass."

Here is the paragraph as it appears on the North Jersey Media Group Web site:

"I don't think it will be a big boost, I think it will help," said Ass. Gordon Johnson, D-Englewood, a bill supporter who heads the committee. He said Bergen County is so heavily built up that he believes most towns under 10,000 residents would meet the development criteria."

The Record's style is not to abbreviate assemblyman before a name.

Here is a link to the NorthJersey.com story:

Bill to help downtowns gets OK 

Editors bury legal problems of a prominent Cliffs lawyer

A display of fall colors in Hackensack's Fairmount section.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Prosecutors say an Englewood Cliffs woman defrauded two Manhattan law firms where she was a partner out of $7.8 million, The Record reports today.

But in her defense, her lawyer blames the woman's husband, claiming he was leading a "dual life that included having a secret second family, and being a drug trafficker instead of a legitimate businessman."

Are you looking for the story on Page 1? 

You won't find it there, even though a lurid love-triangle murder trial and other sensational news are routinely splashed across the front page.

No. Something or someone must have told Editor Martin Gottlieb to bury the story about indicted lawyer Keila Ravelo, 50, of Englewood Cliffs.

So, readers might be surprised to find it leading today's Business page, way back in the Local news section (L-7).

Funny business

Calling this business news isn't sound journalism; it's funny business.

Yes. Lawyers seem to be a protected class at North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, where the litigious general counsel is Jennifer A. Borg, daughter of Chairman Malcolm A. Borg and big sister of Publisher Stephen A. Borg.

Stories about lawyers are routinely censored, especially when it come to reporting on fees of hundreds of dollars an hour that restrict access to the courts.

Story after story on multi-million dollar lawsuit settlements or jury awards carefully omit the hefty cut the judges  steer to the lawyers. 

And is there any move to rein in lawyers' hourly fees? How much pro bono work do wealthy lawyers really do? Did Governor Christie close all the legal aid offices in the Garden State?

Readers don't have a clue.

GOP bully

Gottlieb leads the paper today with Christie's presidential campaign -- it's on life support (A-1).

The GOP bully is a lawyer who often reminds us he once was a federal prosecutor, but he worries more about drug addicts than the New Jersey middle class he has savaged since taking office in early 2010.

And Gottlieb can't help politicizing a story on "smart gun technology" with a headline declaring:

Dems
rethink
smart
guns

Back away from
tough N.J. stance

I guess smart guns will save only Democratic lives.

Hackensack news

In Local today, the only news about Hackensack is a collision between two cars that caused minor injuries (L-1). 

Gee whiz. What a great photo. Would you look at the guy on the gurney.

Drive and eat

When readers in Hackensack and other central Bergen County towns see the address of the restaurant being reviewed today, they'll likely turn the page (BL-14).

Given the hassles of driving in North Jersey, where even a routine trip can turn into a nightmare, who wants to bumper-to-bumper during the rush hour to have dinner at the Craft House or any other restaurant in Suffern, N.Y.?

This is yet another appraisal from Staff Writer Elisa Ung, who knocks herself out exploring food on the fringes of the circulation area.

Keep in mind The Record picks up her hefty tabs, including all of those artery clogging dishes she seems to love, and reimburses her for mileage.

Dessert-obsessed reviewer pulls another bait and switch

An out-of-state driver almost missed the entrance to a cheap gas station on Route 4 east in Englewood on Wednesday afternoon, braking hard -- to a blast of horns from other motorists -- and turning into the last driveway near a hand car wash.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On The Record's Better Living cover, the beautiful yellow zucchini blossoms and the artful headline -- "GARDEN TO TABLE" -- are certain to pique the interest of readers who are trying to eat healthy when they dine out.

But inside, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung comes clean:

She recommends four dishes at Latour in Ridgewood that should be avoided by anyone watching their weight, cholesterol and the health of their arteries, including cheesecake, cheese souffle and Beef Wellington (BL-14).  

Those gorgeous zucchini flowers are "fried to a golden crunch" and "burst open to reveal a molten mix of brie, goat cheese and Parmesan" -- the first two are full-fat cheeses that many dairy lovers have crossed off their list.

Ung seems to cater to a minority of readers who, like her, are obsessed with dessert, and eat far more than they should, such as the two Pashman Stein lawyers shown in an L-3 photo on Thursday, Samuel J. Samaro and CJ Griffin.

Today's front page

I agree with an industry group that a police crackdown on commercial truck drivers is misplaced (A-1).

Editor Martin Gottlieb leads the paper today with another Road Warrior column that ignores the real menaces on highways -- the hundreds of drivers who speed, tailgate and cut off other motorists, as well as truckers.

Gottlieb also throws water on a feel-good story about a Paterson rapper who gave a free concert on Thursday by running an A-1 brief on a single city teacher who helped students cheat on a test in 2014 (A-1 and L-1).

And the wire-service retrospective on New Orleans 10 years after Katrina doesn't even mention the total failure of the Bush administration to safeguard and evacuate residents of the largely minority city during the hurricane (A-1).

Local news?

The full story on the suspended Paterson teacher leads Local today, testament to how little Bergen County news there is from Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

The drought on Hackensack municipal and education news continues.

Today, city residents received an email on downtown redevelopment, including the construction of an NJ Transit Regional Bus Terminal on land across the street from The Record's old headquarters.

The building at 133 River St. would include public parking and 90 to 148 residential units.

Bias suit

The lawsuit alleging discrimination against black employees in Englewood's Department of Public Works may surprise readers who rely on The Record for what they know about the city (L-1).

Englewood is a classic two-sides-of-the-tracks community where white residents send their children to private and parochial schools, ensuring the public elementary and middle schools are segregated.

Efforts at school desegregation have focused on Dwight Morrow High School.

Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, has lived on the city's East Hill for decades, but that hasn't resulted in any hard-hitting reporting about Englewood schools.

This week, NJMG's (201) magazine sent out an email promoting Dwight-Englewood, one of the city's expensive private schools, where Publisher Stephen A. Borg's son is a lacrosse standout.

Readers' eyes roll as columnists say, Get me rewrite!

Three of the crudely patched potholes on Euclid Avenue in Hackensack, between Prospect and Summit avenue, a block that some homeowners say hasn't been paved in 30 years.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Here's more evidence that Columnist Charles Stile of The Record is merely a Chris Christie presidential press secretary wannabe.

His boring Page 1 report that, yes, Governor Christie still is running for president comes a full day or more after Christie Tracker reporter Matt Katz of WNYC-FM and everyone else in the world came to the same conclusion.

Has anything a brash and confident Christie said in reacting to the George Washington Bridge indictments and guilty plea last Friday indicated otherwise?

Hey, Editor Martin Gottlieb, readers deserve better than another Stile political column that sounds exactly like every other mishmash he's filed in the last few years of speculation about the GOP bully's White House dreams.

Cop shoots dog

In journalism school, the lesson was hammered home: 

When a dog bites a man, that isn't news, but if a man bites a dog, you might have something.

Still, when a Wyckoff police officer investigating a burglary shoots a vicious German shepherd that lunges at him, that isn't Page 1 news (A-1).

If the Vukobratovic family wants to file a lawsuit, I am sure they will be able to find a hundred lawyers to take the case and their money.

But please shut up about dearly departed Otto, their dog, whose passing has gotten more ink in The Record than nearly every other dead human I can think of.

Selling out

The editors continue to cover store openings at North Jersey malls as if they are something more than payback for all of the advertising revenue flowing into the Borg family's North Jersey Media Group (A-1).

A couple of weeks ago, I walked through the wing of luxury stores at Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus, and saw no customers.

Salespeople with nothing to do were starting vacantly out plate-glass windows or gossiping with one another.

Today's story was written by poor Joan Verdon, a veteran reporter who has been stuck on the retailing beat for more years than she cares to remember.

Local news?

On the Local front today, Road Warrior John Cichowski again writes about a handful of NJ Transit rail commuters while neglecting the problems that affect tens of thousands of readers (L-1).