Editors testing readers' patience for unlimited holiday cheer

"Refugees" is from cartoonist John Cole. The Record and many other news outlets continue to ignore the carnage of the Syrian civil war, which began in March 2011; the role of Russia in keeping the regime in power and whether Russian President Vladimir Putin helped Donald J. Trump win the U.S. presidential election.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

We have much to celebrate during Christmas and Hanukkah, but the holidays aren't easing our nationwide anxiety with a Trump presidency just 26 days away.

Meanwhile, the Sunday edition of The Record is laying on the holiday cheer with upbeat columns and stories on nearly every section front, even though many of them are flawed.

For example, on Page 1, the enormous amount of space devoted to Nora Renzulli, a Wayne woman who volunteers to serve meals at Eva's Village in Paterson, ignores thousands of others who are just as dedicated (1A).

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski so-called Wish List for Santa is so heavily focused on drivers that he becomes a Road Scrooge for the tens of thousands who commute by train or bus (1L).

His lone reference to the midtown Manhattan Port Authority Bus Terminal as "a sardine-can relic" is inaccurate.

Nor does he know enough to call for more exclusive bus lanes to the Lincoln Tunnel as a way of providing immediate relief until a new terminal is built.

2016 election

An Associated Press story reports that polling after the November election found that "nearly two-thirds of voters described the [strong] economy as 'not so good' or 'poor' (16A).

But the AP ignores whether racism and misogyny were among the real reasons they voted for Trump.

On the Opinion front, a long piece by Merrill Brown, director of the School of Communication and Media at Montclair State University, argues a Trump administration will test news organizations as never before (1O).

However, Brown doesn't discuss how the news media's intense focus on state and national politics -- as opposed to policies, issues and what's good for the state or country -- is the biggest possible disservice to voters.  

Future of Gannett journalism: 5 times more ads than news

NJ Transit buses in the exclusive lane to the Lincoln Tunnel are driven against the flow of westbound traffic during the morning commute. The Port Authority has ignored calls for a second XBL, as the lane is called, and never explained why exclusive bus lanes don't operate in the evening, too.

For decades, this portion of Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel has been called the helix. On Wednesday, The Record's so-called commuting columnist labeled it a "bridge," and raised an alarm about a rehabilitation project that won't start until late next year at the earliest.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I might actually try reading the Thanksgiving Day edition of The Record now that I've caught my breath after wrestling with what felt like 5 pounds of advertising inserts.

I quickly bundled them up for recycling, along with Sports, leaving me with four news and feature sections, containing pages that appear to carry more advertising and less news than before Gannett redesigned the print edition.

Stephen A. Borg, the former publisher, was no slouch when it came to advertising and marketing, and he even created a North Jersey Media Group unit that staged food-truck and other events.

Those events were promoted in the paper and covered by the news staff.

With the sale of NJMG to Gannett for a reported $40 million in July, the Borgs now call themselves Fourth Edition Inc., and work out of their old offices in Woodland Park.

Today's paper

It's front-page news when President-elect Donald J. Trump doesn't appoint another middle-aged white man or white supremacist to his Cabinet (1A).

Today's A-section has news on 4A, 8A and 9A that would normally appear in Local.

Local news?

Since Gannett let go more than 200 NJMG employees, reporters and editors for daily and weekly papers now work out of the same newsroom.

That means readers of the local-news section have been seeing many unfamiliar bylines, which belong to reporters from the weeklies.

Generally, they are younger and less experienced, and make a lot less money than reporters for The Record and Herald News.

Wednesday's paper

Staff Writer Christopher Maag, who covered NJ Transit and the city of Hackensack for The Record, had a Page 1 byline on Wednesday that identified him as "columnist."

No thumbnail photo of Maag appeared, as with The Record's other columnist. 

His story on "one family's journey from Syria to Paterson" is a tearjerker, especially if you've been following the horrific news from Aleppo and other towns that are being destroyed during the civil war.

The focus was on Ghussoon Zouabi, 39, who recalls the food shortages in Syria and who has been cooking non-stop since she arrived in South Paterson for her family, for the homeless and for others.

"When we got to my parents house [in Paterson], the kids opened the fridge and pulled all the food out and ate it. I sat on the floor and cried."

Zouabi arrived in the United States in March 2013. 

Last year, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Governor Christie called for a ban on all Syrian immigrants to New Jersey, including children, but it has been widely ignored.

Route 495

Staff Writer John Cichowski appears to be the only columnist who continues to use a dated thumbnail photo, which is probably a decade old.

On Wednesday's Local front, his Road Warrior column quotes commuters who use Route 495 to the Lincoln Tunnel.

But Cichowski isn't concerned about congestion in the exclusive bus lane, the lack of rush-hour seats on NJ Transit buses or how Route 495 was closed for an hour in each direction when Trump left Manhattan for his New Jersey golf club last week.

Instead, the addled reporter looks more than a year ahead to the start of a major rehabilitation of the Route 495 helix, which he refers to as a "bridge" (1L).

Amen to today's editorial: 'Trump cannot trump' free speech

This cartoon from Rayma Suprani is a reminder U.S. news media have reported President-elect Donald J. Trump's frequent praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but never reminded Americans that Putin's bombers are killing innocent civilians in Aleppo, Syria, and prolonging the civil war.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The negative reaction to an actor in "Hamilton" reading a prepared statement from the cast to Vice President-elect Mike Pence makes you wonder if we're still living in a country founded on free speech.

For example, among the letters to the editor of The Record today, Paul Ferrantino of Wanaque claims that "as a retired professional actor, I am embarrassed by the behavior" of the "Hamilton" cast (8A).

Though he doesn't name him, Ferrantino goes on to criticize actor Brandon Victor Dixon:

"Taking advantage of a captive audience, which included the vice president-elect of our United States, in this way was nothing more than a dirty trick, or at the least, an unfair way to espouse one's political views."

"Dirty trick" or "unfair"? No way.

Civics lesson

The Record's unsigned editorial on the brouhaha ends with the forty-five words in the First Amendment to the Constitution:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

The First Amendment is a reminder that President-elect Donald J. Trump was wrong to tweet his demand for the actor to apologize.

Today's editorial puts it this way: 

"... No free pass is given on matters related to the First Amendment. The pun is intended. Trump cannot trump that. There is no [political] honeymoon for stomping on free speech" (8A).

Cast statement

The prepared statement from the hit show's cast "raised the concerns of people of color, of immigrants and of the LGBT community that the new administration may not do them right," as the editorial puts it.

"We truly hope," the actor told Pence, "that this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us."

Good luck with that, given all the hate speech Trump indulged in during the campaign.

But who can blame the cast for seizing the opportunity to speak directly to the vice president-elect in the hope the message will be delivered to the Dictator-In-Chief?

What a paper!

The main element on Page 1 today demonstrates how U.S. Customs officials have bamboozled another reporter into writing a story on "banned foods" international visitors supposedly hide in their suitcases (1A).

"Hundreds of pounds" of contraband are destroyed each week at Newark Liberty International Airport, the story reports.

Is that really worthy of a front page that has only three stories on it?

Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado is no kid just out  of journalism school, but you won't find a word about any actual harm foreign pests or animal diseases have wrought in the United States.

Customs officers should concentrate on stopping illegal drugs and guns from entering the country, and not obsess over worms in Portuguese chestnuts.

Another big weakness in the story is Alvarado never explaining why visitors bother to stuff their luggage with foods that are widely available in supermarkets and specialty stores in ethnically diverse New Jersey.

Local news?

In Local today, Bergen County readers find stories from only seven of the 90 communities in The Record's circulation area, including three from Paterson and two from other Passaic County towns.

And many readers note with horror that error-prone Staff Writer John Cichowski -- aka Road Warrior or is it Road Worrier -- apparently decided not to follow the example of many other staffers his age who retired during last week's drastic Gannett downsizing (1L).

Monday's paper

If they read The Record, commuters who ride NJ Transit buses into the city don't know whether a new midtown bus terminal is on or off.

The latest episode in blow-by-blow coverage ran on The Record's front page on Monday, when Staff Writer Paul Berger reported on a "feud" between the Port Authority board chairman -- an appointee of Governor Christie -- and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (1A).

With actual construction of a new terminal many years away, wouldn't it be nice if Berger tried to explain why there are no rush-hour seats on NJ Transit buses and why officials don't add more exclusive bus lanes into and out of the Lincoln Tunnel.

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.

Christie's war against mass transit, columnist without balls

A view of the Hackensack River from the parking lot behind the White Manna on River Street in Hackensack

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Page 1 of The Record today and Saturday detail the sad state of roads, bridges and public transit, but the editors refuse to point their fingers at Governor Christie.

Since 2010, the GOP bully pulled the plug on the original Hudson River tunnels; threatened repeatedly to veto a modest hike in the gas tax to fund road repairs and rail improvements; and did nothing to force the Port Authority to add bus-only lanes into the Lincoln Tunnel.

Today, readers have to plow through paragraph after paragraph in a long, tedious story before Staff Writer Paul Berger comes clean on A-9.

That's when he reports the "$1.8 million in Port Authority funds" he mentions in the lead paragraph on A-1 was mass-transit money left over from the first Hudson River rail-tunnels project (A-1).

Berger doesn't even mention other tunnel-project money Christie misappropriated from NJ Transit before he started cutting millions in state subsidies, forcing the mass-transit agency to raise fares and cut service.

Why 'ambitious'?

On Saturday's A-1, why did Staff Writer Christopher Maag call a fuel-tax plan to raise $20 billion over 10 years "ambitious"?

You'd expect that description from Christie, whose threats to veto any gas-tax increase forced legislative leaders to include a phase-out of the state's estate tax and deductions on some charitable contributions.

New Jersey's Transportation Trust Fund is expected to run out of money by the end of the month.

Maag reports the proposals "could increase the cost of gasoline by 23 cents a gallon ... still less than the amount charged by neighboring states, including New York and Pennsylvania."

Saturday's paper included three sections of advertising from car dealers, so The Record's editors likely have been ordered not to report higher gas prices would be good for the environment, if people drove less, bought fewer SUVs and pickup trucks, and turned to hybrids and all-electric cars instead.

Local news?

Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to betray older drivers like himself with yet another column on cellphone-addicted teens (L-1).

In the 12-plus years he's been writing his column, hundreds of seniors have mistaken the gas pedal for the brake pedal, often with fatal consequences.

Cichowski's reaction has been to urge older people to give up driving, and take one of the few ride services available. 

'Me, me, me'

Why does Mike Kelly's Opinion front column on Donald Trump and "labels" begin with the veteran reporter screaming, "Me, me, me"?

"Some years ago, I knocked on the front door ... where Al Sharpton was living," Kelly says in a first paragraph guaranteed to put the reader to sleep (O-1).

"Some years ago"? That was more than 25 years ago, when a white Teaneck police officer shot and killed a black teenager.

When Kelly eventually gets to the billionaire racist demeaning the judge hearing the fraud case against Trump University as "Mexican," all the columnist can manage is to call it "deplorable" (O-4).

Where are Kelly's balls?

He then goes on to declare "this presidential sweepstakes has become another journey into America's racial divisions," and in the process, offends supporters of Hillary Clinton.

The columnist describes "Trump's smarmy decision to reach out to white, working-class voters and ... Clinton's equally smarmy courting of African-Americans" (O-4).

Editors must blast Christie for making NJ Transit a business

An NJ Transit train in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Whether you commute by car, bus or train, you have been screwed royally by Governor Christie.

And I'm not just referring to toll and rail-fare hikes, increasing traffic congestion, and unsafe roads and bridges.

In less than six years, the GOP bully has managed to turn mass transit from a service with uncounted benefits to society -- from cutting air pollution to boosting worker productivity -- into a business that must pay its own way.

Readers can see the change in The Record's coverage of the Port Authority, NJ Transit and the nearly bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund on Friday, Saturday and today.

$25B for debt

On the Opinion front today, the sordid history of the state's Transportation Trust Fund is laid bare by Janna Chernetz of the Tri-State Transportation Campaign (O-1).

The fund, created in 1984, is how "New Jersey pays for all things transportation, including repairs to roads and bridges, keeps the trains running, builds sidewalks, makes roads safer for all users -- and it's broke."

Christie promises

But Christie largely broke his 2011 funding promise, "resulting in more debt and the use of unsustainable one-shot gimmicks to meet annual funding levels," Chernetz writes.

"As a ... result, the state is currently on course to pay $1 billion annually for debt through 2041."

After a recent contract deal with NJ Transit rail workers, Christie raised the spectre of another fare hike-- on top of the 9% hike last October to help make up his own cuts in state subsidies to the  agency.

And it was clear Christie is treating the state's mass-transit agency as just another business that would be forced to hike prices to pay for raises and health-care coverage won by NJ Transit's unionized rail workers.

Editors buy argument

"Wages go up, health costs go up for employees, other costs go up and there is always going to be the need for periodic fare increases," Christie said, winning support from The Record.

But no mass-transit agency in the country should be expected to make a profit or even break even.

In return for investing in efficient and affordable bus and rail service, we take cars off the road, cut air pollution, slow climate change and improve worker productivity.

Still, The Record hasn't challenged Christie's deep cuts in state subsides to mass transit or his repeated threat to veto a gas-tax increase to bring stable funding to the Transportation Trust Fund.

Today's paper

Editor Deirdre Sykes' front page is filled with long, boring think pieces on everything from Atlantic City casinos to opiate addiction in North Jersey to whether the white police chief in Wyckoff is biased against minorities (A-1).

If you missed the flurry of stories about Wyckoff Chief Benjamin Fox, see Mike Kelly's news-in-review column on O-1 today.

That's what happens when Sykes can't rely on stories about terrorism in Belgium (A-12).

Local news?

Leading Local today is another ditzy Road Warrior column about a road project, and this one won't be finished until 2022 (L-1).

But don't worry if you live in Bergen County, as the vast majority of readers do, because you can circumvent the mess by using other roads and highways.

Editors are turning front page into a dog-and-pony show

Finally, two eastbound lanes are open on the Route 46 bridge over the Hackensack River, above, more than 19 months after work began to eliminate the Little Ferry Circle and rebuild the span. One westbound lane remained closed with cones on Saturday. The project created a major traffic bottleneck.

Now, drivers on Bergen Turnpike, above, have two left-turn lanes that lead to the eastbound lanes of the Route 46 bridge.

On Route 46 in Little Ferry, drivers can use turn lanes in each direction. Above, drivers preparing to turn left into Bergen Turnpike. A letter to the editor of The Record today misidentified the intersection as Route 46 and "South River Street" (O-3).

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors -- seemingly unable to find local news worthy of Page 1 -- today waste a huge amount of space on a 9-year-old girl "boxer" from Bergenfield.

The story by Staff Writer Colleen Diskin doesn't explore why for the past two years, Pedro Silva has been pushing daughter Jesselyn into a brutal sport with the potential of horrific injury and death (A-1 and A-8).

Editor Deirdre Sykes, who once ran The Record's thin local-news section, showed even more desperation last Wednesday, when two show dogs from a small Bergen County town landed on A-1.

Sykes continues to preside over a weak municipal-news report -- whether it's rooted in a shortage of staff, laziness or sheer incompetence.

Local or loco?

On the front of Local today, John Seasly, whose byline has appeared over two Hackensack stories recently, writes about skiers in Mahwah (L-1).

The section carries municipal or school news from Fort Lee, Teaneck and several other towns, but nothing from Hackensack.

An entire story is devoted to the 40-year-old elevator at West Milford High School, even though the paper has never reported on the frequent breakdowns of the elevator at Hackensack High School (L-3).

Strong tea, weak story

Tetley is only the second-largest manufacturer and distributor of tea, but the company gets millions of dollars worth of free publicity from Food Editor Esther Davidowitz today (BL-1).

What motivated Davidowitz and her bosses to run a story that is the journalism equivalent of dishwater?

Supreme waste

Another waste is a column about the friendship between Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia or what Mike Kelly calls a "lesson for our times" (O-1).

An editorial today states incorrectly that the Lincoln Tunnel has a "finite capacity for accommodating more buses" (O-2).

That's certainly the case as long as the Port Authority operate only one exclusive bus lane into the tunnel, and does so only on weekday mornings.

But the Lincoln Tunnel has six lanes in three tubes, so that leaves plenty of room for more buses from North Jersey -- as long as two exclusive lanes are operated both morning and evening.

Now, those lanes are clogged with cars that often carry only a driver. 

A rendering of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

Saturday's paper

The Record continued its one-dimensional coverage of mass transit on Saturday's front page with a story on the cost overruns at the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub.

Sykes and other editors continue to ignore the tremendous cost to society of an over-reliance on the automobile -- from increasing air pollution, sickness and disease to the tens of millions of dollars in lost productivity.

A new transit hub should be celebrated, if it means commuters leave their cars at home, and ride buses, ferries and trains.

The Port Authority is behind the $4 billion transit hub, but the bi-state agency is supported by tolls and fees from bridges, tunnels, air and seaports -- not taxpayer money.

What engages editors leaves most readers out in the cold

Between January 2009, when the original station house was destroyed in a fire, and March 2014, when a new Anderson Street Station opened in Hackensack, above, NJ Transit commuters relied only on bus shelters and ticket machines before boarding a train. A long Page 1 story in The Record on Monday never explained why commuters living in Wood-Ridge's Westmont section aren't being provided similar accommodations until a long-delayed train station opens there.

Actually, the Anderson Street Station is only a shelter open to the elements on two sides. Two small heat lamps are affixed to the ceiling. This morning, a banana peel, water bottle and other litter was evident, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Pity all of the commuters who were delayed this morning for more than 90 minutes at the George Washington Bridge tollbooths, twice the usual wait.

Meanwhile, packed trains and buses again forced many North Jersey riders to stand on the trip into Manhattan.

You'd think The Record's reporters covering the Port Authority and NJ Transit would have examined why these transportation agencies have been failing commuters for years.

NJ Transit could easily double the capacity of bus service into the city, if the Port Authority added a second exclusive lane into the Lincoln Tunnel during the morning rush.

And if those lanes were operated in the afternoon as well, homeward-bound commuters would face fewer delays leaving the antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal.

Too little, too late

Instead, transportation writer Christopher Maag wrote a long front-page story Monday on why a train station for residents of Wood-Ridge's Westmont section is years behind schedule.

Even though the piece went on and on, Maag never explained why, in the meanwhile, NJ Transit doesn't just set up bus shelters and ticket machines so commuters who moved into the so-called transit village finally can ride a train into the city.

And Staff Writer Paul Berger, the new Port Authority reporter, has actually written two stories on the agency's search for a new chief executive.

Today, Berger referees a pissing match between Newark and Port Authority officials over the agency's lease of Port Newark land (A-3).

None of those stories serve the large majority of North Jersey commuters stuck in traffic or standing in the aisles of buses and trains.

Today's front page

Page 1 today carries weighty stories on the front-runners for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, a newly independent state Alzheimer's group and the racially charged battle over affordable housing in New Jersey's home-rule communities.

And for some insane reason, Editor Martin Gottlieb is wasting readers' time with a story on the Dec. 14 police shooting of a man who crashed his car in Rochelle Park, and sat inside for more than five hours.

This is hard-hitting local news, Gottlieb must have insisted at Monday afternoon's news meeting, waking up local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who had planned to lead their section with this snoozer. 

Local news?

Still, once readers get a look at Sykes' and Sforza's local-news section today and see it's for the birds, they'll be rifling through the paper for something of real interest.

The biggest local news is the rescue of more than 200 birds from "deplorable conditions" in a Passaic city shop (A-1 and L-1).

Food follies

The Better Living cover today is devoted to more 2016 "food trends," an insult to readers who shop for food and eat out regularly (BL-1 and BL-2).

One is "fermented" cabbage, declares Staff Writer Sophia F. Gottfried, who bases her piece on what she was told by "North Jersey chefs and restaurant insiders."

I guess she has never heard of kimchi.

Huge mass-transit gains may come too late to bust traffic

Replacing the Port Authority's antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal, above; a $3 billion overhaul of New York Penn Station, and new tunnels and tracks to double the capacity of trains from New Jersey to Manhattan are among plans to expand mass transit in the metropolitan area. A story on Page 1 of The Record today reports that "with any luck," [new tunnels, tracks and bridges] "should be completed in the next 20 years."

Meanwhile, backward-looking residents of Tenafly have rejected the extension of NJ Transit's zero-emissions Hudson-Bergen Light Rail to their wealthy borough, meaning the new line would end at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in Englewood.

Editor's note: I wrote that today's story on the new Hudson River rail tunnels project is by Christopher Maag, the transportation reporter. But the takeout is by Paul Berger, and it's not clear whether he replaced Maag on the beat.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has ignored growing traffic congestion in North Jersey and at the Hudson River crossings for more than a decade.

Meanwhile, editors, reporters and columnists haven't addressed mass-transit crowding, including the lack of rush-hour seats on buses and trains, or challenged officials to expand capacity.

Some of these same reporters have written front-page stories on "highways of the future," and focused almost exclusively on opposition to the extension of NJ Transit's Light Rail to Bergen County.

Bigger, better

Now, Staff Writer Paul Berger reports the new Gateway tunnel-and-rail plan is far superior to the ARC project that Governor Christie killed in 2010, and will give many North Jersey commuters a coveted "one-seat ride" into Manhattan (A-1).

Of course, all of these grandiose plans ignore the Port Authority's continued refusal to expand the single reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel during the morning rush or operate it in the afternoon.

And traffic congestion certainly will get worse before it gets better, aggravating air pollution and leading to tens of millions of dollars in lost productivity.

Hospital deal

The front page today also carries another story on a bill requiring Hackensack University Medical Center and other non-profit hospitals to contribute to their host communities in lieu of property taxes (A-1).

HUMC and other hospitals fear more lawsuits, like the one Morristown filed, leading to a landmark state Tax Court decision that raised doubts about their century old property tax exemptions.

None of the stories by Staff Writer Lindy Washburn have said whether the bill, if it becomes law, would prevent Hackensack and other towns from filing lawsuits like the successful one against Morristown Medical Center.

That case was settled, and the hospital agreed to pay $15.5 million over 10 years.

Compare that to the $690,762 HUMC would be assessed under the proposal in the state Legislature.

Second look

Freelancer Michael J. Feeney's upbeat profile of Anthony Hutchinson -- Englewood's "healthy juice man" -- spent a good deal of time describing his celebrity clients, but contained no prices (Better Living cover on Wednesday).

Maybe, the suggestion is that ordinary people can't afford Hutchinson's fresh-pressed vegetable and fruit juices.

Still, readers welcomed the rare focus on health and nutrition from Food Editor Esther Davidowitz.

Opposite the continuation of Feeney's article on Wednesday was a recipe for Breakfast Tacos with 4 slices of artery clogging bacon from clueless freelancer Kate Morgan Jackson of Upper Saddle River.

On Page 1, editors make big deal out of small transit story

In downtown Englewood, this North Dean Street storefront has been vacant forever, perhaps a testament to the exorbitant rent demanded by the landlord.

Syros Taverna on Palisade Avenue in Englewood was virtually empty on Thursday around 6 p.m., as were many other nearby restaurant.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has had a long line of reporters too lazy to ride NJ Transit buses and trains, and report on the quality of service, as did top journalists who wrote subway columns for the New York City papers.

That may be why the Woodland Park daily ignored for months, if not years, long delays faced by North Jersey commuters who board buses for home at the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

And that's why The Record hasn't reported commuters from Bergen and Passaic counties often can't find seats on buses and trains during the morning rush.

Off the rails

Now, Christopher Maag, the latest in a long line of mediocre transportation reporters, goes on and on today about a decidedly minor transit story, the AirTrain at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The big-black headline is so wrong it's criminal:

AirTrain's demise

comes as no surprise

Few readers will plow through this history lesson to find out the AirTrain's "demise" or death isn't coming until at least 2022 (A-6).

The Port Authority may have squandered millions or billions of dollars on the monorail, but this bi-state agency isn't, after all, supported by taxes.

Patronage mill

What can you expect from an agency famous for cost overruns, one that is little more than a patronage mill for the governors of New York and New Jersey?

That's why Governor Christie apparently was able to get his cronies to shut down lanes on the George Washington Bridge, using the span to retaliate against Democrats who refused to endorse him for reelection.

Maag and the editors who give him his marching orders continue to ignore the biggest transportation stories of all:

The fallout from Christie's 2010 decision to pull the plug on Hudson River rail tunnels, and his refusal to back a higher gasoline tax to fund road and bridge repairs, and transit improvements.

Muslims, Syrians

Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin is so eager to breath life into Christie's dying campaign for the White House he completely forgets to mention the GOP bully wanted to bar all Syrians, even orphans, from entering New Jersey (A-9).

And he made that statement long before Donald Trump said he would bar all Muslims from entering the United States.

Local news?

Today's Local section carries two stories about Teaneck (L-1), and one on Englewood (L-3), but nothing from Hackensack, biggest of the three.

Staff Writer Stephanie Noda's piece on cleanup of the old police pistol range doesn't mention how the noise of early morning gunfire awakened hundreds of Englewood residents for years, especially those who worked at night in hospitals or on the copy desk of The Record.