A forgotten neighborhood only blocks from renewal

Look in any direction and you'll find a run-down neighborhood of homes, rooming houses, small warehouses and a large, empty lot only blocks from Hackensack City Hall and the State Street renewal plan headlined in The Record's Local section today.

A house on the edge of the lot, which appears to have been the site of a warehouse or other type of business. The lot could be transformed into a park for neighborhood residents.

There is a good deal missing in the Hackensack story that leads The Record's Local section today on a luxury-apartment plan that city officials are heralding as the first step in the renewal of Main Street (L-1).

Even more troubling is the sentence reporting the City Council will consider an ordinance to approve "a payment in lieu of taxes" from the developer.

The city's hard-pressed property tax payers -- already saddled with hundreds of millions of dollars in tax-exempt property -- can ill afford anything but full property taxes on new projects, especially if they add children to the crowded school system.

The State Street redevelopment area is only blocks from a neighborhood City Hall forgot -- at Park and Gamewell streets -- with a gaping open lot, homes  and small warehouses.

Clearly, the City Council feels more comfortable giving tax breaks to wealthy developers than it does in giving neighborhood residents a break in the form of a park or other amenity.

Tractor-trailers must wake up residents or at least assault them with unwanted noise. In the background are high-rises on Prospect Avenue, where residents contend with aircraft noise from business jets headed for Teterboro Airport.

Lawyers who must appear in Municipal Court and worshipers at a nearby mosque on Trinity Place -- a former Knights of Columbus hall -- use the neighborhood off Union Street for the free street parking it offers.

I couldn't find anyone who knew how long this lot has been empty, what had been there or how long ago it had been torn down.

  

'The Whale'

The thumbnail photo of Governor Christie's full, jowly face on Page 1 today could serve as a compelling argument for New Jersey to adopt the whale as the state fish.

Christie blasts the leadership in Washington, but continues to make a mess of state finances, including a pension system for public workers that has an unfunded liability of $47.2 billion (A-1).

Modern-day plantation

Englewood also is mismanaged, as today's A-1 story on school outsourcing makes clear.

The wealthy city counts Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg and Rabbi Shmuley Boteach as residents, two reasons there are few white students in the public schools.

Tired editors

I love the front-page Chris Pedota enterprise photos of a man balancing a tire on his head in Paterson, but isn't the caption wrong in describing what he is doing as "acrobatic skills"?

You can always count on Production Editor Liz Houlton's copy desk to screw something up on Page 1, and for everyone else to miss it.

The Record will never be the same again

Hurricane Sandy damage in the Rockaways. (dakine kane)

It's official. The Record today stops questioning the performance of utility companies in restoring power after Hurricane Sandy devastated North Jersey less than two weeks ago.

In the Sunday paper's news stories and columns, the editors are careful to avoid the question all of them should be asking:

Why did Public Service Electric and Gas Co., and other utilities need to call in hundreds of out-of-state workers to remove fallen trees and repair downed lines after the hurricane?

In other words, why do state regulators allow PSE&G to staff its repair crews at such low levels, especially in view of last year's freak snow storm, which hit two days before Halloween and left tens of thousands without electricity for a week or more?

Bigger fish to fry

Editor Marty Gottlieb's front page today reports the Jersey shore won't be "the same for years," and continues to focus on national news, demoting North Jersey power outages and mass-transit restoration to A-11.

Now, readers know The Record will never be the same local paper it was before abandoning Hackensack in 2009.

Lazy local editors

With the same lazy, unimaginative local editors in charge of coverage for a decade or more -- Deirdre Sykes, Dan Sforza and Tim Nostrand -- the hometown paper has given up attempting anything that approaches comprehensive coverage of even the biggest, most diverse towns in its circulation area. 

Since the storm hit on Oct. 29, The Record has reported the damage in broad strokes, largely ignoring Hackensack and many other communities.

That continues today with the Road Warrior reporting on a tiny minority who were able to power appliances with their hybrid cars (L-1), and the Your Money's Worth columnist discussing "how we get -- and lose -- electricity" (B-1).

None of your business

The Business section cover reports on how businesses fared, but ignores all of the Main Street merchants and restaurants (B-1).

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung reports on only four eating places, presumably because she had to stop for dessert and the resulting sugar high obliterated the assignment from her mind (BL-1). 

Touring the county

Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, who supposedly was assigned to Hackensack before Sandy, was sent on a tour of Bergen County to report on damage in Moonachie, Ridgewood and other communities.

Meanwhile, Hackensack businesses and residents, who lost power for five days or longer, were ignored.

Christie media mania

On the Opion front today, Brigid Callahan Harrison examines the New Jersey gubernatorial contest in 2013, when Governor Christie presumably will run for a second term.

But Harrison neglects to discuss the impact of the state's media, which have embraced a governor who is slowly destroying the middle class in New Jersey.

Backed wrong horse

The Record's fawning coverage of the GOP bully has been clear from the outset, but in the Nov. 6 election, its bias for a local candidate was embarrassing.

The editors lavished a great deal of  attention on Englewood Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a Republican who challenged Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, yet Boteach lost in a landslide, despite all the money he spent.

Meanwhile, the editors immediately wrote off the campaign of Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen -- even deriding how little money he had raised -- but the Democrat got a strong 43% of the vote in his bid to defeat Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage.  

Kelly's heart attack

The Opinion front today continues to inform readers that Columnist Mike Kelly "is away from the office on a short leave."

Speculation is that Kelly is roaming the world for a photographer who can make him look better than he does in his unflattering column photo with its shit-eating grin. 

Or that he is visiting journalism schools in search of instruction on how to write clearly and more concisely, and how to express the strong opinions readers expect from columnists.

But the truth is Kelly had a heart attack, as an anoymous reader of Eye on The Record informed me recently. 

Coronary bypasses?

The reader didn't say what type of surgery Kelly might have had or whether he had coronary bypasses.

Let's hope he takes the attack as the warning sign it is, and uses his column to inform readers about adopting a healthier lifestyle. 

Mr. and Mrs. Death

The subject of death got Page 1 play today in the unusual piece on Liz Parow and Michael Mittzenwei, spouses who own separate funeral homes in  North Arlington and New Milford. 

It was the only bright spot on an otherwise pedestrian front page.  

More sloppy editing 

Editor Liz Houlton's copy editors screwed up again on an a well-written piece about travel to Spain by Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn (Travel front).

On T-5, the photo caption calls Cordoba's Mezquita "a Muslim mosque now used as a Catholic church."

Putting aside whether the word "Muslim" is needed before "mosque," Lynn's story makes clear a cathedral built in the middle of the mosque is still used for services, not the mosque itself.

And, of course, the writer has to be questioned for reporting so little on Spain's extraordinary cuisine, which for many is a big incentive to travel there.  

See previous post on more

 Road Warrior errors    

On weather or election, we're sick of the hype

  One homeowner prepared for the storm by covering outdoor furniture.

Editor Marty Gottlieb delivers another screaming Hurricane Sandy headline on Page 1 today -- for the fourth day in a row.

"Bracing for the worst" is today's banner headline, hard on the heels of "Ready or not, here it comes" on the weak Sunday edition.

We may not be ready, but here it is Monday morning in Hackensack and we haven't seen any steady rain.

Sure, the trees are swaying in the wind and our power flickered out for a few minutes, but that's it so far.

OK. The storm center has yet to hit the New Jersey coast, and all of the bad things we've read in the paper may indeed come to pass.  

But once you've read the predictions of weather doom, there is pathetically little in the rest of the paper, especially the Local news section run so poorly by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy yes man, Dan Sforza. 

Hype sells papers

The hurricane hype is eerily familiar to readers who have been pounded into senselessness by coverage of the presidential election for the past year and a half.

President Obama's lackluster performance in the first debate was a godsend to Gottlieb and others media leaders.

They were able to whip up another horse race to keep readers engaged in an election process they lost interest in many months before.

Meanwhile, GOP hopeful Mitt Romney's many lies went unchallenged, as he moved toward the center and said anything to get elected.

Pascrell endorsement

The paper's endorsement today of Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. D-Paterson, was welcome (A-11).

The Record has paid far too much attention to the challenge by Republican Shmuley Boteach, an Englewood rabbi and author who is a master at manipulating the media.

Did any of the many stories on Boteach's campaign for the 9th District seat in Congress report how he bought an Englewood mansion, knowing full well the one next door was owned by the Libyan Mission to the U.N.?

Did The Record recall the almost daily coverage of Boteach's so-called protest in the summer of 2009 when the mission announced that Libyan leader Moammar Ghadafi planned to stay in the East Hill home? 

Did the paper's political reporters or columnist reprise Boteach's recent attempt to have his mansion declared a synagogue so he could gain exemption from city property taxes? 

No contest

It's likely the paper ignored all of Boteach's many weaknesses to make the race against Pascrell seem tighter than it is, just as it is doing with coverage of the presidential contest.

Buried in Sunday's Page 1 story on jobs is a report that the Congressional Budget Office predicted in January the nation will add 10 million jobs from January 2013 to January 2017 (A-5 on Sunday).

Similarly, private economists have predicted that the economy is likely to create 12 million more jobs in four years, regardless of who is elected.

If those predictions are credible, why hasn't anyone challenged Romney's ridiculous boast that as president he would "create" 12 million jobs?   

See previous post on

more Road Warrior errors  

Readers brace for news that never comes

NJ Transit has added train cars to accommodate more passengers, but hasn't followed suit with longer platforms. Readers looking for mass-transit news come up empty.

The Record's editors are blessed today by a perfect storm of news that has little to do with life in North Jersey's home-rule communities.

Hurricane Sandy, the presidential election and a silly high school football game hand the editors another excuse for not covering local news in Hackensack, Englewood and so many other towns.

How easily Editor Marty Gottlieb has switched from trying to predict the outcome of the election on Nov. 6 to trying to predict how bad this week's storm will be (A-1).

Treating locals as yokels

But there's no hiding the weakness of today's local news report, thanks to an assignment desk run so poorly by Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

On the Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski goes over the same old ground on those red license-plate decals for young drivers (L-1).

Cichowski has made an art out of rewriting old columns, ensuring he won't have to leave the office and actually report on such pressing issues as the overburdened mass-transit system and worsening traffic congestion. 

A Charles Stile column provides more ink for Republican Shmuley Boteach, the Englewood rabbi and publicity monger who is challenging Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-Paterson (L-3).

Meanwhile, Sykes and Sforza continue to ignore Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, a Democrat who is taking on one of Congress' chief naysayers, Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage. 

Garrett has done a masterful job of controlling The Record's coverage of his radicalism, refusing to be interviewed for any of the stories reported by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson.  

What is Garrett hiding, and is there any doubt Jackson is a pussy?

At the bottom of the Opinion front, the editors continue to pussy foot around the reason Columnist Mike Kelly has been temporarily silenced (O-1).

Score one for long-suffering readers.

Blog milestone

Eye on The Record marked its third anniversary last week. LOL.

North Jersey's 'Frankenstorm' hit a year ago

An MTA crew covers subway ventilation grates in lower Manhattan on Friday in anticipation of flooding from Hurricane Sandy, which is expected to hit early next week.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Friday's screaming front-page headline -- "'Frankenstorm' sets sights on New Jersey" -- was deja vu all over again for readers of The Record.

Who could forget the poor coverage of last year's 'Frankenstorm' -- a freak snowstorm -- two days before Halloween by the Woodland Park daily's own "Frankeneditor," Francis "Frank" Scandale.

That was followed on Halloween by Publisher Stephen A. Borg's long-overdue, trick-or-treat firing of Scandale -- even though lazy head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes was directly responsible for what largely amounted to covering the 2011 storm by telephone.

The story did little to convey the extent of the damage throughout the region, the abysmal lack of preparation by utility companies and the many days residents would be without power.

Veteran staffers recalled the irony:

Not long after Scandale left Denver and took over the Hackensack newsroom in the winter of 2001, he complained loudly about the local assignment desk's poor coverage of the first snowstorm of his tenure.

You're in Jersey now

Friday's Page 1 also reminded readers that Scandale's successor, Editor Marty Gottlieb, forgets he no longer works at The New York Times.

The front-page above the fold not devoted to the storm is filled with two sensational crime stories from New York, instead of news relevant to North Jersey.

Below that, another story reports that Governor Christie's salary cap on schools superintendents has been upheld by a state appeals court (A-1 on Friday).

Now may be a good time for the lazy assignment editors, including Deputy Assignment Flunky Dan Sforza, to explore why Christie hasn't imposed the same cap on local police chiefs, many of whom make more than his $175,000 salary.

Put Bergen on A-1

A far better story for Page 1 would have been the civil suit brought on behalf of a man who was left quadriplegic after a 2006 crash on one of Bergen County's antiquated roads (Friday's Local front).

The county's congested and dangerous road system is an issue that has been largely neglected by Road Warrior John Cichowski, who got lost in the Lodi MVC office in late 2003 and hasn't been seen since.

Instead of Hackensack news, Staff Writer Stephanie Akin -- the so-called Hackensack reporter -- wrote about higher education on Friday's Local front.

Paper glorifies GOP

The Record today and Friday continues the inordinate amount of coverage being given to two Republican congressional candidates, Rep. Scott Garrett of Wantage and Shmuley Boteach, the Englewood rabbi and publicity monger who gives Jews a bad name.

Everyone agrees that campaign financing is corrupt, but Gottlieb today seems to be devoting more and more column inches to Garrett and Boteach in proportion to all the poisoned contributions they are distributing or collecting.

It's no surprise Garrett is doling out checks to like-minded radical conservatives across the country (A-1) or that Boteach got financial support from Dr. Mehmet Oz, another publicity hungry horse's ass (L-1).

Is the paper's message that voters should back candidates like these who are beholden to special interests?

Ignoring Gussen

Meanwhile, there has been scant mention of Adam Gussen, Teaneck's deputy mayor and the Democratic candidate who is opposing Garrett in the 5th Congressional District, which includes 44 towns in Bergen County.

I guess Gussen, who appears to have turned down campaign money from special interests, can't "buy" coverage in The Record.

Readers haven't forgotten the long, flattering profile of Garrett all over the cover of the new Signature section in September or that a profile of Gussen hasn't been forthcoming.

So much for equal time from Gottlieb and Signature editor Alan Finder, one of his pals from The Times.

Koreans v. Japanese

Also on Saturday, the A-1 story on desecration of a Palisades Park memorial to Korean "comfort women" has readers wondering why Sykes and Sforza ignored tensions between North Jersey's Japanese and Korean communities in the past decade.

More Catholic values

Today's paper includes a special section on today's "Clash of The Titans" -- a football game between two Cathlolic high schools.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Newark has ordered more than 1,000 reprints for distribution to parish priests enamored of the young athletes from Don Bosco and Bergen Catholic.  

Time for Ung to go

In Friday's Better Living, Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung continues to lose credibility with readers by choosing an artery clogging dessert as "the most memorable [dish] of my two dinners" at Cafe 37 in Ridgewood (BL-18 and 19).

She could have praised Chef Cesar Sotomayor for the abundance of seafood he offers or that he uses naturally raised Berkshire pork in place of the low-quality meat served in many other fine-dining restaurants.

Instead, she finds fault with seafood dishes that lack "flavor," apparently unaware that a splash of fresh lemon or lime juice -- well-known salt substitutes -- is all they needed.


When is Ung going to join Scandale on the scrap heap of journalism history?

 

12 more gun deaths won't matter

Paterson's Great Falls on Thursday. Rabbi Shmuley Boteach is praying to God to dry up the falls as a sign he will defeat Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson, in November.

In trigger-happy Colorado, at least 12 deaths at the hands of a maniac armed with assault rifles didn't move President Obama or the GOP pretender, Mitt Romney, to call for better gun control.

And those deaths probably won't change anything, fading into history along with all of the other massacres that have grabbed headlines in The Record and other media for a few days.

Good headlines

Today's coverage by more than 20 news and feature reporters (A-1, A-5, A-8 and A-11) completely dominated Page 1 under an unusually good set of headlines: 

Moviegoers caught

in real-life horror

Shooting spree rocks the nation yet again

As good as today's effort is, it doesn't make up for the clunky, awkward, confusing headlines on Friday's Page 1:

As man's dad dies,
a tragic twist at home

Son leaves hospital on news house is on fire 

If you think that's bad, the Web version was even worse:

As Passaic man's dad dies, a tragic twist engulfs their home

How does "a tragic twist" engulf anything?

The word "twist" comes up again today in a Star-Ledger story about a Newark fire that killed 5 (A-3):

"In a heart wrenching twist, their deaths came on the same day the children's mother was in a nearby hospital giving birth."

The news copy editors are either twisting and shouting in the quiet Woodland Park newsroom or the headlines come from the twisted mind of Production Editor Liz Houlton.

Six-figure editors

It's hard to understand what Houlton and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes do for their six-figure salaries.

On Friday and today, Sykes' Local section ran no Hackensack news, but she found room for a photo of a tree hitting a Ridgewood house on Friday (L-2) and a fallen tree blocking a Ridgewood street on Saturday (L-3).

Maybe Hackensack can get into the paper by planting more trees and knocking them down.

A rabbi's rabbi

Sykes also made room today for another L-1 story on the campaign of Republican Shmuley Boteach to unseat Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr. of Paterson -- which is as likely as the Great Falls drying up.

Boteach is a wealthy, publicity savvy rabbi who lives on Englewood's East Hill, not far from Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's mansion.

The photo of Boteach on L-5 shows the rabbi in a Moses-like appeal to God for the Ten Commandments of Public Relations. 

What does he need them for? He already has Sykes and Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza in his pocket.

Readers who are Democrats still haven't seen anything on the campaign of Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, who is challenging Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, in the Fifth District, which includes Hackensack and Fair Lawn.

Another Walmart

On today's Business page (A-10), a story about a Walmart supermarket planned for Hawthorne doesn't mention rumored plans for a Walmart Supercenter on 20 Hackensack acres owned by North Jersey Media Group. 

On today's Better Living front, harmful animal antibiotics, growth hormones and preservatives appear to be on the menu at Mack's American Bar & Grill in far-off Pompton Lakes (Starters, BL-1).

Related articles

• Candidate Adam Gussen gets no respect

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• News drought in 5th District continues

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