Rising local property taxes a scandal editors refuse to tackle

The Rainbow Castle Preschool building at 142-48 Main St. in Hackensack has been boarded up, months after the structure was evacuated and declared unsafe. The two-story building was damaged by a pile driver at the construction site of a 14-story residential-retail project at Main and Mercer streets, a major part of the city's downtown rehabilitation plan.

The preschool building was declared unsafe last July 27, and work on the apartment projet was suspended. The owner is negotiating with the builder for compensation. The Record has completely ignored the story.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR 

Who was responsible for the unflattering photo of Freeholder Mary Amoroso in The Record today?

Amoroso spent many years as a reporter and editor in the paper's feature department before she ran for office.

She's pictured on the Local front today with her mouth agape and right hand raised, and two men and a baby aren't even identified.

Of course, there is a lot more wrong in the story about the Bergen County Board of Freeholders, and reports on the makeup of town councils and school boards that have been running since the first day of the year.

Today, Steve Janoski, Philip DeVencentis and other reporters focus solely on politics -- which party gained the upper hand in the Nov. 8 elections.

Issues, such as the scandals of rising taxes and the burden of tax-exempt property, are totally ignored, as they have been for years.

Hackensack

In Hackensack, for example, the City Council says a property revaluation in 2016 managed to cut or stabilize taxes for two out of three homeowners.

Yet, the city still hasn't found money to pave streets that have been torn up for utility and sewage work, including two major thoroughfares, Main and State streets.

Despite delivering financial stability, the council and county seat remain behind the eight ball -- saddled with tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars in tax-exempt property owned by Bergen County, Hackensack University Medical Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University and others.

Those non-profit or tax-exempt entities shift the tax burden to homeowners and businesses.

And the budget of the Hackensack Board of Education, which accounts for 44% of a resident's tax bill, was higher than the entire city budget for at least the second year in a row.

The Record didn't even bother covering last April's election for three board members and the binding referendum on the budget.

Port Authority

Today's so-called Page 1 expose of a "$30 billion tug of war between New Jersey and New York" is another sensational report on an agency and resources the two states have fought over for nearly 100 years.

The Record's endless stories on this colossal patronage war allow editors and reporters to ignore the sad state of bus and rail transit under Governor Christie, whose first major act was to cancel a pair of Hudson River rail tunnels.

PA dates to 1921

When New York and New Jersey signed a compact in 1921 to create The Port of New York Authority -- giving it a mandate to develop and modernize the entire port district -- New Jersey was left out of the name.

In fact, the battle of the states over jurisdiction rights on the mighty Hudson River dates to the early 1900s.

The agency took over Port Newark in 1948, but the name wasn't changed to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey until 1972.

More sketchy and flawed reporting on driving, mass transit

In Fort Lee, construction of the massive Hudson Lights retail and residential project has spread to Lemoine Avenue and Main Street, above and below, closing nearby streets and disrupting downtown traffic. Meanwhile, across the street, the Plaza Diner is being renovated and expanded, but hasn't set an opening date.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editorial today on the proposed $1 billion-plus expansion of New York Penn Station to benefit New Jersey commuters is unequivocal:

"Commuters need to get from point A to point B: everything else is negotiable" (A-8).

The editorial even acknowledges "the ongoing conversion of the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station that will improve access to Penn Station tracks."

One-station focus

Two long front-page stories on Monday and Tuesday failed to mention the Moynihan Station Project, perhaps to make the situation for NJ Transit rail users seem more dire.

If readers thought Staff Writer Christopher Maag said nearly all he could possibly say about plans for Penn Station South on Monday, Tuesday's long follow-up was a surprise.

In fact, the follow-up read like an elaborate clarification and revision of his earlier cost estimates and how the project supposedly is at a standstill.

Broken numbers

As weak as The Record's mass transit reporting has been, Road Warrior John Cichowski's incessant focus on drivers can't hide the veteran reporter's inability to accurately report basic state police data and other numbers he uses with abandon. 

On Tuesday, two Road Warrior columns appeared -- Cichowski's take on the bankrupt state Transportation Trust Fund (A-1) and his lame explanation for why Sunday morning's icy conditions caused so many accidents (L-1).

If not drivers, who?

The paper's reporting and editorials on the trust fund have failed to emphasize the irrefutable logic that drivers who cause wear and tear on roads and bridges are the ones who should pay for repairs through higher gasoline taxes.

That's especially true of one driver from Clifton whose Tweet was published on Tuesday's A-1:

"$31 to fill up my monster gas eating car. Not bad at all."

Drivers of hybrid cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles wouldn't even notice a 10-cents-a gallon gas tax hike, and would gladly pay it in return for smoother roads and safer bridges.

More sloppy reporting

Today, I received an evaluation of Cichowksi's Jan. 13 column on annual state police road fatality statistics from the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, citing his foot-in-mouth disease:

We're safer, but Road Warrior is killing facts

On pedestrian deaths, Cichowski quoted state police data, but used the wrong figure for five of the six years he cited.

The Facebook critic also noted:

"In trying to protect pedestrians and reduce their fatalities, which was the most in 18 years in 2014, the Road Warrior gave out the simple advice that drivers should 'never, never' talk on the phone when driving.

"Unfortunately, the Road Warrior failed to advise pedestrians of the more important and widely publicized advice that they should never, never talk on the phone when crossing the street."

There were many other problems with the column and the abysmal lack of editing and fact-checking, including:

• Cichowski said driver and pedestrian deaths fell to their lowest level in "several decades," but to be correct, he should have written "seven decades."
• "The county’s pedestrian death count was so large that it doubled its driver death count, a highly unusual occurrence."

But what the reporter should have written is that pedestrian deaths at 24 were double the 12 driver deaths.

Sweet tooth

Restaurant Critic Elisa Ung's obsession with artery clogging desserts is well-known, but today, Better Living celebrates the achievements of Jessica Marotta, a young pastry chef at Local Seasonal Kitchen in Ramsey (BL-1).

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz, who wrote the profile, gives Marotta far more space than she does to Michael Ventura, a chef who has a healthier message:

"I don't use a lot of cream or butter because people have changed the way they eat" (BL-2).

Of course, many readers who are watching their cholesterol are waiting for confirmation from the all-seeing and all-knowing Davidowitz that it is actually possible to cook delicious food without using butter or cream.

Restaurant business

Tuesday's Better Living front appeared to be an inside look at the restaurant business, but a lot was missing.

Staff Writer Steve Janoski interviewed chefs and owners at only high-end restaurants, and didn't discuss the shockingly low hourly pay for tipped workers such as servers (BL-1).

The restaurants exploit servers, then put the burden on customers to tip well to help provide those workers with a living wage.

Nor did the reporter make any attempt to tell readers just how much more naturally raised food would cost a restaurant over food raised with pesticides, antibiotics and other additives.

Janoski interviewed Christine Nunn, chef-owner of Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood, who seemed to be saying she makes less than $30 in profit on each table.

And why can't Nunn buy napkins and tablecloths for less than the $9,600 to $12,000 a year she pays a linen delivery service?

Christie-friendly editors do great P.R. for GOP bully

A trailer parked on East 85th Street in Manhattan shows the value of copy editors and copy editing. When North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, lost sight of that simple fact during a major downsizing in 2008, the quality and accuracy of its flagship daily began to decline noticeably. That slide continues, as A-2 corrections show, but they are only a fraction of the actual screw-ups.  

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie has always done a masterful job of public relations to hide the sad state of the Garden State, and today, he is aided and abetted by The Record's editors and reporters.

Once again, the staff of the Woodland Park daily, including Columnist Charles Stile, desperately parse every word of the GOP bully's State of the State address for a definitive sign that he'll run for president in 2016 (A-1, A-6 and A-7).

Christie champion Stile called the speech "an early draft of a Christie for President campaign mailer" (A-1).

Toliet paper would be an appropriate material for such a mailer in view of all the bullshit Christie has used to bury New Jersey residents in the past five years.

Staff Writers Melissa Hayes, John Reitmeyer and Dustin Racioppi don't waste any time spinning Christie's speech, using the first paragraph of their lead Page 1 story to parrot "a pledge to veto any income-tax increases." 

Instead of breathing a sigh of relief, New Jersey's middle class knows the Democratic-led Legislature has never tried to raise their income taxes, but that Christie has repeatedly vetoed a tax surcharge on his millionaire supporters.

The main headline has readers shaking their heads as they stare at a familiar photo of the Assembly chamber in Trenton (A-1):

"Christie's bigger stage"

Readers have to turn to A-7 for the truth, as reported by Staff Writer Christopher Maag:

"Roads are crumbling. Bridges are falling. And New Jersey's fund to fix those problems is out of money.

"But Governor Christie did not address the state's transportation crisis ..., saying only that New Jersey has a 'world-class transportation system.'"

And an editorial on A-8 manages only mild criticism of what the writer calls Christie's lack of leadership.

More corrections

Two more embarrassing corrections on A-2 today give readers the impression the paper has fired all of its copy editors, and that six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton is a miserable failure at her job.

Houlton supervises the copy desk, where reporter's and editor's grammatical and factual errors are supposed to be caught and corrected.

But copy editors have always been regarded with contempt, and it shows in the final product.

Are you Charlie?

More Page 1 coverage of the slayings of Paris cartoonists continues to focus on satirical images of the prophet Muhammad (A-1).

What you won't find in mainstream coverage is the opinion of people of color who live in France, as expressed in The Maroon Colony:

"I’m not Charlie for several reasons: Charlie Hebdo for many people of color in France, particularly in Paris, that don’t benefit from mixed or proximity-to-White French- privilege is extremely racist. It’s a particular brand of French racism and xenophobia sheltered under the grey tent of “satire”. It’s belittingly. It’s demeaning. And it’s a larger, published example of the explicit forms of aggression that many people of color in Paris live with, daily."

Judicial nominees

The obit page seems an odd choice for a story about 11 lawyers who have been nominated for state Superior Court, including nine for Bergen County (L-6).

The story doesn't say whether the nominees have to contribute a lot of money to Christie or his party.

Driver re-training?

Does County Executive James Tedesco need a refresher course in how closely to follow another vehicle?

Tedesco was driving an unmarked Bergen County police vehicle on Tuesday evening when he struck the rear of another vehicle on Route 17 north, part of a "chain-reaction accident" involving four cars (L-2). 

The county executive should get points for car pooling to Trenton for Christie's State of the State speech with his chief of staff, Michele DiIorgi, but the story doesn't say where they were going when the accident occurred in Rochelle Park.

They won't kill you

Staff Writer Steve Janoski's story on so-called superfoods is another example of why you should never rely on the media for medical or nutritional advice (A-1 and BL-1).

None of the superfood packages I've seen claim to cure disease or "ward off cancer," as the reporter says.

But Janoski fails to report that quinoa, chia seeds and other so-called superfoods do have one big advantage over the animal fats you'll find in meat and dairy products.

They won't clog your arteries and kill you. 

Even the headline is offensive:

"Getting real about 'superfood' love"

The Cuomos put Christie, Bush and Reagan to shame

The landmark Church on the Green in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

As tributes continue to pour in two days after the death of former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, many readers are wondering why such a princely politician is so rare.

The Associated Press story on A-4 of The Record today compares Cuomo to FDR and Adlai Stevenson, claiming "liberals have lost one of their last, best champions."

That seems premature.

But even more troubling is the media's failure to compare Cuomo and his son, Andrew, the current New York governor, to Governor Christie and all of the other mean-spirited politicians whose sole mission seems to be protecting millionaires from higher taxes.

(The caption with today's A-4 story on Mario Cuomo shows "Matilda Cuomo, center," but there are a total of four people in the photo.)

Cuomo v. Christie

Andrew Cuomo, who took the oath for his second term on Thursday just a few hours before his father died, has governed his state far better than Christie has New Jersey.

The younger Cuomo said that since he took office, New York has turned a $10 billion deficit into a $5 billion surplus, expanded health care to cover 1.5 million more people and reversed gridlock and dysfunction in government by getting Republicans and Democrats to work together (Friday's A-4).

Instead of trying to get the two parties to work together, Christie simply vetoes any legislation passed by the Democratic majority, then has lackeys like Columnist Charles Stile portray the GOP bully as a "compromiser."

Friday's front page

Staff Writer Todd South, who is assigned to cover Hackensack, reported and wrote two strong stories, and they appeared on Friday's Page 1.

The centerpiece focused on Alon Millet, a 16-year-old Bergen County Academies student whose research promises to ease world hunger with faster-growing mung beans.

Once he's perfected that, let's hope Alon turns his attention to ending the flatulence caused by eating too many beans.

Todd's second story is on Rutgers University's Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, which has developed a program that focuses intensely on health care for combat veterans.

Contrast those two stories with the drivel from The Record's sports, news and transportation columnists that Editor Martin Gottlieb often plays on Page 1.

Eating in a stable

If the restaurant's name doesn't turn you off, then read the lukewarm review of Valley Stables in Oakland in Friday's Better Living tab (BL-12).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung complained about the "wild [G]ulf shrimp" in a pasta dish, reporting "they were rather thin and insipid, not any meatier or flavorful [sic] than your average farmed shrimp ($23)."

Does she expect wild shrimp, which are free of antibiotics and preservatives, to jump off her plate and into her mouth?

Maybe the menu misrepresented the shrimp in the dish. Did she ask the owner or chef? God forbid.

Food coverage

Thankfully, readers starving for intelligent food coverage don't have to rely only on Ung, as shown by an inspirational profile of Chef Vaughn Crenshaw of Hackensack.

Crenshaw, 29, executive chef at Ridgewood's Pearl Restaurant, grew up next to a crack house in Paterson and lived in a car as a teenager. 

Staff Writer Steve Janoski's feature on Crenshaw appeared on Wednesday's Better Living front.

The story continued on BL-3, opposite Coffee with the Chef, in this case, Filomeno Vuocolo of Cenzino in Oakland (which happens to be across the street from Valley Stables, the restaurant reviewed on Friday).

Vuocolo is another chef who offers nothing to the home cook, claiming that to prepare perfect pasta you must avoid using a metal strainer, because "once you use another metal, it changes the taste" (Wednesday's BL-2).

What is it about chefs and pasta? 

In a previous Coffee with Chef,  Adam Weiss of Due in Ridgewood urged home cooks to throw caution to the wind and salt pasta water "like the ocean."

Today's front page

The Record's news coverage focuses mostly on the young -- even though the vast majority of its readers are 50 or older -- a bias some critics have seen in North Jersey Media Group's promotion policies.

Today, Page 1 carries a long story on a couple's battle with an insurer on behalf of their autistic son. 

The story is by Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, whose byline has been scarce in the past few months.

Desperate editors

The Better Living editors were so desperate for food copy today, they ran a story about a restaurant in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, on the same page as two pet columns (BL-4).

If you do nothing else today, please get out and vote

Hackensack attorney Roy Cho is seeking the seat in the House of Representatives from the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County. Your other choice is Tea Party Republican Scott Garrett, who has done little more than wage war on the middle class and raise campaign funds to keep himself in office for six terms. Polls are open until 8 p.m.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors, who slanted most of their election coverage toward candidates who raised the most special-interest money, show once again they don't care if you vote for U.S. senator, congressman and a host of municipal and school-board offices today.

A single paragraph on Page 1 today notes "New Jersey voters "can head to the polls today."

But if you ever get to the Editorial Page, the editors note, "Today is Election Day, the time for citizens to exercise one of the most cherished rites in a democracy" (A-10).

Shouldn't that statement be published on every front page for weeks before an election to make inroads on the immense amount of voter apathy, much of it generated by the paper's lackadaisical coverage?

News for the young

Nearly all of Editor Martin Gottlieb's front page is devoted to the young, even though the vast majority of his readers are well-off baby boomers:

Today, you'll find more drivel on high school sports, teen drivers and community college students who study abroad (A-1). Boring!

Today's lead front-page story doesn't mention plaintiffs' lawyers will be the biggest winners in a $1 billion settlement of lawsuits against a Mahwah-based manufacturer of allegedly defective hip implants (A-1).

Fully one-third of the $1 billion -- about $333 million -- will be going to the attorneys to pay their legal fees and expenses for expert witnesses.

Another screw-up

On A-2, an embarrassing correction notes some moron in the newsroom misspelled the name of Louis Hunter Sr., bishop of Varick Memorial A.M.E. Zion Church in Hackensack, in a photo caption on the Local front Monday.

The caption called him "Louis Hinter Sr." His name was spelled correctly in the text of the story.

But there was an unacknowledged second problem in the caption:

Hunter is shown "lighting the mortgage," according to the caption. You light a candle, but "burn" a mortgage.

Many non-organic foods, such as these Smart Balance spreads, are labeled "Non-GMO."

Sloppy reporting

The Better Living cover piece on "the GMO debate" is basically a he said/she said story that never answers the question of whether genetically modified organisms in food are harmful, which is the consensus of many experts (BL-1).

Staff Writer Steve Janoski refers to "GMO" as a "buzz acronym." 

But he doesn't make clear two things: 

All foods certified organic are free of GMOs, and so are many non-organic foods that carry a "NON-GMO Project Verified" label.

Janoski sounds like he has never gone food shopping.

Or he might have suggested readers switch to olive oil for cooking to avoid GMOs in the vast majority of corn- and soy-based oils.

The story also doesn't include any reference to other sources, such as the Non-GMO Project.