More Gov. Christie myth making has no basis in reality

With no turn lanes at Summit Avenue, above, two-lane Passaic Street in Hackensack is one of the many traffic bottlenecks drivers encounter when traveling over Bergen County's antiquated street and road system.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today continues to portray Governor Christie's first term as "bipartisan," when the reality is far more sobering.

Columnist Charles Stile has written a variation of this argument so many times he actually believes it, as does Editor Martin Gottlieb, who leads the Sunday edition with the Christie myth they won't allow to die (A-1).

There is nothing "bipartisan" about the more than 350 vetoes the GOP bully has used to keep the state Legislature's majority Democrats in line -- everything from killing stricter gun control to a millionaires tax surcharge to a hike in the minimum wage.

"Listen," Christie says in his quixotic quest for the White House, "I've dealt with a Democratic Legislature in New Jersey for every minute of my six years as governor, and I've never used it as an excuse not to get things done."

"Get things done" is code for his hundreds of vetoes.

Is there anything else worthy of reader attention today?

Jo Ann Hans

The only story that can be considered local is an update on the condition of Jo Ann Hans, the Bergenfield crossing guard who got mowed down and nearly killed by a driver on Sept. 15, the first day of the Jewish new year (A-1).

Readers who plow through the entire story won't find the name of the driver or whether he was charged for failing "to heed her hand-held stop sign" outside an Orthodox synagogue (A-12).

Nor does Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese explain why the Bergen County sheriff launched a ticket blitz against pedestrians as part of a "safety program" instead of tackling a far more menacing problem, drivers who speed and blow through stop signs and red lights.

School news

Today's Local section includes two more stories about Englewood schools (L-2 and L-6).

In contrast, the Woodland Park daily has completely ignored education issues in Hackensack, the biggest school district in Bergen County.

That's been the case even though the school budget exceeds the municipal budget there, and board members have spent an inordinate amount of time launching partisan attacks against City Council members and other city officials.

High salaries

Karen Lewis, superintendent of Hackensack schools, is being paid $167,500, but other payments to her means she is getting more than Christie's $175,000 a year. 

Assistant Superintendent Rosemary Martin Marks is being paid $167,280 a year, and Assistant Superintendent Joseph V. Cicchelli gets $161,515.

High school Principal James Montesano receives $172,868 -- a higher annual salary than the superintendent -- and five other high school administrators get paid more than $157,000 each.

Other salaries include Hillers School Principal Joy Dorsey-Whiting, $165,455; Jackson Avenue School Principal Andrea Oates-Parchment, $165,455; Parker School Principal Lillian Whitaker, $162,319; Middle School Principal Corey Jones, $162,398; and Fairmount School Principal Rhonda Ashton-Loeb, $159,370.

High school Director David A. Petrella receives $157,770 a year, as do each of the four high school vice principals -- Anibal Galiana, Mark Johnson, Celso King and Patricia Lozano.

High school Supervisor Talin Young is paid $150,860. 

A dozen lunchroom aides at Fairmount and Hillers schools are paid $22 an hour.

Restaurant help

Readers hoping for help with all of the issues they face when dining out -- from tipping to exorbitant mark-ups on wine to meat and poultry from factory farms -- strike out again today.

Staff Writer Elisa Ung, the paper's chief critic, devotes The Corner Table column to the problems of a local restaurant owner who is struggling to reopen after a car destroyed the place (BL-4).

Saturday's paper

The Record's front page on Saturday was dominated by ISIS, and the end of a U.S. program to train moderate rebels in Syria.

The program spent $500 million before it was abandoned, but the sub-headline on Saturday referred to it incorrectly as a "plan."

Local editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza commissioned stories on schools in Paterson and Englewood, but not Hackensack.

Editors bury photo showing pain, deafeat of victim's family

The afternoon rush hour on Summit Avenue in Hackensack. The street has been repaved by Bergen County, but Prospect Avenue, which is lined with high rises, is still a rough ride of crudely patched pavement.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you are the family of Nazareh Bugg, an innocent black teenage girl cut down by gunfire in Paterson, you won't get much respect from the editors of The Record, even though your pain and defeat is obvious for everyone to see.

Today, the photo of Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes is on the front page, where The Record reports Nazareh was killed by gunfire between two "groups" fighting for territory in Paterson's 1st and 4th wards last month (A-1).

But Nazareh's family also was at the carefully staged news conference. Where is their photo?

In the print edition, it's buried on A-8, the continuation page.

On NorthJersey.com, you'll have to scroll down to see their pain, resignation and defeat -- the photo runs below the photos of three suspects:

See: Editors bury black pain


We know The Record and other media are suckers for one of those carefully managed press conferences, where authorities try to convince the public they are doing a good job stopping crime.

But Nazareh's family and hundreds of other families in Paterson know that is so much official B.S.

Moronic mayor

Most Paterson residents want to give a swift kick in Mayor Joey Torres' rear-end.

Torres attended Tuesday's press conference and tried to explain to a reporter why he didn't make a public statement about Nazareh's slaying (A-8).

Why does The Record quote the moron at all?

Charity for Syrians

A disturbing story on banks thwarting U.S.-based charities and churches from helping Syrians during their devastating civil war doesn't mention any alternatives (A-1 and A-6).

Hand in Hand for Syria is a charity based in England, but you can make donations online:  

See: We only work inside Syria

Hackensack news

I don't envy Staff Writer Todd South, the new Hackensack reporter, who is trying to catch up to events that occurred long before he took over the beat.

His story on the fifth anniversary of the Bergen County homeless shelter on South River Street ignores the tremendous impact on the Police Department.

Attracted by three meals a day at the shelter -- the Housing, Health and Human Services Center -- the homeless continue to roam through the city, and many require transportation to Hackensack University Medical Center for care.

Police Mike Mordaga has asked hospital official to staff a room at the shelter in an attempt to cut down on those trips. 

A meeting of the City Council was scheduled for Tuesday night, but I don't see anything in today's paper.

Garrett challenger

Attorney Roy Cho of Hackensack met with The Record's unnamed Editorial Board on Tuesday to discuss his campaign to unseat Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, one of Congress' most regressive members.

Today, the story about Cho, who has the backing of both U.S. senators from New Jersey, appears on L-3, the same page often reserved for police and court news, and filler photos of non-fatal rollover accidents.

Balanced front page is more irresponsible journalism

Lunch in Manhattan sounds like a good idea. But if you park for two hours at the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal, it will cost $24.

Or you could park illegally as many do and grab a street-corner falafel sandwich.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today seems to have everything -- from the horrors of civil war in the Middle East to a silly column on whether Rutgers' football team can compete with the "elite."

There is news about Bergen County's first statue of Martin Luther King, the glacial probe of the George Washington Bridge lane closures and a cautionary tale about sexual assaults on college campuses.

This "balanced" front page is the ideal every newspaper editor tries to achieve.

The New York Times has been turning out front pages like this for decades, and The Record has been doing a good job of imitating that great newspaper since a Times veteran took over the Woodland Park newsroom in early 2012.

But given the shocking nature of the revelations about chemical attacks and other war crimes in Syria, isn't the media guilty of neglecting that conflict in order to bring readers fluff and feel-good stories?

In view of the long-established Syrian community in Paterson, what excuse does Editor Martin Gottlieb have for the superficial coverage of the civil war there?

What happened to the pressure the media should be exerting on President Obama to deal with the Syrian dictator as he did with Libya's leader?

More corrections

Three more detailed corrections appear on A-2 today -- further evidence that Production Editor Liz Houlton isn't doing her job in return for a six-figure salary.

On A-3, the story about a 9-year-old girl who was allowed to fire an Uzi sub-machine gun, accidentally killing her instructor, claims the incident has sparked a "debate."

That's nonsense. There is no debate.

The accident shows the ugly side of our gun-happy society. No 9-year-old should be allowed to fire a gun.

Truck fatalities

Three people burned to death on Route 280 in East Orange after a dump truck slammed into their car in congested traffic (L-1).

Since June, trucks -- mostly tractor-trailers -- have been responsible for killing several people, including a comedian riding with Tracy Morgan on the New Jersey Turnpike and a Waldwick police officer on Route 17 south radar patrol.

And a trucker killed himself when he slammed into the back of another rig on the George Washington Bridge.

Every single Road Warrior column is a car wreck

An NJ Transit double-decker train at the Secaucus Junction on Friday. The extra seats are welcome, but the rail cars come with a dangerous interior design flaw: low luggage racks on the upper level that can crack a commuter's head.

By Victor E. Sasson
Editor

I pity North Jersey commuters who don't drive to work, either because they don't want to be stuck in massive traffic jams or can't afford a car, insurance and the exorbitant tolls.

They won't find any help from the media, especially The Record, whose transportation reporters are obsessed with the minutiae of driving in the Garden State or simply are too lazy to ride public transit and report on its many problems.

Another car wreck

On Friday, Staff Writer John Cichowski -- desperate for a column idea -- seized on a report from the New Jersey Public Interest Group "to confirm what most Americans probably either know or suspect" (Friday's Local front).

But the "nearly 7 percent" reduction in the number of drivers from 2005 to 2011 doesn't apply to New Jersey, and is probably outdated.

So, why is Cichowski -- aka "The Addled Commuter" -- wasting a Road Warrior column on it?

In fact, rush-hour traffic jams at the Hudson River crossings, and on the turnpike and parkway, seem as massive as ever. 

And the number of speeders and other maniacal drivers are even more numerous, likely due to an historically low level of enforcement.

Those are the real stories ignored by Cichowski and The Record's lazy local assignment editors.

Instant amnesia

In his Wednesday column, Cichowski couldn't remember what he had reported only three days before -- in his first column about a driver who was ticketed for flashing his lights to warn others of police radar.

According to a concerned reader:

"He [Cichowski] was unable to comprehend or remember his own reporting from Aug. 25, where he stated that the president of state Police Traffic Safety Officers Association came to the driver's defense, or that multiple readers' online comments on his Aug. 25 article came to the driver's defense."

Go to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers to read the entire e-mail to Editor Marty Gottlieb and the other mucky mucks in management and the newsroom, including the addled reporter himself:

Road Warrior embarrasses The Record again 

Obama and Syria

I just saw the news President Obama will ask Congress for approval of his plan to bomb Syria for killing 1,429 in a gas attack (A-1 today).

That means readers will have to endure days or possibly weeks more of jaw-boning in the media -- a colossal waste of space.

With Syria coverage adding to all of the shore-Sandy stories (A-1 today and Friday), the politics, the adulation for Governor Christie and who knows what else, North Jersey readers are feeling neglected.

Another weird poll

Can anyone believe a Fairleigh Dickinson University poll reporting that 29 percent of Democrats prefer Christie -- the GOP bully -- over state Sen. Barbara Buono, a Democrat (Friday's A-3)?

The only Democrats who are going to vote for the worst New Jersey governor ever are multimillionaires who have been spared an income-tax surcharge -- thanks to Christie's repeated vetoes -- and business owners who are reaping millions in state tax breaks, but not creating jobs.

Always room for dessert

In Friday's Better Living tabloid (BL-18), Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung wastes readers' time with another forgettable restaurant -- Central Kitchen in Englewood Cliffs.

But Ung sampled two desserts anyway, explaining why her column photo hasn't been updated since she joined The Record nearly 6 years ago.

Her mouth and chin no longer fits in the thumbnail format.