Conventions are over, but not mindless political coverage

On a sweltering Thursday, we boarded NJ Transit's No. 165 Express in Hackensack and arrived in midtown Manhattan in about 30 minutes. The regular round-trip fare in $9, but seniors pay only $4.10.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Just when you thought all the shouting at the political conventions was over, The Record continues to waste the front page on boring politics.

If Charles Stile's column on Hillary Clinton's New Jersey supporters doesn't have your eyes rolling, a USA Today story on Donald J. Trump should really put you to sleep (A-1).

The news media keep on trying to make the wacko racist New York businessman sound intelligent, but try as they might, he keeps shooting himself in the foot.

Trump -- who has never served in the military, but wants to ban all Muslims from the U.S. -- complained about the speech at the Democratic National Convention made by the father of a Muslim-American soldier killed in Iraq.

Khizr Khan said Trump has "sacrificed nothing for his country" (A-1).

Trump's rebuttal is that he's "made a lot of sacrifices" by building "great structures" and creating construction jobs.

None of the reporters interviewing Trump asked how putting up buildings is a "sacrifice."

Local news

Editor Deirdre Sykes' front page does have two local stories today.

The main element is a plan to remove a traffic bottleneck on Kinderkamack Road in Emerson, but there are so many other traffic nightmares in Bergen County the paper's so-called Road Warrior columnist has ignored for more than a decade.

The second local story is the obituary for a Clifton woman who was such a big fan of Amelia Earhart that she moved to Atchison, Kan., the aviator's birthplace.

Bergen County readers find five major stories from Passaic and Morris counties in today's Local section, and a column about a "momentous" event in Paterson on the Opinion front.

Hackensack readers looking for news about their city should take a look at what the Hackensack reporter was doing on Saturday -- covering police news in Butler (L-1).

Lying down on job

Readers who wonder whether there is a dress code in the Woodland Park newsroom find the answer today on BL-3, where a photo shows Staff Writer Jim Beckerman lying down or at least semi-reclining on the job.

I guess the veteran feature writer was just taking a load off as he gathered information on "Bergen County's long-awaited dine-in multiplex" in Fort Lee (BL-1).

The Better Living cover is The Record's third and most elaborate plug for iPic, which hasn't even opened yet, so it's no wonder the owner has got a big, fat smile on his face, as readers can see from another photo on BL-3.

Aircraft noise

Saturday's front-page story -- "Flight-path test sputters" -- is the latest in what has to be one of the most bungled and biased reporting jobs in recent memory.

Residents of Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood have been complaining about noise from Teterboro Airport for years, but that was rarely, if ever, reported in The Record.

Then, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed a new flight path for business jets that would prevent them from flying over Hackensack high-rises and the nearby medical center to land, starting in April.

The shift of the flight path over Route 17 communities had them howling, and The Record quoted their officials extensively on the front page and elsewhere in the paper.

Readers get more slanted reporting on Teterboro jet noise

This Teterboro Airport-bound business jet was among several I saw passing low over homes and an elementary school in southwest Hackensack on April 18 -- two weeks after a new flight path was supposed to keep aircraft away from nearby Hackensack University Medical Center and Prospect Avenue high-rises.

The Fanny Meyer Hillers Elementary School is in the neighborhood, which hasn't seen any relief from aircraft noise.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front page today and this past Monday reports a new flight path to keep noisy corporate jets away from Hackensack never went into effect on April 4.

That wasn't news to residents of southwest Hackensack, where business jets heading for Teterboro Airport continue to skim the roofs of Prospect Avenue high-rises and Hackensack University Medical Center.

In fact, Staff Writer Paul Berger, who wrote tens of thousands of words on the flight-path change before April 4, was clueless until he was contacted by Hackensack gadfly Regina DiPasqua, who was quoted on Monday's front page:

"They are still flying very low," said DiPasqua, who lives near the airport and hadn't noticed any difference in jet noise that drowns out conversation and television.

"You can read the numbers on the plane," she added.

Slanted coverage

Today's coverage reports the Federal Aviation Administration says it will be another six weeks before the new flight path goes into effect, requiring pilots to begin following Route 17 in northern Bergen County (A-1 and L-1).

In the weeks before the initial start date of April 4, Berger quoted officials in Mahwah and other towns, bitching and moaning that noisy jets would be flying over their communities and schools.

I never saw similar reporting from Hackensack after moving in 2007 to the city's Fairmount section, which is under the noisy landing paths of both Teterboro and Newark Liberty International airports.

Nor has The Record quoted residents of Teaneck and Englewood in recent years about aircraft noise from Teterboro jets.

Hackensack news?

Staff Writer John Seasly has a follow-up today to the announcement by Hackensack Police Director Mike Mordaga that he is leaving the job on May 16 (L-1).

Seasly has written more stories about the city's Police Department than any other agency.

However, the reporter continues to ignore Hackensack schools and Board of Education.

Fort Lee readers will find a story on their school budget and tax hike on L-3 today, but Seasly never reported the March 1 adoption of Hackensack's much larger school budget or any details.

The $79 million tax levy to support a $104 million school budget was approved last week by a tiny minority of the 20,000 Hackensack residents who are registered to vote.

Hater of women, Mexicans, Muslims will never get elected

Just before noon on Wednesday, driving in Englewood seemed pleasant, especially with trees blooming on Engle Street, above. But leaving in the afternoon only showed rush-hour traffic is as bad as ever as city officials refuse to eliminate a few parking meters and install turn lanes at Dean Street and Palisade Avenue, below, and other downtown intersections.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Donald Trump has tapped into a deep reservoir of racism and hatred of women, Mexicans and Muslims, but two things seem assured.

The billionaire and member of the 1 percent will never get elected president as long as Democrats and other liberals protest by going to the polls in November.

And as the Republican nominee, Trump will preside over the destruction of the Grand Old Party, which has been propped up too long by racism, conservative values and crackpot Tea Party members.

Trump's desire to punish women for having abortions in on Page 1 of The Record today, but he plays second fiddle to the so-called controversy over state exams (A-1).

Aircraft noise

Look at all the space Editor Deirdre Sykes has been giving to Ho-Ho-Kus, Mahwah, Paramus, Ramsey, Ridgewood and Rochelle Park over a flight-path change going into effect on Monday (A-1).

Sykes has ignored complaints of Teterboro Airport noise from Hackensack, South Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck and other towns for more than a decade.

Of course, Ho-Ho-Kus, Ramsey and Ridgewood are richer and whiter than long-suffering Hackensack, Englewood and Teaneck.

Shmuley's house

Shmuley Boteach, the publicity hungry rabbi who gives Jews a bad name, is trying to unload his huge pile of stone on the East Hill of Englewood (L-1).

In 2009, Sykes gave unprecedented coverage to Boteach, who knowingly purchased a mansion next door to a Libyan-owned estate in Englewood -- then complained about the planned visit of Moammar Gaddafi.

New flight path won't end those unbelievably noisy takeoffs

Planes low over South Hackensack as they landed at the Port Authority owned Teterboro Airport in 2014, above and below. The aircraft with the propeller in the nose, above, is one of the noisiest to use the airport regularly.

Business jets like this one are the biggest users of Teterboro, which is favored by the 1 percent, celebrities and corporate executives, and flights originating in Europe.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What could possibly be noisier than a business jet landing at Teterboro Airport?

Any resident of Hackensack, South Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other nearby towns will tell you it's the roar from those jets when they take off that can be even more annoying.

Today, Editor Deirdre Sykes again is making a big deal on the front page of The Record over a new fight path to Teterboro Airport -- after decades of ignoring the noise generated by the old one.

And at least half of that noise comes from jets and other aircraft that take off from the Port Authority owned airport -- usually at full power.

That roar or boom can be heard for miles around, and many of those ascending aircraft turn immediately over Hackensack's Fairmount section.

Borg and Teterboro

In the 1980s, the biggest complaint from Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood, owner and publisher of The Record, wasn't airport noise.

He summoned the Port Authority's new executive director to lunch in his private dining room in Hackensack, and demanded to know when the bi-state agency was going to open an aviation museum at Teterboro.

Later, Borg, as chairman of North Jersey Media Group, used Teterboro as a base for the jet he owned with Jon F. Hanson, the real estate mogul who has advised and raised funds for Governor Christie.

I can't recall any articles about Teterboro aircraft noise in The Record's Local section during the many years Sykes was the head assignment editor there.

Atlantic City

After reading all of The Record's coverage of the casino bust and Atlantic City's financial problems, North Jersey voters are expected to resoundingly reject a November ballot proposal for two casinos here.

Today, Staff Writer John Brennan calls the state's attempt to take control of Atlantic City's finances "rhetorical crossfire among the three leading elected officials in Trenton" (A-4).

What else can you expect from a former sports reporter?

Affordable housing

Staff Writer Marina Villeneuve manages to write a long story about Bergen County towns opposed to affordable housing, and not mention that most of the people who would live there are black and Hispanic (L-1).

In her first paragraph today, she refers to them as "people of modest means." 

That sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

Nor does she explore the racial motivation of officials who block the low- and moderate-cost housing, except for her last two paragraphs.

There, she cites a Mack-Cali Realty lawsuit that called Upper Saddle River "segregated" (L-6).

Significantly, the borough's response doesn't deny that, Villeneuve reports.

Westmont Station

A day after reporting another postponement of the opening of a new NJ Transit rail station in Wood-Ridge, The Record today says the building will finally be ready on May 15 (L-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag never explained why NJ Transit didn't provide bus shelters and ticket machines to commuters during the delay, as the agency did for those who used the station that burned down on Anderson Street in Hackensack.

Second look

Tuesday's first Business page was dominated by Staff Writer Joan Verdon's story on fast-casual dining chains eating the lunch of sit-down restaurant chains (L-7 on Tuesday).

What about Lavash City, a fast-casual Armenian spot on Main Street in Hackensack, and similar local restaurants?

When will The Record publicize them? 

Will Hackensack residents benefit from flight-path change?

Malcolm A. Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, shared ownership of this private jet with real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a family friend who has been identified in media reports as chief fundraiser for Chris Christie's successful gubernatorial campaigns.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The flight-pattern change for small jets using Teterboro Airport could bring relief to Hackensack homeowners fed up with round-the-clock aircraft noise.

But in today's front-page story in The Record, Staff Writer Paul Berger focuses on reaction from municipal officials along Route 17 -- the new route chosen by the Federal Aviation Administration "to provide relief for the Hackensack University Medical Center area" (A-1).

The medical center "area," of course, includes Prospect Avenue high-rises, where some residents fear using their terraces in warm weather because corporate jets come so close on their approach to Teterboro.

Aircraft noise

In fact, homeowners in Hackensack's Fairmount section, Teaneck and nearby towns have been hounded by the roar of corporate jets and other aircraft noise around the clock for decades, in what is a major quality of life issue The Record has largely ignored.

Residents can't invoke anti-noise ordinances or enforce an overnight ban on flights because federal laws governing corporate jets supersede all state and local statutes.

Mayor sounds off

The quote of the day today is from Mahwah Mayor Bill Lafloret, who complained the FAA didn't bother to send him a notice about the new Route 17 flight path, which will be tested for six months starting on April 4:

"So now we have to sacrifice our quality of life in Mahwah for the 1-percenters of private corporate jet customers trying to duck into Teterboro. It's unacceptable" (A-8).

One of those 1 percenters is Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, who co-owned a private jet with real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a confidant of Governor Christie's.

Rail strike?

There isn't a single reference to Christie in today's Page 1 story on a possible shutdown of NJ Transit rail operations on Saturday (A-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag reports "no indications of compromise" from the state's mass transit agency or the unions whose members have been working without a contract for more than five years.

Rather than mediate, the GOP bully went on vacation this week to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary, and the sixth year of his war on the working and middle classes in New Jersey.

Meat-centric reviews

If you don't eat meat, there is little to interest you at the two halal restaurants recommended in today's Informal Dining review (BL-1 and BL-16).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung does praise "a bonus for vegetarians" at Juicy Platters -- "basmati rice, fragrant with turmeric and cumin," made with vegetable broth.

Still, Ung doesn't mention whether Juicy Platters in Fair Lawn or Kebab Platters in Clifton offers fish or egg dishes for non-meat eaters or anyone who is dying for some relief from the onslaught of kebabs, gyro and hamburgers in North Jersey. 

Road Warrior errors? Editors try to kill the messenger

Rush hour on Summit Avenue in Hackensack. In more than a decade of writing the Road Warrior column, which is supposed to focus on commuting issues, Staff Writer John Cichowski has largely ignored North Jersey's worsening traffic congestion and the lack of mass-transit alternatives.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You may have missed a comment I published on Saturday from the editor of the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

The retired engineer set up the page after The Record's editors started attacking him for exposing chronic errors in the so-called commuting column.

The column has been written for more than 11 years by reporter John Cichowski, whose thrice-weekly appearances in the Woodland Park daily have been cut back.

The Record has never explained the reason for the cutback, likely because readers are held in contempt by the arrogant editors, including Martin Gottlieb, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.

Here is the comment in full:

"The Road Warrior Bloopers Facebook page provides corrected facts, along with supporting sources and Internet links, all of which are beneficial to the safety and knowledge of readers, in response to mistake-ridden Road Warrior columns, which continually present unsafe, illegal, contradictory, and totally misreported information and advice.

"Readers should appreciate these needed corrections.

"All of this corrected information is always first presented to the Road Warrior and his editors, who continually ignore making any corrections.

"In fact, the very early communications and occasional follow-up efforts have been made in a very constructive objective manner to try to work with the Road Warrior and his editors to try and prevent his mistakes or correct them subsequent to publications. Unfortunately, not only did the Road Warrior and his editors refuse to accept these conciliatory offers, but they went out of their way to make denigrating comments in regards to these offers.

"Therefore, the gloves have come off and readers are shown how unprofessional and incompetent the Road Warrior really is based on the corrected facts, which are also supported by referenced sources, which are frequently the exact same source cited by the Road Warrior in his columns, and Internet links.

"Readers need to made aware of the very misleading, and many times false presentations in the Road Warrior columns if they want to stay on the right side of the law for themselves and their children who drive, avoid dangerous situations promoted by the Road Warrior to themselves and their young drivers, and not be misled or afraid of grossly exaggerated or false information about road and mass transit transportation.

"Readers need to made aware of just how bad the Road Warrior reporting really is when he frequently contradicts himself in the very same column, or reports mistaken information that contradicts what he correctly reported in previous columns.

"Readers need to be shown that the Road Warrior's responses in many of his columns to readers, who question the accuracy of what he reported in a previous column, are either very denigrating to the person questioning his reporting, or very misleading or false based on the actual facts.

"Readers need to be shocked and angered by the very misleading, and many times false reports and advice in the Road Warrior columns.

"The Road Warrior Bloopers Facebook page never crosses the line in offering information or opinions that are not supported by the facts and referenced sources."

Here is a link: Road Warrior Bloopers at The Record

Christie's future

In the unlikely event Chris Christie is elected president in 2016, he couldn't possibly treat New Jerseyans any worse than he has since he became governor in 2010 (A-1).

Given that he won't be making a decision until next year, why is this speculative story leading the paper today?

And is the so-called ANALYSIS really advancing other stories from reporter-cum-lap dog Melissa Hayes that appeared after last week's election, celebrating how well Christie did in raising money and campaigning for Republican candidates across the country?

The overweight GOP bully continues to be the butt of jokes, but he says he would be fit enough to campaign for the Republican nomination and the White House.

Still, he has done such an awful job for the New Jersey economy, the environment and the state's fiscal health, and there are lingering questions about his involvement in the George Washington Bridge scandal.

In another front-page story today, Christie isn't a member of a new gun control group that plans to take its case to manufacturers -- but you won't know that unless you manage to read deep into the continuation page (A-1 and A-10).

Trains, not planes

The Record's stories on trains carrying "highly explosive Canadian crude oil each week through Bergen County towns," including Teaneck, focuses on a relatively new quality of life issue (L-1).

For decades, the editors have ignored aircraft noise that affects far more North Jersey residents, including those in Hackensack, where private jets seem to skim the rooftops of high-rises and hospital buildings on the way to Teterboro Airport. 

The editors also do P.R. for a continuing menace --overweight white men riding Harley-Davidson motorcycles that are modified to be as noisy as possible when they roar down our quiet streets.

They are only shown in photos when they organize a charity run.

Hackensack news

You'll find big Hackensack news on L-3 today -- a woman having her eyes tested, and a man whose hand was injured by an NJ Transit train.

More and more, editors speak for the rich and powerful

The Johnson Public Library in Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's Page 1 "ANALYSIS" of Governor Christie's growing business-tax cuts takes literally forever to tell readers they have done little to improve the state's anemic economic recovery (see last three paragraphs on A-4).

This is the fifth year in a row the GOP bully plans to balance the state budget on the backs of public workers, senior citizens and middle-class homeowners.

Yet, the editors continue to fight any notion of higher taxes on millionaires or a modest gas-tax hike (O-2).

And, with only two weeks to go before the June 30 budget deadline, they refuse to condemn all the time Christie is spending out of the state raising money for conservative Republicans like himself (Saturday's A-4).

Borgs' mouthpiece

The Record's news stories, columns and editorials continue to speak for the rich and powerful -- reflecting the views of the Borg publishing family -- despite the governor's dismal record and the political dirty tricks he used to get reelected last November.

Another story on today's front page argues observant, well-to-do Orthodox Jews in Teaneck, Bergenfield, Fair Lawn and Englewood are under-served (A-1). Really?

The Record has consistently under-reported how parents who send their children to expensive religious schools undermine public schools, and sometimes actively work to slash school budgets as a way to cut their property taxes. 

Noisy skies

The major element on the Local front today promotes the Wings & Wheels Expo at Teterboro Airport -- where noisy, unregulated business jets represent the biggest impact on the quality of life in Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns near a hub favored by the rich and famous (L-1).

Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood was one of the biggest boosters of the airport's aviation museum.

The elder Borg also was listed as "managing partner" of Trio Air Holdings LLC in a testimonial to the broker who upgraded the 1984 Citation III business jet he owned with a friend. See:

Did the Borgs meddle in the news?

Unfortunately, today's Teterboro story is written by Staff Writer Christopher Maag, who covers Hackensack, but couldn't manage to find anything about the city to report.

Restaurant mogul

Staff Writer Elisa Ung cranks up her publicity machine for restaurant owners with another gee-whiz piece on multimillionaire Drew Nieporent, the Ridgewood fat cat behind Tribeca Grill, Nobu and other fine-dining venues (BL-1).

How can Ung serve as the chief restaurant reviewer, presumably representing customers, and yet write one promotional story after another about Nieporent and other wealthy restaurant owners in her column, The Corner Table?

One of my strongest memories of lunches at Tribeca and Nobu more than a decade ago were of flies in the dining rooms, and how I actually asked the server at the former to move me to a table free of the dirty insects.

Saturday's paper

The follow-up to Thursday's fatal tractor-trailer crash on the George Washington Bridge struggled to answer all of the unanswered questions in the original account of the resulting regional traffic paralysis.

Joao Daponta, 59, the trucker who died after his rig slammed into the back of another tractor-trailer at 2 in the morning, had been cited for speeding and careless driving,

But two reporters couldn't find out if he was behind the wheel of a truck or a car when he got them (Saturday's L-6).

They also couldn't find out the name of the second tractor-trailer driver.

However, the story was poorly edited, and said the "Port Authority didn't release ... the name of the rear-ended truck."

Like many stories in The Record, this one made readers fell they are the ones who are constantly being rear-ended.

Missing the real story about Teterboro Airport

Frequently patched but not repaved since 1979, this stretch of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack's Fairmount section gives drivers a rough ride on the way to Summit Avenue. It's one of many streets that have been neglected as taxes have risen.

Business jets on the way to Teterboro Airport roar overhead and appear to skim the rooftops of Prospect Avenue high-rises in Hackensack. Residents get the noise and passengers on the jets get to sip single-malt whisky as their planes touch down gently.

Residents of Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns who have complained bitterly about aircraft noise took a quick look at the Page 1 photo of a man pointing a revolver skyward and thought:

Someone has finally acted out their fantasy of trying to scare away the multimillion-dollar aircraft.

The Record's story on bird strikes completely misses the point about Teterboro Airport, which continues to have a huge negative impact on the quality of life in Bergen County.

This is really a story about the 1%: all of the wealthy owners of those business jets, including Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg.

And how they are pitted against the 99%: homeowners and apartment dwellers whose complaints have fallen on the deaf ears of the editors and the Port Authority, which owns and operates the airport, and rakes in tens of millions of dollars in landing fees.

Has the Woodland Park daily ever covered a meeting of the airport's liaison committee, which includes a Hackensack City Council member and other officials?

Dissing Hackensack 

A second front-page story -- on towns that turn public services over to the private sector -- discusses a half-dozen communities among the 90 or so in North Jersey, and ignores the most diverse -- Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

In the past several years, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, seem to have made a conscious decision to concentrate coverage on the wealthy or mostly white towns in Bergen County.

Vote against women

A letter to the editor accuses Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, of standing with his friends in the Tea Party, not with the women of New Jersey, when he voted against reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act (A-9).

Garrett is the moron in Congress residents of Hackensack, Fair Lawn and most of Teaneck, among other towns, are stuck with after he was reelected in November.

Residents have The Record to thank for writing off his Democratic challenger, and concentrating its coverage on the arch-conservative Garrett. 

Rote journalism  

Today's Local section contains no news of Hackensack except a photo taken at the middle school (L-3).

Check out the imaginative over line for the beautiful photo by Kevin R. Wexler: "THAT'S DANCING".

No. That's a bored copy editor.

 

Coverage of black community ends today

An abandoned home is framed by Overlook Avenue high-rises in Hackensack. Residents have a bird's-eye view of noisy business jets that skim rooftops on the way to Teterboro Airport. Is there any reason they can't approach at a much higher altitude? 

With the end of Black History Month today, head Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, breathe a sigh of relief, knowing they can turn their backs on North Jersey's African-American community for another year.

Now, they'll only have to run stories about black people who get in trouble with the law, sue or get sued, or die in one of those drive-by shootings in Paterson.

Sykes has consumed enormous quantities of Jamaican black-rum cake in recent years, but has completely ignored the hard-working, God-fearing Jamaican-American enclaves in Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

If I didn't know better, I'd guess Sykes and Sforza had something to do with assigning black history to the shortest month of the year.

Even the Woodland Park newsroom mirrors the lack of coverage. There are no black editors with any authority and only a couple of black reporters.

More bad writing 

More bad news writing appears on the front page today, this time in the photo caption for Pope Benedict XVI (A-1).

We know the pope has great spiritual powers, but the caption informs readers he can travel "through" 150,000 people without harming them.

Is it too much to ask six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton to read every headline and caption that appears on the paper's premier page or at least to have them read to her?

With her proofers' eyes riveted on the TV screen during the David Letterman show, how else is she going to prevent such embarrassing errors from appearing on Page 1?

After Mike Kelly's latest flop appeared on Wednesday's A-1, the long-winded columnist was taken to the hospital with a case of bad writing.

Bad reporting 

The Record and other media continue to cover the battle to avoid the sequester as if President Obama and his policies didn't win a decisive victory over the Republicans in November (A-1, A-10, A-20). 

The big Hackensack news today appears on L-3 -- a non-fatal, two-vehicle accident near ShopRite, in another brilliant photo from chief ambulance chaser Tariq Zehawi.

The is clearly filler. As usual, no attempt is made to report the possible cause of the accident or whether any of the drivers received a summons.

And God forbid the paper actually identifies the drivers.  

Obesity is ugly

Look at the two beautiful, "plus-size" women on the Better Living cover today -- the latest attempt by The Record's editors to hide the ugly obesity epidemic in New Jersey, as epitomized by Governor Christie. 


 

Isn't this just white flight in reverse?

Prospect Avenue high-rises are used as landmarks by pilots who guide noisy business jets into a landing at nearby Teterboro Airport. Hackensack residents say the jets clear rooftops by only about 200 feet, and the sight of a big plane appearing so close to the ground is startling. Many say the jets are a nuisance, but The Record has ignored their complaints.

The Record's front page today reports a seemingly dramatic flight of young North Jersey suburban couples with their children in tow.

But the lure of "middle- and upper-income areas of Manhattan and Brooklyn" appears evident only in the wealthier, mostly white towns of northern and western Bergen and Passaic counties, according to a map on A-12.

In Hackensack and other diverse communities, the number of children under the age of 5 is increasing -- not decreasing -- and schools are packed.

And judging from vehicles with New York plates, some of these children might be commuting from the Bronx and other working-class areas of New York City -- an aspect The Record ignores completely.

Check out the photo of a smiling Caitlin Sullivan-Pond, a photography editor who grew up in tony Montclair, and her 15-month-old son Dylan on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (A-12). 

She and her advertising director husband, whose name doesn't appear in the story, apparently have money to burn on a $2,800-a-month Manhattan apartment. Isn't life grand? 

Murder on readers 

Displayed next to this wildly exaggerated statistical analysis today is an overlong rehash of the murder conviction of Peter Shanley, who killed wife Debra in their Dumont home in 2010 (A-1).

Why is Editor Marty Gottlieb squandering all this space, not to mention the talents of Staff Writer Stephanie Akin, on this tortured tale?

The editing of Akin's story could have been better: "Three years passed between that April [2010] night and Shanley's murder conviction in January ...."

For one thing, the year of the murder appears in the photo caption, not in the A-1 text, and for another, the reporter is about three months short of "three years."

Testing our patience

Below the fold, readers learn The Valley Hospital is likely to seek approval for a scaled-down expansion -- a story The Record has beaten to death in recent years (A-1).

Is Publisher Stephen A. Borg still a member of the President's Council at the Ridgewood hospital? 

Contrast all the coverage of The Valley Hospital expansion plans with relatively little coverage of the impact of Hackensack University Medical Center's many expansions on its neighborhood and city services.

Corrected correction

In another sign of meltdown in the Woodland Park newsroom, check out today's A-2 correction of Saturday's A-2 correction of a wrong photo with the Friday obituary of South Hackensack Police Chief Frank Furbacher.

A second correction today fixes the misspelling of a name in Sports.

Chris and Sandy

On A-3, another Superstorm Sandy story reports the cozy relationship of the clean-up company, the taxpayers' monitor and Governor "Pay to Play" Christie, who is counting on Sandy to propell him to a second term.

Smoking out news

With Staff Writer Hannan Adely exploring the compelling "local issue" of smoking in public parks -- in the middle of winter, no less -- Hackensack residents are ignored for yet another day by head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza (Local front).

Road Warrior John Cichowksi again turns his back on paralyzing traffic jams, overburdened mass transit and outrageous tolls to focus on drunk drivers in Ireland (L-1).

Cichowski may not be drinking and driving, but he is disoriented nonetheless. 

From hunger

In Better Living, food writers continue to write glowingly about chefs and little about restaurant customers who are seeking a decent meal at a reasonable price (BL-1 and BL-5).

On the Opinion front, Mike Kelly loses readers in the first few sentences of his "odd decisions" column about Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. (O-1).

I guess Kelly thought he was being funny when he wrote the Dominican Republic isn't in New Jersey, but could that have been a disdainful reference to  all the Dominican-Americans who live in the state?

Hey, Kelly. It's time to retire to a sunny Caribbean island.