For commuters, no real change at NJ Transit

A bus broke down this morning in the Route 495 express lane to the Lincoln Tunnel, delaying commuters aboard hundreds of Manhattan-bound buses, above, including NJ Transit riders standing in the aisles. The Port Authority has ignored calls to add a second express bus lane into the city, and The Record's lazy editors and reporters have taken no notice.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Dozens of commuters who couldn't find a seat on an NJ Transit train between Secaucus and New York's Penn Station were probably cursing Jim Weinstein on Wednesday morning.

Weinstein announced he will be leaving his job as executive director of NJ Transit on March 2, The Record reported on Wednesday (A-1).

But Weinstein, who is another of Governor Christie's many cronies, failed in his job long before Superstorm Sandy, when hundreds of rail cars and locomotives were destroyed, and the Super Bowl, when thousands of fans waited hours for trains.

Ignoring commuters

For years -- in a story The Record has never bothered to tell -- NJ Transit has been unable to provide a rush-hour seat for every commuter or guarantee their on-time arrival.

Why The Record's editors and reporters immediately went to bat for Super Bowl fans after years of ignoring North Jersey commuters is a question only the Woodland Park newsroom can answer.

The assignment editors and reporters don't seem to think they have anything in common with their readers who commute by bus or train.

In fact, Editor Marty Gottlieb and his many underlings appear to have contempt for readers who use mass transit, judging by the lack of coverage in the paper, especially in the Road Warrior column.

Drivers engage in the daily ritual of crawling down Route 495 to the entrance of the Lincoln Tunnel. This morning, a trip by car from Clifton to lower Manhattan took an agonizing 1 hour and 20 minutes.

Sky high salaries

Weinstein is being paid "upward of $261,000 a year," compared to Christie's $175,000, The Record reported.

He will be replaced at NJ Transit by Ronnie Hakim, another one of the governor's many cronies, who is in line for a $90,00o raise when she leaves the New Jersey Turnpike Authority -- by far the most expensive toll road in the tri-state area.

She now gets $174,000-a-year as executive director of the authority, which also runs the Garden State Parkway.

Early Alzheimer's

Meanwhile, Road Warrior John Cichowski finally emerges from hibernation to report on the challenges in the wake of last Thursday's nor'easter, which dropped 12 inches to 18 inches of snow on North Jersey (A-1 today).

The befuddled Cichowski doesn't have the courage to criticize state and municipal snow-removal crews for the half-assed job they did of clearing streets and highway ramps, and repairing potholes.

I also don't see any mention in his column today of pedestrians forced to put themselves in harm's way by walking in the street because of sidewalks and crosswalks still buried under snow.

The idiotic editors run a Page 1 photo today that tells readers nothing about the dangers of merging into high-speed traffic on highways when a mound of snow blocks the driver's vision or the acceleration lane suddenly disappears.

The mound of snow in the image blocks the view of the photographer (!!!), not the driver of the van shown merging onto Route 17 north in Upper Saddle River (A-1). 

Asylum's inmates

A news story and column on Page 1 today are about David Samson, the head of a powerful law firm who Christie named chairman of the patronage mill also known as the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Check out the dated, unflattering column photo of Mike Kelly, whose shit-eating grin seems to undermine just about anything he has to say (A-1).

Burned-out Columnists Kelly and Cichowski appear to be just two of the patients in the newsroom's asylum.

A homeless man on the No. 2 train in Manhattan today had two hand trucks loaded with his belongings.

Editors join Republicans who sit on their asses

This winter's crop of potholes has blossomed on Euclid Avenue, near Summit Avenue, in Hackensack, above and below. Other big potholes are on Euclid, near the railroad tracks, and on the Anderson Street Bridge to Teaneck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Barack Obama delivered one of the best speeches of his presidency on Tuesday night, but hundreds of congressional Republicans greeted his call to action by sitting on their asses.

And today, The Record's editors imitate those do-nothing conservatives by running a lame Associated Press story that calls the State of the Union address "the opening salvo in a midterm election fight for control of Congress" (A-1).

Aren't readers sick and tired of reporters obsessed with the next election, whether it is this year or two or three years away?

Why doesn't the media report on whether Obama's proposals are good for the country or focus on the greedy Republicans' war on the middle class?

Health, wages, women

AP reporter Julie Pace, one of the many hacks working for the wire service, begins the Page 1 story by claiming President Obama was seeking "to energize his sluggish second term."

Pace -- and The Record's Lindy Washburn -- have completely ignored the many success stories during the troubled roll-out of the Affordable Care Act.

Health insurance policies for members of my family and for current North Jersey Media Group employees are providing the same coverage for less -- more than $150 a month less in my case.

Obama called on Congress to "give America a raise" by enacting a federal minimum wage of $10.10 an hour, and also asked lawmakers to finally end pay inequality for women.

I didn't see that on The Record's front page.

Ignoring concussions

Super Bowl coverage appears in every section for yet another day, including a front-page report on depressed ticket and hotel-room prices (A-1, L-1, BL-1 and S-1).

There is an upbeat story on pro football players visiting children in their native Paterson (L-1), but don't miss the nostalgic tabloid on "New Jersey Super Bowl Legends."

Nowhere in today's special section is there any mention of whether Rutherford native Stan Walters, Frank Winters of Union City, Bob Kratch of Mahwah and other linemen suffered brain damage, dementia or early Alzheimer's from playing pro football.

The section appears the day after PBS re-broadcast its two-part Frontline documentary, "League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis." 

Did Marty Gottlieb or any of the other Record editors see the documentary or are they just sitting on their asses day in and day out, twiddling their thumbs?

Jersey politics 

Today's front page also carries the second day of an expose on how Port Authority Chairman David Samson and Governor Christie's brother, Todd, are benefiting from a $256 million renovation of the Harrison PATH station (A-1).

Sampson, a Chris Christie appointee, voted to approve the project.

An editorial on A-12 expresses outrage, but isn't this the way Jersey politics works on the regional, state and local level?

In Hackensack, members of a public-private partnership called the Upper Main Street Alliance are promoting downtown redevelopment, salivating over all of the money they will make from sale of land they own.

The reform City Council, meanwhile, is passing ordinances giving tax breaks for more apartment development, never pausing to ask whether there is room in the overcrowded schools (L-3).

Today's Page 1 puzzle: Who is gay?

Everyone but The Record has noticed the Port Authority's refusal to expand the PATH rail system despite increased ridership and the region's paralyzing traffic congestion.

Today's puzzle appears on Page 1 of The Record as readers struggle to figure out whether the large photo of two women athletes embracing is related to the story on astronaut Sally Ride's 27-year-long lesbian relationship.

The A-1 story on Ride and two other public figures acknowledging they are homosexual has former employees wondering when some newsroom staffers are going to come out, especially when they write about such issues as same-sex marriage.

Readers have to guess what sport the women in the photo played to kick off the Olympics. This is called interactive print journalism.

Word missing

The word "soccer" wouldn't fit on A-1, because Editor Marty Gottlieb and Production Editor Liz Houlton ordered news copy editors to make sure to say one of the players is a New Jersey native, as if that localized the story.

If you think the A-1 photo has lesbian overtones, you can just hear the snickers on the sports copy desk over the S-6 photo, which shows one player with her face seemingly pressed against a second player's breasts.

Tax cuts for the wealthy

Another A-1 story on more business tax cuts for the so-called job creators doesn't explain why the state's economy continues to limp along with an unemployment rate higher than the nation's.

Far be it for editors of The Record to put Governor Christie on the spot and ask why he continues to cut taxes for the wealthy (A-1 and A-5).

Obese president?

The A-5 story reports Christie hasn't ruled out a run for the presidency in 2016, though if he keeps on eating the way he does, he won't be alive then.

Also on A-5, a rosy story about Christie and real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson doesn't mention Hanson is Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg's close friend nor that they co-own a business jet. 

Path to congestion

On A-3, The Record carefully avoids bringing up the question of why the Port Authority has no plans to expand the PATH train system, even after Christie killed the Hudson River rail tunnels.  

Head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section carries some good news about red-light cameras for a change after negative columns from Road Warrior John Cichowski, who reprinted complaining e-mails from rabid red-light runners.

Red-light cameras in 21 towns -- including Wayne, Englewood Cliffs and Palisades Park -- have been re-certified (L-1).

In view of all the maniacs on the road, residents of Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns can't wait for installation of red-light cameras, which cut down on accidents and save lives as well as providing towns with much-needed revenue.

Another lawsuit

The big Hackensack news today is another lawsuit, this one filed by Vice Principal Patricia Lozano against a school board member who alleged Lozano had ties to the Zisa family, onetime rulers of the city, known in some quarters as Zisaville (L-3).

The Record's Local section has had more stories about deposition, motions and other minutiae surrounding the many civil suits against former Police Chief Ken Zisa than law journals.

More cronyism

Christie has given another high-paying job to a former assistant U.S. attorney who worked for him when the governor was U.S. attorney (L-7).

Has The Record ever counted how many former assistant U.S. attorneys have gotten jobs in his administration and at the profligate Port Authority of New York and New Jersey?