Route 4 apartments haven't saved downtown Englewood

Empty storefronts in downtown Englewood, above and below, persist despite the construction of hundreds of luxury apartments on Route 4 and others on Palisade Avenue. A new residential project reported in The Record today isn't expected to change that significantly.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record has never bothered trying to shed light on Englewood's segregated schools or its fading downtown.

Even when Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg  -- who lives on the city's East Hill -- was publisher, reporting about the small city was superficial at best.

Today, Staff Writer Stephanie Noda says work has begun on a 195-unit apartment complex "that will become one of the city's first new tax ratables in years" (L-1).

That's all it will become, if the past is any guide.

No benefit

Two luxury apartment complexes, Towne Center on Palisade Avenue and The Sheffield on Route 4, were built about six years ago, but the city's fading downtown hasn't benefited.

More apartments went up on Route 4, opposite The Sheffield.

Even when a free shuttle ran between the complexes and downtown, restaurants and merchants continued to struggle.

Once you get past the clunky headline on today's story, you still won't find any discussion of downtown Englewood, as if it is on the moon.

"Operations

begin on

apartment

complex"

What "operations"? Is the headline writer referring to surgery on the complex?

Councilman Wayne Hamer calls the site of the new apartments "attractive," ignoring the relentless assault of road noise and pollution.

The new apartments will be built in front of The Sheffield, where tenants will lose their view, but may gain a little peace and quiet from the complex acting as a buffer to Route 4 noise.

Irrelevant news

In the last week, The Record's front page has looked like the Christian Science Monitor.

Story after story on Catholic high school football teams, and today, a big story on the Vatican (A-1).

Like the vast majority of readers, I am not gay, seeking a divorce, Catholic or the parent of a high school football player, so how are any of these stories relevant to me and so many others?

Paper backs Christie

A long front-page "ANALYSIS" on the history of the state's pioneering Transportation Trust Fund backs Governor Christie's refusal to sign an increase in the gasoline tax to revitalize the bankrupt source of road-repair and mass-transit money (A-1).

"Christie's stance seems to make political sense: Just last week, a poll ... found 58 percent of New Jerseyans oppose a gas tax increase" (A-6).

But Staff Writer Christopher Maag reported earlier in the story the gasoline tax is "heavily subsidized by out-of-state drivers but mostly benefits New Jersey drivers" (first column on A-6).

And do we really want Christie doing what is "political" or do we want the governor to act in the best interests of the region, such as our need for expanded mass transit to ease crushing traffic congestion?

And shouldn't The Record's editors be pushing for a viable road-and-bridge repair fund, not endorsing Christie's regressive policies?

Celeste is one of the shuttered businesses along Englewood's Engle Street, just two blocks from Palisade Avenue.

Englewood update

After I wrote this post, I had lunch in Englewood, and was shocked to see all of the empty storefronts on Engle Street, a block or two from Palisade Avenue.

Two of the shuttered businesses are Celeste, a high-end women's clothing store, and Dean Street Greenery, a flower shop that is featured in a photo slide show on the city's own Web: 

See: cityofenglewood.org/

The Record's local assignment editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, have ignored the health of downtown Englewood, Hackensack, Teaneck and other towns.

They send reporters to cover mall retailers, who reward the paper with hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising revenue.

Was this the entrance of Celeste, above and below?

The former Dean Street Greenery, above and below.

This restaurant closed.

Another empty storefront. Are downtown Englewood rents too high? The Record doesn't know or care.

How is business in wealthy Englewood? Don't ask

Signs of wealth in downtown Englewood, such as the greatly expanded Mercedes-Benz dealership, co-exit with the shells of failed businesses, including family owned Mitchell Simon Co., an upscale hardware store that sold outdoor furniture, fireplaces and many other items.

Two of three empty storefronts on a short stretch of Palisade Avenue in Englewood, a classic two-sides-of-the-tracks town. They have been empty for many months.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record today reports Englewood officials have approved a 2014 budget that will raise municipal taxes for the first time in four years (Local front).

The second paragraph of the story hints at the wealth of the city, noting the average home is assessed at $458,000 -- this in a community with a large number of modest houses and working-class residents.

But The Record's superficial coverage of Englewood ignores a persistent problem, a downtown that continues to struggle, as any visitor can see immediately.

There are signs of new life along Palisade Avenue, but empty storefronts predominate, and some of them have been empty for months or more than a year.

The Woodland Park daily prefers to lavish coverage on highway and mall retailers, some of the paper's biggest advertisers, and ignore Englewood and other downtowns.

The street in front of Englewood City Hall is informally called Dizzy's Place. Jazz trumpet great Dizzy Gillespie lived on the city's East Hill for many years and died at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center.

Today's front page

Whose idea was it to lead the paper with new rules for "oil trains" and "confusion over state housing guidelines"?

How tedious. 

Buried at the bottom of Page 1 today is the outrageous $7.5 million Super Bowl sales tax rebate Governor Christie gave to the wealthy National Football League (A-1).

The Record relentlessly hyped the Super Bowl, starting about two years before the February game, thanks to Staff Writer John Brennan, one of the dim bulbs who came over to news from the sports staff.

More poor editing

In a story about inmates taking part in a state program that allows them to pursue college degrees (A-3), a typo makes one woman sound uneducated:

"I am no long stifling my potential," said Amarilis Rodriguez.

In today's edition of the Hackensack Chronicle, a story on a transformed city Police Department notes old uniforms worn by officers included "open collar shorts," a typo that appears twice (Page 3).

High wine prices

Ordering wine by the glass in most restaurants is a rip-off, and Aldo's in Wyckoff is no exception, selling whites and reds for 96 cents to about $10 per ounce (BL-16).

At least, the restaurant/wine bar allows you to bring your own, if you sit in the dining room.

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung says eating and drinking "options can get confusing." 

But her data box today says nothing about the "value" of the food, including a $35.95 veal chop that may not be naturally raised and $31.95 for orange roughy, presumably a fillet from the relatively large, deep-sea fish.

More Obama bashing on Page 1

The YMCA on Main Street in Hackensack. After prospering for more than 110 years, The Record left the city and scattered its operations to other parts of North Jersey.

You never know when The Record's editors will use a front-page story to take a swipe at President Obama, burying the truth inside, where only the most persistent readers go.

Today's splashy Page 1 takeout on Garfield hangs a possible delay in cleaning up neighborhood pollution dating to 1983 on Obama's "plan to cut $37 million from the Superfund program" (second paragraph).

Taxing readers

Deep inside, only the hardiest readers learn taxes on chemical and oil companies to fund cleanups like the one in Garfield expired in 1995, "when Congress refused to reauthorize it despite the urging of President Clinton."

"President George W. Bush did not support reauthorizing the tax," The Record reports, and last year, a bill to revive the Polluter Pays Restoration Act went nowhere in Congress.

Just smell the manure

On the front of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes' Local section, the big news is harness racing.

But L-1 also carries the first story on Englewood's struggling downtown in many years (L-1).

The Record virtually abandoned coverage of downtowns in Teaneck, Englewood and other diverse communities after North Jersey Media Group pulled up its roots in Hackensack -- delivering a royal F.U. to Main Street. 

Why stop now?

Thankfully, most drivers have to go to the MVC only every four years or so, but that didn't stop Road Warrior John Cichowski from writing his 107th column on the dysfunctional agency (L-1).

The letters "MVC" in the headline instantly put to sleep readers looking for genuine news on commuting in one of the most congested regions of the nation.

Fooling consumers

The Record's Business section is so intent on promoting mattress companies, clothing chains, real estate agents and even sellers of business jets that its lone consumer columnist is a welcome relief.

But in today's piece on poor service, Your Money's Worth Columnist Kevin DeMarrais really lets down readers by not naming an airline or a "popular seafood restaurant in Maine" that simply don't care about customers' bad experiences (B-1).

Heart attack on a plate

On the front of Better Living, Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill's homage to Julia Child ignores the late great TV chef's heavy reliance on butter and cream -- two ingredients shunned by anyone who wants to eat healthy today.

Shell-shocked

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's entire Sunday column discusses pasture-raised eggs available at only three small markets in northern Bergen County (BL-1).

But where is the list of restaurants that serve naturally raised eggs? 

It's a sad commentary on Ung's Corner Table column, if readers can't get that information from the restaurant reviewer.

Shoving the jocks down our throats

Image via Wikipedia
Since the arrest of a Penn State coach and dismissal of Joe Paterno, perverted football coaches have been coming out of the woodwork.  Was the media ignoring the problem?

In the simple mind of interim Editor Doug Clancy, all football stories are the same -- from the perversions of Penn State to the thuggish players at Wayne Hills High School.


Clancy, like his predecessor, seems to think sports sells the paper, so he is running the Wayne story in the lead position on the front page today -- the fifth time it's been on Page 1 in recent weeks.


Why is this jock-strap itching editor shoving the Wayne farce down Bergen readers' throats when he has a much more suitable place for it, the Passaic-Morris edition?


Clancy boosted the hype of Black Friday sales by running the story on Page 1 on Saturday, so why does he bury the dark side of this naked commercialism on A-15 today?


Road kill


Road Warrior John Cichowski still doesn't get it. Testing the vision and physical coordination of older drivers periodically is far more important than testing their knowledge of driving rules (L-1).


At the bottom of the Local front, a story about a driver who ran into two bicyclists in Saddle River is woefully incomplete.


On L-3, a story about Englewood merchants is the first about that city's downtown in at least five years.


Living dead


The lazy assignment editors do so few profiles of interesting local residents you'd think an obituary about one of them would become a fixture on L-3, where they once ran regularly.


Richard "Ricky Rockit" Torraca, 45, was a drummer and freelance stagehand with hundreds of friends (L-6).


Juvenile journalism


For more than a year now, Better Living staffers have been using their unseasoned palates to test bottled pasta sauces and other food, and  recommending the "best" to readers.


Today, the Consumer Reports of daily newspapers publishes an evaluation of computer tablets on F-1 and F-3.


But what's this juvenile nonsense? Each evaluation lists "sitcom characters who would buy this."