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.

Christie's big mass-transit screw-up is back in the news

Crowding in the NJ Transit waiting room at Penn Station in New York, above; delays and the stampede to get a seat on the train, below, are likely to get worse now that Amtrak will be closing two tunnels longer than before to repair damage from Superstorm Sandy nearly two years after corrosive saltwater flooded them.

Even if rail commuters could take an NJ Transit bus back to North Jersey, the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan couldn't accommodate them. That terminal is hopelessly gridlocked weekday afternoons, when home-bound commuters face huge delays, with little relief in sight.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

In the four years since Governor Christie scrapped two new Hudson River rail tunnels, crowding on trains and buses, and traffic congestion have only gotten worse.

But until recently, The Record has largely ignored problems with the region's mass-transit system, following an agenda set by Christie himself.

Now, The Record reports, Amtrak says it will have to close two existing tunnels longer than before to repair damage from Superstorm Sandy, aggravating delays faced by thousands of NJ Transit riders at Penn Station in Manhattan (A-1).

Today's story reviews the October 2010 decision, noting the GOP bully exaggerated the potential cost overruns he cited when he killed the tunnel project, according to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (A-6).

The new tunnels would have accommodated more trains, and provided more seats for commuters.

The story by transportation reporter Christopher Maag doesn't explain why it took Amtrak nearly two years to determine Sandy damage is far worse than initially thought.

Maag reports closing the tunnels for "additional hours every week ... will mean fewer trains and longer waits for [rail] commuters," but he doesn't mention existing delays or standing room only on rush-hour trains.

Tunnel vision

Even though Christie diverted hundreds of millions from the cancelled tunnels to road projects, Democrats are still having trouble getting behind a hike in the gasoline tax to revitalize the state's Transportation Trust Fund (A-3).

In an interview with The Record, Senate President Stephen Sweeney wouldn't commit himself to a method for raising the $2 billion he wants to spend on transportation annually, including extending light rail service to Englewood.

And it doesn't sound like Staff Writer John Reitmeyer asked Sweeney point blank whether he supported a gas-tax hike, which, basically, means drivers would pay to repair the roads and bridges they use every day.

The Record's editorial writers also haven't backed an increase in what is the nation's second-lowest levy, one that hasn't been raised "in more than two decades" (A-3).

News judgment?

When irate customers complained Ramsey luxury car dealer Afzal "Bobby" Kahn sold their cars on consignment and didn't pay them or that they didn't get title to the cars they bought from him, the story was buried inside Local.

Now that the son of Pakistani immigrants has hired a lawyer to "help sort through the complaints and make things right," the story is played on Page 1 today.

Shouldn't the front page be reserved for successful resolution of Kahn's alleged cons? 

Other car dealers

Don't hold your breath for The Record to expose unscrupulous practices at the full-line car dealers in North Jersey, a major source of North Jersey Media Group's ad revenue.

The Woodland Park daily apparently has no plans to replace long-time consumer columnist Kevin DeMarrais, who retired in March.

Hackensack news

A story on the Local front today reports the Upper Main Alliance is "a group of 153 property owners representing 375 businesses along Main Street" (L-1).

But Staff Reporter Todd South doesn't point out the property owners hope to profit tremendously from the downtown Hackensack redevelopment they have been pushing for a decade.

Now, the group says it is ready to spend $20,000 or more for a consultant "to kick start the creation of a local arts team."

That contrasts with the group's recent refusal to contribute to the creation of open space on Atlantic Street, replacing city owned parking lots with a park and amphitheater.