Hey, Monsy, no one really cares

Image by DigitalGlobe-Imagery via Flickr

Hey, Monsy Alvarado, in reference to your L-3 story today in The Record of Woodland Park, no one really cares that a suspended Hackensack police captain wants his pay back while he's on suspension -- except the cop himself. Report the decision when it comes, but stop neglecting all the other news in Hackensack, including details of the proposed city budget and tax hike.


Since last June, you have been writing almost exclusively about the legal troubles of Police Chief Ken Zisa and others in the Police Department -- presumably at the behest of head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes. 

I guess you don't have the backbone to tell her you feel bad neglecting other news about the city where The Record was founded in 1895 and where it prospered for more than 110 years. Or maybe you're lazy. Can't you write more than one story a day? More than 30 days have passed on three  occasions without your byline in the paper.


I'm not singling you out. Staff Writer Jean Rimbach averages one byline a year. What's Shawn Boburg been up to? Certainly not writing stories. Productivity doesn't seem to matter to Editor Frank Scandale or Publisher Stephen A. "I'm not in this for the money" Borg.

It's who you know -- and you'd better be in the good graces of Mother Hen Deirdre or one of her minions. What a pathetically weak assignment desk -- Dan Sforza, Christina Joseph and Rich Whitby, to name just three. Just look at today's thin Local section. 


Page L-2 carries a story on Teterboro Airport scholarships -- another way the Port Authority and The Record continue to deflect attention away from what a huge impact the airport has on the quality of life in Hackensack, Maywood and other towns. Does the paper even cover Maywood?


On Page 1, the last part of the five-part youth baseball series appears, and there's an editorial on A-20 -- with no acknowledgment by the editors of how their constant A-1 glorification of sports and the business of sports translates into the abuses reported by Staff Writer Colleen Diskin. I hope her next project is childhood obesity.

At least, there's good coverage of the BP oil spill -- with a dramatic, front-page photo and inside stories. Before the Borg-ordered downsizing and the single-minded, endless investigations inspired by Sykes, that might have been a reporter from The Record in the oil-soaked Gulf.

(Photo: Gulf of Mexico oil spill)

Screwing readers -- again

Image via Wikipedia

Desperate editors of The Record of Woodland Park were in luck yesterday, when Fire Departments in Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood responded to the same house fire. That allows them to point to a photo on L-3 today as evidence the former Haclensack daily covers its core Bergen towns.


Of course, the truth is the editors have screwed readers in those communities once again -- with the tacit approval of Publisher Stephen A. Borg. 

Oh. I forgot to give the editors credit for two-day-old news: a bee swarm at Main and Anderson streets in Hackenaack. And, of course, the Hackensack reporter has written yet another story about suspended Police Chief Ken Zisa, this one about his cashing in unused sick days. 


But, hey, Deirdre Sykes, you're the head assignment editor directing this crappy coverage, so shouldn't Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado be telling readers whether Zisa will need that $53,000 for legal fees -- or will city taxpayers be the ones stuck with his legal bills? Or, maybe, she can report on details of the proposed city budget and tax hike before they are approved by the City Council.


Page 1 today -- for the second day in a row -- is covered by the continuing youth baseball series and by far more information about two would-be terrorists from North Jersey than most readers are looking for. 

Why does The Record and the rest of the media write so much about these terror suspects, especially when compared to how much they write about the Americans they kill? And why isn't there any background on how the 9/11 suicide bombers lived in Paterson?

One of the biggest stories of the day-- teachers getting a reprieve from Governor Christie's proposed pension and benefit changes -- is given little front-page space. No op-ed page appears today.

In Better Living, food coverage is limited to the stripped down 15-Minute Chef, with a recipe for tilapia. When there is so much wild fish available in North Jersey, why does Food Editor Bill Pitcher promote a farmed variety that is likely to contain antibiotics and other harmful additives? 

(Photo: Hackensack River, seen from Teaneck.)

A skeleton Sunday paper

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If you've been wondering what Staff Writer Colleen Diskin has been doing in the months since the editors took her Mother Load column away (without notice to readers), you can see the fruits of her labor on Page 1 today -- and for another two and a half pages inside The Record of Woodland Park.


Her story -- on  youth baseball teams' endless seasons -- is endless itself, and there are four more parts to the series coming! 

Jeez, Colleen, didn't head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes let you wile away the months like Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado did on the so-called investigation of Hackensack Police Chief Ken Zisa or like Alvarado, Staff Non-Writer Jean Rimbach and others did when they wasted nearly three years on the vendetta against former Hackensack Chief of Detectives Michael Mordaga? 

Readers with kids playing baseball might be glued to the page, but the majority of readers won't be. And what do they get to read of interest to them? Not much.


This Sunday paper is a ghost of past editions. Hasn't there been enough coverage of the conflict between Governor Christie and his education commissioner? Does Columnist Mike Kelly really add anything or is he, as usual, just running in place? Can't he find a more compelling topic? Maybe he should ride one of the decrepit local buses that pass through Teaneck, where he lives, and report on how poorly NJ Transit treats minority riders.

I wish we could dismantle Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski's mind to find out why he has totally abandoned his mission of writing about the commuting woes of drivers and mass transit users, in favor of columns on car theft, potholes, the Route 80 exit to the Woodland Park office and all the other nonsense he spends time exploring. 

Shame on Sykes, who picked Cichowski to write the column in late 2003 and hasn't noticed how boring his stuff has become. The column has become a public disservice.


In Local, there are stories about a teacher, students or education in Bergenfield, Tenafly, Paramus and the Pascack Valley, but not a word about Hackensack and Englewood schools. Nor is there any other news today about those important Bergen County communities or Teaneck.


To ensure that today's Travel section contains no useful information for readers planning vacations, photos from Readers on the Road cover all of Page T-3 today, and the editors couldn't get Travel Editor Jill Schensul to shut up about her cruise through Europe. 

Why Publisher Stephen A. Borg folded the Food section and allowed the thin Travel section to survive is known only to him. It's curious that Schensul is an animal lover who rarely runs stories on restaurants and cuisine, one of the main reasons people travel.