Editors go from mindless P.R. to calling Christie 'long shot'

Only one side of the Route 46 bridge in Little Ferry has been rebuilt, including a new sidewalk and  guardrail to protect pedestrians, above. And the accident-plagued former Little Ferry Circle still has the look of a construction zone, below. The work began in June 2014.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

If you thought Saturday's front page was boring, Page 1 of the Sunday edition delivers a tedious retrospective on home foreclosures and an "Analysis" on spending at public colleges.

Even today's bright headline and story on lawyers who wear bow ties can't lift Editor Martin Gottlieb's front page out of the doldrums.

I would have liked to see Stephanie Akin's story at least mention the exorbitantly high legal fees that allow bow-tied lawyers to exhibit such sartorial splendor (A-1).

GOP clowns

And why did Gottlieb lead with that clown, Donald Trump, questioning the war heroism of Arizona Sen. John McCain (A-1), and not Governor Christie's defense?

Then, the real "news" in today's paper would have been on Page 1, not on A-8, a declaration by The Record that Christie's presidential campaign "is viewed by many as a long shot."

That's fortified by an Opinion column (O-2) noting Christie is a "third-tier GOP presidential candidate who was tied with Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal and Rick Santorum, each of whom netted 2 percent in a nationwide survey of GOP voters ...."

Next step

Of course, The Record's editorial board needs to really put an end to more than five years of shameless public relations for the GOP bully from Columnist Charles Stile, Staff Writer Melissa Hayes and others.

The Woodland Park daily must call on Christie to give up his so-called campaign and try to repair all the damage he has done in New Jersey since he took office in early 2010.

Local hero?

The editors of Page 1 and the Local front don't seem to talk to each other.

On the front page, Trump slams McCain, but L-1 is dominated by a parade for another prisoner of war, Vito Trause of Washington Township, celebrating his 90th birthday.

Neither story refers to the other, as is common newspaper practice.

Overfed

Today's column from the dessert-obsessed Elisa Ung may be her first acknowledgement in more than eight years of food reporting at The Record that many people have dietary restrictions that prevent them from eating anything and everything under the sun, as she does (BL-1).

But she interviews only chefs who are diabetic or have celiac disease.

Surely, she must know -- or doesn't want to know -- that many thousands of her readers are following a heart-healthy diet or, unlike her, just watching their weight and cholesterol.

Good, bad work

Staff Writer Richard Newman, whose byline is on the Page 1 foreclosure story, did a great job on the profile of Capt. Mike Bowers, United Airlines' chief pilot at Newark Liberty International Airport (B-1).

But the upbeat Real Estate front on a developer who is converting a Paterson ribbon mill into apartments (R-1) clashes with The Record's usual portrayal of Silk City -- gun violence, drug dealers and corrupt politicians.

The story by veteran Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn doesn't even answer such typical questions as how close tenants are to food shopping and other businesses, and how does a Paterson landlord justify renting a one-bedroom apartment with a loft for $1,200 a month?

Second look

We may pay some of the highest municipal and county taxes in the nation, but town and Bergen County officials continue to disappoint residents when it comes to repaving streets.

For the last couple of years, utility work has torn up streets from Hackensack to Hackettstown, and most of them remain roughly patched and bumpy going for anything smaller than a Sherman Tank.

Except for an annual column or two on potholes, Road Warrior John Cichowski ignores the abysmal condition of streets, some of which haven't been paved in decades.

In fact, when Oradell officials approved the milling and paving of five streets, the story landed on the Local news front on Saturday.

Staff Writer Nicholas Pugliese reported the borough's capital budget of more than $1 million included "aggressive spending on road improvements."

In Hackensack, officials have announced the repaving of two major streets, Grand and Prospect avenues, but the latter project won't provide smoother going for residents who live on several blocks between Passaic Street and Ross Avenue.

Media, voters to blame for re-election of Garrett, Christie

On Tuesday, I passed on using this temporary locker at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, where I've also found the exercise equipment isn't always in prime condition.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

When is the last time you saw a story in The Record on Rep. Scott Garrett, the Tea Party idol who seems to do nothing more than raise campaign money?

Today, the five-term Wantage Republican, who represents much of Bergen County, is being criticized for not donating money to a House GOP campaign committee, reportedly because it has recruited and supported gay candidates (A-1).

Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson usually writes a flurry of stories every two years or so, when Garrett runs for yet another term, praising the arch conservative's fund-raising ability.

Last year, Jackson even forgot to remind readers that Garrett initially opposed federal aid to victims of Superstorm Sandy.

Can you blame voters for staying home when The Record and other media continually focus on the size of Garrett's war chest and how invincible that makes him?

Similarly, The Record's flattering coverage of Governor Christie's first term -- and his ability to veto every major Democratic initiative in the state Legislature -- helped generate so much voter apathy, the turnout in November 2013 was the lowest for any gubernatorial election in state history.

Christie's role?

Another front-page story today doesn't address whether Christie's poor environmental record has anything to do with the state dramatically shrinking the danger zone of a DuPont-contaminated site under homes in Pompton Lakes (A-1).

In fact, the story notes the state Department of Environmental Protection mapped out the much larger polluted area in 2008, before Christie took office.

A state study in 2009 found higher-than-normal levels of kidney cancer in women and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma in men who live above the toxic plume, The Record says (A-8).

Can paint stop trucks?

Road Warrior John Cichowski never explains how re-striping and repaving Route 17 will stop a speeding, out of control tractor-trailer, like the one that killed Waldwick Patroman Chris Goodell a year ago (A-1 and L-1).

So much for improving the "safety" of a highway that has homes built "nearly to the shoulder."

Maybe, the solution is in far greater enforcement by Waldwick and five other police departments along the highway.

Now, one sergeant only chased down an SUV that passed his cruiser at 79 mph -- 24 mph over the 55- mph speed limit -- according to the reporter (L-1).

Of course, that would take money "at a time when funding is short," Cichowski says.

When isn't funding short in an inefficient home-rule town like Waldwick, which was so desperate for ratables officials allowed the construction of homes on the edge of a dangerous highway?

Change the critic

Elisa Ung's 3-star review of Gianna's in Carlstadt is sort of a back-handed compliment (BL-14).

The 16-year-old restaurant offers oversized, delicious portions of traditional Italian-American food, the critic notes, but not "change or innovation."

After reading how much she and her friends liked the five desserts they sampled, one "change or innovation" I'd like to see is Ung's replacement by a critic who emphasizes healthier fare for the large majority of readers who are watching their weight and cholesterol.

Christie enlists reporter, editors in his war on mass transit

Police have closed lanes on River Street in Hackensack today to continue the sewer-pipe work shown in this June photo.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

You won't have a hard time telling which side The Record is on in yet another doomsday story on NJ Transit fare hikes, labor woes and a widening budget gap.

Today's Page 1 story by the transportation reporter, Christopher Maag, reads like so many others he's written, ignoring or soft-pedaling Governor Christie's 5-year war against mass transit.

The Borg family's hatred of unions is well-known -- none has ever succeeded in representing long-suffering employees of North Jersey Media Group's flagship paper.

So, the contract dispute between NJ Transit and 17 unions representing its 4,263 rail employees is presented as another factor in the agency's "budget crisis" (A-1 and A-6).

The unions have asked for an average 3 percent annual raise over six years. Is that unreasonable?

Well, it might be viewed as such in a newsroom run by editors who have routinely denied raises to so many employees for so many years in return for a promise of lifetime employment from the Borgs.

Today's story also seems to accept Christie's move to slash state aid to NJ Transit by 90 percent since 2012, and doesn't even mention the GOP bully's refusal to raise the low gasoline tax to replenish the state Transportation Trust Fund (A-6). 

What reform?

Christie loves the word "reform," which he used to mask steep cuts in state employee benefits and contributions to their pensions that he needed to balance the state budget.

But not more than Editor Marty Gottlieb, who devotes a nice slice of the front page today to a lame story by Staff Writer Melissa Hayes on the presidential candidate's "plan for criminal justice reform" (A-1).

Maybe, it was just poorly edited, but I can't tell exactly what Christie is proposing without reading almost all of this overly long story, including background on drug courts.

On another front page dominated by international news, why did Gottlieb waste so much space on Sen. Bob Menendez's legal fund (A-1)?

Local news

Gottlieb continues to soil the memory of former Passaic Mayor Margie Semler by placing a story about her memorial and burial on L-6.

I guess there was no room for it on the Local news front (L-1), much of which is taken up a big photo of bored emergency responders taking part in a training exercise "last week." 

A rare glimpse of observant Muslims who threaten no one

The opening of a 222-unit apartment building at 94 State St. in Hackensack has been delayed until September, city officials say. In June 2013, when ground was broken on what is expected to be an important step in the city's ambitious downtown rehabilitation plan, the developer said the building would be finished by last January.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On the front page of The Record today, observant Muslim American men and women are shown eating a pre-dawn breakfast at a 24-hour diner in Hackensack.

Staff Writer Hannan Adely reports:

"They catch up on their jobs, travels and relationships before they are due to begin the sunrise prayer and daily fast that marks each day during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan" (A-1).

This rare glimpse of observant Muslims, who organize the breakfasts on social media, may remind readers of The Record's coverage of the black and Hispanic communities.

For example, the Woodland Park daily runs a series of upbeat stories during Black History Month, but the rest of the year, blacks are portrayed as criminal suspects and victims of police brutality.

Englewood's segregated schools, housing and job discrimination, and redlining are routinely ignored by The Record's local editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza.  

The rest of the year, we can count on The Record and other media to portray Muslims as religious fanatics who decapitate their captors or blow people to smithereens in produce markets.

More global news

Sadly, Editor Martin Gottlieb devoted the rest of the front page today to national and international news (A-1).

Even though readers heard 24-hours of jawboning on radio and TV about the nuclear agreement with Iran, Gottlieb leads the paper with the story.

The sidebar on partisan-political reaction sheds little light on the merits of the pact, and serves once again to demonize President Obama.

Gottieb even quotes Governor Christie, who has made such a mess of New Jersey, as weighing in on the issue, presumably from his second home in New Hampshire.

Burying local news

Gottlieb found room for a Page 1 brief on Christie's presidential campaign PAC, but not the expected approval of fare hikes and service cutbacks on NJ Transit buses and trains forced by the GOP bully's state-aid cuts (L-1).

Similarly, Tuesday's obituary of former Passaic Mayor Margie Semler should have been on the front page or Gottlieb should have run at least an A-1 brief on the death of the courageous leader.  

Day after day, the former New York Times editor and reporter disappoints local readers.

On A-2 today, the editors acknowledge they misspelled the name of the police chief in tiny Northvale.

Baseball history

Instead of municipal news, today's Local front is dominated by the second story on baseball history in three days (L-1).

Look at that glorious photo of overweight, out-of-shape geezers remembering their on-the-field exploits in 1965.

That's kosher?

On the Better Living front, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz knocks herself out praising Douglas Soclof, a Teaneck man who started "the first Glatt kosher meal-delivery company" (BL-1).

A photo shows Soclof has both a pot belly and absolutely no fashion sense, so what does he know about good food?

I don't see anything in this upbeat story on whether any of the veal, beef or chicken in the ready to cook kosher meals he delivers is free of harmful antibiotics and other additives.