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| Getting stuck in traffic on North Dean Street in downtown Englewood, where city officials have refused to install turn lanes at Palisade Avenue, the main shopping street, lest they lose revenue from the handful of parking meters that would have to be removed. Could the small city's big-city traffic problems and lack of free parking be hurting downtown restaurants and merchants? |
By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR
Kevin O'Dowd -- Governor Christie's chief of staff during the George Washington Bridge lane closures last September -- demonstrated his brick-laying skills for legislative investigators on Monday.
O'Dowd completed the stone wall Christie, his closest aides and his cronies on the Port Authority put up after the political retribution scandal caused four days of gridlock in Democratic Fort Lee, and unleashed multiple investigations.
Knows nothing
The Record reports on A-1 today O'Dowd said he played no role in and had no knowledge of the lane closures, but he exposed a big Christie lie to the media last December.
O'Dowd testified that he gave Christie a copy of an e-mail that showed Bridget Anne Kelly, the deputy chief of staff, had knowledge of the lane closures as they occurred.
That was on the same day in December that Christie told the media that "no one on his staff had 'any knowledge' of the closures" (A-6).
In January, Kelly's infamous August e-mail came out: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."
Not suspicious
O'Dowd was Kelly's supervisor, but he showed a shocking lack of curiosity or suspicion when the woman showed him an e-mail related to the lane closures.
Christie has rewarded O'Dowd's loyalty by nominating him to be the next attorney general, and he gave his staff average raises of 23%.
Who would want such a legal lightweight as the next attorney general?
O'Dowd's testimony on Monday was so lackluster, The Record led today's front page account by reporting "the Christie administration has spent more than $3 million responding to the ... controversy" (A-1).
Hackensack news
In the process of reporting on the proposed Hackensack budget, Staff Writer Christopher Maag corrected an earlier story calling former Municipal Prosecutor Richard E. Salkin the former city attorney (L-3).
Maag reports that a 4.37 percent property tax hike is "significant." The average homeowner would pay $161.79 more a year, according to the story.
The fiscal 2015 budget calls for the city to spend $94.4 million -- a 2.73 percent increase.
Englewood in denial
Englewood's downtown shopping and dining district is pockmarked with empty storefronts, and its streets are choked with traffic, but offer little if no free parking.
Yet, city officials apparently think all visitors want is free Wi-Fi (L-3).
More corrections
A-2 today carries two more corrections: the misspelling of a Paterson NAACP official's name, and two major errors in Monday's Page 1 story on payouts to police chiefs.
Monday's A-2 carried a correction that had me laughing out loud over the incredibly inept job being performed by six-figure Production Editor Liz Houlton:
"The first paragraphs of the My Hometown profile on Alpine resident and CNBC anchor Sue Herera did not appear on BL-1 Sunday," according to the correction.
Mutual masturbation
Gee. Couldn't the hard-working Better Living editors find anyone besides another member of the arrogant media to profile?
The correction also said "the full article can be found today on L-6," meaning there was little local news in the section.
I am looking at Better Living's Sunday cover now, and the entire middle part of the page is covered by the My Hometown profile of Herera, an overweight woman who wears tons of makeup.
The Kara Yorio byline is nowhere to be seen, nor does any of Yorio's story appear on BL-1, just a map showing Bergen County from Englewood Cliffs to Alpine.
On BL-3, the continuation page, the profile picks up in mid-sentence.
Why run this profile in full? It certainly wasn't very interesting or hard-hitting. The theme is that the newscaster "relishes" the hometown feel of Alpine.
The headline over the full story on Monday's L-6 refers to Herera as an "anchor" in her community, an apparent reference to her weight.
More screw-ups
Unacknowledged errors are a way of life for Houlton, whose staff appears to have stopped fact-checking stories or proofreading pages before they go to press.
I didn't see any corrections of the June 3 Road Warrior column on New Jersey license plates.
Confused Staff Writer John Cichowski got it wrong when he said license plates are made of tin, even though they have been made of steel and aluminum for about 100 years, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.
The reporter also was wrong claiming plates introduced in the 1970s were blue with tan lettering. The lettering was yellow.
Cichowski also wildly exaggerated the problem of "faded, peeling plates."
Road Warrior has tin ear for facts
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| This "Conserve Wildlife" license plate has been in use since the late 1990s. |
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