Stupid front page gets even more stupid below the fold

The lower level of an NJ Transit double-decker rail car. To avoid writing about mass transit and other commuting issues, Road Warrior John Cichowski often goes far afield. Today's Page 1 column is a new low in irrelevance.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Just when I thought a professional baseball player at his last All-Star Game is the silliest Page 1 photo I have ever seen in The Record, I looked below the fold, only to find the so-called commuting columnist writing about historic New Bridge Landing.

Staff Writer John Cichowksi may be old enough to have fought in the Revolutionary War, but even he seems ashamed of this new, irrelevant tack for the commuting column he has been writing for more than a decade (A-1).

So, in his fourth paragraph, he throws in a familiar locator for commuters, "Only seven miles from the George Washington Bridge ...."

Instead of writing about the sad state of the Steuben House, which was built in 1752, Cichowski should be writing about the sad state of public transit and the resulting nightmarish traffic jams in North Jersey. 

Confusing editing

On the Local front, the lead paragraph of the main story refers to "warring gang sets" in Paterson (L-1).

Is "set" a police term? Does the reporter mean "gang members"?

Where was Production Editor Liz Houlton, asleep at her computer?

Is 'Mr. Green' here?

The reporter notes Jeffrey Ellerbee, one of the three suspects in the July 5 fatal shooting of Genesis Rincon, 12, "may be represented by one of North Jersey's most prominent attorneys, Miles Feinstein" (L-1).

Feinstein won't be representing Ellerbee unless the suspect's family comes up with a hefty retainer, as the attorney makes clear on L-6, where he is quoted as saying he had been approached, but "no arrangements" have been made.

Criminal defense attorneys like Feinstein have been known to ask judges for postponements, explaining in open court, "Your honor, Mr. Green [money] isn't here." 

Hole in head

A photo caption on L-3 shows a flooded street in Cliffside Park and "water gushing out of a drainage hole ...."

Did the copy editor mean to write "sewer grate"?

Maybe Houlton was stuck in traffic and couldn't get to work.

A story on the first Business page expects readers to believe luxury condo buyers are willing to pay $1.1 million to $2 million to live next to a construction site on the Hudson River in Weehawken (L-7).

More about chefs

Better Living is top heavy with stories about chefs, and issues faced by restaurant goers are almost completely ignored, even in the weekly fine-dining restaurant review.

Today, the Better Living cover carries a profile of Kevin Kohler, the chef who opened Cafe Panache in Ramsey 30 years ago this month. (BL-1).

He deserves respect, of course, but why run the piece on the same day as the weekly COFFEE WITH THE CHEF feature on L-2?

Money talks

Of course, restaurants are big advertisers in The Record, but in general, North Jersey Media Group has a hard time keeping journalism and promotion apart.

Tuesday's Better Living section carried a full-page ad for an Englewood event produced by Exposure, a marketing arm of NJMG (L-12).

The event also was promoted in stories.

Let's hope it doesn't turn into the traffic nightmare of Exposure's food-truck event at the new Overpeck Park last summer, when thousands were turned away.