More sketchy and flawed reporting on driving, mass transit

In Fort Lee, construction of the massive Hudson Lights retail and residential project has spread to Lemoine Avenue and Main Street, above and below, closing nearby streets and disrupting downtown traffic. Meanwhile, across the street, the Plaza Diner is being renovated and expanded, but hasn't set an opening date.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editorial today on the proposed $1 billion-plus expansion of New York Penn Station to benefit New Jersey commuters is unequivocal:

"Commuters need to get from point A to point B: everything else is negotiable" (A-8).

The editorial even acknowledges "the ongoing conversion of the Farley Post Office into Moynihan Station that will improve access to Penn Station tracks."

One-station focus

Two long front-page stories on Monday and Tuesday failed to mention the Moynihan Station Project, perhaps to make the situation for NJ Transit rail users seem more dire.

If readers thought Staff Writer Christopher Maag said nearly all he could possibly say about plans for Penn Station South on Monday, Tuesday's long follow-up was a surprise.

In fact, the follow-up read like an elaborate clarification and revision of his earlier cost estimates and how the project supposedly is at a standstill.

Broken numbers

As weak as The Record's mass transit reporting has been, Road Warrior John Cichowski's incessant focus on drivers can't hide the veteran reporter's inability to accurately report basic state police data and other numbers he uses with abandon. 

On Tuesday, two Road Warrior columns appeared -- Cichowski's take on the bankrupt state Transportation Trust Fund (A-1) and his lame explanation for why Sunday morning's icy conditions caused so many accidents (L-1).

If not drivers, who?

The paper's reporting and editorials on the trust fund have failed to emphasize the irrefutable logic that drivers who cause wear and tear on roads and bridges are the ones who should pay for repairs through higher gasoline taxes.

That's especially true of one driver from Clifton whose Tweet was published on Tuesday's A-1:

"$31 to fill up my monster gas eating car. Not bad at all."

Drivers of hybrid cars and other fuel-efficient vehicles wouldn't even notice a 10-cents-a gallon gas tax hike, and would gladly pay it in return for smoother roads and safer bridges.

More sloppy reporting

Today, I received an evaluation of Cichowksi's Jan. 13 column on annual state police road fatality statistics from the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, citing his foot-in-mouth disease:

We're safer, but Road Warrior is killing facts

On pedestrian deaths, Cichowski quoted state police data, but used the wrong figure for five of the six years he cited.

The Facebook critic also noted:

"In trying to protect pedestrians and reduce their fatalities, which was the most in 18 years in 2014, the Road Warrior gave out the simple advice that drivers should 'never, never' talk on the phone when driving.

"Unfortunately, the Road Warrior failed to advise pedestrians of the more important and widely publicized advice that they should never, never talk on the phone when crossing the street."

There were many other problems with the column and the abysmal lack of editing and fact-checking, including:

• Cichowski said driver and pedestrian deaths fell to their lowest level in "several decades," but to be correct, he should have written "seven decades."
• "The county’s pedestrian death count was so large that it doubled its driver death count, a highly unusual occurrence."

But what the reporter should have written is that pedestrian deaths at 24 were double the 12 driver deaths.

Sweet tooth

Restaurant Critic Elisa Ung's obsession with artery clogging desserts is well-known, but today, Better Living celebrates the achievements of Jessica Marotta, a young pastry chef at Local Seasonal Kitchen in Ramsey (BL-1).

Food Editor Esther Davidowitz, who wrote the profile, gives Marotta far more space than she does to Michael Ventura, a chef who has a healthier message:

"I don't use a lot of cream or butter because people have changed the way they eat" (BL-2).

Of course, many readers who are watching their cholesterol are waiting for confirmation from the all-seeing and all-knowing Davidowitz that it is actually possible to cook delicious food without using butter or cream.

Restaurant business

Tuesday's Better Living front appeared to be an inside look at the restaurant business, but a lot was missing.

Staff Writer Steve Janoski interviewed chefs and owners at only high-end restaurants, and didn't discuss the shockingly low hourly pay for tipped workers such as servers (BL-1).

The restaurants exploit servers, then put the burden on customers to tip well to help provide those workers with a living wage.

Nor did the reporter make any attempt to tell readers just how much more naturally raised food would cost a restaurant over food raised with pesticides, antibiotics and other additives.

Janoski interviewed Christine Nunn, chef-owner of Picnic on the Square in Ridgewood, who seemed to be saying she makes less than $30 in profit on each table.

And why can't Nunn buy napkins and tablecloths for less than the $9,600 to $12,000 a year she pays a linen delivery service?

Ebola is getting bigger play than the upcoming election

On Friday night, the streets around Clinton Place in Hackensack were packed with cars and costumed children making their trick-or-treat rounds as police directed traffic and watched over pedestrians. Bad weather cancelled Halloween festivities in 2012 and 2013.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Despite all of the front-page headlines, New Jersey still hasn't had a single confirmed case of Ebola.

Yet, Governor Christie and other politicians continue to run off at the mouth, and The Record continues to cover the epidemic that isn't.

Here comes Charles Stile to bore readers with another political column on the Ebola response of the GOP bully and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (A-1).

Another columnist, Mike Kelly, pushes hundreds of other words around on the Obama administration's response to Ebola, but loses readers almost immediately by flashing a shit-eating grin in his thumbnail photo (O-1).

Any journalist who allows his editors to use a dated photo that makes him look like a fool can't be taken seriously.

These Halloween scenes on Clinton Place were photographed on Thursday afternoon, above and below.

What about the election?

The editors haven't been paying as much attention to Election Day on Tuesday, when residents of the 5th Congressional District, which includes Bergen County, can get rid of Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, a Tea Party idol who is against just about everything (L-3).

An e-mail from challenger Roy Cho, an attorney in Hackensack, notes:

Daylight Savings Time Begins Today!

Make Sure You Set Your Clock Back One Hour

Election Day is Tuesday!

Make Sure You Don't Let Scott Garrett Set the Country Back

 

Since Elected in 2002, Garrett Voted Against:

 

Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act

Equal Pay for Women

 Reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Protecting the Medicare and Social Secuity Guarantee

Reauthorization of the Endangered Species Act of 1973

Raising the Minimum Wage

Ending Don't Ask, Don't Tell

and a whole lot more...

Cho has been endorsed by The Record, The Star-Ledger, the New Jersey Jewish Standard and other newspapers, but Garrett hasn't received any editorial support in his bid for a seventh term.

Losing facts in the dark

Today, Road Warrior John Cichowski reports on dark street lights and highway lights, suggesting they are the reason he has completely lost sight of accuracy (L-1).

In his column last Sunday, Cichowski discussed reports of "teen violence" when he meant to say "violence against teens" tied those red decals on the license plates of young drivers, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers.

The page pits a fact-loving retired engineer against an addled columnist who has failed miserably to focus on issues important to commuters:

"In his Sunday column [Oct. 26], the Road Warrior continues to repeat mistaken and meaningless information and deadly, unsafe, and illegal advice for parents and teenagers about New Jersey's Graduated Driving License (GDL) laws and its impact on young drivers.

"Road Warrior indicated that GDL safety restrictions bar teenage drivers from loading cars with more than one teen passenger only if another experienced driver is present.

"The GDL law only allows for more than one passenger (teenage or otherwise), who are not dependents, only if a parent or guardian is present.

"He stupidly indicated that New Jersey has not documented any reports of 'teen violence' related to the GDL red decals on their cars.

"He should have stated there were no documented reports of violence against teenagers rather than teen violence, which means violent acts committed by teenagers."

See: Confusing teen drivers and parents

Why no one votes

A page and a half of Local is filled with the names of candidates in municipal, county and school board races, but for the vast majority, the paper hasn't reported what issues are at stake or what they stand for (L-6 and L-7).

Christie coverage

Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, who is traveling with Governor Christie's entourage, continues to report on his out-of-state fundraising in the same, breathless tones you'd find in a press release from the Republican Governors Association (Page 1 on Saturday).

Hayes quotes so-called experts as she tries to nail down whether Christie, who heads the group, is going to seek the GOP nomination for president in 2016.

What about the perspective of environmentalists, mass-transit advocates, women and Democrats in the state Legislature who have been stiffed big time since Christie took office in 2010?

What about voters in northern New Jersey? Do The Record's editors ever think to ask them who they want as their next president?

Woodland Park special: Stale voices recalling stale events

At the state's nicest train station in Secaucus, some of the platforms are under the roadway of the New Jersey Turnpike, above.

The Frank R. Lautenberg Rail Station at Secaucus Junction opened on Dec. 15, 2003.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Thirteen years after 9/11, nothing could be more powerful and emotional than this morning's live telecast of family members reading out loud the names of the victims.

And their personal messages to the dead can bring tears to your eyes.

In our TV age, The Record and other print media seem obsolete.

That's especially the case today with yet another 9/11 column by one of the Woodland Park newsroom's stale voices, Staff Writer Mike Kelly.

Never mind that his dated, unflattering thumbnail photo -- complete with shit-eating grin -- seems inappropriate on such a solemn occasion (A-1).

But why is he using the front page to call today "the anniversary of ... the unofficial start of the nation's war on terror [italics added]"?

What would make the war on terror "official" -- when the burned-out columnist says it is?

Writes ahead

His column was written ahead of today's ceremony at what was once known as Ground Zero.

But he's memorized such hackneyed details as bagpipes and the ringing of a bell, and presents them in his first paragraph, declaring another anniversary "has come."

Kelly also contributed nothing on Tuesday with his Page 1 anniversary column on the politically inspired George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee.

Here is one of his brilliant observations:

"In most New Jersey communities, traffic jams are viewed as the vehicular equivalent of cod liver oil."

Kelly then must be the journalism equivalent of strychnine. 

Two GOP morons

A photo on A-9 today shows Mitt Romney, the last conservative Republican who ran for president and was defeated by a compassionate Democrat, and Governor Christie, the next conservative Republican heading for defeat, in the unlikely event he even gets the party's nomination.

On the same page, why does The Record's story on Christie's 12 outright or conditional vetoes of legislation only discuss two of them?

Environmentalists called his veto of a smoking ban at parks and on beaches "shameful."

"The governor sided with the tobacco lobby over protecting public health and the environment," said Jeff Tittel of the Sierra Club (A-9).

I'm still waiting for The Record's story on Christie vetoing more bills than any predecessor while portraying himself as a "compromiser" -- a fiction reporters like Charles Stile continue to peddle. 

Hackensack news

Since a reform Hackensack City Council took office in July 2013, The Record has specialized in reporting largely negative news -- fueled by complaints from those who lost the election or were fired.

Today, a story on L-1 reports city Prosecutor Frank Catania Jr. has been charged in a complaint by the state Office of Attorney Ethics with "knowingly misappropriating a client's money in his private practice."

Another stale voice

In his Road Warrior column on the lane-closure scandal in Fort Lee, Staff Writer John Cichowski finally admits he has ignored commuters who ride NJ Transit buses and trains for nearly all of the 11 years he has been posing as the commuting columnist (L-1 and L-6 on Tuesday).

Indeed, he lists the subjects of his Road Warrior columns -- road safety, potholes, litter, neglected highways, confusing signs, E-ZPass "injustices" and the theft of "aluminum guardrails."

Of course, he doesn't mention he has made so many errors he is likely the only reporter who has prompted a reader to set up a Facebook page for his "bloopers."

Cichowski also mentions "The Road Warrior's 24 years at The Record," but doesn't say the original Road Warrior was Jeff Page.

He has demonstrated time and again he is no Jeff Page.

(201) magazine

I don't doubt Editor Amelia Duggan and other staffers at (201) magazine are well-meaning, but they often promise more than they can deliver.

On the cover of the September 2014 Fall Fashion Issue, Don Watros and Benedetta Casamento are listed as "fashion dynamos."

Then, Duggan's column on Page 14 says the Englewood couple "have a real passion for fashion -- the retail fashion industry that is."

Still, after that build-up, what is the explanation for why the wealthy president of Hudson's Bay Co. is wearing a rumpled, ill-fitting, off-the-rack suit in photos on Pages 8 and 73?

Surely, with Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue in his Canadian company's portfolio, Watros can afford made-to-measure or custom-made clothing.

Indeed. His position demands it. Why settle for anything less?

The suit he is wearing on Page 74 is more like it.

Hospitals, police gird for 2014 Super Bowl

So many cars and SUVs will pack the roads of the Meadowlands during the Super Bowl a year from now, pedestrians will be able to walk on their roofs. (Dougtone)

The National Football League is giving hospitals and police departments a year to prepare for the fallout from next year's Super Bowl in the Meadowlands, The Record reported on Friday's front page.

Meanwhile, the vast majority of readers and hundreds of thousands of other North Jersey residents are planning cruises or other vacations during Super Tidy Bowl Week in 2014 to escape the traffic chaos that is sure to ensue.

The medical community will be beefing up hospital cardiac surgery units to perform emergency coronary by-passes on all those football fans who consume tons of artery clogging beef at tailgate parties.

Beer, vomit, piss

Meanwhile, police are planning hundreds of DWI patrols to cope with the oceans of beer that will be consumed and the resulting geysers of vomit and piss.

The culture of inebriation will be matched only by out-0f-control corporate greed exhibited by the football league, team owners and the conservative Fox Network.

Friday's Super Tidy Bowl story noted New Jersey has to face "the reality of living in the shadow of New York."

That's especially true with the state being mismanaged by Governor Christie, the GOP bully who lags behind New York State and city on gun control, mass transit and in so many other areas.

More A-1 errors

Editor Liz Houlton's copy desk screwed up big time again on Page 1.

On Friday, the A-1 box on insurance premiums, with a story on new state standards for building in flood zones, conflicted with other information printed on A-6, the continuation page.


But the information was inaccurate. (See "comments" at the end of this post.)

Christie surgery?


The best thing Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg could do for Christie is to finance bariatric surgery for the morbidly obese politician, not hold a fundraiser in his California home (A-3 on Friday).

Besides New York, California is putting New Jersey to shame (A-11 on Friday).

Gov. Jerry Brown has not only balanced that state's budget by raising the sales tax and the income tax on high earners,  he has committed to a $68 billion high-speed rail project.

Christie, on the other hand, killed two Hudson River rail tunnels, setting back the expansion of mass transit a decade, and continues to fight a tax surcharge on millionaires. 

Road whiners 

On Friday's L-1, Road Warrior John Cichowski continued to give voice to traffic whiners like Anthony Bernice of Hasbrouck Heights.

The column, which relies completely on reader e-mails, also contains the usual inaccuracies, according to a concerned reader:

"The Road Warrior's Jan. 25 column continues his unending efforts to mislead readers and make up or grossly exaggerate information to fill up his columns with some crazy "gripes" about everyday road issues.

"In addition to checking his math mistakes, I suggest someone use a calendar to correct Road Warrior's inability to judge how long ago major events occurred.

"The Record continues to sacrifice its own integrity if it cannot prevent these gross mistakes, some of which are inexcusable, such as not knowing it is 12 weeks and NOT 8 weeks, as the Road Warrior claims, since Superstorm Sandy.

"The Record should also NOT publish the rantings of anyone who "wants to blow their brains out" or fictitiously "cry" over frustrating, but trivial road matters. 

"It wouldn't take much for The Record to stop the Road Warrior's mistaken reporting."

The full -e-mail to management can be found on Facebook:

Standing up for road whiners 


Hackensack news

On Friday's L-3, a story reports four of the  Hackensack City Council's five members announced on Tuesday night they would not run for a new term.

A slate of candidates will be running, headed by John Labrosse, the sole incumbent seeking election. 

The story doesn't say what Labrosse has accomplished since he took office in 2009. 

Crumbs for readers

Staff Writer Elisa Ung is taking a break from restaurant reviewing -- hoping to lose weight after consuming hundreds of desserts -- but the new reviewer is as weak as she is when it comes to reporting on food origin.

In  Friday's Better Living, Bob Probert declares the food at The Kitchen in Englewood to be "remarkable," and said the veal rib chop "was the finest I've ever had."

But with chicken priced at $26 and that chop at $39, don't readers deserve to know whether the poultry and meat were raised naturally?

Horse manure

In today's Local section, head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza, deliver big news -- the signing of "a ceremonial beam" at the site of the new Meadowlands Gambling Addicts Racetrack grandstand (L-1).

Can't you just smell the manure?

The Local front also carries municipal news from Teaneck and Englewood, but nothing from Hackensack.

A filler photo on L-3 shows that a driver dying a slow death from eating McDonald's food escaped injury when the minivan's engine burst into flames.      

NJMG restricts readers' comments

Image via Wikipedia
North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and Herald News, is restricting comments on northjersey.com to readers who use social media and identify themselves.


The unannounced change was made last week. Before that, readers who registered with the online news site could comment using a pen name or other alias.


It's unclear whether readers without a Facebook account can comment on stories and columns.


Eye on The Record can only speculate on why the change was made.


In the past, criticism of Road Warrior Columnist John Cichowski has been withering. 


Critics have focused on his often inaccurate reporting and advice, and on how he has strayed far from his column's mission of going to bat for all commuters, not just drivers.


In general, comments on northjersey were civil, but there were a number of unhinged individuals who attacked each other viciously.


The Record of Woodland Park and other newspapers will only print letters from readers who provide their full name and town, and provide a telephone number for confirmation.


Eye on The Record received this comment last week:

Anonymous said...

What is the story with the NorthJersey.com site and it's new set-up for posting comments? Please let your readers know about the facts and your opinions of this issue in one of your future articles. It appears the old Comments posting system was eliminated this week sometime around Wednesday. It appears that all comments, which were posted with previous news articles, are no longer viewable. It appears that one can no longer log in to NorthJersey.com with their existing username, which typically was anonymous, in order to post comments. When clicking on the "Most Commented" tab, it no longer shows a list of articles. The "Most Read" and "Most E-mailed" tabs still bring up a list of articles. It appears that the new system requires you to have a Facebook account and log in to Facebook before you can post a comment. Currently, all comments appear to be only from Facebook users. Obviously, posting anonymously is much more difficult since most people with Facebook accounts use their own names, along with their pictures. It seems that the Record may have gotten tired of allowing some of the anonymous posted comments, which in some people's opinions may have been objectionable or controversial. While this new policy may be politically correct and an attempt to weed out the "controversial" anonymous individuals, who posted, I believe that it is a bad policy since it will restrict free speech and the free flow of information, will invade people's privacy by opening their Facebook accounts to unwanted public scrutiny by others, and force people, who have absolutely no interest in joining Facebook or any of the other social media sites due to concerns about privacy and identity theft. The number of posted comments with this new system has dramatically decreased. If you happen to find out anything that dramatically contradicts the facts that I have stated, I would appreciate an individual response to me. Otherwise, feel free to take the lead and alert your readers to this new situation.

August 26, 2011 11:11 AM

Racist editor points finger

Image via Wikipedia

A white Paterson teacher is being disciplined after a 6- or 7-year-old student hit her
and she referred to that boy and other disruptive students as "future criminals."

On Page 1 of The Record today, Editor Francis Scandale makes an example of a white teacher who was accused of being a racist after she said on Facebook: 
"[I]'m not a teacher -- [I]'m a warden for future criminals."


At a hearing, Jennifer O'Brien explained what prompted the comment: Six or seven unruly students disrupted her lessons in the Paterson classroom, one first-grader hit her and another pupil struck another student. Is that really racism?


And why doesn't Staff Writer Leslie Brody's teacher-performance stories ever discuss the role and responsibility of parents when their children misbehave in the classroom?


Racism editor


Scandale should know what racism is. After all, he dumped the paper's only black and Hispanic columnists, leaving the daily with only white columnists.


Even if you argue that's ancient history, why didn't Scandale ever replace Lawrence Aaron and Miguel Perez, especially after John Cichowski and other white columnists went off their rockers?


The top of A-1 today is devoted to a story on the "9/11 family" that has little general interest.


Let's hope this is not the first of an unbroken string of 9/11 stories in the run-up to the 10 anniversary next month. I'm sure the anniversary coverage will make readers sick of reading about the disaster and the families left behind.


Blow up that photo


The front-page photo today is a shot from The Associated Press of a non-fatal turnpike accident that caused a 7-mile backup way outside of the paper's circulation area.


Scandale and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes continue the daily dissing of their talented photography staffers, who have been reduced to ambulance chasers, forced to capture minor accidents so Sykes can fill columns in the Local section.


Today, the front of Local carries a big photo of a non-fatal fire from firetruck chaser Tariq Zehawi. 


This is not breaking news. This is breaking down readers. This is breaking the spirit of the photographers. This is breaking wind.


Flag burner


Of course, Scandale will never live down relegating to a back page staffer Tom Franklin's incredible, exclusive, flag-raising photo on 9/11. The coming anniversary will only rub salt in Franklin's wounds.


Editor Liz Houlton continues to confound with photo captions from the news copy desk she supervises, like the one on Page A-4 today that introduces readers to a new species in Manhattan. The caption reads:


"Pedestrians starting their morning as surveillance cameras monitor the scene in Times Square."


At the end of the day, where do the "pedestrians" go? Into the manholes? Now, that's a story.

Jennifer Borg's husband withdraws suit seeking divorce

Image by wallyg via Flickr

New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Garth Wakeford filed and later withdrew a lawsuit seeking a divorce from Jennifer A. Borg, vice president and general counsel of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record of Woodland Park.

Borg, 45, uses the name Jennifer Borg Wakeford on her Facebook page. 

A color photo on the page shows the couple, with her smiling broadly as he kisses her on the cheek and looks at the camera. 

A Garth Wakeford Web page identifies him as a certified running coach and a former professional rugby player. 

Now, he is a personal trainer and manager at La Palestra in Manhattan, described as a "hybrid between the medical and fitness industry."

Wakeford is from South Africa, where he graduated from Rhodes University with a BA degree in human movement studies.

The suit was filed in 2009 in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, but has been withdrawn, a court spokesman said Friday. Matrimonial cases are not open to the public.

Husband from 'Africa'

Borg spoke of her husband in April, during breaks in the trial of an age-discrimination suit filed against NJMG by Victor E. Sasson, author of Eye on The Record. 

Twice, she said he was from Africa, before noting he is from South Africa.

The couple have been mentioned as guests at parties in The Hamptons on New York Social Diary, a Web site that calls itself "your link to society." 

The Borgs are believed to have a home in East Hampton, and the rear bumper of Jennifer Borg's Range Rover SUV carried an East Hampton resident sticker. 

She lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

The couple have no children, but Jennifer Borg has spoken affectionately of her four nephews, children of Publisher Stephen A. Borg, her younger brother. 


At NJMG, one of her major decisions has been capping severance pay at 12 weeks. 

The ceiling was put into place after the company paid large amounts of severance during an exodus of veteran employees.


She also has ordered close monitoring of company equipment, including computers and telephones.