Local obit writer expands beat to the living

On Monday afternoon, the light was green at Passaic Street and Summit Avenue, a busy intersection in Hackensack without turn lanes, but no one moved, because they were stuck behind a turning vehicle. Good luck trying to reach the Bergen County department that could do something to fix the notorious bottleneck.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The New York World's Fair opened 50 years ago today in Queens? Who cares?

In a testament to how much newspapers love anniversaries as a way of ignoring current events, The Record's front page today carries a story about a New Milford man who is called  "a prominent collector of memorabilia from the 1964-65 exposition" (A-1).

But there's more: A long editorial on A-8 that waxes nostalgic over the smell of Belgian waffles.

The story is written by Jay Levin, whose regular beat is crafting obituaries -- life stories of local residents who have died.

Mayor for the birds

Another front-page story quotes Fair Lawn Mayor John Cosgrove complaining it will cost $20,000 to delay painting an aging water tower until "baby ravens hatch and fly away" (A-1).

But the story makes no attempt to explain why the job "already has been put off for more than two years" or say how much that cost taxpayers.

Sounds like Fair Lawn is another town that raises and collects property taxes and then shortchanges residents on services, whether it is repainting a water tower or repairing potholes.

If you car hasn't hit any potholes, you must be a shut-in like Road Warrior John Cichowski, whose premature pothole columns ran several weeks ago with no follow-up.

Big Hackensack news

Don't miss today's big local news -- a photo of a three-vehicle accident on Route 4 west in Hackensack that injured four, including a baby -- on the front of Local (L-1).

Two SUVs and a car were involved, but the caption doesn't say whether drivers of the gas guzzlers were speeding or tailgating or both.

The accident photo gets better play than a group of mayors pushing for extension of NJ Transit light-rail service to Englewood (L-1).

Streets in Fort Lee, above, and Leonia were closed Monday, but none of the work was to repair numerous potholes on Fort Lee's Main Street or Fort Lee Road in Leonia. See L-3 in The Record today. Other potholes have drivers cursing on Routes 4 and 17, and just about everywhere else.

Anti-light rail editors

The Record has run anti-light rail coverage for years, and the paper rolled over and played dead when Tenafly officials killed a plan to extend the electrified line to the borough, where wealthy residents believe they have a constitutional right to drive wasteful SUVs into the city. 

It's unclear whether Publisher Stephen A. Borg, who lives in a $3.65 million Tenafly McMansion, had anything to do with The Record's lukewarm support for light rail.

Even though Englewood officials say they will build new parking garages for light-rail users, the plan might be doomed by a required 50% state match for the $1 billion project.

As commuters know, Governor Christie hates mass transit, but he may be out of office when the extension from Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen is ready to be built (L-7). 

Greed isn't good

Hackensack residents who lived under the yoke of the Zisa family for decades might get a kick out of another Zisa, this one an author.

The Better Living cover reports Mike Zisa will sign his book, "The Early Investor: How Teens & Young Adults Can Become Wealthy," at the Ramsey Public Library on Wednesday night (BL-1).

That's refreshing: A Zisa who wants to help others become wealthy.

Reviewer is obsessed with dessert

Image via Wikipedia

The front page of  The Record today actually contains news -- a story that required some digging on 34 state employees who are collecting gobs of overtime and a rare local story on Page 1 about four Bergen County towns in the same high school district.

The Local section has a story from Englewood on teacher contract talks, the fifth or sixth story from that city this month, depending on whether you include mention of sidewalk repairs on Oct. 15. The paper is continuing its seeming boycott of news from Hackensack, the county seat that was the paper's home for more than 110 years. The last mention: street repairs at mid-month.

In Better Living's centerfold, an Italian restaurant in Fair Lawn gets two and a half stars from reviewer Elisa Ung. That's only a half star more than she awarded a faux-Caribbean chain restaurant in Wayne several weeks ago.

In the review of Davia, Ung reports on a potato-crusted salmon entree and a strip steak, failing to mention whether the former was wild or artificially-colored farmed fish or whether the latter was grass-fed or at least raised without anitbiotics and growth hormones.

Ung spends too much time writing about desserts. Recently, she related she had a "nightmare" about dessert. I guess she doesn't realize that many people are watching their weight or cholesterol and forgo dessert, especially at a restaurant with big portions, like the one she is reviewing today. In fact, she says fewer than half of its customers order dessert, but that doesn't stop her from sampling four of them.

I found the following hilarious. She reports the restaurant is named after the owner's daughter. "Their son, John, wanted no part of the name." That's a good thing, isn't it, but with a name like John, why does that have to be mentioned? Would anyone name an Italian restaurant just John? Wouldn't  people think it's an elaborate bathroom? Maybe John's Trattoria.

On Page 20  of Better Living, the restaurant health inspections appear, but many towns' restaurants are excluded today and, in fact, never appear in the paper. Thirteen towns are listed today out of the more than 90 in The Record's circulation area.

(This post was revised on Saturday, 10/31/09.)