It's not enough to criticize the PA behemoth from afar

The Record has written thousands of words criticizing the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, but no reporter has actually boarded a bus to the city or joined the long lines of home-bound commuters who face delays on the platforms, where spring-loaded seating resembles a torture device outlawed by the Geneva Convention, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

How does a North Jersey newspaper cover the region's crowded public transit system?

If you are Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record, you buy into what the lazy local assignment editors have done for decades:

You send reporters to cover the meetings of the mass-transit agencies, including NJ Transit and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

In recent months, thousands of critical words about the antiquated Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan have merely parroted complaining letters to the editor, a state legislative hearing and the experiences of the bi-state agency's new chairman.

Rouse et al.

Commuters will cheer news the Port Authority board on Wednesday voted to approve $90 million in emergency repairs this year (A-1).

But that emergency spending could have come a lot sooner, if only the paper's transportation reporters actually rode mass transit and reported on the quality of the service, as the New York papers did for years with their subway columns.

A couple of years ago, Staff Writer Karen Rouse did report firsthand on the afternoon stampede for trains at New York's Penn Station, but Rouse apparently has never actually tried to get a seat on a city bound train or bus during the morning rush hour.

She also refused to ride the decrepit local buses in North Jersey -- relied on mostly by people who can't afford cars -- in the years before NJ Transit replaced them with new "talking" buses.

Boburg, Cichowski, Sforza

Shawn Boburg, who covers the Port Authority, has never reported on the need to expand the PATH commuter rail system or the reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel -- two parts of his beat.

The befuddled Road Warrior, John Cichowski, is hopelessly lost in the suburbs, and the so-called commuting column he has written for more than a decade has been taken hostage by drivers whose sanity is questionable. 

Anti-transit reporting

Of course, none of this is a surprise to readers who remember long, anti-light rail stories aimed at Englewood and Tenafly readers from then-reporter Tom Davis that were ordered by Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza, himself a failed transportation reporter.

Lines of home-bound commuters are as long as ever at the Manhattan hub, but the Port Authority did install touch-screen terminals on the main level that show bus routes and, more importantly for occasional users, the number of the gate where they can catch a bus.

I haven't seen that improvement reported in The Record.

Today, an editorial on the new Port Authority chairman, John Degnan, and emergency terminal repairs is careful to avoid reviewing all that Governor Christie has done to hurt mass transit (A-12).

Forgotten responsibility

I chuckled at Boburg's lead paragraph this morning:

"For years, the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan has seemed frozen in time, a forgotten giant in the agency's vast portfolio of transportation facilities" (A-1).

Indeed. The terminal has long been forgotten in the Hackensack and Woodland Park newsrooms, too.

More corrections

Three long corrections appear on A-2 today, including a rare error in a local obituary.

Reporters miss the bus on delays at Manhattan terminal

Summer 2013: The line to board NJ Transit buses at the midtown Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan was so long that some North Jersey commuters had to wait on the level below the platforms, above. Despite the crowded conditions, one woman used an empty seat for her personal belongings, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The incoming Port Authority chairman took a bus to midtown Manhattan, rating the antiquated terminal "unacceptable," but why is the story on Page 1 of The Record today?

Really groundbreaking news would be the paper's transportation reporters routinely riding public transit, and rating the service, which has deteriorated in the past decade.

That way problems wouldn't sneak up and bite them on their lazy asses -- as did several angry letters to the editor from bus riders The Record published late last year.

$90 million in repairs?

In the interview with Port Authority Chairman John Degnan, Staff Writer Shawn Boburg reports:

"Under pressure from commuters and several North Jersey legislators, the Port Authority is expected to consider directing $90 million for stopgap repairs of the aging bus terminal, a move that has Degnan's support" (A-1).

Of course, both Boburg and his clueless assignment editor have until recently completely ignored the bi-state agency's involvement in public transit, including the PATH commuter rail line and the reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel.

Ditto goes for Road Warrior John Cichowski, who appears to be too infirm to board an NJ Transit bus or train, and prefers to field e-mail complaints from drivers about road-construction delays (L-1).

Officer Goodell

Staff Writers Allison Pries and Emily Masters covered the procession that carried the body of Waldwick Police Officer Christopher Goodell to St. Luke's Church in Ho-Ho-Kus on Monday, and reported on Tuesday's church service and burial (A-1 today and Tuesday).

The detail in those overlong stories doesn't make up for all of the unanswered questions on exactly what happened when a J.B. Hunt tractor-trailer loaded with produce slammed into Goodell's unmarked cruiser parked on the shoulder of Route 17 south early last Thursday.

The 32-year-old officer and Iraq war veteran, who was manning a radar checkpoint, was killed.

Press releases

Prosecutors say trucker Ryon Cumberbatch, who pleaded not guilty on Monday to second-degree vehicular homicide, crossed the shoulder and made no attempt to stop, but not whether he was speeding or asleep at 1:30 a.m. (L-1 on Tuesday).

The Record's reporters don't seem to have cultivated any law-enforcement news sources, forcing them to rely on press releases.

Nor has the Woodland Park daily urged police in Waldwick and other towns to start using traffic and speeding cameras to avoid putting officers like Goodell in harm's way.

Inconsistencies

Tuesday's front-page photo caption says Goodell "died Thursday morning," but just below that the text of the story notes the police officer died "early Thursday."

Tuesday's story predicted "roughly 6,000 mourners," but today's report says the ceremony was attended by "an estimated 3,500 people" (A-1).

And why in the lead paragraph today did the editors lump together Goodell with Jersey City Police Officer Melvin Santiago, 23, who died under completely different circumstances (A-1).

Lame food coverage

The Better Living cover today celebrates the avocado as one of nature's "superfoods." 

Then, freelancer Rita Cookson negates its health benefits by recommending a salad made with avocados and bacon, which is filled with harmful animal antibiotics and hormones, as well as preservatives linked to cancer (BL-1 and BL-3).

The FYI column promotes a $40 three-course dinner at Due in Ridgewood when hundreds of Manhattan restaurants are serving $38 price-fixed dinners during Summer Restaurant Week (BL-2).

On Monday's Better Living cover, Food Editor Esther Davidowitz asked restaurant executive Grant Halliday what makes Roots Steakhouse in Ridgewood "different from all other steakhouse restaurants."

Unfortunately, Halliday claimed "our side offerings" are "unique," apparently because he couldn't boast that Roots serves naturally raised beef (a 24-ounce T-bone is $42.95).

Costco Wholesale sells cold-smoked wild Alaskan sockeye salmon year-round for under $19 a pound, but Staff Writer Elisa Ung promoted the cold-smoked artificially colored farmed salmon from Moveable Feast in Moonachie, a major restaurant supplier (BL-1 on Sunday).

Second look

Members of North Jersey motorcycle clubs modify their Harley-Davidsons to make them as noisy as possible -- annoying their neighbors to no end -- then find gullible reporters to write about their charitable giving.

I suppose Staff Writer Christopher Maag believes all the money raised by the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club in Carlstadt excuses the violation of every anti-noise ordinance on the books, as well as the lack of enforcement (Sunday's Local front).

Christie the manipulator, Hackensack High roaches

Student art from Bergen Arts and Science Charter High School displayed at Johnson Public Library in Hackensack, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie has been a master manipulator of the media ever since he took office more than four years ago, and The Record's editors, columnists and reporters have been his chief dupes.

For months, the GOP bully's $33 billion budget plan has been endangered by shortfalls of hundreds of millions of dollars, principally due to his refusal to tax the wealthy (A-1).

But The Record's reporters are still waiting for the press releases detailing programs cuts Christie will make by the June 30 deadline to balance the budget on the backs of the middle and working classes, as he has done since 2010.

Don't such reporters as John Reitmeyer, Melissa Hayes and Charles Stile have sources in state government departments that can tell them about anticipated cuts?

Now, Christie is playing the blame game to explain away the drastic decline in tax revenue, just as he has for every crisis his administration has faced, up to and including the George Washington Bridge lane-closure/political-retribution scandal (A-1 and A-3).

Tabloid news

A sensational story on today's front page is designed to sell papers.

The follow-up to a double suicide leap from the George Washington Bridge doesn't say whether drug addicts Nickie Circelli and Gary Crockett, her boyfriend, were holding hands when they jumped (A-1).

It also is unclear from the stories whether the 11 a.m. Monday double suicide affected traffic on the bridge, which has gained worldwide exposure from the Christie administration's lane closures last September.

Suffern, N.Y., police say the couple stole money from Circelli's uncle, William Valenti, then killed him during an argument over the theft.

Today's A-1 story and Wednesday's gee-whiz account on the Local front is a lot of coverage of a couple who lived way outside the circulation area.

What is bigger news -- that the Little Ferry Circle floods decade after decade or that a highway collapsed near Pensacola, Fla.? 

Why is the Florida photo on Page 1, and the North Jersey weather story and flood photo buried on the Local front?   

Race for ratables

The lead story on the Local front today doesn't mention what is obvious to every resident of North Jersey's inefficient and wasteful home-rule communities:

Borough officials' approval of LG's 143-foot corporate headquarters atop the Palisades in Englewood Cliffs is a naked grab for tax ratables (L-1).

At 9 feet per story, the building would be nearly 16 stories high.

On the first Business page today, there is no mention of Englewood, where the construction of downtown apartments has done little to prevent vacant storefronts and high turnover among Palisade Avenue merchants (L-7).

Staff Writer Joan Verdon, whose byline is most often seen on stories about highway and mall retailers, reports "real estate experts" say the key to reviving downtown Hackensack and Paterson "is to get more people living downtown."

Roach patrol

Meanwhile, a student at Hackensack High School reports the building's basement cafeteria was invaded by a "horde of cockroaches" during Wednesday's heavy rain.

Students jumped up from their lunches, screaming, and headed for the exit, he said, adding that roach and mice sightings are nothing unusual in the old building.

The food is so bad many students eat or buy lunch elsewhere, including at nearby pizzerias, Starbucks on Essex Street and the cafeteria of Hackensack University Medical Center.

Editorial hemorrhoids

The Record has done its best to ignore Hackensack's Board of Education and food service in the schools.

Before the school board election last month, the Woodland Park daily didn't bother telling readers anything about the four, unchallenged candidates or report what they stood for, and residents didn't receive any campaign mailings.

It is believed that in the last month alone, Deputy Assignment Editor Dan Sforza acquired a couple of new hemorrhoids from sitting on the toilet reading tabloids and ignoring local news.

Staffers make blog

Better Living today debuts a new feature -- Name-Dropper -- to give readers "the lowdown on some of the people whose names you see on public statues, memorial plaques, park signs, highways and even some local streets around North Jersey" (BL-1).

The first piece is on Paul J. Foschini, who was mayor of Hackensack in 1933 and from 1937 to 1953. Today, his name is on a 28-acre park near The Record's old headquarters in the city.

The editors took freelancer Jeffrey Page, a former staffer who was the original Road Warrior columnist, out of mothballs for the new feature.

Page also wrote reviews of so-called budget restaurants before that column was dropped last year, likely a good move for his waistline if not for his bank account.

Throughout the profile for some reason, the City Council in Hackensack is written in lower case: "city council."

Sampson, Markos

Another change that has been evident recently is assigning Peter J. Sampson to cover the busy Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack (A-1).

It's not known whether Sampson is filling in for a vacationing Kibret Markos or has replaced Markos, who could be seen smoking outside the 10 Main St. courthouse entrance several times a day.

Sampson is a veteran reporter who once worked for United Press International at the federal courthouse in Newark, where he also covered the U.S. Attorney's Office.

He also covered the federal beat for The Record.

Second looks

Page 1 reported matter of factly on Wednesday that drivers are "zipping along -- often at speeds exceeding 75 mph" on the Garden State Parkway near two Route 17 exits in Paramus.

The reporter didn't bother saying the speed limit there is 55 mph or that state police have apparently stopped enforcing the law along the entire length of the parkway and turnpike.

Bad photos

Also on Wednesday, I was struck by the reptilian image of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the thumbnail photo of Tara Sullivan, a sports columnist reporting on the NBA's lifetime ban of the racist (A-1).

Sullivan's lopsided smile -- and Columnist Mike Kelly's shit-eating grin -- suggest that a single thumbnail photo doesn't really fit all subjects.

PA change?

Other Page 1 news on Wednesday -- Governor Christie naming former Attorney General John Degnan to be chairman of the Port Authority -- doesn't address the need to break away the bi-state agency's transportation functions.

The Record refuses to cover commuting by train and bus or call on the Port Authority to expand its PATH system or express bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel.

Bill the driver?

On Wednesday's Local front, the duplication of emergency services in North Jersey, where property taxes are rising steadily, is evident in the photo of more than a dozen police and fire vehicles that responded to a single-vehicle crash.

This despite non-life threatening injuries suffered by an unidentified Garfield woman, 30, whose SUV broke through the guardrail on the parkway in Woodcliff Lake.

If the woman was texting or speeding before the crash, she should be billed for the emergency response.