New flight path won't end those unbelievably noisy takeoffs

Planes low over South Hackensack as they landed at the Port Authority owned Teterboro Airport in 2014, above and below. The aircraft with the propeller in the nose, above, is one of the noisiest to use the airport regularly.

Business jets like this one are the biggest users of Teterboro, which is favored by the 1 percent, celebrities and corporate executives, and flights originating in Europe.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

What could possibly be noisier than a business jet landing at Teterboro Airport?

Any resident of Hackensack, South Hackensack, Teaneck, Englewood and other nearby towns will tell you it's the roar from those jets when they take off that can be even more annoying.

Today, Editor Deirdre Sykes again is making a big deal on the front page of The Record over a new fight path to Teterboro Airport -- after decades of ignoring the noise generated by the old one.

And at least half of that noise comes from jets and other aircraft that take off from the Port Authority owned airport -- usually at full power.

That roar or boom can be heard for miles around, and many of those ascending aircraft turn immediately over Hackensack's Fairmount section.

Borg and Teterboro

In the 1980s, the biggest complaint from Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg of Englewood, owner and publisher of The Record, wasn't airport noise.

He summoned the Port Authority's new executive director to lunch in his private dining room in Hackensack, and demanded to know when the bi-state agency was going to open an aviation museum at Teterboro.

Later, Borg, as chairman of North Jersey Media Group, used Teterboro as a base for the jet he owned with Jon F. Hanson, the real estate mogul who has advised and raised funds for Governor Christie.

I can't recall any articles about Teterboro aircraft noise in The Record's Local section during the many years Sykes was the head assignment editor there.

Atlantic City

After reading all of The Record's coverage of the casino bust and Atlantic City's financial problems, North Jersey voters are expected to resoundingly reject a November ballot proposal for two casinos here.

Today, Staff Writer John Brennan calls the state's attempt to take control of Atlantic City's finances "rhetorical crossfire among the three leading elected officials in Trenton" (A-4).

What else can you expect from a former sports reporter?

Affordable housing

Staff Writer Marina Villeneuve manages to write a long story about Bergen County towns opposed to affordable housing, and not mention that most of the people who would live there are black and Hispanic (L-1).

In her first paragraph today, she refers to them as "people of modest means." 

That sounds like a fairy tale, doesn't it?

Nor does she explore the racial motivation of officials who block the low- and moderate-cost housing, except for her last two paragraphs.

There, she cites a Mack-Cali Realty lawsuit that called Upper Saddle River "segregated" (L-6).

Significantly, the borough's response doesn't deny that, Villeneuve reports.

Westmont Station

A day after reporting another postponement of the opening of a new NJ Transit rail station in Wood-Ridge, The Record today says the building will finally be ready on May 15 (L-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag never explained why NJ Transit didn't provide bus shelters and ticket machines to commuters during the delay, as the agency did for those who used the station that burned down on Anderson Street in Hackensack.

Second look

Tuesday's first Business page was dominated by Staff Writer Joan Verdon's story on fast-casual dining chains eating the lunch of sit-down restaurant chains (L-7 on Tuesday).

What about Lavash City, a fast-casual Armenian spot on Main Street in Hackensack, and similar local restaurants?

When will The Record publicize them? 

Will Hackensack residents benefit from flight-path change?

Malcolm A. Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, shared ownership of this private jet with real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a family friend who has been identified in media reports as chief fundraiser for Chris Christie's successful gubernatorial campaigns.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The flight-pattern change for small jets using Teterboro Airport could bring relief to Hackensack homeowners fed up with round-the-clock aircraft noise.

But in today's front-page story in The Record, Staff Writer Paul Berger focuses on reaction from municipal officials along Route 17 -- the new route chosen by the Federal Aviation Administration "to provide relief for the Hackensack University Medical Center area" (A-1).

The medical center "area," of course, includes Prospect Avenue high-rises, where some residents fear using their terraces in warm weather because corporate jets come so close on their approach to Teterboro.

Aircraft noise

In fact, homeowners in Hackensack's Fairmount section, Teaneck and nearby towns have been hounded by the roar of corporate jets and other aircraft noise around the clock for decades, in what is a major quality of life issue The Record has largely ignored.

Residents can't invoke anti-noise ordinances or enforce an overnight ban on flights because federal laws governing corporate jets supersede all state and local statutes.

Mayor sounds off

The quote of the day today is from Mahwah Mayor Bill Lafloret, who complained the FAA didn't bother to send him a notice about the new Route 17 flight path, which will be tested for six months starting on April 4:

"So now we have to sacrifice our quality of life in Mahwah for the 1-percenters of private corporate jet customers trying to duck into Teterboro. It's unacceptable" (A-8).

One of those 1 percenters is Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, who co-owned a private jet with real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a confidant of Governor Christie's.

Rail strike?

There isn't a single reference to Christie in today's Page 1 story on a possible shutdown of NJ Transit rail operations on Saturday (A-1).

Staff Writer Christopher Maag reports "no indications of compromise" from the state's mass transit agency or the unions whose members have been working without a contract for more than five years.

Rather than mediate, the GOP bully went on vacation this week to celebrate his 30th wedding anniversary, and the sixth year of his war on the working and middle classes in New Jersey.

Meat-centric reviews

If you don't eat meat, there is little to interest you at the two halal restaurants recommended in today's Informal Dining review (BL-1 and BL-16).

Staff Writer Elisa Ung does praise "a bonus for vegetarians" at Juicy Platters -- "basmati rice, fragrant with turmeric and cumin," made with vegetable broth.

Still, Ung doesn't mention whether Juicy Platters in Fair Lawn or Kebab Platters in Clifton offers fish or egg dishes for non-meat eaters or anyone who is dying for some relief from the onslaught of kebabs, gyro and hamburgers in North Jersey. 

6 N.J. papers -- but not The Record -- call for Christie exit

YOU CAN'T GET THERE FROM HERE: It's a good bet the street in Hackensack you're looking for is closed for utility work. Above, First Street and Central Avenue, not far from the high school.

On State Street, construction equipment parked at the curb, above, has eliminated parking spaces used by parents when they pick up their children at the middle school across the street.

On Tuesday afternoon, another lane of State Street was closed. Main Street and many others in Hackensack have been crudely patched --not repaved -- giving drivers a rough ride

Near the Hackensack border, Huyler Street in South Hackensack was closed on Tuesday, forcing drivers heading for the new Costco Wholesale in Teterboro to detour.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

On Tuesday, the Daily Record of Morristown, Asbury Park Press, Courier Post of Camden and three other New Jersey newspapers called on Governor Christie to resign.

The Record of Woodland Park isn't among them, and today, readers won't find a story on the editorial blasting Christie that appeared in six Gannett-owned dailies.

"The news outlets ... issued a joint editorial on the heels of Christie's surprise endorsement of Republican front-runner Donald Trump and his most recent snub of the state's press corps," NJ.com's Matt Arco reports.

The newspapers blasted Christie's "arrogance" and said they were "fed up" with him, citing Christie's "long neglect of the state to pursue his own selfish agenda." 

And they said they were "disgusted" with his endorsement of Donald Trump" after he spent months on the campaign trail "trashing him" and calling him "unqualified" to be president.

"For the good of the state, it's time for Christie to do his long-neglected constituents a favor and resign as governor," the editorial stated.

"If he refuses, citizens should initiate a recall effort."

Borg family

Readers of The Record can only speculate on what influence the Borg family has on the editorial policy of their flagship paper, and all of the others published by North Jersey Media Group.

Real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, Christie's chief fund-raiser for his two gubernatorial elections, is a close family friend and a business associate of the Borgs, although The Record has never identified him as such.

Hanson was called the governor's "go-to guy" in a May 2015 profile on NJ.com:

'Chris Christie's go-to guy'

New England

Although The Record didn't report on the six New Jersey newspapers seeking Christie's departure, it gave prominent play to two conservative New England newspapers expressing their regret for supporting the GOP bully.

A brief appears on Page 1, referring readers to the full story on A-3.

Christie has been lying to N.J. voters since '09 campaign

Further adventures in navigating Bergen County's antiquated road system: A short drive from Englewood to Hackensack at about 4:30 Wednesday afternoon was agonizingly slow, especially when a tractor-trailer tried to turn into narrow Forest Avenue in Teaneck from Teaneck Road, above and below. I guess it would be too much to expect the cops to direct rush-hour traffic, as they do in Manhattan.

Cedar Lane in Teaneck is always a challenging drive, especially during the afternoon rush hour, with township police lying in wait for drivers who don't yield to pedestrians in the many crosswalks. An elderly woman trying to back into a parking space too small for her car stopped one lane of traffic dead for several minutes.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today's Page 1 story on Governor Christie holding town-hall events in New Hampshire is the second to tell readers what they already know from his 2009 New Jersey campaign and his record since he took office.

Or, as The Record's so-called analysis puts it:

"Like politicians from time immemorial, [Christie] tends to gloss over the weak spots or present them in a more favorable -- sometimes less accurate -- light" (A-1).

What State House Bureau reporters Salvador Rizzo and Melissa Hayes are trying to say is that Christie, in an apparent bid for the GOP presidential nomination, lies a lot.

Just like he did when he was swept into office in November 2009 after promising to lower New Jersey's notoriously high property taxes and force inefficient home-rule towns to consolidate agencies.

Censorship

On the Local front today, censorship of a high school newspaper editor isn't much different than squelching any mention in The Record that Christie's chief gubernatorial fundraiser, Jon F. Hanson, has close personal and business ties to the Borgs, who own the paper (L-1).

Ed Schwartz, 47, of Ridgewood is an expert on sustainability known as "Eco Ed," The Record reports today (L-1).

But why did the Woodland Park daily wait until Schwartz's final "battle" with cancer to profile him?

An Associated Press brief on the Business page reports the Urus SUV is expected to be sold in 2018 "with a production of 3,000 vehicles a year, more than doubling Lamborghini's current output of 2,530" (L-7).

Second look

Despite its extraordinary length -- or because of it -- Mike Kelly's 100-plus-inch column on Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood got only limited reaction from readers on North Jersey.com.

And most of the comments were negative. It's unclear how many readers actually plowed through the entire, long-winded puff piece, which started on Page 1.

One North Jersey.com reader refers to the rabbi as "Shmuckley."

Kelly's Sunday column runs on the front of the Opinion section.

Why wasn't his Boteach column labeled "Opinion"?

LOL: Christie calls millionaires the 'people of New Jersey'

Two of the unfilled potholes on Euclid Avenue, between Prospect and Summit avenues, in Hackensack, where residents say the block hasn't been re-paved in about 30 years.

Big stones that are thrown off can damage car tires.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

New Jersey's faltering economy, soon-to-be bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund and a host of other problems under Governor Christie can be explained in four words.

In response to another attempt to place a tax surcharge on the wealthy, the GOP bully claims millionaires are the "people of New Jersey," The Record says (A-3).

"So the Democrats are once again firmly in the place of raising taxes on [the] people of New Jersey," Christie told reporters in New Brunswick.

Staff Writers Dustin Raccioppi and Melissa Hayes simply quote Christie making the most ridiculous claims, and never challenge him.

For example, he claims his "economic policies" and "reforms," if not blocked by Democrats, would have allowed him to "cut taxes" -- but the reporters don't ask him which taxes he is referring to (A-3).

'Millionaires tax'

Of course, many of the millionaires that would pay such a tax surcharge -- raising more than $1 billion a year in new revenue -- are Christie supporters.

They are part of the 1% and the source of campaign money that elected him governor and, he hopes, will send him to the White House.

They are far from being "the people" he has tried to screw from the outset, whether they ride mass transit, teach in our schools or work for state government.

Just folks

You'll find one of them on the first Business page today -- Goya CEO Bob Unanue, whose billion-dollar Hispanic food empire received an $82 million state tax break to build a new world headquarters in Jersey City (L-7).

Staff Writer Hugh R. Morley, who covered the "dazzling ceremony" to open the building, is a good reporter, but he didn't say anywhere is his report whether the Unanue family or the company have contributed to Christie's campaigns.

Instead, he quotes Christie extensively on the importance of Goya to New Jersey, which has lagged the nation and nearby states on job creation under the conservative's misguided rule.

And another multimillionaire who is just folks to Christie is real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, one of his biggest fund-raisers and a personal friend of the Borg publishing family, owner of The Record. 

Hanson's links to Christie and the Borgs may explain why Editor Martin Gottlieb continues to run an endless stream of boring Charles Stile columns on Page 1, exploring in mind-numbing detail Christie's chances of winning the GOP nomination (A-1).

Vietnam War

Staff Writer Todd South is a veteran of Afghanistan, but he could have turned in a far more complete Vietnam War retrospective than readers find on A-1 today.

Like our second war in Iraq, U.S. government officials may have lied to the American people to justify the invasion.

And South doesn't discuss all of the health problems veterans experienced from the use of Agent Orange and napalm to eliminate hiding places for guerrilla fighters.

When I worked on The Record's copy desk, I often edited the obituaries of those veterans, many of whom died in their mid-50s.

And like returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan, the country turned its back on those who fought in Vietnam and their health problems.

Finally, Vietnam was the first war that made the nightly TV news, where the horror sparked protests to bring it to an end, such as the one I attended in San Francisco.

Christie's indecision, waffling shouldn't be front-page news

Hackensack's open-air venue, which also has been called a downtown park, is taking shape along Atlantic Street, near Main Street.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Editor Martin Gottlieb of The Record continues to ignore the close relationship of real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson to both Governor Christie and the Borg family, publisher of the Woodland Park daily.

Today, as on too many days in the past, a Page 1 news story by Melissa Hayes and a Charles Stile column on Christie's on-again, off-again presidential aspirations opens the editor to charges that the fix is in (A-1).

Hanson, founder and chairman of the Morristown-based Hampshire Real Estate Cos., is a top Christie fundraiser as well as his adviser on state gambling and entertainment policy.

He also co-owns a business jet with Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group.

Local news?

In Local today, the sixth-grader who won the 78th annual North Jersey Spelling Bee gets far more space than Lesley Renee Adams, the first black woman to serve as a municipal judge in Bergen County (L-1 and L-2).

What is the lead local-news story today?

A dispute between Korean restaurant owners in Palisades Park who have liquor licenses and those who allow patrons to bring their own beer and soju (L-1).

A better place for that story would be the thin Better Living section, where the editors pretend to cover the North Jersey food scene.

Editing lapses 

Staff Writer Kibret Markos is filling in on his old beat, the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, while Peter Sampson covers the Joseph Ferriero trial in Newark federal court.

Today, the headline and Markos' first paragraph both report two men were indicted on vehicular homicide charges in separate crashes (L-1).

But the second case isn't discussed until the continuation page (L-2). 

Another editing lapse is saying the men "face trials," far from a certainty. They could take a plea deal.

Christie -- the consummate bullshitter -- is hitting his stride

Winter green in Hackensack. Meanwhile, weeks after the first major snowfall, several NJ Transit bus stops on Summit and Prospect avenues still haven't been cleared, forcing riders to stand on the pavement or follow a well-worn path of packed snow to the curb.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Governor Christie explains his obnoxious personality this way:

"I care about fighting for people I represent," he told a questioner at a conservative convention in Maryland on Thursday.

But The Record's Page 1 story today, written by Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson, never identifies those "people" (A-1 and A-6).

The GOP bully must mean all those New Jersey millionaires -- including the Borgs, who own The Record -- he has repeatedly spared from a tax surcharge despite the state' massive financial problems.

Christie must mean real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, one of his biggest fund-raisers and a close friend of North Jersey Media Group Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg.

And hasn't he screwed -- rather than represent -- the middle class in New Jersey by under-funding the state's public employee pension system, cutting homeowner rebates and killing the Hudson River rail tunnels, among other mean-spirited decisions?

In fact, his travel schedule is keeping Christie out of the state he professes to represent:

"On Thursday night, he was scheduled to hold a fundraiser in Richmond, Va. ... Today, he has fundraisers in Newport Beach, Calif., and San Francisco, followed by several events in Sacramento, Calif., on Saturday" (A-6).

Another big lie

In Maryland, Christie also was caught in a lie when he boasted of repeatedly vetoing funding for Planned Parenthood health services, "something he'd previously said was solely for budgetary reasons, because women had other health options available" (A-6).

Also on Page 1 today is more great publicity for Avalon Bay's cheap wood construction at the Edgewater apartment complex hit by a fast-moving fire on Jan. 21.

Staff Writer Linh Tat relates chilling passages from Fire Chief Thomas Jacobson's post-fire report, obtained through a public-records request (A-1).

Ferriero trial

When I glanced at today's lead A-1 story on the federal trial of Joseph A. Ferriero and saw Columnist Mike Kelly's thumbnail photo -- complete with shit-eating grin -- I thought Editor Martin Gottlieb had gone completely off his rocker.

Why play Kelly's overly long, boring column about the trial on Page 1? 

But that was just telling readers his column is on A-6. Confusing.

In the news story from Staff Writer Peter J. Sampson, the first three paragraphs sum up opening statements from the prosecutor and the defense attorney for the former leader of the Bergen County Democratic Party (A-1).

Basically, jurors will have to decide whether Ferriero abused his position and lined his pockets "with hundreds of thousands of dollars through a series of bribery, extortion and fraud schemes," according to the prosecutor (A-1).

Then, readers who bother with Kelly's column will find many of the same quotes duplicated there, and not much else besides a bunch of rhetorical questions, including, "Who is the real Joe Ferriero?"

What a waste of space.

There isn't much suspense here. Ferriero was convicted of a federal mail-fraud charge at a 2009 trial, but that verdict was set aside on a technicality.

Hackensack news?

The Record didn't bother covering this week's Hackensack City Council meeting, but a two hour-plus video is available on YouTube:

Feb. 24 meeting of the Hackensack City Council

I guess Staff Writer Todd South, who was assigned to the city, has gone south.

South covered two fires in Palisades Park for today's paper (L-3).

He also wrote a single paragraph on a Route 287 fatality near Mahwah, but the cause of the crash and name of the victim doesn't appear (L-2).

L-3 also carries two drive-by accident photos with no hint of what caused one car, driven by an elderly man, to sideswipe a parked Porsche and turn over in Dumont, or what led to a van and tractor-trailer to crash on Route 17 north in Upper Saddle River.

Crappy steaks

If you're a steakhouse owner who serves dry aged steaks -- even those raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones -- you can charge an arm and a leg, and still have Elisa Ung in your corner.

Prime Steakhouse in Washington Township sounds dreadful, and doesn't deserve the 2 stars she bestows on it in today's review (BL-12).

She claims Prime Steakhouse is "dead serious about its beef."

That doesn't mean the beef was grass fed and raised free of additives. It just means all of the beef is graded "prime."

She defines prime as "most marbled and thus most succulent," but doesn't tell you "marbeled" is a polite way of saying that grade also has the most artery clogging fat.

A porterhouse steak for four is an outrageous $172.95.

Christie, Ferriero spun webs of influence in high places

Room for two cars? On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack and on many other two-way streets in North Jersey, plows left snow that sets up potential collisions between vehicles. A few blocks away on Anderson Street, bus riders wait in the cleared driveway of a rental car business because a snowbank continues to block the bus stop itself.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Two Page 1 stories in The Record today trace the webs of political influence spun by Governor Christie and Joseph Ferriero, a onetime power broker in Bergen County.

Staff Writer Shawn Boburg leads the paper with details of how United Airlines started a direct flight to South Carolina for then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a Christie appointee who is often described as the governor's mentor (A-1).

Samson, a former state attorney general, has a vacation home in Aiken, S.C.

"United Airlines was in regular negotiations with the Port Authority and the Christie administration during Samson's tenure over ... expansion of ... service to Atlantic City and the extension of the PATH train to Newark Liberty [Airport]," Boburg reports (A-1).

The story was picked up this morning by WNYC-FM, the New Jersey and New York Public Radio Station.

Boburg also traces the ties to Christie's new transportation czar, Jamie Fox, a former lobbyist for United Airlines and a close friend of Samson's.

Joseph Ferriero

Below the fold, Staff Writers Herb Jackson and Jeff Pillets report on the expected testimony of James Dausch, formerly a top Mills Corp. executive seeking approvals for a massive shopping and entertainment complex then called Xanadu.

Dausch is expected to testify in the federal racketeering trial of Ferriero, who once headed the Bergen County Democratic Party (A-1).

Jackson and Pillets report on newly public documents that "provide rare snapshots of a host of power players in New Jersey," including state legislators and congressmen, and campaign donations to them.

A key figure was Teaneck attorney M. Robert "Bob" DiCottis, who "helped the company [Mills Corp.] put together a team of consultants and navigate state politics" (A-7).

Ferriero is accused in part of extorting monthly $35,000 payments from Mills Corp., which is now defunct.

Christie junkets

Recent revelations of how Choose New Jersey, a corporate group, paid for Christie's foreign travel finally has knocked Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin off of his stump, admitting, "I was snookered" (A-11).

In his Opinion column, Doblin says:

"The latest revelations about the governor's trade trips -- lavish excursions funded through a non-profit governed by people with close ties to Christie and whose companies do business with or are regulated by the state -- blow the man-of-the people reformer image out of the water."

When readers catch their breath, they undoubtedly will wonder why it took Doblin more than five years to cut through all of the GOP bully's P.R. and B.S.

And why the journalist-cum-lapdog is allowed to write both an opinion column and help determine the paper's editorial policy on Christie's reign in New Jersey.

Jon F. Hanson

The Woodland Park daily still has not revealed the ties between real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, one of Christie's chief fundraisers, and the Borgs, who own
North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record.

Last month, Publisher Stephen A. Borg announced that NJMG had turned to Hanson in a sale-leaseback deal involving the company's printing plant on 16.67 acres of land in Rockaway Township.

Borg said the agreement was with a fund sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown, but didn't mention that Hanson is its chairman and founder or that his father, Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, and Hanson had jointly purchased a private jet in 2011.

The printing plant at 100 Commons Way is assessed at $24,991,500, and the land is assessed at $1,979,600, Rockaway Tax Assessor Mark Burek said today.

Those assessments equal about 93 percent of the total value.

On Euclid Avenue in Hackensack, drivers are thankful the street isn't heavily traveled.

Bridge news

Another Page 1 story today reports on emergency repairs to two Route 46 spans (A-1).

But there is no mention of any of the Route 4 bridges cited in recent Road Warrior columns by staffer John Cichowski, the irresponsible reporter who tried to panic readers into believing they are unsafe.

Black history

Today's front page also appears to mark the first in a series of stories that will appear during Black History Month (A-1).

I couldn't find any Black History Month stories in the first five days of February, with the possible exception of a Thursday story on the homeless in Paterson.

When February is over, The Record will return to its usual policy of reporting mostly negative news about African-Americans, and the only way a black person can get on Page 1 until next year is if he or she is a suspect in a crime.

'Overpriced' Italian

The 80-seat dining room of Momento Italian Grill in Tenafly is "graciously decorated" with a crystal chandelier "dripping from the ceiling," Staff Writer Elisa Ung says in her lukewarm review (BL-14).

Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, sampled Momento's American rack of lamb -- which isn't likely to have been naturally raised -- but reports that it "arrived overcooked."

The price is an exorbitant $42.95.

In her data box, she explains the restaurant offers "value for the better items, otherwise can be overpriced."

That leaves Simply Vietnamese as one of the few reasons to eat out in Tenafly.

No. Your eyes aren't fooling you, the columnist is batty

Page 1 of The Record today reports on the jinxed history of the Edgewater parcel where luxury Avalon Bay apartment buildings burned down twice in less than 15 years, and on a former industrial landmark -- an enormous Aluminum Company of America plant and a centuries-old cemetery -- that occupied the site before that. Wednesday's inferno collapsed the 240-unit Russell building, above and below, but spared the 168-unit River Mews building.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Anyone who drives on Route 4 likely is doing a double-take at the photo in The Record today described as showing "a vertical gash that extends along one of the giant pillars holding up part of the span" (Local front).

But the photo shows no such gash in the pillar or column supporting the bridge, despite the best effort of Staff Writer John Cichowski to whip readers into hysteria over our failing infrastructure.

Cichowski's Road Warrior column is all over the place today:

It ranges from the bankrupt Transportation Trust Fund -- which pays for road and bridge repairs -- to efforts of state officials to find a stable funding source for it to almost anything else remotely related to Route 4 and other state highways, including potholes and traffic bottlenecks.

Attempt to deceive

But the reporter's second paragraph, when compared to the photo from Bob Leafe of Hackensack, appears intended to deceive readers:

They can clearly see a seam between two parts of the horizontal bridge, not "a vertical gash" in the support column, which appears intact. 

Cichowski also never tells readers whether they are looking at Route 4 east or west. Does the other side of the bridge show a similar seam?

GOP bully

If Cichowski's column isn't bad enough, Columnist Mike Kelly again wastes readers' time with a long-winded retrospective on the Route 3 bridge, where traffic was restricted this week to repair cracks in a steel beam (O-1).

Cichowski's and Kelly's columns dwell on cracks or other deterioration in road bridges, but The Record still refuses to blast Governor Christie for refusing year after year to raise the low gasoline tax to fund repairs. 

Edgewater fire

Today, coverage of the Avalon at Edgewater apartment inferno includes a fascinating glimpse at the unlucky history of the site in what was once a bustling industrial community (A-1).

Less interesting is the lead Page 1 story under the headline, "Displaced residents go home."

That story informs readers the smell of smoke still lingers in the air, but glosses over the cheap construction methods and lack of sprinklers in unoccupied spaces that allowed the flames to spread so quickly on Wednesday.

Tenants of the Avalon Bay building that was saved from the inferno now have a great view of the pile of charred rubble from the building that collapsed, and can contemplate a future that may be punctuated by yet another fire at the jinxed site. 

Christie scam

Also on Page 1 today is yet another boring Charles Stile column on Christie, a White House hopeful who is trying to pull on the nation the same "I'm-a-moderate" scam that he's perpetrated in New Jersey in the past five years.

Stile followed our feared and hated governor to Iowa and the so-called Freedom Summit "that drew nearly 1,000 Tea Party and conservative activists [read "racists"].

The columnist clearly adores Christie, and may be among the journalists hoping for a job in the GOP bully's administration, in the unlikely event Republicans pick him as their nominee in 2016, and he beats Hillary Clinton (A-1).

Ties that bind

Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn explores companies that are "selling their real estate to unlock the value that's tied up in the property and then leasing the buildings back" (B-1).

Lynn eventually gets to the sale of North Jersey Media Group's Rockaway Township printing plant to Hampshire Partners Fund III, which is sponsored by the Hampshire Cos. of Morristown (B-2).

NJMG President Stephen A. Borg is quoted as saying the publishing company will lease back the property for 20 years.

The Record, Herald News and other newspapers are printed there.

Silent on Hanson

No financial details are disclosed in the story nor does Lynn identify real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a close friend of the Borg publishing family, as chairman and founder of the Hampshire Cos.

Hanson, 77, also was a major fund-raiser for Christie's two gubernatorial campaigns, and he and Christie both raised funds for George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign.

The jet-setting Hanson also has received a great deal of favorable coverage in The Record as Christie's adviser on casino and sports development projects.

Front-page news, views from everywhere but North Jersey

Construction of a Justice Center on Court Street in Hackensack, above and below, seems to be moving as slowly some of the civil lawsuits filed in the Bergen County Courthouse.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

With all of Paterson's troubles, why did Columnist Mike Kelly of The Record race down to Camden to assess whether it's the success story Governor Christie claims it is?

Christie has totally ignored Silk City, where gun violence took the lives of two innocent young girls last July and September.

And why did Editor Martin Gottlieb put Kelly's piece on Page 1, where the poor writing and lack of editing are even more embarrassing than the reporter's dated thumbnail photo, complete with its shit-eating grin.

Kelly's main character, Camden resident Clifton Bond, "pondered a landscape handcuffed by poverty and crime...." (A-1). 

"Pondered"? A "handcuffed" landscape? Is English Kelly's first language?

Stale Stile

Columnist Charles Stile has been known to write about Christie's White House ambitions as many as three times in a single week, as if he is on the GOP bully's payroll.

Today, for a change, his boring political column focuses on another Republican who wants to be president, Jeb Bush, younger brother of one of our worst presidents, George W. Bush (A-1).

Stile reports Christie raised funds for George Bush's 2000 campaign, but so did real estate mogul Jon F. Hanson, a close friend of the Borgs, who control  North Jersey Media Group, publisher of the Woodland Park daily.

You won't find any mention in The Record of Hanson raising money for W and for Christie himself, and Hanson wasn't identified in a recent story on his companies' role in a sale-leaseback deal for NJMG's Rockaway printing plant.

Vinnie Carzo

Also on Page 1 today is a heart-warming story about Vinnie Carzo, 20, a disabled Wanaque man who was made an honorary funeral director.

But you have to question the editor's decision to play this story on the front page when the obituaries of many prominent North Jerseyans are literally buried inside the paper.

Izod Center

If the 34-year-old Izod Center is expected to open "in a new form" in 2017, why has The Record made such a fuss over its closure, playing the news on Page 1 two days in a row?

Deep in the Izod story, Hanson -- Christie's sports and entertainment adviser -- is identified as a director of Yankee Global Enterprises, owner of the Yankees.

Legends Hospitality, a joint venture of the Yankees and Dallas Cowboys, provides concessions for the Prudential Center, the Newark arena that may see increased attendance after the Izod closing.

And, of course, Christie's friendship with the owners of the Cowboys is well-known.

Talk about a ruling class. No wonder Christie has repeatedly vetoed a tax surcharge on the Borgs and other millionaires.

Body in trunk

In Local, a photo on L-2 of investigators gathered around a body in the trunk of a BMW could be a scene from one of TV's popular CSI series.

The story says the victim, Jordan Johnson, lived in a luxury Fort Lee high-rise with his girlfriend.

But reporters make no attempt to explain whether Johnson was gainfully employed or how he had obtained a "large amount" of jewelry and cash stolen from the apartment.

Chilean sea bass

Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung holds herself out as an expert on steaks and desserts, but she doesn't know much about fish and the potential for ingesting a lot of harmful mercury.

She complains the Chilean sea bass she was served at Matthew's Italian Restaurant in Clifton (2.5 stars) "was so grossly overcooked that it took some serious knife work to cut a slice" (BL-14).

But she should have said the real problem with the server describing the dish as "sea bass" is that "Chilean sea bass" or Patagonian toothfish has elevated levels of mercury not found in the much smaller fish.