For the hundredth time, could that possibly be right?

An NJ Transit train pulling into the new Anderson Street station in Hackensack on Tuesday morning. The door-less structure, below, opened at the end of March, but still has no sign. And The Record of Woodland Park has ignored it.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Port Authority reporter Shawn Boburg doesn't seem to know much about the sources of the behemoth agency's revenue, judging from his front-page story in The Record today.

The lead paragraph notes "the public will bear an ongoing and significant financial burden for the multiple probes into the George Washington lane closure scandal" (A-1).

That gets all readers interested in the story on mounting legal bills, but not everyone supports the Port Authority, which relies on tolls, fares, rentals, aviation fees and other revenue.

The agency doesn't receive "public" tax money outside of the $1.8 billion left over after Governor Christie cancelled the Hudson River rail tunnels and hijacked those funds for road and bridge repairs.

The error is repeated in the sub-headline, which is reporting old news: "Public to pay tab in GWB inquiry."

Boburg also incorrectly reports the bistate agency is "supported largely by tolls on the Hudson River crossings," but that accounts for only half of the six agency operated bridges and tunnels, and ignores income from PATH fares, rentals, fees from four airports and other revenue.

In other news

Today's paper is unusual for three major obituaries on Page 1 (poet Maya Angelou) and the Local front (historian Katharine Auchincloss, formerly of Ridgewood; and Sister Mary Victor Waters, Tenafly's oldest resident).

Christie continues to make excuses about why he has failed to deliver federal Sandy aid -- five months before the superstorm's second anniversary (A-3).

Law & Order

Don't look for much local news today from the assignment desk of Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, but fans of court and police news will find plenty to read (L-1, L-2, L-3 ad L-6).

A story on L-3 reports Paramus has added six police officers.

There's no word whether Westfield Garden State Plaza -- a major source of North Jersey Media Group's advertising revenue -- will be hiring any of them to beef up security at the mall, where two incidents in a six-month period panicked and endangered shoppers.

Rich get richer

On the first Business page today, Staff Writer Kathleen Lynn reports how "garden-apartment magnate Richard Kurtz" cut energy costs in half at two of his many apartment complexes, and plans to do the same at his other properties, a total of 14,000 apartments in the Northeast (L-8).

Kurtz also is hoping to get $49 million for a 30,000-square-foot, 12-bedroom mansion he had built in Alpine.

Lynn doesn't ask Kurtz whether he plans to pass along the energy savings to his thousands of tenants.

Editors are going far afield to report local news

A city crew finally got around to finishing pothole repairs last week on the block of Euclid Avenue in Hackensack between Prospect and Summit avenues, above.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Milton, Vt. Washington, our nation's capital. California and Maryland. Los Angeles.

Editor Marty Gottlieb of The Record tries mightily today to engage readers on Page 1 about the heroin crisis, fixing roads and expanding mass transit, gun control and a multimillionaire basketball-team owner who is a racist.

But all of it falls flat, and besides, who has the patience for all of these long analytical and speculative stories?

Readers want to know what's going on in their town, county and state.

More mall panic

On the Local front today, a follow-up to shoppers panicking at Westfield Garden State Plaza on Saturday night again emphasizes how little Paramus police can do to prevent such emergencies (L-1).

Who can forget how the borough Police Department was caught flat-footed by Richard Shoop of Teaneck, the gunman who invaded the shopping center last Nov. 4, fired random shots that panicked shoppers and then committed suicide?

Gottlieb and his incompetent local editors continue to ignore the abysmal lack of security provided by the wealthy Australian owner of the state's biggest shopping center.

Money trumps news

The Woodland Park daily and North Jersey Media Group should just admit their conflict of interest -- mall owner Westfield, and Macy's and other mall retailers are the source of millions of dollars in advertising revenue.

The spoiled Borg siblings are not about to bite the hand that feeds them by running news stories questioning why the mall owner puts profits above the safety of shoppers?

Traffic clowns

As if to emphasize the clownish nature of police in Paramus, a column on Sunday's Local front praised a sergeant who spends most of his time finding bogus inspection stickers and other infractions at Garden State Plaza.

Sunday's Road Warrior column about Sgt. Vinnie Pepe actually got better play than the initial news story on the false report of gunshots -- an account that made no reference to private mall security.

Staff Writer John Cichowski seems to think he had found a major crime buster in Pepe, head of the borough's traffic bureau:

"Besides that summons (for the bogus inspection sticker) Pepe issued six other tickets in a four-hour period -- three for speeding and three for parking in a handicapped spot."

Boy, that is really going to make me feel safer the next time I go to the Paramus mall.

Whose idea was it to run the news story on panic at the mall and Cichowski's silly Road Warrior column next to each other on the Local front?

School segregation

The best story in Sunday's paper was a recounting of school segregation in Teaneck and other towns 50 years ago (Sunday's A-1).

The township's Board of Education voted voluntarily in May 1964 to have children of all races attend sixth grade in one school.

On the continuation page, the story recounts the flight of white and black Engewood residents in 1955 after the state education commissioner ordered the city t0 redraw school boundary lines to end discrimination against black students (A-10 0n Sunday).

The black residents left [in the mid-1950s] because the schools were "not meeting their needs," said Sandy Greenberg, a former Englewood mayor.

But the story omits reporting that Englewood's middle and elementary schools remain segregated today, and that city officials are doing nothing about it.

Here's another black mark against Garden State Plaza

A driver from Pennsylvania gets a warm New Jersey welcome at a toll booth on the Garden State Parkway.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus -- often called the state's biggest mall -- appears well on its way to becoming the baddest.

The only story worth reading on Page 1 of The Record today is the heart-tugging account of how a Macy's escalator mangled the foot of an 11-year-old girl, and how a surgeon stepped in to prevent its amputation (A-1).

Westfield in the mall's name is for the Westfield Group, the Australian owner of Garden State Plaza and 90 other shopping centers in Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom.

Garden State Plaza receives lavish news coverage in The Record -- payback for all of those full-page ads from Macy's and other mall retailers that are keeping the Woodland Park daily afloat.

Recently, a story in Business heralded the construction of a wing of luxury stores at the Paramus mall -- just what we need as North Jersey continues to struggle with high unemployment and low job creation.

Lawsuits filed

The Aug. 16 accident that nearly killed Juliana Valdez of Bergenfield has sparked two lawsuits, including the family's federal action against Macy's and the company that maintained the escalator, ThyssenKrupp (A-10).

A second black mark against the mall -- and its apparent lack of security -- is the Nov. 4 invasion by gunman Richard Shoop, who committed suicide there, triggering panic among shoppers and a massive police response that proved completely ineffective. 

For a change, The Record's copy desk did a nice job on the injured girl's story, especially the set of bright headlines.

However, Production Editor Liz Houlton missed a major discrepancy: 

The story reports the girl is "getting around on crutches and a walker," but the big A-1 photo just above that shows her in a wheelchair, which isn't mentioned anywhere.

Wrong number

The 10th anniversary issue of (201) magazine landed with a thud on my doorstep.

As usual, the December 2013 issue is a celebration of the wealth and success of Bergen County's white residents.

OK. A few token blacks and other minorities appear in what Publisher Stephen A. Borg calls the pride and joy of all of his North Jersey Media Group publications.

In the current issue, a profile of Englewood stylist Rachel Johnson is the story of how an African-American woman succeeds by exploiting wealthy black athletes who don't have a clue about how to dress (Pages 76-77).

Disoriented driver damages other car

The driver of this Mercedes-Benz SUV, right, damaged a black sedan on Monday morning, according to employees of 24 Hour Fitness, where the accident occurred.

The owner of a black Acura sedan complained that his car was dented on Monday morning when the driver of a Mercedes-Benz SUV backed crookedly into the adjacent space at 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus.

This morning, gym employees said the two male vehicle owners spoke, and the Mercedes-Benz driver identified himself as a body shop owner who would gladly repair the damage.

My advice to the Acura driver is to call his insurance company, get its recommendation on a body shop and ignore the other driver's offer.

Gym employees said police responded, and made out an accident report.

See post, "Why gyms and bars don't mix."

On Feb. 28, I saw the same two vehicles in the gym parking lot. The damage to the sedan is shown above. The rear bumper of the SUV is shown below.

On Feb. 28, I saw the same two vehicles, and the driver of the Mercedes SUV had backed his vehicle into a parking space, as he did when he damaged the sedan.

He appeared to be a middle-aged Asian man.