No man has said so much, only to be ignored by so many

Even on a Sunday, lanes on Anderson and River streets in Hackensack were closed, this time for work by PSE&G. One lane of South River Street near the county jail also was closed for replacement of the sidewalk and curb. Also closed are the Court Street Bridge and West Fort Lee Road in Bogota.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Readers looking for relief from the 24/7 coverage of Pope Francis get hit over the head today by another crappy baseball column on Page 1 of The Record.

That's played next to a Washington Post story on the partisan political paralysis in Congress, now dominated by conservative Republicans (A-1).

The piece at the bottom of the front page on the gender gap in coaching youth sports seems like an afterthought (A-1).

And it raises questions about why Editor Martin Gottlieb doesn't commission a similar story on the gender gap in print journalism.

Pope in Philly

The A-1 story on Francis in Philadelphia is the ninth straight day his Cuba and U.S. visits have been played on the front page of the Woodland Park daily.

It's doubtful anyone in power is going to act on anything he said in New York or Philadelphia.

Three U.S. Supreme Court justices -- Antonin Scalia, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, all conservative Catholics -- boycotted Francis' speech to a joint session of Congress.

Many conservative Republicans basically said Francis should mind his own business instead of urging the eradication of poverty, reforming immigration and slowing climate change, among other issues the GOP refuses to budge on.

On Saturday, Mike Kelly's A-1 column on Francis in Manhattan appeared under this sub-headline:

A busy day

of spreading

'good vibes' 

Local news?

Today's Road Warrior is like so many written by Staff Writer John Cichowski, who hijacked the commuting column a dozen years ago (L-1).

His piece on traffic deaths is filled with mind-numbing statistics, and sheds no light on the daily nightmare North Jersey commuters face, whether they drive or take a bus or train.

The Local front is dominated by a big photo and story on a motorcycle accident that injured rap star Fetty Wap in his hometown of Paterson (L-1).

On second reference, he is referred to as "Fetty Wap," not just "Wap," in contrast to normal practice.

The small photo and caption on naming of a footbridge to honor Harold Bloom, former principal of Hackensack High School, is the first coverage of anything to do with schools in the city for at least a year, if not longer (L-1).

VW drivers

The Business front today reports on Volkswagen drivers who feel betrayed by the automaker's illegal diesel engines, installed in 11 million cars worldwide (B-1).

The story comes six days after The New York Times did the same reaction piece to heavy air pollution from so-called clean diesels, interviewing former Record photographer John Decker, among others.

Business reporter Richard Newman managed to interview another former Record staffer, Olga Wickerhauser of Fleminton. 

Business is eight pages today, but readers find only only one other staff written story, which makes you wonder what the section editors do all week for their inflated salaries.

Hidden meaning

On the Opinion front, I got a kick out of hidden meaning in the headline over yet another Kelly column on Francis:

THE MAN WITH A MESSAGE

The veteran reporter has been an opinion columnist for more than two decades now, but he rarely has any opinions or message for readers.

South Korea

Is the ban on South Korea travel stories over (T-1)?

On the Travel cover today, the Washington Post piece on Seoul ends an apparent ban imposed by Travel Editor Jill Schensul, a vegetarian and dog lover, that dates to at least to the late 1990s.

It's significant that Schensul didn't travel there herself.

Hackensack is front-page news again

Image via Wikipedia

I hope Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado doesn't get writer's cramps from turning out two stories about Hackensack in as many days -- today, the A-1 lead on huge payouts to city workers for unused time. Of course, far less clear is the motive of The Record of Woodland Park in highlighting how well-off public workers are.


The main element on Page 1 is a weird story on a moon-rock sliver brought back in 1972 that New Jersey officials apparently have lost, by Staff Writer Elise Young, who has done such great work on state pension abuses. Where did this story come from, is it really A-1 news and is a student trying to find the sliver related to Managing Editor Frank Burgos? 


Apparently, a retired NASA investigator, now teaching in Pheonix, assigned student Jaime Burgos, 32,  of Philadelphia to track down the one-28th-of-an-ounce sliver. Frank Burgos, who lives in Hackensack during the week, is from Philadelphia and his wife and children apparently still live in their home in that city's suburbs. Is Jaime related to Frank? Bizarre. And even if the sliver is worth millions of dollars, as the reporter asserts, is the paper suggesting the state sell it to help ease budget cuts?


Road Warrior John Cichowski's column today on the front of Local is actually historic. He writes about a Fort Lee bus shelter before lapsing into his usual pandering to drivers' every little, e-mailed complaint and question about state motor vehicle rules and regulations. His column has become boring and repetitious, and his punishment should be to ride buses and trains so he can experience some of the lousy service first-hand.


There is a second Hackensack story on L-3 -- about an unlicensed day-care center -- and a Teaneck story reports the school board will have to cut $6.1 million from its budget. But Englewood readers come up dry again.


In Better Living, Food Editor Bill Pitcher has put readers on a starvation diet. Pitcher apparently has dropped, or been told to drop, Marketplace -- the weekly column on new markets, bakeries and other food businesses that was written by free-lancer Amy Kuperinsky. The last Marketplace I saw ran at the end of April.


If Marketplace has been dropped, it's a definite sign that less space is being devoted to food coverage and good nutrition during the obesity epidemic. (Publisher Stephen A. Borg folded the Food section nearly four years ago, in favor of so-called daily coverage. But Better Living never actually had food stories or even recipes on a daily basis.)

Pitcher, who is being paid more than $70,000 a year, is producing far less than his lower-paid predecessor, Patricia Mack, who wrote a weekly column in addition to frequently writing the section's lead article. Pitcher, on the other hand, is mostly a recipe editor, and he's writing restaurant reviews now only because the full-time reviewer, Elisa Ung, is on leave.

Pitcher spends a  lot of time -- wastes a lot of time, that is -- driving around North Jersey so he can chronicle the opening and closing of every bagel joint, pizzeria and restaurant -- first in the Second Helpings blog, then in Friday's Better Living section. Features Director Barbara Jaeger, his supervisor, must imagine readers sit poised and ready to dash to their cars as soon as they get word a new bagel store has opened somewhere.