In reporting Hackensack news, editors ignore big conflict

One of the projects proposed Tuesday night would return Hackensack's Main and State streets to two-way traffic, something that many residents and merchants have long hoped for as they try to navigate the congested business district. This photo was taken in late January, when parking was banned on one side of Main to clear away snow.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Today, The Record carries a follow-up to Tuesday night's Hackensack City Council meeting, where officials proposed four major downtown and recreation projects.

In the second paragraph, Staff Writer John Seasly quotes Chief Financial Officer James Mangin saying the projects wouldn't increase taxes.

Seasly actually wrote that Mangin "insisted" taxes wouldn't go up, as if the reporter had contradictory information in hand.

Still, even that wasn't sexy enough. 

Seasly later quotes a resident, Chris Colli, asking, "How much more of a tax increase will that equate to for this town?"

Seasly doesn't say if Colli is hard of hearing, came in late or just missed Mangin's statement.

The proposals are scheduled to be presented at a public hearing on April 4, when a final vote will be taken.

Towns v. hospitals

To many residents, a far more controversial issue is major non-profit institutions that pay reduced or no taxes, shifting the burden onto Hackensack homeowners and commercial property owners.

A front-page story today reports Teaneck and Englewood have joined a growing number of towns challenging the tax-exempt status of their local hospitals (A-1).

The Record's report doesn't even mention Hackensack University Medical Center, which also was missing in recent stories on Governor Christie trying to immunize the hospitals from suits for two years.

Nor has The Record asked Hackensack officials why they aren't filing their own lawsuit after a landmark Tax Court decision last June that stripped Morristown Medical Center of its century old exemption from property taxes (A-4).

The potential tax liability of Englewood Hospital and Medical Center is missing from today's story, but Holy Name Medical Center would have to pay about $2 million a year.

HUMC's potential tax liability is far greater, more than $10 million, Hackensack officials have said.

Auto show

On Wednesday, The Record's business editors went out to lunch, and never returned to the office.

At least that's the impression readers have from today's stale preview of the New York International Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center (L-7).

"Hyundai will join Toyota in showing off new electric and hybrid vehicles," The Associated Press reports today.

In fact, those cars were introduced on Wednesday, the first of two press days, as the photo and caption clearly indicate.

Old Prius news

And Tom Krisher, a clueless AP reporter, adds, "Toyota will show a plug-in Prius than can run on electricity alone." 

But since the first Prius was imported in 2000, the hybrid's gasoline engine turned off when stopped at lights, when coasting and at other times, allowing the battery and electric motor to power it. 

In another major error, Krisher claims hybrids and electrics appealed to the "environmentally conscious" and "lacked the power and handling of gas-powered rivals" (L-7).

But electrics accelerate far faster than a conventional car, because all of their power is available immediately.

Krisher's story on L-7 carries a New York dateline, but a related piece on L-8 carries a Detroit dateline. 

How was he in two places at the same time? 

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. 

Editors gaze into crystal balls, ignore our messy present

This morning, Euclid Avenue in Hackensack, between Main Street and the railroad tracks, remained a one-lane street -- just one of the many spots city plows missed after the snow stopped falling on Saturday night.

On Main Street in Hackensack, between Berry and Passaic streets, parking was banned this morning, above and below, until the city could clear all of the snow in front of parking meters.

Lavash City, an Armenian restaurant, and other businesses on this block of Main are lucky to have a rear parking lot for customers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's editors are so bored with our dysfunctional state government and the blizzard of 2016 they are already looking into the future.

On Page 1 today, Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson and Staff Writer James O'Neill are gazing into crystal balls on November ballot questions and the weather for the rest of the winter.

On the Local front, the moronic Road Warrior, John Cichowski, continues to ignore blizzard dangers -- even as the death toll mounts -- and referees a pissing match over whether residents are obligated to clear fire hydrants of snow (L-1).

On the first Business page, Staff Writer Joan Verdon delivers a breathless report on a German discount supermarket chain that isn't expected to open stores in the U.S. before 2018 (L-8).

Snow clearing

The snow stopped falling Saturday night, but pedestrians continue to encounter third-world snow clearing in Hackensack and many other towns, where bus stops, corners, turn lanes, parking meters and crosswalks remain covered or barricaded today.

On the Local front, the editors published an image rarely seen in the Woodland Park daily -- a Hackensack bus stop blocked by a snowbank (L-1).

On Sunday and Monday, reporters visited a couple dozen towns, but pretty much ignored the amateurish job turned in by municipal crews -- as The Record has done for decades. 

Snow job

One example was reporting from the front lines in Teaneck by resident and Columnist Mike Kelly, the veteran reporter whose work appears regularly on the front page. 

Here is an excerpt from his hard-hitting report in Monday's Local section:

"By noon Sunday, Teaneck's main business district along Cedar Lane was buzzing with traffic and pedestrians."

Kelly probably could have described Cedar Lane the same way on any Sunday, given the large number of Orthodox Jews in town who are forbidden from shopping on Saturday.

He also noted "mounds of snow" were "left at the end of [residents'] driveways by snowplows that worked through the night to clear town streets."

Apparently, Kelly didn't venture very far, because he missed the poor job the snowplows did on Cedar Lane, where only one of two travel lanes was clear between the Hackensack line and River Road on Monday morning.

Wrong headline

Even though a number of people died from shoveling snow, carbon-monoxide poisoning and hypothermia over the weekend, Monday's local front carried an upbeat headline and sub-headline:

Postcards from a wintry land

North Jersey
worked hard
in storm, but 
played, too

This is what a block on Main Street in Hackensack looks like after the snow was cleared from in front of parking meters.

The bus stop at Euclid Avenue and Main Street, where you can board NJ Transit buses to the city, remained buried under snow this morning, including the city provided bench.

Ditto for the bus stop across the street from Sears on Main Street.

Governor Christie

Wow, would you look at all of the ink on Page 1 today criticizing Governor Christie for leaving New Jersey on Sunday and returning to New Hampshire in his futile campaign for the GOP presidential nomination (A-1).

I can't recall headlines this big or similar criticism when he did a number of things as governor -- from cancelling new Hudson River rail tunnels in 2010, waging war on teachers and other members of the middle class, and executing more than 500 vetoes so far to stop bills on gun control and a host of other issues.

Burger King

An editorial today on the response to the blizzard doesn't question why employees of Burger King in Hackensack didn't call police when an elderly New York woman told them she was afraid to drive home in the storm on Saturday afternoon, and planned to park in their Hackensack Avenue lot (A-8).

Police Director Mike Mordaga says in a news story on A-6 today the body of the unidentified woman, 78, was found in her gold Cadillac on Monday morning.

The Burger King had closed at 5 p.m. on Saturday, and didn't reopen until Monday morning.

On Spring Valley Avenue in Maywood, near the Hackensack border, a woman was forced to walk on the pavement this morning, only inches from passing cars on a street that is too narrow for all the traffic it carries in even the best of weather.

The corner of Main Street and Johnson Avenue in Hackensack.

Readers grow weary of bamboo B.S., other trivial pursuits

A menorah and a nativity scene, rear, flank a welcome sign in Fort Lee, a town with a large number of Korean and Japanese residents. The Record's Page 1 story today on Japan's apology for the sexual enslavement of Korean women ignores the reaction of Japanese-Americans in North Jersey.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's lazy local editors continue to do their best to avoid tackling important local issues, as a Page 1 story on "bamboo feuds" hammers home today.

Monday's front page also was largely a waste, given that most of it was devoted to a pro football team and three boring political pieces.

Today, the vast majority of readers are staring blankly at the lead story on high school sports, and racking their brains to figure out how it affects them (A-1).

Ditto on the well-written takeout on bamboo, an overlong story that appears to deliberately avoid telling readers just how few people are affected (A-1).

'Comfort women'

Today's Page 1 reaction story on Japan's apology for the sexual enslavement of Korean "comfort women" during World War II avoids a local angle -- the relationship between Japanese and Korean residents of Fort Lee and other towns.

Since Korean immigration surged in Bergen County, quickly outnumbering Japanese-Americans, The Record has never explored tensions between them.

And today's story doesn't seek any reaction from Japanese-Americans in North Jersey.

Hit-run follow

The Local front today carries the first follow-up to Friday's hit-run pedestrian death on Cedar Lane in Teaneck (L-1).

The downtown T-intersection with Garrison Avenue is described as "notoriously busy," leading readers to wonder what the reporter was smoking.

Local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza finally roused themselves from a deep sleep to provide the first details on the victim (L-6).

Turns out Steven Leitbeg, 59, was homeless and living in a shelter, and that may be why Sykes and Sforza treated him as if he was just so much roadkill.

The Record also corrects the initial story on when he died; he was hit on Friday, Christmas Day, and died on Saturday in a hospital, the editors say.

More errors

Restaurant critic Elisa Ung has described her Asian roots more than once, so the mistakes she made in last Friday's review of a Japanese ramen restaurant are puzzling.

After my own visit to Menya Sandaime in Fort Lee, I researched and wrote a post on my food blog describing one of those errors: 

A no-frills ramen parlor

In doing so, I found other problems, notably her description of the "pork-bone broth" as "tonkatsu," and her failure to mention a small parking lot in the back of the building (Friday's BL-12).

The pork-bone broth used in ramen is "tonkotso," not "tonkatsu," and the former appears several times on the menu at Menya Sandaime.

That's not just a typo; "tonkatsu" is pork cutlet, and "tonkotso" is pork bone.

Editors run fake and real horse races on the front page

At Newark Liberty International Airport's Terminal C this morning, this departure level was relatively calm. The airport's cellphone lot still is hard to find because there are no signs at airport entrances that direct drivers there. Follow signs for "Rental Car Returns" and "South Area," then you'll see signs directing you to the lot.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Nearly 11 months before the major party conventions and nearly 15 months before the election itself, can anyone predict how close the 2016 presidential contest will be?

Of course not, but that doesn't stop the media from engaging in endless rounds of speculation on the nominees and who worries whom, such as today's Page 1 story in The Record.

Editors and reporters are so bored they have to manufacture a horse race every four years as a way of trying to engage readers whose real interest are the issues that affect their every day life -- such as the environment, gun control, Social Security and Medicare.

The Record's editor, New York Times veteran Martin Gottlieb, and the people running most of the nation's media shy away from exploring important issues, preferring to report extensively on the political conflict that has paralyzed Congress, and given birth to the "sound bite."

More manure

For the only real horse race on the front page today, see the disappointing performance of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, whose wealthy owner lives in Teaneck.

The report from the spa town of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was written by veteran sports reporter John Rowe, whose newsroom demeanor resembles that of a funeral director.

Gender change

A-1 is dominated today by a sensitive piece on a soldier's gender change from Staff Writer Todd South, the Hackensack reporter who is a veteran of the Afghanistan war.

In a Tweet today, South called the piece on Jennifer Long of Kearny "a story that took a lot of work but was worth it."

That may explain why Hackensack readers haven't seen any stories about the city from him recently, including in today's Local section.

The gender-change story continues on A-12 and A-13 -- totaling nearly two full newspaper pages -- making one wonder how many readers will stay with it to the end. 

Local news?

Readers' eyes continue to roll over the complete breakdown of editing and fact-checking, despite such six-figure newsroom editors as Deirdre Sykes and Liz Houlton.

A typo in the first paragraph of a local obituary for a World War II fighter pilot is so obvious readers wonder how everyone -- assignment editor, news editor, copy editor, copy desk supervisor, page proofer and Houlton or their stand ins -- could possibly have missed it.

"The Battle of the Bulge" is rendered as "The Battle of the Budge."

Opinion section?

The copy of The Record thrown onto my driveway today is missing the Opinion section, which includes the lone Margulies cartoon of the week.

Click on the following link to see the cartoon, one of the few mentions of Governor Christie in today's paper:

California's drought is getting worse ...

On Teaneck horse owner, editor is upstaged by ex-paper

Chubby's on Queen Anne Road in Teaneck, one of the oldest barbershops in Bergen County, is offering a free mane trim to any resident who owns a racehorse.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The front pages of The Record and The New York Times today report extensively on the Teaneck millionaire whose racehorse has a shot at the Triple Crown on Saturday.

But The Times does a far better job exploring the human-interest angle, especially how Ahmed Zayat has managed to remain an observant Jew during his rise to the top of the murky horse racing industry.

In doing so, the Manhattan-based national and international newspaper tells a story that Teaneck residents, especially the township's Muslims and Orthodox Jews, will find much more engaging than The Record's report (A-1).

Isn't it rich? 

Martin Gottlieb is upstaged and outflanked by the paper where he had a stellar career as a reporter and editor before he took over as editor of The Record, where he started his journalism career in the early 1970s.

Muslim or Jew?

One startling revelation in The Times story:

"Publicly, Mr. Zayat alternately identifies as Muslim and Jewish."

Before he moved to the U.S., Zayat privatized the former state-held beer company in his native Egypt, and "pioneered a line of nonalcoholic beers that appealed to the conservative Muslim country," The Times reports.

But in 2006, he bought a $4.6 million colt and named it Maimonides after one of the greatest Jewish philosophers.

"As a Muslim, he said at the time: 'I wanted to say something with a tool I had, which was a horse. I wanted to be pro-peace, and about loving your neighbor.'"

In Teaneck

"He lives with his wife and four children in a largely modern Orthodox neighborhood of Tudor and Victorian houses known as West Englewood in Teaneck ...," according to The Times.

"They keep kosher, arranging menus in advance at racetracks and, if they cannot locate a hotel close by, they stay in an R.V. and walk to the track, as they did at the Preakness Stakes, to avoid driving on the Sabbath."

The Times story continued:

"When asked for clarification about his religion, Mr. Zayat said, 'Why is it relevant, and why does it matter? It's personal.'"

The Times story was the talk of Teaneck's Orthodox Jewish community today.

Two men discussing Zayat and the race wondered how many synagogues will leave on a TV so that congregants can watch his stallion, American Pharoah (a misspelling of "pharaoh"), in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

Also on Page 1

Don't miss the scintillating story on the rising number of bank branches in Bergen County (A-1).

Gottlieb leads the front page with a Washington Post story on Chinese hackers hitting the Office of Personnel Management as a warning to the four federal employees who call North Jersey home (A-1).

Another Page 1 story on "more than $1 billion in ... fees paid to Wall Street money managers in the last five years" doesn't tell readers whether Governor Christie has anything to do with the giveaway.

Politics and public transit, horse's asses and Teaneck

In a rare nod to public transit, The Modern in Fort Lee offers tenants of the 47-story luxury tower a free shuttle to and from the New York City subway. The building overlooks the infamous George Washington Bridge access lanes shut down by the Christie administration. The Record's support for mass transit has been lukewarm at best while the owners cash in on ads from car dealers.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

After Tuesday's fatal Amtrak crash outside Philadelphia, editors of The Record and other media began wringing their hands over our unsafe, crumbling Northeast Corridor rail system.

Today, the Woodland Park daily carries two news stories and a column that blame politics for setting the stage for disaster. (A-3, A-4 and O-1).

Of course, these are the same conflicts and controversies generated by the two major parties that have defined all media coverage of elections and public policy in New Jersey and the nation for many years.

And the Record's support for public transit, including the extension of light rail to Bergen County, has been spotty.

The editors allowed Staff Writer John Cichowski more than a decade ago to turn the Road Warrior column from a champion of all commuters into a platform for drivers.

When Governor Christie cancelled the Hudson River rail tunnels in October 2010 and grabbed leftover money to fix roads and bridges to avoid raising the gasoline tax, the editors didn't blink.

The GOP bully cited potential cost overruns on the massive tunnel project, but then rubber stamped exorbitant Hudson River toll increases to cover similar cost overruns on the Port Authority's new World Trade Center.

Horse's ass

For the second time recently on the front page, Editor Martin Gottlieb delivers a good slap to residents of Teaneck by declaring the outcome of a horse race a "win" for the township (A-1).

I'm sure struggling merchants on Cedar Lane and township officials who scramble to balance their budget will receive absolutely no benefit from the owner of American Pharoah, who lives in Teaneck, proving once again that Gottlieb is a horse's ass.

Must-read list

Today's Road Warrior column ignores commuters altogether by reporting on the Port Authority's lost historic photos and other archival material (L-1).

Good luck trying to figure out the conflict between manufacturers and New Jersey car dealers in today's Business section cover story (B-1).

Of course, there is no mention that buying a new car and servicing it at the dealer is one of the worst experiences a consumer can have -- unless you buy an all-electric Model S directly from Tesla.

And that's probably because North Jersey Media Group, owner of The Record, reaps tens of millions of dollars in ad revenue from those very same dealers.

Battle ax

The upbeat profile of WNBC's New Jersey correspondent, Pat Battle, doesn't mention her total lack of interest in the 2013 City Council election in Hackensack, where a slate of reformers succeeded in ending decades of rule by the Zisa family (BL-1).

I'm surprised the Better Living editors didn't call the Teaneck resident another "win" for the township.

Don't miss The Corner Table column on everything Staff Writer Elisa Ung knows about truffles (BL-1).

And Real Estate brings us a riveting story on luxury pools costing from $100,000 to $1.5 million (R-1).

A third 'win'?

Columnist Mike Kelly also lives in Teaneck.

But he's far from a "win" as he once again suffocates readers with unnecessary background on the Amtrak crash, which has dominated the news for close to a week (O-1).

The headline is promising:

Politics derails

infrastructure Rx

And his first paragraph is hard hitting, but then readers bog down in five long paragraphs on details of the crash, including Kelly telling them he took the same train "often."

Did anyone turn the page to find out if the burned-out columnist had anything else to say? 

Teaneck tearjerker buries important fire-safety lessons

The reconstruction of the Route 46 bridge over the Hackensack River has reduced the four-lane roadbed to two lanes. The Manhattan skyline is visible in the distance.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's front-page tearjerker today on the death of four children in a Teaneck house fire a decade ago has the wrong focus.

All of the important fire-safety lessons learned in that fire and hundreds of similar blazes are buried deep on the continuation page, and many readers will never see them (A-8).

Of course, Editor Martin Gottlieb couldn't know a second Orthodox Jewish family, this one in Brooklyn, would fall victim to another electrical malfunction early Saturday, and seven more children would die (A-5). 

See The New York Times' superior coverage by several staffers, including former Record reporter Nate Schweber: City's worst toll since 2007

Part of a series

Today's story on the Seidenfeld family of Teaneck is the first of three parts in what Gottlieb is calling "AFTER THE FIRE."

But the second part -- on the fast-spreading January inferno at the Avalon apartment complex in Edgewater -- will make a mockery of the Seidenfelds.

No humans died in the Edgewater fire, which has been attributed to a workman using a blowtorch, a 15-minute delay in calling 911; and, most importantly, cheap, all-wood construction that didn't prevent the fire from spreading rapidly.

The lesson in the Avalon fire is how corporate greed can trump fire safety, but I doubt that will be clear from tomorrow's upbeat story on what is being billed this way:

"Meet the ethnically diverse group of residents trying to rebuild their lives after the fire at the Avalon at Edgewater" (A-8).

Hiding errors

Today on A-1, Staff Writer John Cichowski tries to distract Road Warrior readers from all of the errors he made a month ago in his highly exaggerated column on potholes.

The confused reporter even got wrong the two telephone numbers he provided for reporting potholes on state roads, according to the editor of the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers:

"Road Warrior won his own award for incompetent reporting when he provided two telephone numbers for reporting potholes on state roads, when, in fact, one of the numbers is for consumer surveys to qualify for promotional items, and the other is a non-working number."

The Record's copy desk and its incompetent production editor, Liz Houlton, bear ultimate responsibility for not enforcing a policy of checking every telephone number by actually dialing the number before publication.  

A week later, the Bloopers editor went to see some of the potholes listed in Cichowski's "Black Hole Awards" column, and had this to say:

"In his Feb. 22 column, the Road Warrior was frequently delusional, incompetent or lied while he gave out his annual awards for worst potholes, which he claimed he personally checked out.

"A driver claimed that the potholes on the Route 80 west center lane over Route 19 will shake the fillings out of your teeth and tractor-trailers come dangerously close to bouncing onto another lane.

"In fact, there was barely any vehicle shaking and no trucks or other vehicles losing control due to minor potholes at this left-center lane, let alone any shaking of any teeth or fillings.

"Road Warrior reported the worst pothole for a highway on Route 20 north at the Route 4 ramp and the two worst underpasses with crumbling roads under Route 80.

"In fact, there was a very minor pothole at the Route 20 spot and the two underpasses were in relatively good shape with practically no potholes."

See the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers: 

The biggest hole is in his head 

Hiding incompetence

Also on Page 1 today, Columnist Charles Stile tries to keep alive Governor Christie's lame bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 (A-1).

Stile pens political column after political column to hide the miserable job the GOP bully is doing in New Jersey.

In a letter to the editor, Ellen Stein of Closter demands that Christie send "a refund to the state of New Jersey for all the days he is away from the job" (O-3).

Smelly Kelly

How can Columnist Mike Kelly raise the racial motive behind cops writing tickets to generate revenue in Ferguson, Mo., and ignore his own town, Teaneck (O-1)?

The township's aggressive cops often lay a speed-trap on Cedar Lane and Pomander Walk that leads to traffic charges against Hackensack residents, including African-Americans.

Did Kelly bother to find out how many of the motorists cited for speeding are black, and how much revenue is generated by all the plea bargains they take to avoid points and surcharges? 

The difference is that in his Ferguson column today he had a U.S. Justice Department report to rewrite, allowing him to declare, "It's the dirty little secret in far too many communities."

What about Teaneck, Mike?

How did the oil-train editor miss this huge development?

Growing traffic congestion on local roads and at the Hudson River crossings -- and the lack of mass-transit alternatives -- is among the untold stories of 2014 as Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to shoot himself in the foot with one inaccurate column after another. In his Sunday column, he identified the wrong group of drivers as being the second most vulnerable to crashes, and gave the wrong advice on how to position your hands on the steering wheel in the event you have to steer out of an accident.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Since July at least, The Record has published a steady stream of stories, opinion pieces and editorials on trains carrying potentially explosive crude oil through Bergen County towns.

But the assignment editors and environmental reporters missed a huge development a few weeks ago.

On Nov. 6, a front-page story reports today, the Christie administration "quietly approved" a permit that allows rail lines to carry billions of gallons of Canadian tar-sands oil "through densely populated towns, past thousands of homes and businesses" (A-1).

This is the same type of oil that would be transported in the Keystone XL pipeline. 

A bill to approve construction of the controversial project was defeated in the U.S. Senate a week ago.

Today's story doesn't mention the trains pass through Teaneck, where residents have demonstrated against the danger and the endless noise from engineers' horn blowing.

On Christie's train

Governor Christie has been dismantling the state's environmental protections since he took office in 2010, but the editors have been so busy grooming the GOP bully for a White House run they missed the DEP action on the tar-sands oil trains just two days after the Nov. 4 election.

Instead, in the days after the election, The Record published at least two stories by Staff Writer Melissa Hayes and a Charles Stile column on what a great job Christie did raising money for conservative Republican candidates in other states.

The Record's editors and reporters have been so giddy over the prospects that Christie might get the Republican presidential nomination they have neglected reporting, until very recently, what an awful job he is doing in New Jersey.

Second look

When you see a Road Warrior column in the paper, you can safely assume much of the information in it is incorrect.

The normal journalistic checks and balances are dispensed with in the editing of anything written by Staff Writer John Cichowski, and his many errors are rarely subject to published corrections.

In his Sunday column, for example, he incorrectly reported "baby boomer grandparents" are the second most vulnerable group of drivers on the road.

In fact, according to the Facebook page for Road Warrior Bloopers, drivers 65 and older, including those in their 70s, 80s and even 90s, are more likely to be involved in road crashes and fatalities.

"In his Sunday column, the Road Warrior provides a very dim-witted and mistake-filled report about how young drivers (under 21) and older drivers (over 64) are more susceptible to road crashes and fatalities, along with advice and resources that these drivers should heed.

"The worst thing the Road Warrior did was to report that AAA suggests that drivers should hold the steering wheel at the 7 and 4 o'clock positions instead of 10 and 2.

"AAA recommends that drivers should hold the steering wheel at 9 and 3 o'clock positions for safe road driving.

"They state that drivers may prefer a slightly lower hand position, closer to 8 and 4 o'clock, depending on personal preference and position of the steering wheel spokes.

"In fact, the AAA and so many traffic safety experts indicate that it is downright dangerous to hold the steering wheel at the 7 o'clock position since it does not give the driver full control of the steering wheel during any type of evasive maneuver to avoid an accident."

Click on the following link for more corrections:

Road Warrior accuracy continues to take a holiday

On Christie's GWB excuses, why did it take this long?

On a two-hour visit Friday to Westfield Garden State Plaza in Paramus -- where a gunman fired random shots and committed suicide last Nov. 4 -- I didn't see a single security guard inside the mall. A man wearing a safety vest and a shirt with a patch on his shirt helped shoppers cross the busy road near this unguarded entrance.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Did it really take nearly five months for The Record's editors to make a detailed case against what Governor Christie said he knew about the George Washington Bridge lane closures ordered by his aides, and how little he dug into it?

And why is this exhaustive examination of the "evidence" presented by Staff Writer Charles Stile, whose boring political columns are chiefly responsible for voter apathy in North Jersey (A-1 and A-6)?

Out of Stile

This should have been published as a news investigation, not as an opinion column by a writer who has been one of the biggest boosters of Christie's White House ambitions. 

No other credit is given for the column, so it isn't known whether Port Authority reporter Shawn Boburg or Staff Writer Melissa Hayes, who is assigned to follow the governor, worked on the project.

The bridge scandal broke open on Jan. 8, when The Record reported Bridget Anne Kelly, then Christie's deputy chief of staff, e-mailed David Wildstein, a Port Authority executive:

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Wildstein, one of Christie's cronies on the bi-state agency that operates the bridge, responded to the Aug. 18 message: "Got it."

The result was four days of early September gridlock in Fort Lee, where Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich had refused to endorse the GOP bully for reelection.

We're in a jam

Since then, all the key figures, including Christie, have stymied investigators by lawyering up, taking the Fifth, stonewalling or saying they don't remember anything.

And they are sticking you and me with their legal bills, which could total $2 million.

In return for their loyalty, Press Secretary Michael Drewniak and other members of Christie's staff got raises averaging 23%.

Isn't that hush money?

Afterthoughts

The Christie piece and another front-page story on the "resegregation" of Teaneck schools seem like afterthoughts amid all the coverage of a POW released in Afghanistan, and a bunch of foul-mouthed and foul-smelling pro hockey players (A-1).

The number of errors in the last two Sunday editions has declined dramatically in the absence of columns by Road Warrior John Cichowski.

The best story in today's Local section is the obituary for Jewish-Chinese community theater actor Edward B. Thom, formerly of Englewood (L-1).

Self-driving hype

On the Opinion front, a column by Edward Niedermeyer, an auto-industry consultant, oversells the significance of Google's self-driving car (O-1).

Like millions of hybrid and all-electric cars before it, the driverless car will make only small inroads into sales of gas-guzzling SUVs and ever-more-powerful performance and sports sedans.

In a masterful rewrite of previous columns, Staff Writer Mike Kelly bluffs his way through another piece on another disturbed gunman, who killed six and wounded 22 in California (O-1).

'Worst governor'

Letter writer Stephen Gigante of Hackensack hits the bull's-eye on Christie, who has proven such an elusive target for the editors (O-3):

"From the George Washington Bridge scandal, to violations of OPRA, to diverting Port Authority ... funds to the Pulaski Skyway, to the failure to make pension payments and to putting himself in commercials hyping Sandy relief [before last November's election], Governor Christie is ... becoming a footnote for the term 'worst Governor New Jersey has ever had.'"

Greed is good

The upbeat Business section cover story on the expansion of North Jersey hospitals outside their main campuses doesn't explore the impact of their tax-exempt status on municipal property taxes (R-1).

Most of Hackensack University Medical Center's 2.5 million square feet "on its main campus" in Hackensack is tax exempt, raising the levy paid by city residents.

HUMC has fundamentally altered the character of the neighborhood and makes a big demand on services, but gives little back to the city. 

If the hospital buys a building in another town, will that property be tax exempt as well? The story is silent on that angle. 

Flip side of news

Given The Record's superficial coverage of all of the foreclosures in New Jersey, today's Real Estate cover on Kevin Errico -- a Re/Max agent in Saddle River who "flips" empty homes for profit -- is really in bad taste (R-1).

But it is no surprise. 

Real Estate and The Record's Business section reflect the Borg family's enduring philosophy of putting profit ahead of journalism.