PA backing of rail tunnels is really bad news for bus riders

NJ Transit buses were gridlocked outside the Port Authority's midtown Manhattan bus terminal during the afternoon rush last summer, above and below.

After dropping off commuters in the morning, many NJ Transit buses return empty and park near the New Jersey entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and in other lots until they are needed in the afternoon, causing massive congestion on tunnel approaches.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Port Authority backing for new Hudson River tunnels is great news for rail commuters, as you can see on Page 1 of The Record today.

But it looks like bus riders will be stuck in traffic for the foreseeable future.

The massive bi-state agency has been screwing North Jersey's bus patrons for decades, refusing to add a second reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel in the morning and start a new reverse lane in the afternoon. 

That means city bound NJ Transit riders must scramble for rush-hour seats in the A.M., and wait on long, serpentine lines in an antiquated bus terminal for their home-bound buses in the P.M.

The Record's transportation reporter, Christopher Maag; Road Warrior John Cichowski and all of the other transportation writers in the past couple of decades likely have never taken a bus into the city.

Otherwise, they would be aware of an easy way to cut delays for NJ Transit bus commuters.

Of course, the hitch is all about money: 

The Port Authority doesn't want to add Lincoln Tunnel lanes reserved exclusively for buses, because that would mean fewer drivers paying exorbitant Hudson River tolls and less money to cover cost overruns on such projects as the new World Trade Center.

Ben E. King

If you're black, there are only a few ways to get on the front page of The Record of Woodland Park:

Accomplish what soul singer Ben E. King did (A-1); get shot and killed in one of the drive-by shootings the Paterson police are unable or unwilling to stop; or commit a crime so heinous you catch the attention of Editor Martin Gottlieb.

If you're black or Hispanic, there is even less chance of getting a job in the Woodland Park newsroom.

Correction

For the few history buffs who read Thursday's front-page story on the Lusitania sinking in 1915, a correction on A-2 today tells you the editors still can't get the facts straight even with 100 years of perspective.

Local news?

Is it possible that Scott Garrett, the crackpot Republican in the 5th Congressional District, just held "his first town-hall-style meeting" (L-1)?

The darling of the Tea Party has been in office since 2003, and now represents residents of Hackensack, Teaneck, Fair Lawn and other towns in Bergen and Passaic counties.

Why didn't I read about that when Garrett was challenged by Hackensack attorney Roy Cho last November?

Turkish -- again?

Given the over-saturation of Turkish restaurants in North Jersey, many readers are questioning Restaurant Reviewer Elisa Ung's decision to praise another one in Cliffside Park (BL-18).

She gives 3 stars to Cinar (Excellent), even though there wasn't enough sugar in the rice pudding ($5.95).

As usual, she tells readers nothing about how the chicken, beef and lamb on the menu were raised.

I also wonder why Ung, in July 2014, wrote a brief about a noodle-and-cheese dish served at Istanbul Borek and Kebab in Cliffside, but never sampled the the new restaurant's dinner menu.

Are taxpayers footing huge Bridgegate legal bills?

The Modern, a 47-story residential building under construction in Fort Lee, overlooks the three George Washington Bridge access lanes at the center of Governor Christie's biggest crisis since he took office in 2010.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The print edition still hasn't hit my driveway, so I turned to NorthJersey.com for the latest developments in the Bridgegate scandal.

Everybody is hiring highly paid legal heavyweights to represent them, but I can't find a word about whether taxpayers are going to be stuck with the bills.

Governor Christie; Bridget Anne Kelly, the deputy chief of staff he fired; and David Samson, chairman of the Port Authority, have retained new counsel, presumably to defend their official actions.

Are we poorer?

So, does that mean we have to pay the bills? What about the outside lawyer representing the state Legislature's joint investigative panel?

Kelly sent an e-mail to one of Christie's cronies at the Port Authority in August, saying, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The access-lane closures on the George Washington Bridge caused gridlock in the Democratic borough in what is widely viewed as political retribution for Mayor Mark Sokolich's refusal to endorse the governor's reelection. 

Borgs get richer

The Record's print edition was several hours late on Wednesday, even though local streets had been cleared of snow.

At 1 this afternoon, today's paper is nowhere to be found.

We can thank the cut-rate, rinky dink delivery system the Borgs have used for eons, exploiting low-wage workers who have to hold two or three jobs to make ends meet.

The Borg siblings to Hackensack: Drop dead!

The Record's eyesore property in Hackensack, above and below, stands in stark contrast to the flattering photo that appears on Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily today.

A developer likely will pay more than $20 million for North Jersey Media Group's 19.7 acres along River Street. The terms of the deal weren't disclosed in The Record's story.

No dumpsters in this view, similar to the A-1 photo.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

If developer Fred Daibes follows through on plans to raze The Record's old headquarters and build apartment buildings, Hackensack's public schools won't be able to accommodate the children who live there (A-1).

The residential development would be the third to be built in the city in three or four years, and the schools are already bursting at the seams.

Avalon, a Hackensack Avenue complex, is now renting, and another developer just broke ground on a 222-unit State Street building.

The Borg family's North Jersey Media Group gave Hackensack a good screwing in 2009, when it abandoned the city where The Record had prospered for 110 years.

Now, the Borgs are telling city and school officials to drop dead.

Better uses for land

The wealthy publishing family could have offered the 19.7 acres to another developer, Richard Pineles, defusing a huge legal battle over a 19-story acute-care hospital  proposed for a small Prospect Avenue parcel.

Or, they could have sold the land to a retailer, such as Costco Wholesale, which is rumored to be leaving Hackensack to build a larger store in Teterboro.

Questionable deal

Instead, they are selling to Daibes, a restaurant owner and bank founder who has allegedly violated numerous state and federal regulations, and who has been treated gently by The Record. 

Publisher Stephen A. Borg claims in today's story,  "There always has been, continues to be, and always will be a separation between the business side and editorial" (A-7).

But that doesn't go for friends, lawyers and others who do business with the Borgs, judging from all the promotional stories about them in recent years.

Just the other day, Jon F. Hanson was identified as Governor Christie's chief adviser on the retail-entertainment monstrosity known as American Dreams Meadowlands (Sunday, A-7).

Hanson also is a real estate mogul who co-owns a private jet with his best friend, Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg.

Apartment plan

Daibes will need all the public relations skills of his politically connected spokesman, Alan Marcus, to market what today's story describes as "upscale high-rise apartment buildings along the Hackensack River."

The Record's old 4th-floor newsroom afforded a sweeping view of the Manhattan skyline in the distance -- as long as you overlooked a hulking industrial building and oil tanks in the foreground, and the elevated New Jersey Turnpike in mid-distance.

No pollution?

Also in today's story, Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG's vice president/general counsel, pledges there are "no environmental issues that will prevent redevelopment."

Christie budget

The $33 billion state budget approved by the Legislature doesn't include expanded preschool acess, women's health care or a tax credit for the working poor (A-6).

The Borgs: Like father, like daughter?

The lawsuit was filed at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, isn't the only member of the prominent newspaper publishing family to have settled a lawsuit alleging sexual harassment.

Jennifer A. Borg, NJMG vice president and general counsel, was named as a defendant in a sexual harassment suit filed in 2002 at the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack.

The plaintiff was Craig C. Caso, an employee of The Record for nearly 15 years who alleged he was "wrongfully discharged and terminated" on Feb. 25, 2000.

The events described in the suit occurred at what is now the former headquarters of The Record, 150 River St., Hackensack. The building has been closed for years.

In his amended complaint, Caso said "plaintiff was subjected to acts of sexual harassment by the defendants ... consisting of verbal and/or physical conduct of a sexual nature that did result in an alteration of the terms and conditions of plaintiff's employment, creating a hostile work environment ...."

In the Seventh Count, which was ultimately dismissed, Caso alleged "harassment was based on sexual conduct between the plaintiff and the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, which in turn resulted in plaintiff's wrongful discharge of employment on February 25, 2000 ...."

Caso also alleged that he was required to "voluntarily terminate his employment with the defendant, Bergen Record Corporation, in the event of wedlock between the defendant, Jennifer A. Borg, and the plaintiff, which was refused by the plaintiff."

That count also was dismissed later, but the defendants -- Malcolm Borg, daughter Jennifer Borg, North Jersey Media Group and Bergen Record Corp. -- eventually settled the lawsuit in 2004.

The case had been partially tried before Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo, according to documents on file in Hackensack and at the state court's Record Center in Trenton.

Eye on The Record will return soon with more details of the lawsuit and its critique of The Record.

Editors ignore Obama's victory over racism

Unsuccessful Republican candidate Mitt Romney waves to the crowd before conceding the presidency in Boston. (Getty Images via @daylife)

President Obama is back, thanks to a clear victory over Republican Mitt Romney, who appealed almost exclusively to white conservatives.

You won't find any mention of the Republican Party's stubborn racism in The Record today, especially in the editorial on A-18.

Republicans just can't get over a black man in the White House.

Blaming the victim 

In fact, Editorial Page Editor Alfred P. Doblin has started to blame Obama for not bridging the partisan divide created by no-compromise Tea Party members who have paralyzed Congress.

"Obama failed to jump into the breach and use the power of the presidency to end congressional gridlock," the editorial claims.

That sounds good, but is Doblin suggesting Obama use drones to take out Tea Party members?

It's so typical of Doblin and other journalists to write nonsense and assign blame without backing that up with even an explanation of what they mean.

Dissing another Democrat

Before Tuesday's election, Doblin endorsed Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen, but that came too late after weeks of slanted news coverage favoring Rep. Scott Garrett, R-Wantage, one of the most regressive forces in Congress. 

Today's A-3 story on Garrett holding onto his seat in the newly configured 5th Congressional District says "Gussen struggled for name recognition."

What a joke. The Record ran a long, flattering profile of Garrett on the cover of the Signature section, complete with three large photos, but never profiled Gussen, a Democrat.

And Washington Correspondent Herb Jackson rolled over and played dead every time Garrett declined interviews that would have exposed his radicalism.

Boteach complains

Also on A-3 today, get a load of the photo showing Rabbi Shmuley Boteach of Englewood complaining he is the latest Jew to have been crucified. 

Boteach, a Republican, ran unsuccessfully against Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., D-Paterson. 

Back to Sandy

Coverage of the presidential election pushed stories on Hurricane Sandy off of the front page for the first time in about 10 days

The A-6 story on who still doesn't have power is long on quotes from Governor Christie and the head of Public Service Electric and Gas Co.,  but short on details, especially about Hackensack and many other towns.

There is no mention that 24 Hour Fitness in Paramus, one of the biggest gyms in North Jersey, remains closed.

Trainers and members have been consoling themselves with beer at the adjacent Miller's N.J. Ale House, which is operating on generator power.  

Christie doesn't have "a problem" with the pace of power restoration, but who is surprised about that?

Look how the GOP bully folded when the Port Authority raised tolls 50% more than a year ago, knowing full well he was in the process of packing the bistate agency with his cronies. 

Confused Road Warrior

The Record continues to publish misleading and inaccurate information in the Road Warrior column (A-8).

Staff Writer John Cichowski has made numerous errors, but rarely does the paper run corrections, despite complaints from readers.

Today, Cichowski offers a confused anecdote about a Teaneck man who lost his electricity and then plugged his Chevy Volt hybrid "into his home charging station." 

Apparently, all the man is saying is that he never drives beyond the 35-mile range of the Volt's electric motor and batteries, and never has to fill up his tank with gasoline, because he recharges the batteries every night with his $8,000 home generator, which uses natural gas.

The 300 reserve miles he refers to is the car's range on gasoline, which powers the Volt's generator. 

What's the big deal?

Promoting bad food

Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill's weekly recipe is a godsend to cardiac-surgery units at local hospitals (BL-1).

Sherrill must have been affected by fumes from a gasoline-powered generator to dust off a cookbook with a recipe for homemade bacon jam.

Yes. An entire pound of fatty, artery clogging cured bacon -- raised on harmful antibiotics and growth hormones, and filled with preservatives -- goes into the stomach-turning jam (B-2). 

I guess that is what she is recommending for the next blackout.         

No apology for generic news

Buses carrying New Jersey commuters are backed up during the morning rush hour at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan. Don't expect The Record to report on whether a bigger terminal is needed. The editors have banned mass-transit news.

The Record's front page today carries an apology for problems "with telephone calls to our offices in the 973 area code."

But I didn't see any apology for a dull newspaper from Editor Marty Gottlieb and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes.

The lead story on Page 1 today is about failure of a "river cleanup" in a region where just about all of the rivers are stubbornly polluted.

The biggest element on A-1 is about Halloween in Clifton -- one of an estimated 90 towns in the circulation area.

How does Hackensack manage to pull off an entire block of homes decorated for Halloween while Clifton chokes on just one house?

More sports on A-1

The other Page 1 stories are about the presidential race and baseball.

The lead story on Monday's front page ran under a riveting headline: "Towns buried in paperwork."

The biggest element on Page 1 is about Samantha Oh, a Korean woman who is the first female Asian-American officer on the staff of the Bergen County sheriff.

This is only the latest story about Korean-Americans, who get far more coverage in The Record than North Jersey's larger ethnic groups.

Elephant goes berserk

Local on Monday and today carried little municipal news, and nothing from Bergen's most diverse towns: Hackensack, Teaneck and Englewood.

Today, Columnist Charles Stile dissects Governor Christie's appearances for GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney without discussing the elephant in the TV studio (L-1).

Many viewer watching Christie on CBS' "Face the Nation" shook their heads over just how big he has grown -- a subject Stile and the media won't touch with a 6-foot hero sandwich. 

What didn't happen

On Monday, Columnist Mike Kelly bored readers again with something that didn't happen in his hometown of Teaneck, calling it "a story of our times" (L-1).

Somehow, the editors missed reporting the death of international motorsports journalist Chris Economaki of Ridgewood on Saturday or Sunday.

The obituary finally appeared on Monday (L-5).

Ex-Timesman is two-timing local readers

From the endless stream of Road Warrior columns on driving and parking you'd never know North Jersey and the region have a well-developed, though crowded, mass-transit system. (Wikipedia)

Here's another disappointing front page from Editor Marty Gottlieb, a New York Times veteran who seems determined to present a mix of local, state, regional, national and even international stories on The Record's premier page.

But this Times-like approach to the news betrays his duty to serve local readers.

More loco news

After he took over in late January, Gottlieb said in public appearances and media interviews that his job as The Record's editor was a "homecoming" -- recalling his days as a Hackensack-based cub reporter who covered town news.

But instead of slowing the decline in local news, he has double-crossed readers by allowing two lazy and incompetent sub-editors, Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, to accelerate the process.

Jock-itching editor

And he has made matters worse by a jock-like devotion to putting sports on the front page, such as the huge A-1 photo of football referees on Friday. 

That photo pushed below the fold a far more important story on Governor Christie vowing to veto Democratic spending bills until he gets the "income-tax credit that he has been pushing for months" (A-1)

A tax credit? What happened to the income-tax cut the GOP bully has been promoting? Are they one in the same?

Is driving a right?

On Friday's Local front, Road Warrior John Cichowski continues to ignore mass-transit users with a column on drivers who bitch about parking tickets.

Thanks to complaining e-mails from morons like reader "Irv," Cichowski has guaranteed himself an endless supply of off-the-subject columns in North Jersey, one of the world's most traffic-choked regions.

Dissing Hackensack

Even though columnist Mike Kelly declared "chaos" and a "double dose of chaos" in Hackensack several weeks ago, the drought on city news continued Friday and Saturday.

Friday's edition of the Hackensack Chronicle re-printed a story from The Record on former Police Chief Ken Zisa and the city's future.

North Jersey Media Group has  been re-printing Record stories since the departure of Mark J. Bonamo, who was the weekly's managing editor, so it's unclear whether he will be replaced.

This guarantees Sykes and Sforza won't be embarrassed by the weekly's Hackensack news scoop. 

Woops. Friday's edition of the Chronicle (Sept. 28, 2012) reports the City Council has renewed talks on hiring a police director instead of a police chief, a story I haven't seen in The Record.

More fatty desserts

In Friday's Better Living tab, a lukewarm 2-star review of Pearl Restaurant in Ridgewood emphasizes high prices and clumsy preparation, but Reviewer Elisa Ung made sure she sampled four desserts.

Ung also failed to point out the contradiction of one dish she liked: heart-healthy red snapper with an artery clogging butter sauce.

Tea Party wackos

Today, in keeping with Gottlieb's blend of A-1 stories, he gives local crackpots a platform to attack a U.N program that promotes conservation of resources and a limit on development.

David Walker, presumably a Tea Party radical, appears in a front-page photo. 

Walker and others oppose such "smart growth" initiatives as construction of homes and apartments near mass transit.

The story fails to expose them as one-man, one-car proponents who cause massive rush-hour traffic jams and pollution. 

Gun rights and wrongs

Why did Gottlieb waste more A-1 space today on the story of a Connecticut father who shot and killed "a knife-wielding prowler in a black ski mask," only to find out later it was his 15-year-old son?

The wire-service story is filled with the usual idiotic comments from neighbors who know nothing about the man or his son, and it ignores two big questions:

Why was this teenager masquerading as an armed prowler, and are the hundreds of thousands of Americans with guns an indictment of the police? 

Aircraft headaches

Today's Local front has another photo of a minor accident at Teterboro Airport, reminding readers of how little attention the editors have paid to the impact of aircraft noise on the quality of life in Hackensack and nearby towns.

Of course, the explanation might lie in Chairman Malcolm A. Borg, a long-time champion of the airport who co-owns a business jet.

On L-2 today, a photo caption leaves out an important detail: Why did county police salute Italy with a flag-raising ceremony on Friday?

Second look

After the Signature section published a cover story profiling Rep. Scott Garrett, a radical Republican from Wantage, I expected equal time for his opponent in the November election, Teaneck Deputy Mayor Adam Gussen.

But Thursday's Signature section didn't have a word about Gussen, a Democrat.

The Sept. 20 story on Garrett also used two big and one small photo of the so-called conservative icon, as if section Editor Alan Finder was doing public relations for the congressman.

Has the paper published a photo of Gussen since he won the Democratic primary in June?

Instead of a Gussen profile on the cover, this week's Signature section published a confessional from Ung, the restaurant reviewer, who sounded like she needed a break from eating out on all that unhealthy food and spending huge amounts of The Record's money.

Hey, readers would certainly welcome that.

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Debate stories deaden Page 1

The Record's food editor shops at Whole Foods Market, but doesn't pass along advice to buy beef without harmful antibiotics, growth hormones and animal byproducts.

Three of the four stories on the front page of The Record today are rehashes of new and old debates -- on gay marriage, foreign policy and a silly football game.

And the off-lead story on President Obama and Mitt Romney is not even a real debate.

The so-called confrontation was fabricated by McClatchy Newspapers, where bored reporters and editors look for any way to liven coverage of the deadly dull presidential campaign.

Marty Gottlieb, the Times veteran who took over The Record's newsroom at the end of January, sure knows how to cruise into retirement.

Today, Page 1 of the Woodland Park daily has what editors call a "good mix" of stories, but the result is a page so dull, readers' eyelids grow heavy and they start flipping pages, looking for news they can use.

Phony caption

For amusement -- at the expense of the paper's inept copy desk under Production Editor Liz Houlton -- check out the photo with the story on Catholics and gay marriage at the top of Page 1.

Three students are shown with their mouths closed as they stare into the distance, but the caption says they "are discussing Archbishop John J. Myers' statement."

More lazy reporting

On the front of Local today, it's too bad slow-moving Staff Writer John Cichowski confines himself to writing the Road Warrior column from the comfort of his home or office.

Today's laughable effort focuses on a Camden County woman and photo licenses that he must have rewritten from an earlier wire-service story (L-1).

The so-called commuting columnist has been at it for 9 years, yet he's written little about the lack of speeding enforcement on roads and highways, and the other side of that story, the lack of basic road-safety training for drivers and pedestrians.

Ignoring basic safety

Monday's Page 1 told the sad story of Matthew Killen, 25, an aspiring surgeon from Wood-Ridge, whose life was cut short Sept. 7 on a Tennesse highway, where he was struck and killed by a tractor-trailer.

The account sounded familiar -- Gabrielle Reuveni, 20, of Paramus was killed in July by a pickup truck in the Poconos, where she was jogging on the side of the road.

Sadly, both victims failed to observe basic safety rules: 


Killen apparently didn't look in his car mirrors to see if a truck or car was approaching before he stepped out of his vehicle onto a dark roadway, and Reuveni might still be alive if she was jogging toward traffic.

There have been other fatalities like these in recent years, but Cichowski and head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes can't be bothered to report on basic road safety.

Where's the good beef?

On the Better Living front, don't miss Food Editor Susan Leigh Sherrill's recipe of the week -- a dish from a Japanese farm-food cookbook (BL-1).

On BL-2, you'll find the recipe and "Susan's tips," based on a shopping trip for ingredients to Whole Foods Market.

But Sherrill doesn't tell you the whole story. For some reason, she doesn't recommend using beef shoulder that was raised without harmful antibiotics and growth hormones.

In fact, naturally raised beef shoulder steaks were on sale recently for $5.99 a pound at Whole Foods in Paramus.