The Record and Toyota

Have you noticed all the unsold Toyotas piling up in the parking lot at 150 River St. in Hackensack, former headquarters of the once-great daily newspaper? The imposing, brick building now echoes with the ghosts of all the 20- and 30-year employees of The Record who left during a reorganization ordered by the greedy Borg family to pave the way for the move to Woodland Park last year.

Image via Wikipedia

More unsold Toyotas, especially the ones involved in a major recall reported in today's paper, are likely to join the more than 100 vehicles I saw when I drove by -- then through the lot -- on Monday. Good news for tree-huggers: the 2010 gas-electric Prius hybrid (photo) isn't on the list of vehicles with sticking accelerators.


The story in the Business pages (L-9) didn't give the Borgs credit for the clever idea of renting out empty parking spaces to Hackensack Toyota to make up revenue lost from all the readers and advertisers in Hackensack and other towns who have noticed the shameful job the paper is doing in covering local news. There are still hundreds of spaces left, so maybe the Borgs could erect a big screen and open a drive-in. 

Malcolm A. Borg, chairman of North Jersey Media Group, and head Assignment Editor Deirdre "Laughs A Lot" Sykes could run the popcorn and candy concession, and Food Editor Bill Pitcher could hawk all the preservative-filled hot dogs, drug-filled hamburgers and sugary cakes and cookies he loves to write about. Borg is the only one who still has his office in the River Street building.

I'm sure residents of Hackensack and all the other towns affected by the tremendous noise from roof-skimming private jets were overjoyed to see a huge L-1 photo of  the planes parked at Teterborto Airport. That signals the lazy, incompetent editors aren't aware of how aggravating the aircraft are and that there is little local news in the Local section. (When is a reporter going to remove his head from you-know-where and look into what a huge impact the airport has on the quality of life in Bergen County?)

Looking for Hackensack news? Well, homeless people got free haircuts. Looking for Englewood news? Well, a doctor from there talks about his experiences  in Haiti. Looking for Teaneck news? Well, another doctor talks about his experiences there.

A correction and a clarification appear on A-2 today. I don't know if either involves a horny editor being distracted by one of the attractive, young female reporters in the Woodland Park newsroom, and staring down her shirt when he should be vetting her copy.