Jerry DeMarco breaks a long silence

An undated photo of Jerry DeMarco, who in 2015 became managing editor of Hackensack Daily Voice.com

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Jerry DeMarco, former breaking-news editor of northjersey.com and onetime Law and Order assignment editor at The Record, says he's having a ball beating the Woodland Park daily and its Web site to the news.

DeMarco is editor of Cliffview Pilot.com.

Here he talks about The Record, often addressing staffers he once worked with:

"This one's taken a dog's age. But, as you might have noticed, I've been busy.

"Sitting here on the sweet spot of my porch, scanning my peaceful, tree-lined neighborhood in one of the sweet spots of the PValley, the sweet sounds of kids playing in the nearby park, the sweet hum of distant traffic, the sweet breeze blowing my ever-thinning grays, I cannot possibly produce a singular "best."

"I like the freedom, certainly. The cabbage, the perks, of course. The college gigs -- incl. an adjunct role again this fall -- despite having only a BA and in a bad economy. TWO books in the works.

"I LOVE my sources, literally in the hundreds now, from all walks of life -- Montvale to Lyndhurst, FLawn to UC & all points between. I mean, while your guys are cordoned off down the block -- or sitting w/their heads in their monitors -- I'm on the phone w/the primary or sitting next to someone who is. They even send me photos from the scenes.
And it's 24/7.

"See, after [Record police reporter Justo] Bautista is already home -- and the real shit hits the fan -- I'm ready to rock. I get the story DIRECTLY from the sources, then sack out just as your a.m. folks are punching in. Only trouble is: When they call the local PIO to find out what happened, the shift that handled it is sleeping as soundly as I. When I finally get outta bed, I look to see how the tail-chasing's goin'. Once in a great while, I miss a morning story. Then again, EVERYONE ends up getting it, so what's the point? High time/low value if you didn't read it first on CVP.

"I definitely enjoy the flexibility; Have laptop will travel (and my DROID? Love it). Was in NOrleans for a week this spring and fewer than a half-dozen people knew. Did the same 2x last year. Traffic was great, got scoops, etc. Like I never left.

"A benefit I suspect some will misinterpret: 

"I LIKE being recognized. I like people sending drinks my way when I'm out w/friends. I look up, they point and shout, "You read it here first!" I like pulling into a DWI checkpoint and before I even open my mouth, having a uni say: "Hey, Jerry! Got a minute? I got a good story for you." I like handing people my card ("You're THAT guy?"). I like running into Klap [sports columnist Bob Klapisch, whose middle name is "Salvador," according to Wikipedia], [former Business staffer] Adam Geller, and so many other pros whom I respect and admire, hearing them say they love the site and to keep at it.

"I like when people beep and wave, when the deli guy slices the Genoa thin and the mozzarella thick, w/fresh basil and garlic, some sweet pepper, no oil, w/out my even asking. I like when people call and say, "I want to be on your site. Send me a rate card." Or when I'm out and a kid fresh from the academy introduces himself while trying to call me "Mr. DeMarco." 

"It warms me no end to have an extremely well-known Law Enforcement Officer approach me at a BBQ last month and say: "I haven't met one cop who's had a bad word to say about you." And by journos, she was incl. your people, as well as a former troop member now aboard a sinking ship of his own.

"Yeah, I figured my nat'l awards, my putting people behind bars, changing public policy, getting crooked officials out of office, teaching young reporters who went on to great jobs entitled me to tell people to fuck off. Truth is, I liked reminding the Scandales of the world of that guy who dated the girls in high school who wouldn't even look at him, who was out partying while he was home studying & STILL aced the exam, who gave him the daily wedgie.

"All those joys are juvenile pleasures, of course -- but pleasing nonetheless. But this ... now ... I've been reluctant to say these things, primarily because I've always suspected people who did wouldn't need to say it if it were true.

"But I'm here to testify: Two years of hard work, treating people right, meaning what I say and saying what I mean -- OWNING it -- have brought me riches I could never have imagined when I was coppin' a snooze in the [press] overlook room [off the Hackensack newsroom], lovin' an amazing woman half my age or engaging in a number of pleasurable activities that shall remain undisclosed (all, by the way, while producing undeniably excellent work for my employer. Yes, I saved every perf revue).

"Y'know what? You need a little fuck-you now and then to survive in this world. No better proof than the situation YOU are in as you read this.
The fact that I could tell your bosses to eat me when they came looking for dirt on one of my good friends is a badge of honor. As if I would've breathed a word if I did. Idiots.

"If you still have cause to mock, by all means, do. I'm even game if you want to run down the list of what got me shitcanned -- and exactly what was said in Susan B's office that final day [reference to Susan Beard, vice president of Human Resources].

"Just know that you can't insult any number of independent analytical sources that show CVP's traffic. 

"You also can't touch the meaning that what I do gives me.

"Like when a headstone was donated to the family whose daughter was murdered;

"Or when a state rep made it his business to find lost medals a war hero had been waiting years for, then arranged a special ceremony to present them;
Or when a boy who survived two brain surgeries got the vacation of his dreams.

"Then there was the night a room of 250 officers and their wives gave me a standing O. 

"Or the day that 40 chiefs met privately w/me to offer whatever support they could to CLIFFVIEW PILOT.

"I may not have been able to say it this clearly or with such conviction a year or so ago. But, w/out question, I've found my sweet spot. My "best" is being a member of a large, warm, fiercely loyal community, giving them a product they clearly enjoy while having it make a difference that I was here at all.

"How 'bout you?"

See previous post 
on today's paper

Christie gets more passes on mass transit

Image via Wikipedia

NJ Transit has been slow to replace decades-old local buses in North Jersey,
but The Record could care less about the minorities who ride them.

For the second day in a row, Editor Francis Scandale tries to sell The Record with sensational, tabloid-like, front-page coverage of a crime that has absolutely no affect on community safety (A-1).


Readers are left with crumbs along the edges, including a major piece on Governor Christie, the Hudson River rail tunnels he killed and the toll-and-fare hikes approved Friday.


Neither the A-1 story by Staff Writer John Reitmeyer -- nor a piece on the Opinion front -- really explore how bad Christie has been for public transit, and how his backing of the toll hikes will do little to improve life for commuters standing in the aisles on trains and buses into Manhattan or for minorities forced to ride on rattle-trap local buses.


Tunnel vision


The paper's lazy assignment desk largely ignores public transportation, allowing Road Warrior John Cichowski to continue indulging his obsessions with highway ramps, stop signs, lane lines and other minutiae (L-1); and reducing transportation writer Karen Rouse to a construction-detour  reporter.  


This neglect is an improvement over the major anti-light rail articles by Tom Davis, a former transportation writer, and the Tenafly reporter published under the direction of clueless head Assignment Editor Deirdre Sykes and her deputy, Dan Sforza.


Sforza, whose laziness set the tone for his many successors, spent a lot of his time as a transportation reporter writing about "highways of the future," and ignoring new NJ Transit cruiser buses with defective, screeching rear brakes and roaring engines that drove people crazy along residential routes.


Readers get shaft


Boy, Staff Writer John Brennan does another great job of blowing Jon F. Hanson, a close, multimillionaire friend of Chairman Malcolm A. "Mac" Borg, who is co-owner of a business jet with the real estate tycoon.


In today's A-1 story on reigning in bloated salaries at the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, Brennan neglects to mention Hanson was agency chairman when it was even more wasteful.


When Christie named Hanson as his adviser on sports and gaming in the state in February 2010, The Star-Ledger Editorial Page blasted the appointment:

"Judging by the wet kiss [Jon] Hanson gave to the NJSEA in a recent sugar-coated transition report, he is not an objective guardian of taxpayer interests. As a former chairman of the NJSEA, Hanson is an alumnus of Mismanagement University, East Rutherford campus. He helped create the problem. Hanson is joined on the panel by Robert Mulcahy, who was in at the creation as well."

Drink up if you can

On the front of Local, Staff Writer Sachi Fujimori's upbeat story on a Jersey wine festival at Demarest Farms doesn't convey how later arrivals found no room to park at the Hillsdale farm, fought big crowds and got far less than the "inch" of wine she reports was poured into individual glasses (L-1).


The cover story in Real Estate is ruined by an editing error in the first paragraph of a story on tenants, not to mention the unimaginative main headline.


The lead paragraph reports the market "has continued to tightened."


Roof is leaking


It's maddening to see the section wasting space week after week on vacation homes hundreds or thousands of miles away from New Jersey. Today, the section also carries a story on downtown renters in Milwaukee (R-6).


What about a weekly feature readers can use on shore and lake homes in the Garden State?


And why do banks' dirty work by continue to peddle "low interest rates"? Instead, tell home buyers they'll be paying hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest over the 30 years of their mortgage -- close to what they paid for the house.


Why didn't the editors tell readers Martin E. Robins -- author of an Opinion piece supporting Port Authority toll-and-fare hikes (O-1) -- is a former director of planning and development for the bi-state agency?


Travel editor junket?


Travel Editor Jill Schensul swamps readers with details on her application for a Russian visa, but neglects to say whether it's an ethically challenging free travel junket or one that will cost The Record a few thousand dollars (T-1).

Piggish Christie identifies with toll hikes

Image via Wikipedia

With only one reverse bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel, Bergen County commuters must stand in the aisles on buses that are slowed to a crawl by morning rush-hour traffic. 

Governor Christie refused to raise the low gasoline tax to improve roads and mass transit in New Jersey, but found the money for those projects at the Port Authority, greedily snatching $1.8 billion in agency funds -- equal to nearly four years of toll revenue.


Now, he's denying the $4.50 Hudson River toll hikes are a tax, one that will fall disproportionately on middle- and working-class residents, just as his recent budget cuts did.


"It's a user fee," the governor said Friday, as reported on Page 1 of The Record today. "If you look at a pig and call it a horse, and if a lot of people call it a horse ... is it a horse? No, it's a pig."


No one is calling Christie a horse, but many are calling  him an enemy of mass transit. An audit of the Port Authority is fine, but he should insist those higher tolls pay for an expanded PATH system and a second bus lane into the Lincoln Tunnel.


If it's a user fee, not a tax, then commuters are the ones who feel used by the governor and by Editors Francis Scandale and Deirdre Sykes, who are clueless about the sad state of public transportation in the region.


Law and order news


The major A-1 story reports arrests in the murder of a 27-year-old mother in Boonton, but it's hard to believe six reporters working for Scandale and Sykes couldn't find out whether the suspects -- the husband and a "woman" -- were romantically involved.


Still, it seems improper to say in the photo caption, "Nazish Noorani, who was gunned down in Boonton on Tuesday, being buried Friday ...." 


The dead woman is not in the photo, nor can you see her coffin, so it should have said, "Nazish Noorani ... was buried Friday ...."


Sykes' Local section catches up readers with telephone-pole news -- photos on L-1 and L-2 show two that were damaged by errant cars.


There isn't a lazier assignment desk in all of North America, Mexico and Central America.


Dig into all the police news and news about the police on L-1, L-2, L-3 and L-6. Two of those stories are from Hackensack (L-3).


The hard-luck story on Englewood Cliffs' understaffed department doesn't say whether the police chief makes more than Christie or whether residents feel safe (L-1).


Black and white


It's hard to believe a white woman would sue a hospital because her baby was mistakenly breast-fed by a black mother for 30 minutes (L-3), but even harder to believe Staff Writer Kibret Markos didn't put that in the lead paragraph.


Even the clunky headlines don't tell the whole story. The word "suit" appears in the main head and "complaint" in the drop headline -- an echo that would have never been allowed a few years ago.


Overripe news


Better Living has run out of food news, so readers get a cover article on how to choose a watermelon -- more than three months after they first appeared in the North Jersey market (F-1).


The wire-service article reports watermelon "may also prove to be very helpful for those who suffer from obesity and Type 2 diabetes (F-3)."


Are you listening, governor?

Screwing of commuters is complete

Image via Wikipedia

Commuters may emulate Gen. George Washington, standing in boat, to avoid higher tolls on the bridge named after him, as well as on other Port Authority crossings.

Will readers ever learn whether the $1.50 toll hike "compromise" heralded on the front page of The Record today is, in fact, another back-room deal by the bloated, free-spending Port Authority and the governors of New York and New Jersey?


Staff Writer Shawn Boburg, who wrote the A-1 lead, has already reported Governor Christie had been briefed before the toll-and-fare hike proposal was made public, only to feign surprise. 


Now, let' s hope Editor Francis Scandale has told the reporter to follow through.


Boburg provides no details today on how car-pool and other discounts will be affected when the first hike goes into effect next month.


Nor does he report whether the toll hikes would have been even lower if Christie didn't grab $1.8 billion in PA funds to repair New Jersey roads -- so he could squirm out of raising the state's low gas tax to pay for those projects.


Finger pointing


Liz Houlton's news copy desk leaves readers in the lurch again with the photo caption for the Page 1 Wall Street story. The photo shows two traders pointing their fingers, but the caption says:


"Philip Finale, left, directing trades on the floor" of the stock exchange. So what's the finger-pointing  guy on the right doing, also directing trades, blaming Finale or what?


Road to nowhere


Can anyone figure out what Road Warrior John Cichowski is trying to say about the toll-and-fare hikes in his L-1 column today?


The columnist, who is supposed to be writing about commuting, waited until today -- the day of the vote on the proposal -- to say something serious about a plan first unveiled on Aug. 6. 


The big local story is the trial of a former Rockland County police officer on a firearms possession charge (L-1).


Bruised and beaten


The big Hackensack story today is yet another renovation at Hackensack University Medical Center, which threatens to swallow the neighborhood whole (L-2).


Staff Writer Monsy Alvarado didn't bother to get any comment from beleaguered residents.


She works for Editor Deirdre Sykes, who runs the laziest assignment desk in the United States and Canada, including the North Pole.


HUMC gets more ink in The Record than any other hospital in the world. Does that have anything to do with Vice President/General Counsel Jennifer A. Borg, a former member of the hospital board?


Another broken photo caption is on L-6, where the copy editor basically echoes what he had written in the headline over the obituary of George Turrell, rather than telling readers something new.


Dumplings or dump?


On Page 19 of Better Living, the health inspections column reports the closing of Petite Soo Chow, a Chinese restaurant in Cliffside Park, for the second time since Staff Writer Elisa Ung gave it a rave review in September 2008.