We'd all be better off if Christie moved to New Hampshire

Governor Christie in a moment that cements his reputation as the GOP bully.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

The Record's lead story today -- how New Jersey lost out on tens of millions in federal disaster aid -- only rubs salt in the wounds of residents who have been seduced and abandoned by their governor.

Yet, Editor Martin Gottlieb again gives Columnist Charles Stile front-page play to argue that campaigning in New Hampshire is more important to Christie's future than coming home to help the state weather a big snowstorm. (A-1 and A-6).

If Stile, the paper's chief Christie apologist, doesn't make you hurl, take a look at the idiotic headline:

Christie shelters in place

Readers still are waiting for The Record to call for the impeachment of a governor who time and again has put his selfish ambitions above the welfare of residents.

Or, at least demand that Christie resign, give up his million-dollar state police protection and move to New Hampshire as he pursues his doomed bid for the GOP presidential nomination.

Local news?

Bergen County readers continue to get a good spanking from local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who are in charge of the paper's thin local-news section.

Four of the five stories on their Local front today are from Passaic County (L-1).

Three Paterson stories appear on L-2 and L-3, and Pompton Lakes police news can be found on L-5.

The inside pages also carry plenty of crime and court news, including a long, flattering story on the Bergen County Police Academy (L-3).

Hackensack?

There is no municipal news from Hackensack, as has been the case for weeks. 

And school board stories from Clifton (L-1), Elmwood Park and Saddle River (L-6) only remind Hackensack residents they haven't seen a story on their profligate school trustees for more than, what, a year or is it two?

You're mistaken if you think care is taken in the writing and editing of stories, as shown by a mangled sentence in the police academy story referring to Bergen County Corrections Officer Alex Herrera:

"Corrections officers, as he's been since 2005, are limited to posts at the jail and the academy" (L-3).

Ignoring readers

It isn't news that Elisa Ung, the paper's chief restaurant critic, ignores the dietary restrictions of most of her readers, whether they are on a low-carb, low-fat or low-cholesterol diet or are watching their intake of sugar and other sweets.

Today, she recklessly awards 3 out of 4 stars to Porto by Antonio, a North Bergen restaurant that not only charges up to $23 for a 12-inch pizza, but actually fries the dough of another pie (BL-12).

Ung raves the fried pie is "less heavy" and "more subtly rich" than other versions she has tried.

On politics or weather, North Jersey is bracing for hype

These images are part of an art exhibit in the dingy, Ninth Avenue end of the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I've heard so many forecasts for this winter's first big storm I don't know what to believe.

They range from the "moderate" snowfall reported by WNYC-FM radio this morning to the "7+ inches" in a front-page headline in The Record today:

Jersey

braces

for the

storm

Winter's first

big blast could

drop 7+ inches

Buried by hype

When it comes to the weather and campaigns for the major party's presidential nominations, North Jersey readers have learned to brace for hype and other media exaggeration.

Making the the next general election seem like a horse race, which the print and electronic media have tried to do for well over a year, serves two purposes.

Burned-out editors, reporters and columnists -- weary after so many years of covering political conflict and swallowing candidates' lies and B.S. -- now only report contested elections.

And without hype and exaggeration, how are you going to sell newspapers to readers so apathetic they often refuse to go to the polls, especially in North Jersey's local contests for council and school board?

Political stories

On Tuesday's front page, Editor Martin Gottlieb led with the contest between Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for the Democratic Party nomination.

The Washington Post declared their last debate a defining moment for the party.

Left unsaid in this and other media reports is that either would make a great president, and preserve the Affordable Care Act and other accomplishments of the Obama administration.

And in the November election, either would certainly blow out of the water any of the clowns/racists/fear mongers/failed leaders and other trash put forward by the mean-spirited Republican Party.

In fact, many Democrats would love to see a Clinton-Sanders ticket or his appointment as her secretary of health and human services.

Gottlieb led Wednesday's paper with Sarah Palin's endorsement of Donald Trump, as if that moron can help the billionaire businessman get elected in November (A-1).

500+ vetoes

Wednesday's front page reported another "five dozen" vetoes executed by Governor Christie on a one-day break from his doomed campaign.

One bill would have prevented "convicted carjackers, gang members and others from buying guns," and another would require that "smart guns" be sold along with traditional handguns.

The new vetoes surely bring Christie's total to more than 500, set a record for any New Jersey governor and give a lie to all of the Charles Stile columns that have portrayed him as a compromiser who could break the legislative logjam in Washington.

Readers are still waiting for The Record to publish an editorial or column labeling Christie the worst governor in state history -- which has been evident to readers for many years.

Talking heads

Today's pathetic Mike Kelly opinion column rehashes news stories on the gun bills and vetoes, and goes on and on quoting Trenton lawmakers from both sides of the aisle speculating on whether Christie was motivated by his desire to win in Iowa, New Hampshire and other conservative states (A-1).

Nowhere will you find Kelly's opinion of Christie. 

Local news

Nearly the entire front of the local-news section today is filled with sensational court and police news or stories about the police (L-1).

A story on the bomb hoax that led to school evacuations "across North Jersey," and a second story on a terrorism-awareness conference discuss in great detail how police officers do their jobs.

More crime news appears inside as local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza continue their boycott of any stories about Hackensack.

Aleppo pepper

The Better Living editors worship at the feet of chefs whose restaurants advertise in the Woodland Park daily.

No cooking method, condiment or food gains credibility unless a chef uses it in his or her restaurant.

That seems to be the only conclusion readers can draw from Food Editor Esther Davidowitz's Wednesday column on Aleppo pepper, which has been used by home cooks in New Jersey for ages, including a sizable community of Syrian Jews.

Her take: 

"The bright-red condiment that for years was barely known in the U.S., except by a few immigrant communities, has captured American chefs' admiration, thanks to its unique flavor."

Sadly, Davidowitz reports the pepper is "yes, named for Aleppo, the ancient city in Syria," but makes no reference to the civil war that has seen the country's rulers try to bomb it back to the stone age.

Hackensack now free to sue hospital that shifts tax burden

Two views of a home being built on North Woodland Street and Booth Avenue in Englewood, above and below, where city officials gave property owner Nader Bolour a permit to remove 109 trees as long as he plants 273 new trees, The Record reported in December 2014.

Bolour, a native of Iran, is owner of the Doris Leslie Blau Gallery of antique carpets and custom-designed rugs in Manhattan.

Editor's note: Subscribers received an e-mail from The Record that "a production issue" may delay delivery of today's paper. This post is based on a story that appears on the paper's Web site.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Hackensack and other towns "may try to levy property taxes against non-profit hospitals now that Governor Christie has vetoed legislation" that would require them to pay a relatively small community service fee, The Record says.

Hackensack University Medical Center and other non-profits that claim exemption from property taxes shift the burden unfairly onto homeowners and businesses -- a story the Woodland Park daily has ignored for years.

Hackensack's assessor has successfully taxed $139 million in HUMC property, yielding about $4,877,000 a year.

But the main hospital complex, an additional $257 million in property that is tax exempt, would yield more than $10 million in revenue for the city, and likely halt the annual increase on other tax payers.

Under the proposed state law, HUMC would have paid the city $690,762 a year -- essentially chump change.

Christie veto

Christie vetoed a bill proposed after "last summer's Tax Court decision that invalidated the property tax exemption enjoyed by non-profit Morristown Medical Center," Washburn reports.

The hospital's parent company, Atlantic Health System, eventually settled, The Record says, "agreeing to pay $15.5 million to satisfy back taxes and interest, and will make future payments of about $1 million a year as tax on the for-profit part of its operation."

Washburn's story makes no reference to HUMC, the biggest non-profit hospital in North Jersey.

Hackensack, Englewood, Teaneck, Ridgewood, Wayne and Paterson now are free to repeat Morristown's successful challenge to the non-profit status of the hospital in their community. 

What engages editors leaves most readers out in the cold

Between January 2009, when the original station house was destroyed in a fire, and March 2014, when a new Anderson Street Station opened in Hackensack, above, NJ Transit commuters relied only on bus shelters and ticket machines before boarding a train. A long Page 1 story in The Record on Monday never explained why commuters living in Wood-Ridge's Westmont section aren't being provided similar accommodations until a long-delayed train station opens there.

Actually, the Anderson Street Station is only a shelter open to the elements on two sides. Two small heat lamps are affixed to the ceiling. This morning, a banana peel, water bottle and other litter was evident, above and below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

Pity all of the commuters who were delayed this morning for more than 90 minutes at the George Washington Bridge tollbooths, twice the usual wait.

Meanwhile, packed trains and buses again forced many North Jersey riders to stand on the trip into Manhattan.

You'd think The Record's reporters covering the Port Authority and NJ Transit would have examined why these transportation agencies have been failing commuters for years.

NJ Transit could easily double the capacity of bus service into the city, if the Port Authority added a second exclusive lane into the Lincoln Tunnel during the morning rush.

And if those lanes were operated in the afternoon as well, homeward-bound commuters would face fewer delays leaving the antiquated midtown Manhattan bus terminal.

Too little, too late

Instead, transportation writer Christopher Maag wrote a long front-page story Monday on why a train station for residents of Wood-Ridge's Westmont section is years behind schedule.

Even though the piece went on and on, Maag never explained why, in the meanwhile, NJ Transit doesn't just set up bus shelters and ticket machines so commuters who moved into the so-called transit village finally can ride a train into the city.

And Staff Writer Paul Berger, the new Port Authority reporter, has actually written two stories on the agency's search for a new chief executive.

Today, Berger referees a pissing match between Newark and Port Authority officials over the agency's lease of Port Newark land (A-3).

None of those stories serve the large majority of North Jersey commuters stuck in traffic or standing in the aisles of buses and trains.

Today's front page

Page 1 today carries weighty stories on the front-runners for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, a newly independent state Alzheimer's group and the racially charged battle over affordable housing in New Jersey's home-rule communities.

And for some insane reason, Editor Martin Gottlieb is wasting readers' time with a story on the Dec. 14 police shooting of a man who crashed his car in Rochelle Park, and sat inside for more than five hours.

This is hard-hitting local news, Gottlieb must have insisted at Monday afternoon's news meeting, waking up local Assignment Editors Deirdre Sykes and Dan Sforza, who had planned to lead their section with this snoozer. 

Local news?

Still, once readers get a look at Sykes' and Sforza's local-news section today and see it's for the birds, they'll be rifling through the paper for something of real interest.

The biggest local news is the rescue of more than 200 birds from "deplorable conditions" in a Passaic city shop (A-1 and L-1).

Food follies

The Better Living cover today is devoted to more 2016 "food trends," an insult to readers who shop for food and eat out regularly (BL-1 and BL-2).

One is "fermented" cabbage, declares Staff Writer Sophia F. Gottfried, who bases her piece on what she was told by "North Jersey chefs and restaurant insiders."

I guess she has never heard of kimchi.