Deirdre J. Bowe is yet another victim of Bergen County officials' criminal refusal to improve pedestrian safety in Hackensack

The large SUV that struck and fatally injured Deirdre Bowe, 64, stopped approximately here on Polifly Road and Mary Street in Hackensack, as shown in the Hackensack police report filed on July 10, 2022, by Police Officer Panagiotis Seretis, below.

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Who was Deirdre Janet Bowe?

The 64-year-old woman was struck by a Cadillac Escalade as she crossed a darkened Polifly Road at Mary Street in Hackensack at about 8:55 p.m. on July 10, 2022, and died of her injuries in a hospital.

Bowe is the second woman killed crossing Polifly Road, a busy 4-lane street supposedly maintained by Bergen County that has a crosswalk at only one intersection between Essex Street and Route 80 -- a distance of 11 blocks -- and inadequate lighting.

Hackensack officials' repeated calls for better street lighting and crosswalks at every intersection have fallen on deaf ears at the Bergen County Administration building in Hackensack.

Even signs or flashing lights warning drivers of pedestrians wouldn't be out of place given a popular CVS Pharmacy, all of the apartment buildings lining both sides of Polifly Road, and drivers who often exceed the speed limit.

2021 fatality

On March 4, 2021, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver and struck by a second driver as she crossed a darkened Polifly Road, between Sutton and Marvin avenues, several blocks away from the latest fatality.

She was going to pick up a prescription at the CVS Pharmacy, family members said.

The case remains open at the Bergen County prosecutor's Fatal Accident Investigation Unit, which has been unable to locate the vehicle that struck her or identify the driver who fled.

Deirdre Janet Bowe

Bowe's first name was misspelled in the Hackensack police report, and she wasn't identified in the Daily Voice story about her death on July 11, 2022.

The headline: "Pedestrian, 64, Struck, Killed On Treacherous Stretch of Road in Hackensack." 

"Lost too soon" said an online obituary in The Record and Herald News on July 15, 2022, listing as survivors her mother, Hope; her sister, Daphne Bowe-Kricheff; and three children, Ashton, Christopher and Cordelia Bowe-Rivera.

There is no information on where she lived. The obituary suggested donations to AdvanceHousing.org.

What driver said

The driver, Abraham Hazem, 56, of Hackensack told police "he was traveling southbound on Polifly Road," near Mary Street, and "the pedestrian ran across the roadway and that he was unable to avoid the collision."

Hazem was driving a black Cadillac Escalade registered in New York State with "SYDNEYS" on the license plates.

The police officer who wrote the report noted:

 "The pedestrian was not crossing at a marked crosswalk" and the "nearest crosswalk was located north of the location...200 feet away."

"Also the location has very little overhead lighting making the area dark," the officer wrote.

There are apartments and homes on both sides of the street near the spot where Bowe was killed, a couple of blocks from Route 80.

The driver was released at the scene, the police report noted.

What state law says

The officer who wrote the report mentioned the pedestrian wasn't using a marked crosswalk, but state law says:

"Pedestrians have the right-of-way at all intersections, including intersections with no crosswalk markings ('unmarked crosswalks').

"A motorist is required to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian crossing the roadway within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection."

"From 2010 to 2020, 14 pedestrians were killed in Hackensack, records show," NorthJersey.com has reported.

READ: Crosswalk without warning sign proved deadly

Don't curse potholes and rough pavement: You can blame this wealthy county in N.J. for refusing to repair, repave many streets

WHO OWNS THIS STREET? Summit Avenue -- from Essex Street in Hackensack to the Hasbrouck Heights border -- is considered a road under the control of Bergen County, but the city of Hackensack controls this pockmarked stretch of Summit, above and below, which is between Passaic Street and Spring Valley Road. 

 

What do property taxes we pay

to Bergen get us besides heartburn?

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Every year, a little over 9 percent of my property tax bill -- or $1,743.75 in 2021-22 -- goes to Bergen County, and I'm struggling to think what I get in return.

In fact, living in Hackensack carries a far larger county imposed tax burden for me and other home and business owners who pay property taxes:

The hundreds of millions of dollars of county owned property in Hackensack -- including the classically styled Bergen County Courthouse, county Administration Building, jail and homeless shelter -- are tax exempt, shifting the burden to me and thousands of other and raising our tax bills considerably.

Drivers get the finger

And yet, day after day, month after month, year after year, we have to deal with the insult of county owned streets that go unpaved or are crudely repaired or lack safety measures, which contributed to the death of two pedestrians in Hackensack last year.

I originally included Summit Avenue in Hackensack, from Passaic Street to Spring Valley Road, pockmarked with numerous crude repairs or potholes, but was told only the section of Summit from Passaic Street to the Hasbrouck Heights border belongs to the county (and was repaved several years ago).

But county roads that have been in disrepair for years include Grand Avenue and Lafayette Place in Englewood, littered with sunken manhole covers and broken pavement; and on and on.

In fact, I'm sure there are county owned streets in each of Bergen's 70 municipalities that have been neglected for years.

For a list of all state and county owned streets in your town, see Bergen County Roads by Municipality, which was compiled in 2016.

Terrible Teaneck

I remember the years-long nightmare of driving to Route 80 on a narrow, 4-lane DeGraw Avenue in Teaneck, between Queen Anne and Teaneck roads, before it was finally repaired and repaved.

Teaneck's Cedar Lane through the main business district, another narrow, 4-lane county street, remains a nightmare, with motorists jostling for space with buses and dump trucks, and plenty of rough and broken pavement to contend with. 

Is Bergen County broke or so arrogant that it treats tax-paying county residents like crap by letting the streets and avenues it controls fall apart?

An email I sent to Michael Pagan, the county's public information officer, seeking information on the history of county owned streets, hasn't been answered. 

Pagan also is a councilman in Teaneck.

Please use the comments section at the end of this post to highlight streets in your town that are in desperate need of repairs.

A LITTLE PAINT, A LOT LESS CONFUSION: The city of Hackensack painted these turn arrows at Prospect Avenue and Passaic Street after Bergen County officials ignored repeated requests for them, City Councilman Leo Battaglia said. Without the arrows, two lanes of cars would form and some drivers in each lane would drive straight ahead into one lane, causing conflicts.

READ: Bergen fails to add safety measures

 months after 2 pedestrian deaths

READ: How 2 Hackensack women

 died crossing the street

Crosswalk without a warning sign proved deadly to woman, 76, out for a daily stroll

JINXED CROSSWALK: None of the 4 crosswalks on Passaic Street and Summit Avenue in Hackensack -- including this one on Passaic Street, used by Carol A. Ventura before her untimely death on May 13, 2021 -- have "Walk/Don't Walk" signs or any other warning to alert pedestrians about turning vehicles from Summit Avenue, like the Tesla I photographed yesterday, above. 

 

She was hit by one vehicle, 

then run over by a trailer

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- When a 76-year-old woman set out for her daily late afternoon walk in her neighborhood two weeks ago, she didn't stand a chance as she stepped off the curb at dusk and into a crosswalk on Passaic Street at Summit Avenue.

Not only are the crosswalk stripes non-reflective, faded or missing, but there is no lighted sign warning pedestrians like Carol A. Ventura it is unsafe to walk as vehicles on Summit get a green arrow and turn onto Passaic Street and into the crosswalk she was using.

That late afternoon walk on May 13 proved to be Ventura's last as first a pickup truck turning onto Passaic from the Summit Avenue turn lane hit her and knocked her down shortly after 8:30 p.m., police said.

Then, a second driver, like the first, said he didn't see the woman, and she was run over by a landscaping trailer his vehicle was pulling.

Ventura, who had retired recently after 25 years as a sales administration manager at E.T. Browne Drug Co. in Englewood Cliffs, died a short time later at the hospital.

She lived not far away in The Pierre Apartments on Prospect Avenue in Hackensack.

No 'Walk/Don't Walk' signs

None of the 4 crosswalks at the busy intersection of Summit Avenue and Passaic Street -- in Hackensack's Fairmount section -- have "Walk/Don't Walk" signs.

The intersection has long been cursed by drivers on narrow, 2-lane Passaic Street -- a major artery leading to Maywood, Rochelle Park and Paramus -- because there are no turn lanes for vehicles on Passaic at Summit Avenue.

The street dates to the Revolutionary War, and the intersection, maintained by Bergen County, would look more at home in an underdeveloped country.

NO WARNING OF TURNING VEHICLES: The second crosswalk on Passaic Street at Summit Avenue, above, has no sign to alert pedestrians they should look out for cars or trucks turning into the street from Summit Avenue.

No help for pedestrians 

Pedestrians also are sitting ducks on Polifly Road in Hackensack, where a 3-block stretch with a busy CVS Pharmacy on one side of the 4-lane street and an apartment building on the other side lacks crosswalks or traffic lights.

On March 4, 2021, Lillian J. Holmes, 81, of Hackensack died after she was knocked down by a hit-run driver in a black SUV, and struck by a second driver as she was crossing the darkened street to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy.

Polifly Road is another street "maintained" by Bergen County.

June 4 services

Services for Carol A. Ventura. who turned 76 on April 13, one month before she was killed, will be held on June 4 at G. Thomas Gentile Funeral Home at 397 Union St. in Hackensack.

A celebration of her life will take place at Nanni Ristorante in Rochelle Park.

"Carol had been embracing her retirement and looking forward to spending more time with her cherished companion" -- identified as William J. Gaynor -- according to her obituary.

Ventura grew up in North Bergen, earned a bachelor's degree at Montclair State University and became a school teacher.

Read her full obituary on the funeral home website: 

Obituary of Carol A. Ventura

READ: Yet another careless driver 

is getting away with running down a pedestrian

Older Americans have a great deal at stake in the Nov. 6 congressional, local elections

The cover story in the AARP Bulletin this month lists 10 ways the Nov. 6 midterm elections will affect older Americans.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- "This year's midterm elections will impact older Americans for decades," AARP Bulletin reports.

AARP, whose stated mission is "empowering people to choose how they live as they age," lists the issues elected officials will be grappling with in the coming term:

Shoring up Social Security, rising drug prices, Medicare funding, growing or slowing Medicaid, the future of health insurance, bolstering retirement savings, lower retirement taxes, fixing pension shortfalls, more help for caregivers, and fraud against and abuse of people who are 65-plus.

100 percent nonpartisan

"This is one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime," political scholar Norman Ornstein recently told AARP editors about the 2018 midterm elections [on Nov. 6], "and we wholeheartedly agree."

"We are at a moment in which important decisions need to be made on many matters key to the lives of older Americans," AARP Bulletin reports.

"Some are obvious, like the future funding and structure of Medicare and our health-care system. 

"At the same time, many states are grappling with issues related to worker discrimination, retirement savings, underfunded pensions [New Jersey], Medicaid, caregiving and more.

"Those we put in office could shape the resolutions of these issues for decades to come," says AARP, adding the group is "100 percent nonpartisan."

"But we do want you to know about the issues facing older Americans, the ways each issue can be addressed, and the policies that our organization believes will best serve all older Americans.

"So vote. For you, your loved ones and America."

Shoring up Social Security

"Social Security's trust fund will fall short by 2034; if that happens, benefits would drop by about 20 percent, a 2018 government report says.

"Some elected officials have proposed cutting Social Security as part of deficit reduction.... And if Republicans still control Congress next year, Social Security's cost-of-living adjustment could face a major change."

Rising drug prices

"Prescription drug costs are increasing at a rate 10 times faster than inflation, and state legislatures, Congress and the federal government are starting to take on pharmaceutical companies.

"AARP supports allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices, permitting the importation of safe lower-cost drugs, and speeding generic drugs to market."

Medicare funding

"Medicare's trust fund will fall short by 2026, according to a report by the program's trustees in June.

"House Republicans have proposed a budget that would give seniors a voucher-type option to enroll in private health plans, and have proposed other changes that would squeeze $537 billion out of Medicare.

"Whether that proposal moves ahead could depend on who controls Congress after November."

To read the rest of the AARP report, see:

10 Ways the Election Will Affect Older Americans 

New Jersey ballot

On Nov. 6, New Jersey residents will be voting for a U.S. senator and a member of the House of Representatives.

In Bergen County, the county executive is seeking another term, as are two members of the Board of Freeholders.

The ballot also includes two public questions seeking funding for programs in New Jersey and Hackensack.

First, the Borgs screwed Hackensack; now, they've turned their backs on sub veterans

The USS Ling, stuck in the muck of the Hackensack River, in April 2016. The wealthy Borg family have washed their hands of saving the World War II submarine from being scrapped or sunk for an artificial reef. Below, the Ling in a photo made today, weeks after vandals flooded the vessel with Hackensack River water.

Editor's note: On Sept. 14, 2019, a group of submarine enthusiasts launched an effort to repair the USS Ling and move the submarine to a proposed naval museum on the Ohio River in Kentucky. 

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Borgs are back in Hackensack. 

The onetime owners of The Record are planning to develop nearly 20 acres along River Street -- land they held onto after selling the family publishing company and its many daily and weekly newspapers to Gannett for $39.3 million in cash in July 2016, and laughing all the way to the bank.

But they've washed their hands of the USS Ling, the World War II submarine that has been tied up to their property since 1974 under a $1-year-lease with the New Jersey Naval Museum.

Then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg of Tenafly ended that lease in 2016, claiming the sub wasn't on family property.

A few weeks ago, vandals "cut locks and opened hatches to flood the submarine" with Hackensack River water, The Record reported in a story that was reprinted in the Hackensack Chronicle on Aug. 24.

Reporters Melanie Anzidel and Rodrigo Torrejon made no effort to contact the Borg family for comment about the vandalism or the sub's future.

The damage may be beyond repair, they reported.

Abandoned Hackensack

No one has ever measured the full economic and psychological impact of Stephen Borg's money saving decision to shut down the 150 River St. headquarters of The Record in 2009, and essentially abandon Hackensack, where the once-great local daily newspaper had prospered for more than 110 years.

Most employees were scattered to a Rockaway Township  plant, where The Record and Herald News had been printed since 2006; and to cramped offices in a Garret Mountain office building overlooking Route 80 in Woodland Park. 

Then, Hackensack restaurants like Naturally Good and other businesses on and near Main Street closed, and those that remained open, like Solari's, a onetime Borg favorite, struggled.

The decline in Hackensack news was easy to see, as was the increasing focus on Passaic County and Paterson, even though those stories were of little interest to the majority of readers in Bergen County, one of the wealthiest in New Jersey.

To save money, The Record stopped printing separate Local sections for news from Bergen and Passaic counties, cramming everything into one thin edition.

Downsizing

In 2008, Borg triggered the biggest downsizing in The Record's history, targeting the oldest and highest-paid newsroom and photography employees.

Then, the Borgs delivered the final blow, selling North Jersey Media Group, publisher of The Record, to Gannett, which eventually laid off more than 350 NJMG employees.

See: Gannett admits 

circulation dropped dramatically

See: Borgs take money and run,

 staffers brace for Gannett's ax

See: Editors do their best
 to screw old people

Luxury units

On Aug. 3, the weekly Hackensack Chronicle, which no longer has its own staff, reprinted another story from The Record, reporting the buildings at 150 River St. will be taken down this month.

Employees of the Vannuzzi Group, a demolition and recycling company based in Kinnelon, have been stripping the buildings since late April.

The property, which is in a flood zone, was assessed for $24,947,400, and Macromedia Inc., a Borg family company, has been paying $790,053.40 annually in taxes, according to NJParcels.com.

The project includes 600 luxury residential units -- 100 less than city planners had envisioned -- a public plaza and river walk, and retail along River Street, The Record's story said, quoting a Macromedia spokesman.

Poor editing

The story, by Melanie Anzidel, is an example of how poorly The Record is edited more than 2 years after the Gannett purchase:

"The former headquarters of The Record newspaper ...," the story begins.

But the reporter apparently was worried readers wouldn't know what "former" means, so she added the headquarters were "once housed at 150 River St. in Hackensack."

Here's the lead paragraph in its redundant entirety:

"The former headquarters of The Record newspaper, once housed at 150 River St. in Hackensack, is slated for demolition."

The Ling

Bob Sommer, identified as a Macromedia spokesman, said the New Jersey Naval Museum was "evicted," and agreed to vacate by Aug. 14.

But, Sommer added, the submarine "is not part of the redevelopment project, and its removal, which ... could cost millions, is not part of the eviction," The Record said.

"This was a despicable act," Sommer said of the flooding of the submarine, and the theft of plaques valued at more than $10,000, adding he hopes police make arrests and that the suspects are convicted and punished "to the fullest extent allowed."

3 developers

Macromedia is expected to partner with the Hampshire Real Estate Cos. and Russo Development to build on The Record site.

Jon F. Hanson, chairman of Hampshire, and Malcolm A. Borg of Englewood, former chairman of North Jersey Media Group, are close friends who once co-owned a private jet.

See: The Record's ghosts will be buried

 under new housing

Big, new 99 Ranch Market in Hackensack shows Chinese eat every part of the animal

Duck Tongue, above, and Duck Feet and Pork Snout, below, are among the unusual items at 99 Ranch Market, a new Chinese supermarket in Hackensack's Home Depot Shopping Center.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The expensive, edible bird nest in Chinese Bird's Nest Soup is made from the solidified saliva of cave-dwelling birds.

Duck tongues and feet, pig snouts and brains, and snakes are other unusual items commonly used in the Chinese kitchen.

I've long heard the Chinese eat every part of the animal, and that was readily apparent on my first visit to 99 Ranch Market in the Home Depot Shopping Center on Saturday afternoon, though I didn't see any snakes for sale.

The big, brightly lit Chinese supermarket, which opened on Wednesday, is the closest you can get to Chinatown without leaving New Jersey.

And it's big news in Bergen County, where H Mart and other Korean supermarkets have dominated for decades.

Chinese-Americans have had only King Fung Supermarket on Kinderkamack Road in River Edge in which to shop, but after two major renovations since 2009, that place is closed again.

Cantonese-style dim sum are available in the food court, above and below.

Two specialties from mainland China are Cold Jelly Noodles and Northern Fried Shredded Pancakes, above, and a Meat Wrap, below.

Customers can use a large foam container to assemble a combination meal of Chinese favorites from this steam table for $8.99.

Hong Kong-style Whole Roast Ducks, Roast Pork and Barbecued Spare Ribs.

Food court

Judging from the lines I saw on Saturday, a big draw at 99 Ranch Market is the mouth-watering prepared food available in the food court:

I saw Cantonese-style dim sum, specialties from mainland China, Thai and Malaysian food, and sweet buns and cakes, all available for takeout or dining in.

There's more: Hong Kong-style whole roast ducks ($21.88 each), roast pork and barbecued pork spare ribs, which you see displayed in every Chinatown you've ever visited; and a steam table with Chinese favorites you can buy as a combination meal for $8.99.

And another stand offers a rice porridge called congee with scallops, fish fillet, sliced pork, preserved egg or chicken ($6.50 to $7.25); and soups with shrimp wontons or noodles.

Go fish

The seafood department is a winner, offering live crawfish, crabs, lobster and fish, as well as plenty of fresh fish on ice. 

There is no charge to have the crustaceans steamed, but you can also ask to have live or fresh fish cleaned and fried "regular" or "crispy"

The supermarket also has a liquor license, though none of the bottles of sake and beer I saw can be sold on Sundays before noon.

On Saturday, my wife spent some time in the store's boutique, testing Korean skin-care products.

Fresh fish on ice included Shark ($2.99 a pound), above, and Strawberry Grouper ($7.99 a pound), below, which I've never seen in a fish market before.

The eggs from wild-caught salmon were being offered for $49.99 a pound.

A great seafood meal

This morning, I returned to 99 Ranch Market to assemble our Sunday dinner:

I bought 2.2 pounds of live Crawfish for a boil ($4.99 a pound); trays of Fried Fish and Shrimp Balls from Taiwan for a noodle soup I'll make at home (about $10), and two whole Porgies, which I asked to have cleaned and fried crispy (about $5.50).

For an appetizer, I picked up three kinds of shrimp dim sum, 9 pieces altogether (3 for $2.90).

The Chinese market doesn't offer a discount card like ShopRite or a cash-rebate card like H Mart, but after spending more than $26 today on live or fresh seafood, I received a $1 coupon for the bakery or hot food.

Which is bigger?

California-based 99 Ranch Market was established in 1984, and with more than 50 locations, claims to be "the largest Asian supermarket chain in the United States."

But Han Ah Reum, which opened its first market in Queens in 1982, has more than 60 stores, including 6 H Marts in Bergen County.

Han Ah Reum, now based in Lyndhurst, opened a new H Mart in Paramus in May, but unexpectedly closed the Englewood H Mart, shocking many hundreds of loyal Jamaican-American and other non-Korean residents who had shopped there since that supermarket opened in 1992.

Although the many H Marts I've patronized have an edge on low prices, the new 99 Ranch Market in Hackensack is clearly a better Asian supermarket.

The 59,170-square-foot Hackensack supermarket once was a Pathmark, but that store closed in 2011.

Details

99 Ranch Market is at 450 Hackensack Ave., Hackensack, in the Home Depot Shopping Center; 1-201-489-8899. Open 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. Website: Hackensack is our newest store

See: At new H Mart, high prices,

 not many organics

Two more item in the meat case at 99 Ranch Market are Pork Tongue, and containers of Pork Brains, not shown.

Silkie Chickens are a highly prized breed of chicken that has beautiful, silky white plumage and startlingly black skin, according to Kitchen.com. They are found in China, India and Southeast Asia.

A Silkie Chicken (photo credit: The Happy Chicken Coop).

Taiwan Spinach is one of three varieties of spinach I saw in the produce department. Unfortunately, 99 Ranch Market has only a small selection of organic produce.

The store's coupon policy is explained in the vestibule.

Trump's crazy train or daily D.C. shit show has the world mocking the United States

Graffiti on a building in Mary Ellen Kramer Park at the Great Falls in Paterson.

In N.J., The Record reduces

Bergen County news even further

-- HACKENSACK, N.J.

Editor's note: The Celebrity Birthdays feature on Page 6BL in today's Better Living section notes "film producer Harvey Weinstein is 66." I guess even sexual predators deserve a listing. See a reader's comment at the end of this post.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

A cornered President Trump is lashing out again on Twitter at Special Counsel Robert Mueller, a fellow Republican.

Mueller is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, as well as the finances of the Trump Organization, the 500 real estate and business entities of which the president is the sole or principal owner.

Late Friday, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, less than two days shy of McCabe's retirement.

Like fired FBI Director James Comey, McCabe has handed over to Mueller memos documenting his conversations with the president.

Meanwhile, "60 Minutes" plans to air an interview with adult film star Stormy Daniels next Sunday.

She has offered to return $130,000 in hush money she was paid to keep quiet about her affair with Trump in 2006 after Melania Trump gave birth to their son, Barron.

Daily shit show

What a daily shit show Trump is putting on in Washington, D.C., turning our democracy into a laughing stock around the world.

No president has been tarred with so much scandal or has proven to be such a loose cannon -- insulting others and praising himself in an endless stream of lies the news media seem obsessed with spreading around the world.

'A scam ... a fraud'

Also on Friday, The New York Times and The Observer of London reported a voter-profiling company called Cambridge Analytica "harvested private information from the Facebook profiles of more than 50 million users without their permission...."

"The breach allowed the company to exploit the private social media activity of a huge swath of the American electorate, developing techniques that underpinned its work on President Trump's campaign in 2016."

"This was a scam -- and a fraud," the social network said in a statement.

Editorial cartoonist Kevin Siers of The Charlotte Observer commenting on the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former CEO of Exxon Mobil.

Rick McKee, editorial cartoonist at The Augusta Chronicle, capturing the chaos of the Trump administration.

Many observers are betting the meeting between President Trump and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un will never come off or that the two leaders are so illegitimate, nothing will come of the summit, says editorial cartoonist Nate Beeler of The Columbus Dispatch.

Local news?

I could not find a single local-news story from Bergen County in The Record's Local section on Saturday, with the exception of a police brief on a missing Paramus woman.

This from a local daily newspaper that began life as The Bergen Record, and is still called that by many older readers, decades after it became just The Record.

On Sunday, even Mike Kelly's column on the Opinion front (1O) was about Paterson.

The Record's local-news operation was on life support when the Gannett Co. took over from the Borg family in July 2016, and slashed the payroll of North Jersey Media Group, publisher of daily and weekly papers, and (201) magazine.

Now, residents of the 70 Bergen County communities can go days or weeks without seeing any news of their town.

Legal marijuana?

Gannett's reporting is weakest when trying to predict the future, as James Nash did on Sunday's Page 1.

Nash questioned whether the state Legislature will approve a bill to legalize marijuana by the June 30 deadline, and if it does, whether the state can develop rules by July 1, 2019, when weed would be sold to anyone.

Instead of speculating about the future, why doesn't Nash and other reporters write balanced stories seeking opinions on each side of issues such as legal marijuana, taxing millionaires and so forth.

Bylines

In redesigning The Record's print edition, Gannett eliminated the "by" in reporters' bylines.

Now, a reporter's name appears in boldface type and the publication appears next to it.

But "The Record" has been eliminated in favor of a fictitious publication, "North Jersey Record."

So it's no surprise #gannettruinedmypaper is appearing more and more on social media.