By ALEXANDER MacINNES, STAFF WRITER
Noise, crime, recreation top residents’ concerns

PATERSON – In his first public initiative as a newly elected city councilman, Julio Tavarez is attempting to create something that has largely been elusive in the 5th Ward – strong neighborhood associations that are engaged in bettering their communities.

The first step, which some believe is the easiest, is to listen to what residents say they want changed. Tavarez held the first round of public meetings last week and has published a report on his Web site, www.juliotavarez.com, outlining some of the most pressing problems residents raised.

Residents complained most about noise, crime and a lack of police – the same problems often heard in other parts of Paterson.

The challenge now is to organize neighborhood groups that can work with government, churches, businesses and other stakeholders to combat those quality-of-life issues. Longtime community organizers from the 5th Ward said Tuesday that they applaud Tavarez’s efforts, but warned that sparking grass-roots participation has always been difficult there, because of the community’s high number of renters who move in and out of the area.

Still, Tavarez hopes he can bring more people into the process so that residents feel that they have a stake in their communities.

“It’s not to attack the Police Department, the Department of Public Works or the mayor,” Tavarez said. “It’s to find out what their issues are and to look at finding a solution together.”

The report breaks down the 5th Ward, which is in the city’s center, into five distinct neighborhoods: the northern section of Unity Square Park around Ellison Street, the western downtown business section called Dublin, the Sandy Hill neighborhood that includes Roberto Clemente Park and the Lower Eastside and Near Eastside sections.

Noise topped the list of complaints in the Lower Eastside, Sandy Hill and Unity Square neighborhoods, while Near Eastside residents called for more recreation for children and those in Dublin want more police presence to crack down on drug dealing in that area.

The Rev. David Wolf, interim director of St. Paul’s Community Development Corp. on Van Houten Street, said the community meetings are a good start for Tavarez and the area, but he believes it will be difficult to create an organization because many of the residents feel overlooked.

“I’m pretty sure that one of the reasons is the rather chronic message that they don’t count,” Wolf said.

The Rev. Douglas Maven of the First AME Zion Church has been the pastor in that 5th Ward church for 17 years and believes part of the problem is that there are more people who rent rather than own, which means the community is much more transient.

“I think people have been divided for so long and there’s also been apathy and indifference,” Maven said.

Tavarez, who beat incumbent Juan Torres in the council election in May, said he was most surprised that more residents did not talk about gangs in the area. For the most part, the concerns centered more on quality-of-life issues.

“I want my street cleaned,” Tavarez said of what he heard. “I want those folks who don’t take care of their properties, that the city fines them when they don’t.”

Reach Alexander MacInnes at 973-569-7166 or macinnes@northjersey.com.