Paterson wants to replace encampment with playground
By: Joe Malinconico
Paterson Press
PATERSON - City officials are buying some of the land where Paterson's most advisable homeless encampment is located as part of a nearby charter school's plans to put a playground there.
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The project is the brainchild of Monsignor Geno Sylva, rector of the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist and a board member at the Paterson Prep Charter School.
..... "This has certainly been a dream of mine, Sylva said. "We want to give the children a play to play, get some sun, and be safe."
..... Sylva expressed empathy for the people who sleep in tents or under blankets in the prick plaza along the road that connects Route 19 with Patron's downtown business district.
..... With sadness in his voice, Sylva mentioned that a man he knew, named Reggie, had been found frozen to death
on the morning of December 18. [2025] Four or five weeks earlier, another person who camped out in the plaza had died from a drug overdose, he said.
..... "It's heartbreaking" Sylva said. "Our homeless neighbors are our friends. We try to help them. But the one thinning we won't ever tolerate is the drug use. We have empathy for our homeless neighbors, but we also have a responsibility to protect our children."
..... The City Council on December 16 [2025] gave preliminary approval to purchase five parcels in the Oliver Circle area for the price of $1 from the New Jersey Department of Transpiration. A public hearing on the proposed transaction is scheduled for January 20. [2026]
..... The city is buying land on the right side of the one-way road, near the charter school, officials said. The left side of the plaza, where squatters also sleep, will still be owned by the state.
..... Councilman Luis Velez, who represents the 5th Ward, where the land is welcomed the playground plan, saying it would beautify the area. Other city legislators agreed.
..... "This property has been an eyesore. It's been derelict all these years," said Councilman Michael Jackson.
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Jackson said city officials have done a poor job over the years of holding the state Transportation Department accountable for not keeping the plaza area clean and safe. Councilman Alex Mendez noted that the road from Route 19 is one of the major entrances to Paterson.
..... "It's really bad, once you get in, what you see inn that location," Mendez said.
..... Diana Nunez a spokesperson for Mayor Andre Sayegh, said the charter school will raise money for the playground equipment said he is hoping to open the new playground in the spring. [2026] It will be fenced in, with access expanded from the charter school students to children from the neighborhood during certain hours, he said.
..... Last winter, [2024]squatters set up about 15 tents in the plaza. The council adopted an ordinance outlawing camping in public places. In April, [2025] city employees confiscated the tents. But during the spring and summer, [2025] some people continued sleeping the plaza, without tents.
..... The annual statewide count of New Jersey's homeless population in January [2025] was lower than the 2024 tally of 411. But that included people with beds in shelters. The count of unsheltered people in Paterson has risen from 76 in 2024 to 140 this year. [2025]
..... The plaza around Oliver circle contains one of the largest gatherings of hothoused people in the city. Velez expressed concern about whether people who lose their sleeping spots in the brick plaza will end up squatting elsewhere in the city.