Is Paterson, NJ dangerous? (Newark, Elmwood Park: violent crime, to buy, store)

[Obrero]

Originally Posted by Alex07860

Salsa & merengue music plays in the background as I lounge in a patio chair in my driveway, while my little cousin Jose repairs his Fast & the Furious car and my little brother Pepe is getting his race bike ready by revving it up, my little pregnant sister Juanita is screaming at her 3 kids from 4 different fathers (long story, don't ask lol) My boy Lebron who we've been tight since meeting at the local jail is parking his Escalade while playing Dr. Dre's the chronic on his car stereo. by the way it's 2am.

Come on folks, what's not to love about Paterson?

Probably the funniest post I have read on CD.

[Alex07860]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Probably the funniest post I have read on CD.

Sometimes you must have fun in life, know what I mean?. There are plenty of things that I can say about Paterson (Or any other posts) but it wouldn't be anything new that hasn't been said before. Glad you found it funny and saw how incredulous and ridiculous the "ghetto" life can be.

[Sulaco]

Paterson is a real shame, because it has nice-looking neighborhoods with beautiful houses, but even the "nice" nabes aren't particularly safe. My grandparents lived in one of the so-called nice sections of Paterson, on Park Ave. But they got their place burglarized. On another occasion, their dog was killed by some sick neighborhood thugs for nothing other than their amusement. (Very sad story.) There were always drug dealers in the park across the street, too. My grandmother got out of there as soon as my grandfather passed away.

I once accidentally took the bus a stop or two past their place and found myself in New Jack City.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by Sulaco

Paterson is a real shame, because it has nice-looking neighborhoods with beautiful houses, but even the "nice" nabes aren't particularly safe. My grandparents lived in one of the so-called nice sections of Paterson, on Park Ave. But they got their place burglarized. On another occasion, their dog was killed by some sick neighborhood thugs for nothing other than their amusement. (Very sad story.) There were always drug dealers in the park across the street, too. My grandmother got out of there as soon as my grandfather passed away.

I once accidentally took the bus a stop or two past their place and found myself in New Jack City.

How true! That's why I like NC. You can shoot a lowlife and then call the cops and ask them to remove the dead POS off your lawn! Very un-Jersey-like!

[Lynnie47]

Originally Posted by CrazyJerzyKidUNO

Paterson is an urban environment and you get what you comes with it. It isn't a terrible place I stayed in Paterson for a little over a month when I was 17 and never had any trouble or saw anything bad. The only thing that could constitute bad would be needles on the sidewalk in some areas. Paterson is no worse than any other city in fact its crime rate is alot lower than other NJ cities.

But you're missing the point. The point is that Paterson didn't used to be a bad urban environment. It used to be totally nice everywhere, in the time before slum lords sub-divided all those grand Victorian mansions downtown and painted them purple. In the time before drug dealers, massive graffitti, drive-by shoootings, kids making a career of cutting school, garbage in the streets and in people's yards, and general urban blight. Most of what was beautiful and unique about Paterson has been destroyed.

Sorry, but I DID see bad things happen in Paterson and so did my family. My aunt's house got burgulrized (my uncle got tied up; fortunately they didn't hurt him). All my grandmother's antique cutglass and other family heirlooms got stolen in that robbery. I was mugged in my car because I forgot to roll up my window when I stopped at a light -- they pointed a gun at me and grabbed my necklace. I floored it out of there and never went to that corner again. Our cars were vandalized. Our apartment building was vandalized. We lived in constant fear. Sorry, but I lived through it. It was pure hell at times.

I can't imagine that it's any better now than it was in the mid-80s when we left. Paterson has TRIED to gentrify itself but it hasn't been very successful. I remember when they tried to turn the old factories near the Falls into artist lofts. The problem is that nobody wanted to live and work around all that crime. Hoboken was successful in lifting itself up, but Paterson has not been successful.

I visited Portland Oregon a number of years ago and it reminded me a lot of Paterson, but in a different way. Portland is an example of what Paterson COULD have become if things had been handled better.

[TheEmissary]

Originally Posted by Lynnie47

But you're missing the point. The point is that Paterson didn't used to be a bad urban environment. It used to be totally nice everywhere, in the time before slum lords sub-divided all those grand Victorian mansions downtown and painted them purple. In the time before drug dealers, massive graffitti, drive-by shoootings, kids making a career of cutting school, garbage in the streets and in people's yards, and general urban blight. Most of what was beautiful and unique about Paterson has been destroyed.

Sorry, but I DID see bad things happen in Paterson and so did my family. My aunt's house got burgulrized (my uncle got tied up; fortunately they didn't hurt him). All my grandmother's antique cutglass and other family heirlooms got stolen in that robbery. I was mugged in my car because I forgot to roll up my window when I stopped at a light -- they pointed a gun at me and grabbed my necklace. I floored it out of there and never went to that corner again. Our cars were vandalized. Our apartment building was vandalized. We lived in constant fear. Sorry, but I lived through it. It was pure hell at times.

I can't imagine that it's any better now than it was in the mid-80s when we left. Paterson has TRIED to gentrify itself but it hasn't been very successful. I remember when they tried to turn the old factories near the Falls into artist lofts. The problem is that nobody wanted to live and work around all that crime. Hoboken was successful in lifting itself up, but Paterson has not been successful.

I visited Portland Oregon a number of years ago and it reminded me a lot of Paterson, but in a different way. Portland is an example of what Paterson COULD have become if things had been handled better.

Paterson's lot is indeed a sad one! I doubt Paterson can be "revived" or "gentrified" in any manner simply due to having 150,000 people packed into 8.3 sq miles. Maybe the best thing to do, would be to bulldoze 2/3rds of it, re-zone the cleared area for two-acre minimum, single-family housing and send the residents packing with Section 8 vouchers to the suburbs. Perhaps, it's time for NJ residents to stop complaining about NJ's cities and the Abbott money problems and to build low-income housing in "their own towns" (oh, the horror) to dilute the deleterious effects of concentrated poverty. The suburbs foisted off all the Mt Laurel money on the cities to build low-income housing with disastrous results. Then they complained about it. What did they expect? Let me get my micro-violin out and start playing! NIMBY-ism personified!

[Patersonian]

Originally Posted by Lynnie47

Sorry, but I DID see bad things happen in Paterson and so did my family. My aunt's house got burgulrized (my uncle got tied up; fortunately they didn't hurt him). All my grandmother's antique cutglass and other family heirlooms got stolen in that robbery. I was mugged in my car because I forgot to roll up my window when I stopped at a light -- they pointed a gun at me and grabbed my necklace. I floored it out of there and never went to that corner again. Our cars were vandalized. Our apartment building was vandalized. We lived in constant fear. Sorry, but I lived through it. It was pure hell at times.

I'm sorry all that happened to you, but you have to understand, that is not the reality for many of us in this city. I have never experienced anything like that in almost 30 years of living here.

I visited Portland Oregon a number of years ago and it reminded me a lot of Paterson, but in a different way. Portland is an example of what Paterson COULD have become if things had been handled better.

I don't think it's fair to compare Portland (the principal city of a major metropolitan area) to Paterson (which is at this point, basically a "suburb" of New York).

[TrishP7]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Probably the funniest post I have read on CD.

u r hilarious!! love the profile pic..

[SilkCity0416]

Originally Posted by UKOK

Probably the funniest post I have read on CD.

yea cuz generalization, stereotypes, and a touch of borderline racism is a hoot.

[DowntownJerseyCity]

Originally Posted by SilkCity0416

yea cuz generalization, stereotypes, and a touch of borderline racism is a hoot.

I found it funny. I crack on Italians all the time. If you can't laugh at yourself...