[The Record On [Your Town News]
By MICHAEL CASEY
Staff Writer
There was a time when Virginia Cobb
would look out of her window at a
vacant, trash-filled lot on North First
Street and wonder if her neighborhood
would ever escape the clutches of
drugs, poverty, and apathy.
But now, the trash is gone and the
tattered sofas and broken beer bottles
have been replaced with rows of
cabbage, collard greens, and cucumbers.
The vegetable garden is the talk of the
1st Ward as neighbors joined together
to plant the seeds, tend the plants,
and harvest the crops for a block
party.
"It was used as a dumping ground and we
got tired of looking at it," said Cobb,
who heard about the community garden
concept while attending the volunteer
summit in Philadelphia this year. "Now,
it's like an oasis. It really shows
what happens when everyone works
together."
Residents of the 1st Ward said the
garden -- planted this year -- is a
sign of new life in the beleaguered
neighborhood.
Drug dealers have been pushed off North
First Street, new town houses have
sprouted up on abandoned lots, and
residents have become increasingly
active politically. Some have joined a
community Crime Watch, while others
have been vocal in helping to reopen
the 1st Ward library last year and
pushing for the reopening of the Arch
Street Bridge -- which has been closed
for a decade -- with threats to block
traffic on other bridges.
"I think it's safe to say we are seeing
a renaissance in this neighborhood,"
said Councilman Jeffrey Jones.
"Residents have recognized that this is
their town and they are as entitled to
equal services, sometimes more, as
anyone else in the city."
"However, this does not mean we are
anywhere near our goal," he continued.
"We still have issues of teenagers
hanging out, police intolerance,
schools/community relations, and, above
all, problems with cleanliness and
pedestrian safety."
Indeed, streets are still dirty and
drugs dealers are a common sight on the
Northside. And the community is bracing
for a crunch when a public housing
high-rise that looms over the
neighborhood is demolished within the
next few years and its residents are
forced to find new housing.
The goal, many residents say, is
restoring the Northside -- from
Presidential Boulevard to North 10th
Street and Albion to Haledon avenues --
to a stable and self-sufficient
neighborhood.
Old-timers recall how middle-class
white and African-American homeowners
lived side by side in neatly kept row
houses. However, near the Passaic
River, the neighborhood also had its
share of rundown tenements.
Cobb and others said even the nicer
parts of the Northside steadily
declined over the past two decades as
owner-occupied homes became rentals.
Properties deteriorated and became home
to low-income Latinos and blacks.
Boarded-up and fire-scarred homes and
drug dealers became commonplace.
These days, however, residents are
fighting back and home ownership is one
of their best weapons.
Paterson Habitat For Humanity has built
65 homes and expects to build another
35 on the Northside by the year 2000.
The Paterson Housing Authority has
built nine town houses and plans to
build another 15; Northcore
Construction and Development Corp. of
Totowa, in conjunction with Paterson
Interfaith Community Organization, has
renovated one house and is planning to
build from eight to 19 two-family
homes; and Regan Development of
Yonkers, N.Y., has built four
two-family homes.
Donna Brightman, the city's housing
director, said the Northside has
received most of the city's new housing
in recent years. She said the area had
a bulk of the vacant land in the
mid-1980s, when the non-profit Habitat
group came calling.
"Habitat came to the city looking for
assistance and they asked for our
help," Brightman said. "As a result,
the city changed its legislation where
we could donate city owned property for
a $1 to non-profits and pay for site
improvements like sidewalks and sewer
hookups with federal funds. You can see
the results."
The new homes give the otherwise gritty
neighborhood a bright, almost suburban
feel. They have driveways, chain-link
fences, and vinyl siding in bright
blue, beige, and gray. In contrast, the
older, weather-beaten wooden homes are
plagued with sagging porches, chipping
paint, and, in the worst cases,
boarded-up windows.
Owners and developers said the homes
have given owners a sense of
responsibility that was missing with
renters.
"There is general agreement that owning
your own home is key to community
cohesiveness," said Barbara Dunn,
executive director of Paterson Habitat.
James Staton and his family moved from
Redwood Avenue into a Habitat town
house on Jefferson Street three years
ago. The 45-year-old father of three
said he has seen less illegal dumping
and crime since.
"It really has made a difference," said
Staton, president of the Habitat
Homeowners Association Inc. and a
postal worker. "When you own something,
one tends to take care of it a little
bit more. There is a trickle-down
effect. People see one homeowner
cleaning up around their home and so
they want to keep their home neat."
And residents are getting involved in
planning for the neighborhood's future.
The homeowners association is surveying
the area and applying for grants that
would help develop at least 30 vacant
lots. One of the key concerns is
preparing for a possible displacement
of hundreds or even thousands of
residents from the nearby Christopher
Columbus Housing Development.
The complex is slated in the next few
years to be knocked down as part of a
Housing Authority's plan to replace
high-rises with low-rises and town
houses.
"Those people are coming our way. That
is for sure," said Pedro Ruiz, who
moved into one of the new duplexes on
North Main Street five years ago from
Lyons Street. "Without additional
housing, it's going to be rough for the
neighborhood. What we will see is
overcrowding as two or three families
move into existing homes."
Gardens are also helping change
residents' attitudes to their
surroundings. When city officials first
agreed to turn a lot into a garden
earlier this year, soil testing found
nothing would grow. But that didn't
stop the residents.
Armed with shovels and pick axes, they
joined city Department of Public Works
workers and missionaries from The
Church of Latter Day Saints in removing
the litter and planting.
"That garden is a perfect example of a
group of people who wanted it so bad,"
said Christine Conforti of the city's
Gardener's Workshop. "It seems like it
was a ghost town there before, except
for the kids on the corner. Now, people
are out there all the time."
Since the initial planting, a group of
mostly African-American retirees have
spent their days watering the plants,
pulling weeds, and helping the neediest
35 or 40 families pick ripe vegetables
from the garden.
To many of these men, the long days in
the garden give them a sense of purpose
that is often rare in a neighborhood
with double-digit unemployment.
On a recent afternoon, Catherine
Powell, who lives across from the
garden, was busy picking tomatoes,
cucumbers, and mustard greens to help
feed her family of eight.
"It's a meal. It's a dollar saved,"
Powell said of her bounty. "I think
they should have more of these around
the city. It just makes the
neighborhood look better."
Copyright © 1997 Bergen Record Corp.