Druggies take over NJ park after costly renovations — but one homeless man is fighting back

” He keeps the suppliers out of this park,” Mike Johnson, a 47-year-old city man, claimed last week. “This park has been the poster kid for just how unclean Paterson is. They end up in a park that we spent heavily in.”.

“He maintains the suppliers out of this park,” Mike Johnson, a 47-year-old city guy, stated recently. “If he sees them, he approaches them– all by himself– and says, ‘Nah, we’re not doing this today. Not right here.’.

Meanwhile, Vazquez– a deeply religious guy– tirelessly rakes up needles, scoops up garbage and attempts to scrub clean his little piece of a struggling city, as he’s done everyday for the last 5 years.

The city bought the park– which is just blocks from Eastside Secondary school, where fabulous “Lean on Me” principal Joe Clark as soon as roamed the halls– and spent $200,000 in 2021 to mount a multitude of new play ground devices.

Is in that park. We have problems with individuals who have negative habits. And up until they change, you’re going to have people who flout guidelines and really feel like they can discard rubbish anywhere they desire.”.

“It was an open drug-use circumstance when I came,” claimed Vazquez, 44, a homeless male that sleeps under a rotting gazebo with his pit bull, Luna, and his iguana, Ibeji. “Individuals were doing medicines out in the open, and I would certainly say, ‘C’mon, not around below! These children, they should have much better!'”.

Roberto Clemente Park– a 12-acre system set down in among the Silk City’s roughest areas– stood out as a withered sign of urban decay when Rolando Vazquez initially showed up 5 years back, he informed The Article.

Locals told local media they frequently see addicts resting on the play area tools, leaving their paraphernalia on the ground or bathing themselves in the lawn sprinklers and splash pad that the city mounted for the children.

“Since I was young, this park has actually been dirty!” he stated. “This park has actually been the poster kid for just how dirty Paterson is. Currently I’m 44, and I wish to talk to people concerning health and wellness and being less impactful, leaving much less of a carbon footprint.

Locals added that after the homeless and addicted take their everyday bath, the drains back up with the greasy, gross debris– and the water goes stale and rests, a putrid bog in the facility of a concrete woodland.

Mayor Andre Sayegh said the city does plan to deal with the problems, particularly with a program called “RealFix,” which obtains addicts medicines like Suboxone to kill their reliance on immoral opioids.

“I really feel like it’s very easy for people to state, ‘Oh, just push the medicine users out,'” he stated. They finish up in a park that we spent greatly in.”.

Is in that park.