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Group 5 project Step 1 by Salome Ozioko

Caroline

Rumilda

Guillermo

Salome Ozioko

C T 101

Prof. Della Fera

11/24/12

Loitering As a Problem in Paterson

Paterson is a city in Passaic county New jersey, United States. It is the county seat of

Passaic County. The United states 2010 census indicates that Paterson is the third largest city in

New Jersey. Paterson is been dominated by different races. Due to its large population, Paterson

has been experiencing many problems that is why healing Paterson is necessary. Before a

healing process can take place there is a need to identify the problem first. My group has

identified loitering as a problem in Paterson. Loitering is an activity in which a person hangs

around a public area for an extended period of time without a specific reason or any obvious

purpose. In Paterson, we see loitering a lot most especially inside the city itself you see people

hanging around for no reason. This loitering makes residents and visitors in Paterson to feel

insecure. People can no longer park their car on the street, walk outside alone and be free and do

whatever they want to do outside because they are scared that someone might break into their

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car, shoot them or even snatch their belongings from them. For instance in my job which is

located inside Paterson, we have experienced this problem. I used to work second shift, at around

6pm, we will start to see people walking and standing on the street around my job. After my

shift, we will come out and see that either one or two cars in my job have been broken into.

Some people loiters with no bad intension but at the same time they are vulnerable to

become victims. On May 2011, eight people were wounded as bullets spewed from a vehicle

passing a crowd of people on a street in Paterson. This drive-by shooting happened just before

10:30pm at night when one vehicle passed by 189 governor street, spraying a group of people

standing outside with bullets. Paterson needs to have a loitering ordinance or curfew, no loitering

after a certain time, if you got somewhere to go, then go and come back home. There is no

reason for people to just be hanging out all on the street. This is not only teenagers but for

everybody because it is more adults loitering than kids. If kids are loitering, the parents should be

hold responsible. Our city Paterson is out of control, you cannot go to Heldon, Wayne, Prospect

Park, Hawthorne and all of these surrounding areas around Paterson and find people loitering

around like in Paterson. This cities do not allow loitering and our city Paterson should not be an

exception. This is our community where our children and family live, therefore we should make

it a safe place to live in.