PATERSON — Mayor Andre Sayegh is looking to move ahead with a study to build a proposed recreation center combined with a new police headquarters on the current headquarters site — a plan opposed by the city's recreation coordinator, Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly.
Sayegh’s efforts to build a recreation center in Paterson have floundered ever since he announced three years ago that he would use $19 million in federal COVID-relief funds on the project.
The project failed to make enough progress to meet federal deadlines for using the COVID money to build the center, and now Sayegh is talking about making a deal with a private developer to get the job done.
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Sayegh next week will ask the City Council to approve a $92,491 study on putting the recreation center at the police headquarters site. It remains unclear whether the mayor has enough support from the governing body for the study.
“We’ve got to get past that, because it’s not going to be able to go there,” said Councilwoman Ruby Cotton.
Council President Alex Mendez said he has heard from residents who have concerns about combining the recreation and public safety facilities. But Mendez indicated he may be in support of the mayor’s plan.
“I don’t see the problem,” Mendez said. “We have to work hard to bring the community and the police together.”
Congestion and flooding seen as problems
Wimberly said he hasn’t been consulted on the mayor’s plans. The former high school football and baseball coach said he sees several problems with building a recreation center on the downtown property where the police headquarters is.
Wimberly said the logistics would be problematic because of the congestion in Paterson’s downtown area. He also cited the chronic flooding that affects the area around headquarters.
For the past year, the Sayegh administration has been saying it was looking for the right location for the recreation center. In private, city officials acknowledged that they were focusing their search on the police headquarters land in conjunction with building a new public safety complex.
The council resolution for the design study represents the first public indication that Sayegh wants to combine the projects.
“The study will focus on the feasibility of constructing a recreation center and renovating the public safety complex at 111 Broadway,” said a statement issued by the mayor’s chief of staff, Habib Kader. “The study will also consider the renovation of our municipal court.”
“The consulting firm that the city contracted plans to soon engage with relevant city employees on the public safety component of the overall project,” said the Sayegh administration. “In the meantime, the administration is working with financial advisors to explore a public-private partnership approach.”
Council members Luis Velez and Michael Jackson, both of whom say they will run for mayor in 2026, said they oppose Sayegh’s idea.
Jackson called the study a “waste of money." Velez said Paterson ought to create separate recreation centers in each of its six wards so children would not have to walk so far to get to one central location. “Show me another place in New Jersey that has a police headquarters with a recreation center,” Velez said. “You don’t want to mix apples with potatoes, because it’s not going to cook right.”
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Paterson mayor pushes disputed plan for new recreation center at police headquarters site
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