Teague: Violence has shaken our city to its knees | Paterson Times Paterson Times

Teague: Violence has shaken our city to its knees

By Corey Teague
Published: September 27, 2014

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The recent murders of a 12-year-old and a 14-year-old to senseless violence have shaken our city to its knees. As a life-long resident of Paterson, I am deeply concerned about my community right now. I love my city and I only want what is best for it. I have two children that I want to see grow up to be productive individuals.

I want to see all of Paterson’s children grow up. That won’t happen unless we do something to protect them.

It is heartbreaking to read stories about all of the killings that are taking place and the violence that continues to take over the streets. The streets of Paterson have become a war zone, and violence has been a serious issue in our city for too long. City leadership has failed to protect the residents of Paterson. Fear is gripping our community and we need someone to step in assist us.

Governor Christie, we are calling on your administration to take any and all steps needed to curtail the violence in our city.

According to Neighborhood Scout, Paterson has a crime rate that is higher than 91 percent of all New Jersey’s cities and towns. Research has found that Paterson is safer than 13 percent of cities in the US. Governor Christie, you have turned a blind eye to us up here in Paterson while you tour around the country fundraising, but that cannot continue any longer.

We need increased police presence in our streets. We need mobile sub-stations that can provide around the clock patrolling in all areas of the city. We need you, Governor, to provide funding to assist in this effort. We refuse to live in fear anymore. We want our streets to be safe for everyone.

We need immediate intervention. We are calling on you to do whatever it takes to assist us in stopping the violence. Our children are our future, and if we sit back and allow them to die in the streets, there will be no future here. Again, we are asking for immediate action to be taken to save our city from the violence that continues to plague our streets daily…

Corey Teague
School board member


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