Paterson councilman renews call to add weekend shooting corner to hotspot curfew ordinance | Paterson Times Paterson Times

Paterson councilman renews call to add weekend shooting corner to hotspot curfew ordinance

By Jayed Rahman
Published: November 14, 2017

main-and-weiss-streets

Councilman Andre Sayegh renewed his call to add the corner of Main and Weiss Streets, location of the weekend double shooting, into the hotspot business curfew ordinance which has produced remarkable reductions in non-fatal shootings elsewhere in the city.

“We have to implement this immediately. I asked for this to be introduced in the summer,” said Sayegh on Monday morning. “I’m confident it could have prevented this from happening.” Two city men – 21 and 27 – were wounded in a shooting outside of 620 Main Street early Sunday morning, according to police.

Police officers in a survey identified Main and Weiss Streets as an area that can benefit from the high crime area designation. Both liquor stores on Main Street would be forced to close at midnight.

When asked if he thought the liquor stores in the area contribute to the problems at the intersection, Sayegh replied, “It’s a possibility.”

Mo’s Low Cost Liquors and Bar, one of the two liquor stores at that corner, has been suspended for breaking liquor laws. In Feb. 2016, the city forced the liquor store to close for 30 days for operating while suspended and selling to underage patrons. More recently, in Oct. 2017, the business was issued a 10-day suspension for selling hard liquor after 10 p.m.

Sayegh asked the city’s legal department to draft a resolution to designate the intersection a hotspot zone. He authored the original ordinance that created the hotspot business curfew zones that led to an almost 80-percent reduction in non-fatal shooting in the designated areas in the first year it was in effect, according to police.

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