The Alternative Press

PATERSON, NJ - Mayor Jeffrey Jones is holding a meeting about Paterson's "quality of life issues" with city community leaders on Monday. But don't expect a first-hand news account of the session on PatersonPress.com.

 

"The mayor's preference is that the media not be there,'' said Jones' chief of staff/confidential aide, Charles Pettiford. "It's a community meeting and the mayor wants to speak directly to the community.''

 

Among the people invited to the session are New Jersey Community Development Corp. director Robert Guarasci; Paterson Habitat for Humanity Director Barbara Dunn; Nancy Grier, who runs Paterson's Neighborhood Assistance Office; Housing Authority Director Irma Gorham; Harvy Nutter of the Greater Paterson Opportunities Improvement Center; Georgia Daniels of the Hillcrest Neighborhood association; School 10 Principal Lolita Vaughn;  attorney Kenyatta Stewart; Fernando Martinez of the Paterson Education Organizing Committee; Paterson Education Fund director Irene Sterling and PEF members Ana Villalongo and Linda Reid; Michael Symonds president of the Eastside Neighborhood Association; Careen Lazarus of the Eastside Neighborhood Association; and Leslie Argard-Jones, a member of the Paterson Great Falls national park advisory committee. 

 

Also on the list are several reverends, ministers and pastors from Paterson, including Stafford Miller, Darryl Clayton, James  Kuykendall, Kathy Kuykendall, Randy Lassiter, and Michael Odom.

 

The meeting is scheduled for 4-6 pm on Jan. 30 in the Paterson Room at Passaic County Community College. When asked whether uninvited city residents would be allowed to attend, Pettiford said: "We won't turn them away.''