Is Paterson Dying?

“If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?”

@nytimes @northjersey @njdotcom

1. The residents of Paterson should be very nervous.

2. For the first time in history, we are dealing with a pandemic that rewards the incompetence and corruption of public officials. The lack of adequate testing has ensured that the number of coronavirus cases and related deaths are kept artificially low around the country.

3. Paterson did not have a testing site until 9 weeks into the coronavirus crisis in New Jersey. The two testing sites that opened up required health insurance and tested very few people. Paterson is one of the densest and poorest cities of America.

4. Very few people have adequate health insurance.

When four free testing sites were eventually made available a few weeks later, two of them closed due to staffing issues. It is outrageous that the third largest city in New Jersey still does not have adequate testing sites.

5. Paterson has a complete lack of social distancing as well. People are brazenly congregating in the streets and shops. Enforcement of social distancing orders from the state is practically nonexistent. Just drive around the city and watch in horror if you do not believe me.

6. Despite the above issues, the New York Times released an article yesterday describing a miracle taking place in Paterson. Apparently, very few Paterson residents died compared to other cities because Paterson officials successfully contact-traced the virus at a speed

7. resembling Germany and South Korea. The article encourages other cities to learn from Paterson!

Either the authors of the article are being purposefully obtuse or they have completely ignored the history of political corruption in Paterson.

8. We just had a local election in Paterson in which 19% of the votes cast were disqualified, and the FBI is investigating allegations of rampant election fraud.

9. It is statistically unlikely for Paterson to have such low numbers of coronavirus patients and coronavirus-related deaths.

As a person who cares deeply about the city, I desperately want to be wrong, but we deserve the truth.

Thank you,

- Alp Basaran

10. P.S. Focus on the book in the photo, not the crazy hair which desperately needs a cut.