Residents, business owners, and concerned citizens young and old gathered on a street corner last week to take a stand against the violence they say is on the rise in their community.
The grassroots protest effort was staged near Park Avenue and 64th Street on Friday, Oct. 29. A variety of violent incidents have taken place in the area, including everything from robberies to murder, within a radius of just a few blocks.
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And a man and woman who work at a nearby retail store shared their horrific tale of being held at gunpoint while the store was robbed.
“We need more protection,” said Bella McQueen as she addressed the crowd. “We don’t have protection here. Today it happens to her, tomorrow it could happen to anyone.”
Hitting home
McQueen’s daughter, 21-year-old Madeline Fuentes, has already been touched by the violence in more ways than one.
Fuentes, who was born and raised in West New York and now lives near the border of her hometown in North Bergen, has seen the friends she grew up with die as a result of gun violence, including Spencer Hernandez, who was murdered on Oct. 7.
“I think we need more police; it’s imperative not only for the adults but for the children.” – Amanda Olivieri
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Fuentes said she got involved with the community gathering because she walks the streets of West New York every day and hopes that the community will stop being afraid to speak out when they see crime happening in front of them.
“I want people to come to open their eyes,” she said. “If they see something, they have to say something.”
Though she was happy to see dozens turnout for the rally, Fuentes said she was disappointed that no one her own age had chosen to join them.
“The younger crowd really doesn’t care,” she said. “I posted it on Facebook, but no one responded.”
Starting young
Although Fuentes was the lone 20-something at the rally, she was not the youngest participant there.
Twins Victoria and Christopher Haldeman, Jr., 8 years old, attended the rally with their aunt, Amanda Olivieri, while their father passed out flyers further up the block at the park.
Olivieri, who also brought along her own 2-year-old daughter, said the participation by the town’s littlest residents was valuable for the kids, to show them the importance of community action.
Olivieri has lived in West New York for 20 years and said that more police officers on the street are necessary to make the community as safe as it was before.
“The police don’t even drive by anymore,” she said. “I think we need more police; it’s imperative not only for the adults but for the children.”
It’s a message that is already resonating with the little ones. Christopher echoed his aunt’s sentiments for more police and his twin sister Victoria said that it’s important to hold up the signs so people can read them and everyone will become aware of the problem.
Standing up for police
Several police officers, who had been notified of the rally the day before, were stationed around the area to ensure that the demonstration could proceed without incident.
Although one man at the rally commented sarcastically that he had never seen as many police patrolling the area as he did on the day of the rally, the general sentiment of the crowd was one of support for their police department.
Many held signs displaying pride for their police officers, but urging the deployment of more to the streets.
“I grew up in this town all my life, over 40 years; it’s not the same as it used to be,” said Arthur Fuentes, who held a sign saying, “We stand by our police department.”
Count Wiley, a father of five who said he’s concerned about letting his kids walk to the park, agreed that things have progressively gotten worse in town.
“People are fed up,” he said. “You can only hide something for so long; the violence has gotten out of hand here.”
But, as Wiley sees it, the problem lies not with the police but with the administration. He urged the surrounding crowd to bring the “fire and energy” from the rally to the next town meeting, to be held on Nov. 22 at 6 p.m.
“It can’t stop here today,” said Wiley. “We have to go forward and continue to make a difference.”
Administration responds
On Wednesday, Mayor Silverio “Sal” Vega responded to the outcry from the community by saying that while Hernandez’s homicide and the recent armed robbery of a retail store were obviously very serious incidents, they’re not common for West New York.
“The police department does an excellent job of protecting our residents,” said Vega.
Regarding the calls for more police officers, Vega pointed to the four who were hired a few months ago, one of whom was previously a sheriff’s officer and is already patrolling. The other three are expected to come out of the academy in December and, according to Vega, two new recruits will be sent to the academy during the winter.
West New York Police Director Albert Bringa said that he wants to lead the department back to an “old style” of policing that includes walking patrols to strategically target specific areas that are of concern to residents or have been a focus for previous crimes.
According to Bringa, there are currently a couple of officers doing patrols on foot but he hopes to quadruple that number by the end of spring.
“Overall I believe that the residents of this community are very safe,” said Bringa. “It’s unfortunate that these incidents do occur.”
However, with a proactive attitude from the department, he said the number of incidents can be curtailed.
“I take it to heart when these problems happen in the community because it affects us as a whole,” said Bringa. “We’re going to work together to solve the problems that we have.”
Hotline heats up for some crimes, not others
Participants in the rally on Friday spoke of gang activity in town, which Bringa acknowledged does exist and is being handled by the Street Crimes unit. But, he added, West New York is not alone on that front.
“All communities throughout Hudson County have these kinds of issues and we’re addressing them,” said Bringa.
However, according to Bringa, one of the sources of many of the police department’s successes in tracking down crimes and suspects has not been used by community members to report suspected gang activity – the police department’s community hotline.
While the department receives numerous calls about drugs and prostitution, Bringa said no calls regarding any kind of gang activity have been received.
“We encourage people to give us a call on that,” he said. “It would be very helpful because it gives us a lead.”
The hotline, (201) 295-5047, allows residents to call in and report suspected crimes without leaving a name, address, or any personal information.
Lana Rose Diaz can be reached at ldiaz@hudsonreporter.com.
Poll closes Thursday, Nov. 11, 2010