With City in Financial Bind, Private Donors Will Pay For Sunday’s Victor Cruz Parade

PATERSON, NJ – Assemblyman Benjie Wimberly said he has raised more than $40,000 in private donations to cover the cost of Sunday’s parade to celebrate Paterson’s hometown Super Bowl hero, Victor Cruz.

Mayor Jeffrey Jones said the private contributions were necessary because the city government and its taxpayers could not afford to pick up the tab for the parade. In fact, the state on Tuesday sent Paterson a letter advising city officials to cancel all parades to avoid the overtime expense for police officers and public works employees.

Wimberly said in an interview on Wednesday that it wasn’t hard to sell local business leaders on the benefits of the parade to Paterson’s economy. “It’s going to bring 20,000 people to downtown Paterson,’’ said Wimberly. “It’s going to be an economic injection for the city. Our downtown will be crowded on Sunday and that’s a good thing.’’

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