Pascrell Celebrates Opportunity Zone Grant to Paterson

Federal incentive program will help spur investment in Paterson, other qualified communities

PATERSON, NJ – Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) applauded the awarding of a $100,000 Opportunity Zone award to the City of Paterson. The Opportunity Zone program is a federal tax incentive designed to spur investment in disinvested rural and urban communities. Administered by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA), Opportunity Zones support efforts to attract community-supported investments, build investment readiness, and help cities like Paterson meet their goals for Opportunity Fund investment.

“This grant is but the latest sign that our city is on the rise,” said Rep. Pascrell, who served as Mayor of Paterson from 1990 to 1996. “This federal grant is major victory for Paterson’s burgeoning business and real-estate industries. I’m encouraged that Governor Murphy and the NJEDA see the enormous potential of the Silk City as we all do here in northern New Jersey. I will continue to work with my colleagues both in Trenton and in Washington to ensure that Paterson continues to receive game-changing awards like this. This is great news for our city and our greater community.”

“We are elated that Paterson is being acknowledged for boundless opportunities available in this great city,” said Mayor Andre Sayegh. “We are thankful to the New Jersey Economic Development Authority for elevating our strategy to examine and catalogue street-level zoning codes, as well as update redevelopment plans, to better attract investors to our opportunity zones.”

Per the NJEDA, the Paterson plan will examine street-level zoning codes and regulations in each of the city’s eight Opportunity Zones to ensure investors have the information they need to successfully guide a project to completion. The Paterson plan will increase the city’s short-term capacity to attract Opportunity Zone investments by providing a user-friendly catalogue of zoning codes and regulations and will increase long-term capacity by jumpstarting efforts to update antiquated redevelopment plans in a way that capitalizes on the Opportunity Zone program.

Last month, Rep. Pascrell sent a letter to U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin demanding that Mnuchin ensure that the Opportunity Zone program is being used to help underserved communities and not for corrupt means. Pascrell’s letter was sent in immediate response to a report that Mnuchin had personally broken his own department’s own guidelines in ordering that a friend of his, disgraced con artist Michael Milken, receive favorable coverage for a tax break intended to benefit needy and impoverished communities.

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