Westside Park reopened in Paterson Tuesday after a renovation that topped $14 million, giving the city's Fourth Ward a rebuilt 26.6-acre green space with new basketball and tennis courts, a cricket pitch, soccer and baseball fields, walking paths, a riverwalk and a kayak launch along the Passaic River. Mayor Andre Sayegh marked the occasion alongside city, county, state and federal officials, calling it an expansion of recreational opportunities for families and residents of all ages.
A Decade of Planning Pays Off
The reopening caps a process that stretches back nearly ten years, according to TAPinto, which first reported on the ribbon-cutting. The New Jersey Community Development Corporation received funding from Passaic County in 2017 to develop a master plan for the park, holding public meetings to gather resident input before the design work began. NJCDC founder and CEO Bob Guarasci said the plan incorporated Paterson residents' ideas and had become reality.
That master plan effort actually traces back even further. Planning for Westside Park's transformation began in 2016, when the New Jersey Community Development Corporation received an $85,000 grant from the Passaic County Open Space and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to conduct a community master plan study, according to the New Jersey Community Development Corporation. Public outreach from that 2017 master plan directly informed the design elements later finalized by New City Parks, which contributed design, engineering and planning services and helped the city secure state and federal grants.
Stitching Together Public and Private Dollars
The city worked with New City Parks to develop the project, prepare construction plans and line up funding, committing roughly $3.2 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds and $2.9 million through New Jersey's Green Acres program. The renovation also drew additional federal support through the National Park Service's Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership program, which, per New City Parks, awarded Paterson a $4.9 million grant in March 2024 as one of just 14 urban park projects nationwide to receive that competitive round of federal funding. The program targets park-deprived and economically distressed urban communities.
That federal backing mattered in a neighborhood that had gone without. Geographic data compiled for Paterson's Green Acres grant application showed that 12,472 residents live within a 10-minute walk of Westside Park in a neighborhood with a 23% poverty rate and no other public parks containing recreational amenities, according to a City of Paterson filing. State environmental justice standards classify the surrounding census tracts as overburdened communities.
U.S. Representative Nellie Pou credited the late Congressman Bill Pascrell Jr. with helping secure nearly $6 million in federal support for the park, saying that federal investment made the project possible. Westside Park was also supported by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's Green Acres program, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, the City of Paterson and private foundations. The project required engineering studies, permits, historic-feature reviews and city council approvals before construction could move forward.
Hundreds of New Trees and a Rebuilt Ballfield
Rose Harvey said the renovation added 269 trees to the park, intended to provide shade, reduce heat and help the park withstand flooding. Westside Park sits along a stretch of the Passaic River that has suffered severe flooding since the historic flood of record in 1903, which prompted the redesign to feature elevated walking paths, tree canopy expansion and engineered stormwater mitigation controls, according to the Passaic River Coalition.
Among the park's restored athletic facilities is Johnny Briggs Field, which opened in April 2026 and is named for Paterson native and former Major League Baseball player Johnny Briggs. Briggs played 12 seasons in the majors from 1964 to 1975 for the Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers and Minnesota Twins, hitting 139 career home runs, according to MLB.com. The city originally named the Little League field at Westside Park in his honor back in September 1982. Early groundwork for the field's modern upgrade came from Congressman Pascrell, who secured $1 million in federal community project funding in July 2022 earmarked specifically for synthetic turf, lighting and new fencing at the field, per Insider NJ.
From Formal Gardens to a Forgotten Park
Westside Park was developed in the 1890s as part of Paterson's effort to create public green spaces, with an original design that included formal gardens, tree-lined pathways, monuments and access to the Passaic River. As the park aged, its facilities fell into disrepair, setting the stage for the decade of planning that led to this week's reopening.
Second Ward Councilman Shahin Khalique, who grew up a block from the park, said the investment reflected what the community deserved and called it a proud moment for Paterson. City Council President Lilisa Mimms, who called for a citywide parks master plan back in 2018, said investing in parks means investing in people and creating safe spaces for families. State Senator Benjie Wimberly, who also serves as the city's director of recreation, said Paterson's children have always had the talent to succeed but needed the resources to do it.
The Unfinished Work: Van Houten House
With the athletic fields, riverwalk and new tree canopy now open, the renovation's next phase turns to historic preservation of the park's remaining features — chief among them the Van Houten House, considered Paterson's oldest surviving building. Gianfranco Archimede, the city's director of historic preservation, said funding has been secured for emergency stabilization of the structure after a fire delayed earlier restoration work. The eventual goal is to turn the building into a cultural center focused on Paterson's early history, a city founded in 1792.
The stakes for that preservation effort are considerable. The Dutch Colonial residence was built around 1741 by Garrebrant Van Houten and later rebuilt in 1831 following a fire; General George Washington reportedly visited the house in 1780 while quartered at the nearby Dey Mansion in Wayne, according to Wikipedia. Despite that pedigree, Preservation New Jersey placed the Van Houten House on its list of New Jersey's 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in May 2025, citing years of severe neglect, a chimney collapse in 2018 and a fire in July 2019, according to Preservation New Jersey. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 but remained closed to the public and unmaintained after 2011.
Rose Harvey put the overall restoration at approximately 90% complete, with remaining work set to include preservation of a pavilion, entrance structures, river steps and a World War I memorial. A newly established Westside Park Conservancy is meant to coordinate activities, encourage community involvement and help the city care for the grounds going forward — an arrangement that will likely determine how well the park holds up once the ribbon-cuttings are over.
Part of a Citywide Push
Westside Park's overhaul is one piece of a broader $20 million municipal effort to revitalize 15 parks across Paterson, an initiative also tied to federal funding secured by Pascrell. Hoodline reported on the Doby Field upgrade in September, noting that Westside Park, Lou Costello Memorial Park and Eastside Park are all part of the same citywide initiative. City leaders have framed the effort as a long-overdue investment in youth facilities and public safety across Paterson's wards.
The park also carries cultural significance beyond its ballfields. Westside Park contains the Shohid Minar Monument, erected by the New Jersey Community Development Corporation to commemorate Language Martyrs' Day and serve as a landmark for Paterson's growing Bengali-American community, according to NJCDC's organizational history. Paterson is home to one of the largest Bangladeshi and Bengali populations in New Jersey, giving the monument added resonance within the renovated grounds.
