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As the saying goes, no good deed goes unpunished.

Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh says well-intentioned philanthropies who hand out food to the city's impoverished don't mean harm.

But the efforts are causing quality of life issues like large amounts of trash and debris on city streets.

Now, in a move that's stirring controversy, the mayor wants to regulate charity groups providing essential items by requiring them to get a permit from the health department.

As Melissa Rose Cooper reports, community organizers and activists were taken by surprise and in some cases outraged.

It would be the clothing that we distribute, the coffee, these things that save lives.

These are scientifically tested chips, fentanyl, testing, chips, walking that prevents infections and amputations.

Many of the items, Bre Azañedo, program manager of the Black Lives Matter, Paterson Harm Reduction Center says the organization would no longer be able to give out to residents if a proposed ordinance regulating charity groups goes into effect.

There is so much trash throughout the city of Paterson and it seems like the mayor's office, the city will look the other way when it's their friends of people who are, I guess, you know, people that, you know.

My my my question is, how can they identify our trash from trash of anyone else?

And we have receptacles, trash bins we clean up after our event.

So I think that is a bald faced lie.

It's all in an effort to avoid trash on city streets as well as other quality of life issues.

Individuals and organizations would be required to get a permit from the health department, allowing them to distribute items to the community.

So we want to make sure that we make that abundantly clear, that we are not prohibiting anything.

What we're doing is there'll be a permit process.

It's free, and it's in the best interests of individuals who are handling food to make sure that is a safe process.

Mayor Andre Sayegh says he wants local organizations to know the ordinance isn't meant to hurt their outreach programs, but instead is in response to cleanliness complaints about groups from outside of Paterson distributing aid within the city.

We've had outside organizations who, I'm sure are well-intentioned, come in, and quite frankly, after they have distributed food, they leave a mess.

And who's responsible for picking it up?

US.

And it should be those organizations.

So this specific legislation will address any public health concerns we've had, any concerns we've had with individuals not properly disposing of whatever is left as far as a food distribution is concerned.

Paterson wouldn't be the first city in the state mandating permits to distribute aid.

Newark adopted a similar ordinance requiring agencies to have a permit in order to give out food in public places.

I think, you know, there is space to address both quality of life issues and concerns in our city, while also supporting our nonprofits in their efforts to continue to do the good work that they're doing.

Richard Williams is the executive director of St Paul's Community Development Corporation, which provides various resources and services to roughly 3500 individuals and families in need each year.

I concern, and we understand the city's desire to want to address quality of life issues.

Certainly clean streets has been a priority of the administration and we understand that.

In the same vein, we can also recognize the concern that is being shared by our community organizations that are just desirous of doing good work and helping people in need.

So my position on it is there has to be a happy medium where we can figure out how to be able to do both.

Some local organizations are holding a rally tomorrow outside City Hall to voice their concerns over the proposed ordinance.

If passed, anyone who fails to get a permit could face fines of up to $2,000, as well as time in jail.

For NJ Spotlight News.

I'm Melissa Rose Cooper.