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Hypothetically what if Camden was able to annex all of Camden County? Wouldn't that end all of Camden's problems.
Not really. It would just make that section of the county, the most ghetto. It would just become Kensington to the rest of the counties Center City.
I don't know what the solution is, but everything under the sun has been tried. The state has poured in money, they've flooded the streets with police, they've built fantastic school facilities, they've upgraded housing, they've tried to reinvigorate employment centers, etc. Nothings worked. Perhaps the problem with Camden is Camden.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NJGOAT
Not really. It would just make that section of the county, the most ghetto. It would just become Kensington to the rest of the counties Center City.
I don't know what the solution is, but everything under the sun has been tried. The state has poured in money, they've flooded the streets with police, they've built fantastic school facilities, they've upgraded housing, they've tried to reinvigorate employment centers, etc. Nothings worked. Perhaps the problem with Camden is Camden.
For decades the problem was crooked politics in Camden.
For a good look at the decline and attempts to revive Camden, read the book "Camden; after the fall" by Howard Gillette Jr. It was published in 2006 and will answer most of the questions about when and why it feel, along with the recent attempts to revive the city (mostly along the waterfront).
Camden seems to slowly be on the upswing....they been demolishing alot of abandoned crap.... The trends are Urban living and the population projections point to Urban areas holding 70% of the Northeastern Megapolis population by 2050. I think the seeds to Camden's turn around will be planted later this decade with 2020s being the boom period. Same will happen in Philly , Chester and Wilmington....and other decayed cities....they won't be decayed forever.
Crooked politicians has always been a problem with that city.Many people were born there,some of us left before it went downhill,during the bad times & some of us still live there.But when talking to someone about where you were born & raised,you CAMDEN,they say really?,bad neighborhood they are thinking to themselves.If you were born & raised in CAMDEN,are you proud of it?,even though you don't live there no more.So many people got out when they were able to,when they saw signs of getting bad.I was born & raised in the FAIRVIEW section of CAMDEN,still wasn't that bad in the 90's.Bought a house in the same town,raised my kids there until I finally moved out 2004,had enough of it.It still isn't any better today.(FAIRVIEW I mean),crime,drugs,houses boarded up,trashy looking,etc.Whether it be Cramer Hill,Parkside,Morgan Village,Pollock town or north or south Camden,etc.You just have to remember the good old days when you lived there,of course you want them to be like they were,but you'd still being living there now with you family.I don't know how many of you grew up in FAIRVIEW that are out there,but there are 2 facebook pages that are fun to look at.They are:What do you remember about FAIRVIEW the most? & Whiteboy FAIRVIEW.I guess I'm proud to be born & raised there.
Camden seems to slowly be on the upswing....they been demolishing alot of abandoned crap.... The trends are Urban living and the population projections point to Urban areas holding 70% of the Northeastern Megapolis population by 2050. I think the seeds to Camden's turn around will be planted later this decade with 2020s being the boom period. Same will happen in Philly , Chester and Wilmington....and other decayed cities....they won't be decayed forever.
Nexis, you do realize that when they say "living in the northeast Meglopolis" that would include places like Cherry Hill, Washington Twp., Voorhees, Evehsam, Moorestown, Mt. Laurel, etc. All places that are far removed from a Camden. I sincerely hope the cities rebound, but they need to seriously change what they are for that to happen. In the case of places like Camden and Chester there is very little to build on that isn't essentially tied to government services.
For decades the problem was crooked politics in Camden.
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Originally Posted by templeu
BINGO! You can pour money in all you want...but if it isn't allocated as intended, well then...
Camden has certainly had its fair share of crooked politicians, but that doesn't necessarily detract that the key may not necessarily lie in pouring more money in. The state has pretty much run Camden since 2005 and little has changed.
One of the biggest obstacles to redevelopment remains the people of Camden themselves who refuse to approve any new developments that impact existing neighborhoods. Cherokee Developers had a plan and funding in place to converty 450 acres of North Camden into 5,000 new homes and included significant commercial retail as well which the city sorely lacks. The local residents fought it tooth and nail until the developer caved. Whatever development has happened is pretty much contained to state/city owned land or abandoned industrial areas.
Imminent domain has been brought up many times, but then it is always spun into "the government seizing the homes of poor black and hispanic families".
I don't really know what the answer is. If we are to assume that towns/cities rise and fall on the strength of their community, then what's broken in Camden is the community and it won't change until the community wants it to change. In that case, all the money in the world won't change anything.
The #1 problem with Camden is the people there. That is what most people fail to realize. They can pimp up the waterfront area all they want. They can do whatever they want to the Rutgers campus there. But as long as you have the scum-of-the-earth gangbangers, criminals, drugs and Lakerisha on welfare with her four kids from three different fathers making up the vast majority of the city's population, it will never turn around. Unless they physically remove these elements from Camden, it will always be Camden as we know it.
I just find it ironic that the stategy used to pacify areas of Iraq are now being applied to Camden.
Quote:
Originally Posted by gwillyfromphilly
Hypothetically what if Camden was able to annex all of Camden County? Wouldn't that end all of Camden's problems.
I do think you have a point here. In other states, almost all cities have large swaths of suburban areas officially within the city. But in NJ, the "city" is literally just that, the small downtown area within a larger conurbation. Bringing in a mix of communities (both physical neighborhoods and cultural/ethnic/religious communities) under one government could be part of the solution to restoring our cities.
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