Quote:
Originally Posted by qjbusmaster
ok so what will any of you propose to improve camden?
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The answer, IMO, is to eminent domain the entire place, raze it and redesign it from the ground up building out from the university/Cooper Medical Center/waterfront area. At this point Camden is so far gone that it pretty much needs a complete re-imagining. In order for it to work you would need federal, state, local and private sector support. Camden was what it was because the entire city was built as one large public-private venture to supply workers to the key industries, mainly the shipyard, RCA and Campbell's. I think that's the direction the city should go. Try to bring back modern manufacturing jobs and establish modern "worker's housing" to support it.
Once you have steady employment that can pay livable wages, you support that with schools. On the school end I would scrap all of the public schools and switch to an academy/charter format with support from the private sector industries in the town. Basically each section of the city becomes it's own village arrayed around the core of Rutgers/Cooper and the waterfront. At the high school level, provide multiple tracks to learning. Offer college/university prep (partner with Rutger's to set and administer the curriculum) and also place an emphasis on skilled trades (partner with the industries in the town) so that people who are not college bound can learn a useful and self-sustaining trade.
Safe neighborhoods (supplement the police force with private security in each 'village') with decent schools and people who are gainfully employed then allows small businesses to gravitate to these areas and setup operations, things like convenience stores, pizza places, etc. Do it one neighborhood at a time and do it right and you can re-invent the city. Build it to be a transit town so that people don't need cars which frees space from parking and frees people from having to support a car just to live and work.
Make each neighborhood/village it's own "ward" that has a local council that then sends a representative to the city council. Have it run like a quasi-HOA where the local boards have the ability/budget and authority to deal with quality of life issues that impact their local community. Each resident gets a vote on these councils and that engenders a sense of community.
Yes, it seems rather socialist-utopian, but I think that would be the way to do it. The key to it all is bringing back the jobs, but they won't come back unless something radical happens to do it. This is essentially how Camden came into existence to begin with. Once the "pump was primed" from the public-private partnerships it allowed small business to flourish and make the city usable. I think Camden is small enough that as a city it could be re-designed, you just need the will and money to do it.
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