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Let's see if they stay. My best friend worked at the Hall of Justice for about 35 years. Over time, the places that the employees & jurors went to for lunch, or at lunchtime closed. Later, a lunch truck would come by. The Hall of Justice is a captive audience with staggered lunches, other than the courts, & it wasn't keeping businesses open in its immediate proximity. They opened a newsstand in the Hall of Justice which also sold snacks & drinks.
Baby steps but good news. The restaurant business has a high rate of failure no matter where they own up. 80% close within 5 years
Camden has LAEDA which is a small business counseling organization that gives wonderful support to new small businesses in the area
Let's see if they stay. My best friend worked at the Hall of Justice for about 35 years. Over time, the places that the employees & jurors went to for lunch, or at lunchtime closed. Later, a lunch truck would come by. The Hall of Justice is a captive audience with staggered lunches, other than the courts, & it wasn't keeping businesses open in its immediate proximity. They opened a newsstand in the Hall of Justice which also sold snacks & drinks.
After reading your posts, I can understand why you have little faith in a resurgent Camden. You've shared a history of the city fail to capitalize on numerous past opportunities at a reboot due to politics, corruption and ineptitude.
I'm new to the game. I see upwards to 2,000 brand new office workers moving into the city in the next 18 months or so. It is unavoidable that all these new jobs in such a short period of time will create change in a city as small as Camden. I am going to root for the city to finally reverse its track record and take advantage of this windfall. We are already seeing a handful of new small businesses opening to serve these folks. As you say, "Let's see if they stay." I hope they succeed. You want them to succeed, too. Don't you?
Last edited by Pine to Vine; 05-29-2018 at 01:49 PM..
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pine to Vine
After reading your posts, I can understand why you have little faith in a resurgent Camden. You've shared a history of the city fail to capitalize on numerous past opportunities at a reboot due to politics, corruption and ineptitude.
I'm new to the game. I see upwards to 2,000 brand new office workers moving into the city in the next 18 months or so. It is unavoidable that all these new jobs in such a short period of time will create change a city as small as Camden. I am going to root for the city to finally reverse its track record and take advantage of this windfall. We are already seeing a handful of new small businesses opening to serve these folks. As you say, "Let's see if they stay." I hope they succeed. You want them to succeed, too. Don't you?
I've wanted the city to turn around for decades. I actually took PATCO in there if I had to go to a state office, & walked to Federal St. I was thrilled when they opened the one office in Cherry Hill & totally annoyed when the other offices moved to Mt Ephraim Ave. I had to drive there.
I'm not a city planner. You don't need fancy degrees to see the idiocy. I've known about the good neighborhood near downtown for many years. I've known people who live there. My friend who worked in the Hall of Justice knew different people who lived there. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you find people to expand that neighborhood. Give them the help they need to expand the good neighborhood. If they doubled or tripled the size of it, then you can start adding people who need more help. Pretty soon, they could have a good, stable elementary school. . .
The modus operandi has been for various groups to go in there & throw assistance in the least organized manner possible. Nothing builds on anything else. But, best of all, if you need assistance in the rest of the county, good luck. The assistance is all focused on Camden. Camden is a black hole of need. There's never been a plan. You go in, throw some assistance around & go home & feel good that you helped. If all of the groups got together & made a master plan, there would be hope. There would be hope because there would be visible results.
It's not that I have this weird concept, that's just mine. I've talked with people from multiple racial & ethnic groups who've said similar or the same. I've heard it from people who live or lived in Camden.
I've been told, by people who live in Camden, that if they need a little help or if someone who they know needs a little help, they can't get it. They aren't needy enough. How messed up is that?
If all of the new employment is clustered, they might keep some small businesses open. It all depends on them staying.
My nephew is an engineer at Lockheed. As they are the legacy of RCA, they were pressured to open an office in Camden, with a payoff, of course. That lasted about a year. Part of the problem there revolved around the police scheme.
Just to clarify, I've made mention of Lawnside. It's a historically black town. It was part of Center Twp., which became Haddon Heights, Barrington, & Lawnside. All 3 towns come back together for high school in Haddon Heights. It's a well respected high school.
Seriously though. If you examine other small "minor" outlying "edge cities" of Philadelphia - Chester, Reading, Wilmington - you will see that Camden is really no exception. The major city in the region is also the most impoverished major city in the nation, which is what makes it an all around more affordable metro than its neighbors along I-95 in the northeast. If you want to lump Trenton into the Philly metro, I'd put it right there with Camden as the twins of infamy in Jersey.
I've wanted the city to turn around for decades. I actually took PATCO in there if I had to go to a state office, & walked to Federal St. I was thrilled when they opened the one office in Cherry Hill & totally annoyed when the other offices moved to Mt Ephraim Ave. I had to drive there.
I'm not a city planner. You don't need fancy degrees to see the idiocy. I've known about the good neighborhood near downtown for many years. I've known people who live there. My friend who worked in the Hall of Justice knew different people who lived there. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that you find people to expand that neighborhood. Give them the help they need to expand the good neighborhood. If they doubled or tripled the size of it, then you can start adding people who need more help. Pretty soon, they could have a good, stable elementary school. . .
The modus operandi has been for various groups to go in there & throw assistance in the least organized manner possible. Nothing builds on anything else. But, best of all, if you need assistance in the rest of the county, good luck. The assistance is all focused on Camden. Camden is a black hole of need. There's never been a plan. You go in, throw some assistance around & go home & feel good that you helped. If all of the groups got together & made a master plan, there would be hope. There would be hope because there would be visible results.
It's not that I have this weird concept, that's just mine. I've talked with people from multiple racial & ethnic groups who've said similar or the same. I've heard it from people who live or lived in Camden.
I've been told, by people who live in Camden, that if they need a little help or if someone who they know needs a little help, they can't get it. They aren't needy enough. How messed up is that?
If all of the new employment is clustered, they might keep some small businesses open. It all depends on them staying.
My nephew is an engineer at Lockheed. As they are the legacy of RCA, they were pressured to open an office in Camden, with a payoff, of course. That lasted about a year. Part of the problem there revolved around the police scheme.
Just to clarify, I've made mention of Lawnside. It's a historically black town. It was part of Center Twp., which became Haddon Heights, Barrington, & Lawnside. All 3 towns come back together for high school in Haddon Heights. It's a well respected high school.
That’s all well and good. As I noted, you have established the bases of your frustration with all things Camden. You don’t need to post additional paragraphs to further convince me of your belief in Camden’s repeated disappointment and failure.
But I asked you a simple question regarding these new businesses finding some recent success in Camden:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pine to Vine
As you say, "Let's see if they stay." I hope they succeed. You want them to succeed, too. Don't you?
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by NYtoNJtoPA
Just another sad Jersey story.
Seriously though. If you examine other small "minor" outlying "edge cities" of Philadelphia - Chester, Reading, Wilmington - you will see that Camden is really no exception. The major city in the region is also the most impoverished major city in the nation, which is what makes it an all around more affordable metro than its neighbors along I-95 in the northeast. If you want to lump Trenton into the Philly metro, I'd put it right there with Camden as the twins of infamy in Jersey.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pine to Vine
That’s all well and good. As I noted, you have established the bases of your frustration with all things Camden. You don’t need to post additional paragraphs to further convince me of your belief in Camden’s repeated disappointment and failure.
But I asked you a simple question regarding these new businesses finding some recent success in Camden:
I answered it. The rest was explanation of my answer.
I answered it. The rest was explanation of my answer.
I'm sorry, I won't post on this thread again.
No need to apologize. I’ve always learned a lot from your posts in the Philly forum, and your posts in this thread are no exception. As a newby, I specifically opened this thread to learn from people with deeper histories in the area. I take it that if past is prologue, the decks are stacked against these recent job announcements leading to transformative change in Camden. I believe that. Let’s just hope that this time is different.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,666,340 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by Pine to Vine
No need to apologize. I’ve always learned a lot from your posts in the Philly forum, and your posts in this thread are no exception. As a newby, I specifically opened this thread to learn from people with deeper histories in the area. I take it that if past is prologue, the decks are stacked against these recent job announcements leading to transformative change in Camden. I believe that. Let’s just hope that this time is different.
I believe that if the Camden problem had been attacked in a systematic manner it would not be anywhere near as bad. My sister told me about the Lockheed office closing down. It was about a year. I hope that they get it right this time. There aren't many more chances to put some jobs in there.
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