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The thing most folks don't realize about Camden is how small it is and how rather contained it is. Camden only has around 77k residents, which makes it roughly a quarter the size of Newark or Jersey City. Cherry Hill, Brick, Woodbridge, Toms River, Lakewood, etc. are all around the same size as or bigger then Camden in terms of population.
Camden is also rather hemmed in by highways with 130, 76 and 676 all forming a border aorund Camden as well as the Cooper and Delaware Rivers and their tributaries. While not every community bordering Camden is nice, there are ones like Collingswood and some sections of Haddon Twp. that are rather desirable suburban communities and none of them have the issues that Camden has.
If one wants to compare Camden to other cities, bascially think of Camden, virtually the entire place, as being the worst neighborhood in a city like Newark or Jersey City. There are some areas of that neighborhood that are OK and others that are downright warzones. Downtown Camden, the area that comprises the waterfront, city hall and court buildings, Rutgers and Cooper Hospital is pretty much the only relatively safe area to be. I refer to it as the "Green Zone" owing to the huge police presence. Even then, you don't want to be hanging out long after an event at the waterfront ends or when night comes. People who work at the court buildings and Rutgers in Camden get armed escorts to their cars each night and Cooper probably has the largest security force of any hospital for a reason.
Similarly, a city I live near now, a comparable city, is East St. Louis Illinois. This 'city' has only 32,000 residents. I liken it to a section of St. Louis, but with a river running between the places. Camden could be considered one of the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia, as far as I am concerned.
its an amazing concept that there are "people" who have a natural instinct to attack other people immediately upon seeing them.
Oh yea ! As a teen we were not this bad, they were shouting we don't want you here.. Get outta here unless you give us money an we'll let you pass puttin up gang signs...
Even when I lived in Newark that never happend to me I could not Imagine that...
He just looked an me and shook his head, and said dude no one goes to Paterson ever !
Back in the day it was bad but never like that..
Most of this took place in the 80's and early 90's at the height of the crack epidemic. Things were REALLY bad in Camden then. There were also a whole series of riots in the 1970's and early 1980's that destroyed chunks of the city. The huge "empty spaces" downtown are a direct result of the riots, they were destroyed and just never rebuilt. So, Camden in the 1980's was way more dangerous then it is now at least from what I can tell.
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Originally Posted by CaptainNJ
do you still drive in camden?
When I have to. When I lived in Camden County, that's where all the courts are so if you had jury duty, that's where you went. I worked one summer in high school for the Red Cross on Cooper Street downtown. I also worked at the entertainment center the summer after my senior year. I've taken my family to quite a few Riversharks baseball games and we used to go to the Aquarium a lot as we had season passes. Also, like I said, my aunt still lives there so there is the occasion I need to help her with something as her health is rapidly declining. Cooper and Lady of Lourdes Hospital are both in Camden and are the closest places to my parents house and my dad's health isn't the best and his cardiologist is at those hosptials so I have the occasion to go to one of them from time-to-time. I'm not scared, but I am cautious...
...and I don't stop at lights or stop signs unless I'm downtown in broad daylight.
Oh nevermind,from what I am reading its worse than Nwk.
No one gathers around a car in Nwk,not that I know of.
They might stand in the street while you are driving,but that's it.
Most of this took place in the 80's and early 90's at the height of the crack epidemic. Things were REALLY bad in Camden then. There were also a whole series of riots in the 1970's and early 1980's that destroyed chunks of the city. The huge "empty spaces" downtown are a direct result of the riots, they were destroyed and just never rebuilt. So, Camden in the 1980's was way more dangerous then it is now at least from what I can tell.
Im 41 now so when I lived in Maplewood/Newark and Kearny it was the 70s to 1994...
We heard about Camden, but just thought our surrounding area's were just as bad.. To tell the truth we were told about the riots but I just never thought huge sections were leveled like that.. The news only had lil tidbit's bout them, and that was it..
last year, if you were a resident of camden, you had a 1 in a THOUSAND chance of being KILLED!!!!!
oh, and the when the latest rankings came out, they had Camden as #1 most dangerous. This ranking was based on 2011 numbers where Camden had less than 25 murders. In 2012, it had around 60.
That would have given Camden a murder rate of 76.1 murders per 100,000 in 2012, which is higher than Detroit, St. Louis, or New Orleans(which often trade spots among the big cities as the nation's murder capital).
Oh nevermind,from what I am reading its worse than Nwk.
No one gathers around a car in Nwk,not that I know of.
They might stand in the street while you are driving,but that's it.
I used to hang out in Bloomfield Ave at JJ's hot dog truck and race cars off of Rt 21 an Ave P in the late 80s early 90s sure we were big mouth Guidos and whatever but not that bad where we bothered other people..
Had the best times at the Portuguese Feast down neck for years, but sadly it is no more due to a few deaths in recent years..
Even in the late 70s my Uncles Gas Station on park ave my other uncles used car lot on Broadway it was bad but you could still sit on your front porch and no one would run up and rob you..
Now Prince Street Projects is a different story, but then again Newark is a huge city there are some area's you just don't go into unless you know the locals..
Anyone knows if it is always that bad to go to the Aquarium? I bought a few tickets, but i'm thinking it might not be worth the risk. . .
Not really, just make sure you know the route in and out so you avoid Captain's problem. During the day the downtown area and waterfront are pretty safe. I've been to the Aquarium at least 25 times and never had an issue coming or going other then someone begging in the parking lot, which the police took care of pretty quickly. The Aquarium itself isn't all that thrilling though, basically a way to kill a couple hours.
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Originally Posted by jerseygal4u
Camden has a home buyer incentive program.
All you need is $500,nothing else,and you basically get a home.
price range:77,000 to 140,000
In all honesty, they couldn't pay me to live there.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jerseys Rants
Im 41 now so when I lived in Maplewood/Newark and Kearny it was the 70s to 1994...
We heard about Camden, but just thought our surrounding area's were just as bad.. To tell the truth we were told about the riots but I just never thought huge sections were leveled like that.. The news only had lil tidbit's bout them, and that was it..
It was a double whammy. The few decent sections that were left basically saw those folks board up their houses and head for the suburbs. So, with the downtown (which was already distressed after having been a major shopping destination in the 1950's) destroyed and the last few "good people" heading for the hills and the last major employers closing up, the city was toast.
Quote:
Originally Posted by green_mariner
That would have given Camden a murder rate of 76.1 murders per 100,000 in 2012, which is higher than Detroit, St. Louis, or New Orleans(which often trade spots among the big cities as the nation's murder capital).
Camden and Gary, IN usually compete for the top murder per capita rate in the nation.
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Aquarium
