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So, I constantly keep hearing about how dangerous, dirty, and corrupt Camden is. However, I would like to know if any effort is being made towards gentrification within the city. Camden has quick public transit access to Philadelphia, a major employment center. It also has a beautiful waterfront and an aquarium. I would really like to see some effort being put into improving the overall condition of the city. I dont want to see this place sink as low as Detroit and lose any hope of revival.
Too late. Camden has earned the moniker "worse than Detroit". Last I heard there were gated enclaves, there was the riverfront, and the rest was wasteland.
It's never "too late" for cities. There is always the opportunity to turn a city around. Camden, like every other struggling city, needs to take stock of its assets and figure out how to foster that and create growth. One thing I will say is that any city with a college or university has a fighting chance for revitalization. It doesn't take a lot to attract college kids because they want to be away from home and around other college kids anyway. Rutgers Camden is growing currently and that is good because it means you have educated people coming into the city on a daily basis. Many college kids are also on their parents' dime so you have people with disposable income coming into the city.
Obviously just this alone cannot save Camden but it's something that can begin to turn a portion of the city around. Where there is smoke there is fire and if Camden can create an environment that attracts additional students, the surrounding area will benefit. Look at what has happened in New Brunswick for example. 20-25 years ago, there was nothing there. Rutgers was considered a commuter college. That's not the case anymore. As more students started living on or near campus, New Brunswick improved.
It's never "too late" for cities. There is always the opportunity to turn a city around. Camden, like every other struggling city, needs to take stock of its assets and figure out how to foster that and create growth. One thing I will say is that any city with a college or university has a fighting chance for revitalization. It doesn't take a lot to attract college kids because they want to be away from home and around other college kids anyway. Rutgers Camden is growing currently and that is good because it means you have educated people coming into the city on a daily basis. Many college kids are also on their parents' dime so you have people with disposable income coming into the city.
Obviously just this alone cannot save Camden but it's something that can begin to turn a portion of the city around. Where there is smoke there is fire and if Camden can create an environment that attracts additional students, the surrounding area will benefit. Look at what has happened in New Brunswick for example. 20-25 years ago, there was nothing there. Rutgers was considered a commuter college. That's not the case anymore. As more students started living on or near campus, New Brunswick improved.
never been to Camden, have you?
People have tried to turn Camden around. The Fairview section was one example. A large gay population moved in there and tried to clean it up. It is kind of cut off from the rest of the city. Even when the overall real estate market was booming, Fairview was dying. 20+ years later, it is pretty much dead
When there are 3BR-2.5Ba houses in the "better" part of the city listed $65K (and taxes are $2100 a YEAR) and no one biting, you know the city is dead
People have tried to turn Camden around. The Fairview section was one example. A large gay population moved in there and tried to clean it up. It is kind of cut off from the rest of the city. Even when the overall real estate market was booming, Fairview was dying. 20+ years later, it is pretty much dead
When there are 3BR-2.5Ba houses in the "better" part of the city listed $65K (and taxes are $2100 a YEAR) and no one biting, you know the city is dead
I have been to Camden actually and I stand by my first post. You mentioned that the Fairview section is blocked off from the rest of the city. That's not good. I can understand why people think it's the only option. People feel safe if there is a barrier between them and dangerous neighborhoods but contrary to what may seem logical, this actually makes matters worse. Historically cities have gotten worse in this country because we erected barriers. Highway construction, the creation of superblocks, faceless office buildings that didn't interact with the street etc. all contributed to the decline of cities in the mid 20th century. The answer to fixing Camden is not to set up enclaves blocked off from the rest of the city. The answer is just the opposite. We need to be removing these barriers and reconnecting neighborhoods. When Camden starts doing that, it will help move the city in the right direction. That's not the only thing that needs to happen in Camden but it is a crucial element.
The problem in Camden has nothing to do with highways, superblocks, office buildings, or what-have-you. It has to do with the government of Camden and the residents of Camden.
Well you're right about the second part of your post but not the first. How do you think it got that way? One day Camden was a nice city and the next day residents just started not caring and choosing a lifestyle of drugs and crime? Nothing happens by accident. Suburbanization and poor urban planning effectively moved the inner city to the fringes of society severely limiting upward mobility to the people who lived there. As for the government, politicians endorsed a lot of the practices that I have talked about on this board so the two are in fact related. Anyway, I've said what I came here to say. I could gather mountains of research that support what I've said and present them here to you but people tend to ignore posts that are too long and I know you wouldn't read any studies or professional papers I post anyway so what would be the point?
Camden is worse than Detroit in many measures at present.
Camden's largest problem is that it can't really find a reason to exist. Philly isn't really growing, and there's a massive amount of Philly that is "not great" and would have to gentrify before anyone would consider trying Camden.
Historically, Camden was industrial. Most of that is now dead, and not coming back.
The city is so hollowed out it isn't even really attractive as an "urban" area ignoring the issues of what sort of people live in it. It's difficult to live in, there isn't even a supermarket in the city at the moment.
The functional downtown is a few blocks, and most of that snaps shut once working hours are over, because it's largely state employees. Otherwise, you've got the university, hospital/medical school, Campbell's Soup, and a port.
The attractions are not really something for people living in Camden. It's not that they're bad, it's just that they are things people come to visit and then leave, and are largely self-contained things.
The other problem Camden has is that it's hopelessly broke, the state is not inclined to give more than life-support funding, and it has no tax base. Hard to rebuild when you can't fund basic services.
I could see potential for some more "walled garden" development in the downtown area + the Ferry Ave PATCO stop. 24 hour (private) security and aimed at either university students or people who are only going to sleep there and spend the rest of their time in Philly. Maybe, in a few decades and IF the city/state can manage to get policing in line to make the city less shockingly dangerous, that would turn into a foothold for more widespread gentrification.
The problem for Camden is that there's a ton of inexpensive property right over the river in the actual city of Philadelphia. If Camden were next to NYC, gentrification would be possible or even probable, but there's literally zero reason to move to Camden instead of an equally cheap but less dangerous part of Philadelphia (that also has more amenities and easier access to them).
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