New Jersey Investing in Camden

[STT757]

The state is investing big money in an eyesore



Sunday, November 09, 2003


BY STEVE CHAMBERS
Star-Ledger Staff

In a fifth-floor office overlooking the Camden waterfront last week, a group of men pored over plans to help resurrect New Jersey's poorest city.

One of them, Ohio developer Yaromir Steiner, had signed a deal with state officials just days before to take over and expand the State Aquarium, which has drawn disappointingly small crowds. His company, Steiner & Associates, also had been handed the rights to 30 acres of waterfront property, where it envisions a hotel, a cluster of restaurants and retail space.

There was excitement in the room, but Steiner talked realistically about the chances of success.

"We are not drinking champagne here," he said, his words wrapped in a thick Turkish accent. "We are eating pasta before the marathon."

No one questions the difficulty of reviving Camden, a one-time industrial powerhouse that now resides on the sad list of America's poorest cities. Some of its neighborhoods contain so many burned-out row houses that they resemble war zones.

Gov. James E. McGreevey is gambling a portion of his political future that the timing is finally right to reverse the fortunes of a city that has become synonymous with failure, urban decline and corruption. A bill the governor pushed and signed last year made $175 million of redevelopment seed money available for the city, beginning with the creation of a powerful Economic Recovery Board. Its chief operating officer, former Camden Mayor Randy Primas, has veto power over the mayor and the city council and controls the purse strings of the city budget.

Some are skeptical, worn down by past promises. But others with long experience of trying to turn the waterfront into an entertainment mecca feel differently.

"I've lived and worked here since 1975, and I would say this is the high point," said Thomas Corcoran, president of the Cooper's Ferry Development Association. "There are a lot of things coming together, seemingly all at once. There is a lot of excitement."

The projects include:


A $57 million expansion of the 11-year-old aquarium that will double its size and upgrade its exhibits. The aquarium, which would close next fall and reopen in May 2005, would join the city's minor-league baseball stadium and concert center as tourist anchors. The state is kicking in $25 million to get the deal done, hoping to boost annual attendance at the aquarium, now about 600,000, to 850,000.


The Victor, the luxuriously restored RCA Victor factory building, which began renting its first residential units on Labor Day at rates of up to $2,750 a month. With unobstructed views of Philadelphia, a rooftop gym and other amenities, it is already considered a success and will offer 341 units by the end of February.


A corporate headquarters for Cigna, the insurance giant that is expected to move its Philadelphia headquarters to a waterfront site. A major urban redeveloper, Matrix Development Group of Cranbury, has been tapped to build it.

A request for proposals for Lanning Square, a relatively stable residential neighborhood adjacent to the waterfront, has attracted 19 overtures from major developers -- this in a city that, in the 10-year period ending in 1996, issued just one building permit, and didn't issued more than 20 a year until 2001.

State Treasurer John McCormac, who chairs the recovery board, said he and Caren Franzini, CEO of the state Economic Development Authority, are getting a half-dozen calls a week from major corporations, developers and other interested in the city.

This redevelopment effort will be different, McCormac said, because the waterfront development will help stabilize Camden's finances and begin pulling the city up.

"We have learned from the experiences of 10 years ago," McCormac said. "This time we are linking the aquarium project directly to land development on the waterfront."


'THE GREATEST LOCATION'

Steiner Associates, which has developed several large-scale entertainment complexes, including a Kentucky aquarium across the river from Cincinnati, has plans for an IMAX theater as well as restaurants and a hotel on its 30 acres. The hotel would be the only one in the city.

Carl Dranoff, the Philadelphia developer of the Victor and 70 other urban residential buildings, has the right to build more than 1,000 residential units on a huge vacant property between the aquarium and Campbell's Field, in the shadow of the Ben Franklin Bridge. Dranoff first intends to renovate another RCA building and is considering turning it into condominiums.

Dranoff, who makes a living speculating on the next hot neighborhood, predicts Camden's time has come. He said a tram that will traverse the river to Philadelphia -- construction by the Delaware River Port Authority starts this winter -- and a soon-to-be-operational light-rail link to Trenton will bring Camden even more residents.

"When I first drove over the bridge from Philadelphia in February 1999, I looked out at that blighted warehouse and saw what had to be one of the greatest locations of all time," he said. "It had an unencumbered view, character and history, and it was big enough to be a catalyst."

Part of the new state money focuses on two backbone industries based just blocks from the waterfront: higher education and health care. They will get $47.7 million. The one-time grants -- ranging from $13.3 million to $250,000 -- will help pay for expansions by Rutgers and Rowan universities, Camden County College, Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Cooper Hospital and others.

Peter O'Connor, a longtime housing activist and critic of past efforts to redevelop Camden, said he likes most of those projects.

In the end, however, he is convinced upscale housing efforts will fail or be very limited in scope.

"The major deterrent in Camden is the presence of 80,000 poor people and all the social ills that accompany them," he said. "With no regional strategy for working on the concentration of poverty, it just won't work."

Steiner, who was born in Istanbul, said he believes that one reason an Ohio company is leading the charge is that its executives don't have the prejudices about Camden that others might. He looks at the waterfront and sees 30 acres practically in the heart of Philadelphia.

But he concedes that success means reversing old attitudes. If those prejudices persist, in other words, he won't have the customers for his shiny new aquarium or his hotel.

"I don't want to sound like a rosy dreamer," he said. "This will take hard work, and we are nowhere near there yet."


'LOOK AT 42ND STREET'

State officials, meanwhile, pledge their focus is on getting Camden back on its feet and independent of state control.

There were early tensions from community groups when the recovery board mapped out priorities for funding neighborhood projects. There also are fears about gentrification.

"What you'll have is a tale of two cities," said Frank Fulbrook, a neighborhood activist who helped bring back a tiny neighborhood called Cooper-Grant, next to Rutgers Law School on the edge of the waterfront. "In the inland neighborhoods, you'll still have sections with more than a dozen open-air drugs markets."

McCormac said the state must focus first on the most stable neighborhoods, places where private developers are willing to invest and results can be achieved most quickly.

Franzini of the EDA points to signs of success such as a massive federally funded housing development in tough East Camden, which has been able to sell market-rate housing.

"No city can come back all at once," Franzini said. "Look at 42nd Street in New York. That project took a long time, but it happened because there was a plan.

"Now there is a plan for Camden."

There is grumbling in City Hall about how it has not been asked for input.

"We had to marry the ugly girl to get the dowry," said City Clerk Luis Pastoriza, who has lived in Camden most of his life.

Still, Pastoriza said, there is no question the focus by state officials is an unprecedented and welcome change.

"The planets seem to have aligned," he said. "Camden has really seen tough times, but it's turning a corner. This is real."


http://nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-11/1068359658242680.xml

[TLOZ Link5]

'THE GREATEST LOCATION'

Steiner Associates, which has developed several large-scale entertainment complexes, including a Kentucky aquarium across the river from Cincinnati, has plans for an IMAX theater as well as restaurants and a hotel on its 30 acres. The hotel would be the only one in the city.

The aquarium they're referring to is in Newport, Kentucky, where my grandparents live and my dad grew up.

[JCMAN320]

If they can have the same sucess in Camden as we have in Jersey City, it will truly be a urban development cinderella story.

[dbhstockton]

I don't think the two are analogous. Jersey City's success is due to its proximity to the financial district, a singularity in the region. Philadelphia is important, but it doesn't have the desperate crunch for space that the New York region has -- not bad enough for mainstream office workers to cross the Delaware and colonize Camden.

Have you ever been to Camden? Just thinking about it sends a chill up my spine. It's a creepy place.

[ZippyTheChimp]

For those who have never seen Camden, a few dozen photos from
Skyscraper Page:

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=c7be34e0efa53b124f7e99c62d491563& threadid=19761

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=c7be34e0efa53b124f7e99c62d491563& threadid=19805

[fioco]

The photo tours on Skyscraper Page are worthwhile. Thanks, Zippy the Chimp. You won't get these from the Chamber of Commerce.

[Good journalist. Some great quotes here:]
"We are not drinking champagne here," he said, his words wrapped in a thick Turkish accent. "We are eating pasta before the marathon."

. . . this in a city that, in the 10-year period ending in 1996, issued just one building permit, and didn't issued more than 20 a year until 2001.

Peter O'Connor, a longtime housing activist and critic of past efforts to redevelop Camden, said he likes most of those projects.
"The major deterrent in Camden is the presence of 80,000 poor people and all the social ills that accompany them," he said. "With no regional strategy for working on the concentration of poverty, it just won't work."

"What you'll have is a tale of two cities," said Frank Fulbrook . . . "In the inland neighborhoods, you'll still have sections with more than a dozen open-air drugs markets."

There is grumbling in City Hall about how it has not been asked for input.
"We had to marry the ugly girl to get the dowry," said City Clerk Luis Pastoriza, who has lived in Camden most of his life.

I commend the developers for taking risks in their search for opportunities, but the salvation of Camden can not be laid at the feet of speculative real estate developers. The State of New Jersey is not blameless for a region in such longterm and shameless neglect. The poor who strive to live good lives amidst lawlessness are citizens of a state that has abandoned them with little conscience or concern.

It will take a couple of generations to renew Camden, unless the siren call of "two cities" is too difficult to resist and Camden, once again, is tossed on the pile of shameful neglect. Just what is a "Commonwealth" or a State, anyway?

[Kris]

December 17, 2003

Development to Offer $1.2 Billion Boost to Camden

By JILL P. CAPUZZO

CAMDEN, N.J., Dec. 16 — Officials planned to announce Wednesday the largest single investment ever proposed for this poverty-ridden city, a $1.2 billion mixed-use project that would be built along the banks of the Delaware River.

Gov. James E. McGreevey is expected to join officials here to declare the city's intention to work with Cherokee Investment Partners on developing a square-mile stretch of land in the Cramer Hill neighborhood.

The project, expected to be built over the next 10 years, will include 5,000 homes, retail and commercial space and an 18-hole golf course.

Camden's state-appointed chief operating officer, Randy Primas, said he expected final approval in 60 to 90 days, with construction to begin in the next year. Mr. Primas, a mayor of Camden in the 1980's who returned recently as part of the state's $175 million recovery package for Camden, said that until now, "the people of Cramer Hill thought they were forgotten by the city."

Although Cramer Hill is not considered one of Camden's worst neighborhoods, it is marked by boarded-up homes and abandoned warehouses, like much of the rest of the city, the state's poorest.

Cherokee's chief executive, Thomas Darden, said Camden fitted into the company's scheme of selecting sites in need of remediation and community development. Since 1990, it has acquired more than 300 similar properties in North America and Europe.

The proposal includes about 1,000 units of affordable housing. Mr. Primas suggested that market-rate homes along nearly two miles of riverfront could go for $200,000.

The executive director of the Cramer Hill Community Development Corporation, Byron Woodson, said the project would displace 800 to 1,000 residents, most of whom would be offered replacement housing in other sections of the neighborhood.


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[TLOZ Link5]

A map of the future light-rail link between Camden and Trenton, currently under construction. Courtesy of lightrail.com

http://www.lightrail.com/maps/camden.jpg

[Kris]

Always good to have public transportation expanded in the region.

[STT757]

The Delaware River Port Authority is also begining construction of a sky tram (similar to Rosevelt Island) to connect the Camden Waterfront (Battleship NJ, Aqarium, Blockbuster Center) with Penn's Landing in Philadelphia.

[krulltime]

'Development to Offer $1.2 Billion Boost to Camden' ~ I still can't believe this is for real...somebody wake me up!

Camden its getting better day by day. :) Hopefully it will be like jersey city in the near future. Although then again...

[TLOZ Link5]

Philly will have to do better also. But I'm very optimistic about that happening.

[Gulcrapek]

The tram is cool... I wonder how it will turn out. I hope well.

[krulltime]

Philly thinks that it can built a new and improved Pens Landing....but I will be dead until that heppens. Many people had already died since the 50's when it was first mention. I woudnt be surprice. :(

[Kris]

Southern New Jersey Light Rail (http://skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=fc8d19e2938a1e4d1f5c10e9d7c395fd& threadid=31873)

[TLOZ Link5]

Single-track for much of its length, it seems. Very odd; how do they operate trains in opposite directions?

[NYatKNIGHT]

My answer at SSP:

Light rail will often split its two tracks to cover more territory - like, northbound up one road, southbound down a parallel road - so its more like a loop. Sometimes it is necessary when the width of two side-by-side tracks are an issue, but usually it is for more widespread access.

[TLOZ Link5]

Are the roads very far apart?

[NYatKNIGHT]

No, usually they are just a block or two from each other. When they run side by side there will always be a crossover so the trains can switch tracks if they need to. But usually when you see a single track it is used in one direction.

[STT757]

Light rail will often split its two tracks to cover more territory - like, northbound up one road, southbound down a parallel road - so its more like a loop.

That's not how this works, there are passing sidings with signals. There may be as many as 6 places where it is double tracked where trains are scheduled to meet and pass, this is how many commuter lines which are single tracked work.

[NYatKNIGHT]

Okay, is that what they did in Camden? I stand corrected then. All of the new light rail projects I have worked on in the last 10 years use two one-way tracks with emergency crossovers - it is the preferred method. But my point was that just because you see one track doesn't necessarily mean it's using a single track system since light rail double tracks are often separated.

[STT757]

It's a freight line which was upgraded a little to support light rail activities during the daytime, at night it's still a freight line.

Don't let the street runnings fool you, it's mostly run through rural areas which is why the huge controversy over the $1 Billion cost.

[NYatKNIGHT]

It's not all freight line, mostly but not all. The 1.5 mile part in Camden is not shared and mostly double track from what I just read in one of my geeky Light Rail journals.

Out in the rural areas it makes more sense to share with the freight lines, plus 34 miles of double track is expensive. Most heavy rail uses single track, but LRT does only if it has to. Light rail stations inside the city are usually closer to each other and the trains make more frequent stops than heavy rail trains, so scheduling to pass on a single track line is a system nightmare. Plus light rail can manage tighter curves and steeper slopes; in these places double track is a necessity. This is how it usually works.

[STT757]

http://community.webshots.com/photo/111463079/116720941UIOYDP

http://community.webshots.com/photo/78684214/116717988WNEfGV

Northern Terminus of River Line Light Rail, Amtrak/ New Jersey Transit/ SEPTA Trenton Station.

http://community.webshots.com/photo/118923230/120094128uUIrQu

[STT757]

Light rail will often split its two tracks to cover more territory - like, northbound up one road, southbound down a parallel road - so its more like a loop.

I found a detailed map of the Newark Light Rail project under construction connecting Newark Penn Station and Broad Street Station, it does what you mentioned by splitting up and looping around a park and reconnect at Newark Broad Street station.

http://www.njtransit.com/images/an_newark_elizabeth_mos1_map.jpg

[NYatKNIGHT]

Nice. The dashed blue line on that map on the left side is the tunnel section. That is what I took construction pictures of in this Newark (http://forums.wirednewyork.com/viewtopic.php?t=1300) thread.

Notice the LRT connects two train stations, giving commuters in NJ another option to transfer lines west of the Secaucus Transfer, and well west of Hoboken and the city. Below is the NJTransit Map where you can see all the trains that come through Newark and will now be connected by the Newark Light Rail.

http://www.njtransit.com/images/NJTrrmap_Nov03.jpg

The Hudson-Bergen Light Rail also is double track. The map below is schematic, but it shows where in the line there are double crossovers indicated by an "x" or just a single "/" at single crossovers.

http://www.nycsubway.org/nyc/hudson-bergen/hblrtrack.gif

Good to see that transit is picking up in the entire region.

[STT757]

Nice photos of Newark, I used to work in Downtown Newark on Halsey street for the State. I rode the Newark Subway on the cold and wet days from Newark Penn to my building, the connection to Broad Street station will make it easier for people who work near Penn Station bu travel on the M&E lines to get to work easier. And vice versa for those who work near Broad Street station and travel on the NEC, also the Light rail will serve the Newark Museum and Newark Public Library which are both gems!

I walked past this building everyday on my lunch break (I even parked in that lot), there are some beautiful buildings in Downtown Newark that just need some investment.

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/2003/11/30/realestate/comprop.650.jpg

[DJWK]

'Development to Offer $1.2 Billion Boost to Camden' ~ I still can't believe this is for real...somebody wake me up!

Camden its getting better day by day. :) Hopefully it will be like jersey city in the near future. Although then again...

Were you the one who about this time last year in a Jersey City post said you hoped Camden could have similar success? If so, you're the one who got me interested in Camden since then. This is great, I hope the people of Camden benefit from this renewed attention and can rebound from being the 2nd poorest city in the nation

[Kris]

March 13, 2004

In Delaware River Towns of South Jersey, a Light Rail, With the Emphasis on Light

By LAURA MANSNERUS

TRENTON, March 12 - From rail yards in Camden and Trenton, cars will roll out on Sunday morning for the very first trip on what transportation experts say will be the light rail line with the worst financial performance in the nation.

The people along a string of shrinking towns on the Delaware River are expected to make about 5,900 one-way trips a day on New Jersey Transit's new River Line. Each trip will cost New Jersey taxpayers about $30 to cover operating costs and debt service. And the state has sunk $1 billion into the project.

Light rail - this generation's name for streetcars and trolleys - has been introduced or revived in about 20 American cities in the last 20 years, drawing attention with a winning combination of nostalgia and novelty. How well these lines have worked is a subject of fierce debate; few if any pay for themselves. But even the state transit officials in charge of it say the River Line is a cautionary tale.

At a time when the state treasury is bare and New Jersey Transit in particular is starving, the River Line, which will carry fewer than 1 percent of the agency's passengers, is expected to drain about $65 million a year from the transportation funds allotted for the entire state.

"There is a desire named streetcar among planners," said James Dunn, a political scientist at Rutgers who studies public transit. But if lightly traveled rail lines do little to serve transportation needs, that is almost beside the point for the politicians who want to build them, he said.

In the political sphere, "it's a benefits regime" that distributes jobs, contracts and influence, Professor Dunn said. "The costs are the benefits."

And the River Line illustrates those costs.

The line was a notion of the 1990's, when light rail was catching on across the country. New Jersey approved a 20-mile line along the Hudson, from Bayonne to Bergen County, and obtained federal funds that would eventually pay for most of it. South Jersey legislators responded with a plan for the 34-mile Camden-to-Trenton line, a proposal little noticed in the flush, free-spending years of Gov. Christie Whitman's administration, and that was approved, too. Most of the old rail line that would carry the light rail was in Burlington County, home of State Senator C. William Haines, the chairman of the Transportation Committee, who died in 1996.

One critical distinction of the South Jersey line was that the state made no application for federal aid. "The true scandal of all this is they knew it was bad to begin with and didn't want it evaluated objectively," said Prof. John Pucher of Rutgers, a transit expert who describes himself as a proponent of light rail.

The project has cost about three times more than the earliest estimates. Since 1996, the state has paid $476 million for the contract to design and build the system and $100 million for consultants. In borrowing to keep the project afloat, the state paid outside bond underwriters and lawyers, although those costs are minuscule in comparison to the $48 million a year to be paid in debt service.

Officials in Gov. James E. McGreevey's administration, having inherited the River Line, thought about abandoning the project and then about letting people ride free, reasoning that the fares - $1.10 per trip - would not cover the cost of collecting them.

George Warrington, the director of New Jersey Transit, says the light rail line will have no noticeable effect on traffic congestion.

Like many of the River Line's supporters, Mr. Warrington describes it as an economic development project for the river towns, most of which lost population in the 1990's, even while Burlington County grew by 7.2 percent. State Route 130, paralleling the River Line, remained an underused highway lined with auto-body shops and storage businesses.

But the Victorian flavor of villages like Bordentown and Riverside invited downtown renewal. "Private capital is gravitating back to downtowns across the state, and the anchor for much of that attraction is the train station," Mr. Warrington said.

Mark Remsa, Burlington County's director of economic development, said that about $480 million in new construction was planned within walking distance of the line or of shuttle buses to the stations from employment centers.

Mr. Remsa said it was almost impossible to tell whether the River Line would simply siphon development from not-too-distant points, or even from Route 130, just as it would siphon passengers from Camden-to-Trenton bus service. "But we have seen property values rising," he said, "particularly along the tracks, and a lot of people who say they're here because of the light rail."

Even opponents say that Camden and Trenton can only benefit from the line. But some potential riders will not ride the line to Trenton because it stops about a mile from the State House. In Camden, scheduling is a problem. The terminus is across the street from the Tweeter Center, a major concert hall, but the line runs late only on Saturdays; on other days, because the right-of-way is shared with freight traffic, the last train leaves at 9 p.m.

Criticism of the project reflects a wider, impassioned dispute over the efficacy of mass transit and of light rail in particular. Clifford Winston, an economist at the Brookings Institution, argues that public ownership of transit is governed by political - and therefore hugely expensive - spending decisions, and that planners routinely overestimate demand for new projects. "I do mind how much these things cost," Mr. Winston said, "but I mind more when no one uses them."

In this debate, the River Line is often singled out for derision. In a new study titled "Great Rail Disasters," published in Colorado by the Independence Institute, a libertarian research organization, the author, Randal O'Toole, said, "The South Jersey rail line is so bad that it is almost a New Jersey caricature of everything wrong with rail transit."

Many transit advocates respond that mass transit serves purposes beyond dollar-for-dollar efficiency and that new rail development invites other investments that transform their surroundings. Mr. Warrington cites the example of Metropark, the rail station that was widely labeled a boondoggle when it was built on farmland in Edison, N.J., and is now a sizable job center.The new Hudson-Bergen light-rail line has been much disparaged, too, but ridership and revenue are growing quickly as construction extends the line to transit hubs like the Hoboken bus and rail terminal.

The comparison of the Trenton-to-Camden line and other light-rail lines around the nation is even more stark. At the projected 2.1 million trips a year, ridership on the River Line would be far below the least successful new projects: Buffalo's 6-mile-long light rail (about 5.8 million trips a year) and San Jose's 29-mile line (about 7.8 million trips a year). Among the more successful lines, St. Louis has almost 15 million trips a year, Dallas 13.7 million, and San Diego more than 25 million.

The projected farebox receipts for the River Line - $1.4 million in the first year - fall far below any other new line's revenue. Given $18 million to $19 million in operating and maintenance costs, fares will cover about 7 percent of costs and require a subsidy of just over $8 per trip. When the $48 million debt service is added, the recovery is 2 percent and the subsidy $31 per trip.

The River Line has proven painful to many public-transit advocates, who do not want to discourage new investment or the delicate progress that rail lines are bringing to urban centers.

Professor Pucher at Rutgers, who does not even own a car, calls the River Line "probably the worst transit investment in the entire country."

"I'm really upset because it's just bankrupting New Jersey Transit," he said. "It's going to postpone desperately needed improvements in North Jersey. The trains are overflowing. We need another tunnel into Manhattan. We need double-decker trains."

Like many transportation experts, Mr. Pucher said areas like South Jersey, where development is scattered, are much better and more cheaply served by buses. But bus service is notoriously hard to sell, he added. "Even the Federal Transit Administration has said that the main problem with buses is they don't look like trains."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Kris]

River Line Photo Gallery (http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?s=8c73d16a022c96172f678c8d693572ec& threadid=34620)

[Kris]

June 27, 2004

Camden's Billion-Dollar Gamble

By JILL P. CAPUZZO

CAMDEN

DAY after day, Mary Cortes races around Cramer Hill in her late-model black Mustang, handing out bumper stickers that say "Don't Tread on Me" and signs with the word "Cherokee" crossed out by a large red slash.

On one such foray, Ms. Cortes found a willing recipient in Margaret Grossmick, who now has one of the signs hanging from the front porch of her tan, two-story house on Harrison Avenue - a last-ditch effort to save her home of 48 years from being torn down in the name of progress and prosperity.

"My husband and I have lived in Cramer Hill all our lives," said the 72-year-old Ms. Grossmick, reaching for an inhaler tucked beneath the elasticized neckline of her pink polyester blouse. "We struggled paying off our mortgage, then we got siding six or seven years ago. Then we bought the lots next door. We've got it nice here and now they're saying we have to go."

Ms. Grossmick and her husband are among the 1,200 families facing an uncertain future if a redevelopment plan with a price tag of almost $1.3 billion for this working-class neighborhood in northwest Camden - home to a predominantly Hispanic population with a sprinkling of blacks and whites - is passed by the City Council as expected on Wednesday.

For decades, this section of Camden - physically cut off from the rest of the city by railroad tracks and two rivers - has been largely ignored by government officials, a condition underscored by the rutted roads, shattered streetlights and a perpetual flooding problem.

But these days Cramer Hill, with its two-mile-long stretch along the Delaware and across the river from Philadelphia, is the latest object of desire among planners, who are shifting their focus from the waterfront downtown to this upriver neighborhood that abuts Pennsauken.

Around the country, urban planners have seized on the realization that waterfront land offers the greatest potential for economic revitalization. Through millions of dollars in public subsidies and tax incentives, cities have made great strides trying to duplicate the success of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore or the Riverwalk in San Antonio. There are few locations where this phenomenon more apparent than at the northern end of the state, where development along the Hudson River in Jersey City and what is known as the Gold Coast - embracing once-gritty towns like Secaucus, West New York, Guttenberg and North Bergen - has transformed the riverfront into a miles-long stretch of office towers, high-end town houses, condominiums and fashionable shops and restaurants.

Now Camden - the state's poorest city, so depleted in resources and spirit that headline writers long ago grew weary of grasping at adjectives to describe its deprivations - is poised to reach for its golden ring with the help of the state and private industry. The state stepped in two years ago with a $175 million bailout package, most of which has already gone toward improvements to Cooper Hospital and the state and county colleges. With just $35 million in aid left, Camden officials began looking toward private investors, like Cherokee Investment Partners of North Carolina, who last December were chosen for the $1.298 billion redevelopment of Cramer Hill.

With plans to build 6,000 new homes, 500,000 square feet of commercial space, a marina, and perhaps most unlikely of all - an 18-hole golf course on the long-abandoned Harrison Avenue landfill - over the next 10 years, the redevelopment plan would be one of the largest such projects the state has undertaken.

For the City of Camden, the potential is even more significant: if private companies - in this case, Cherokee - can be lured to invest in Camden, and in the process reinvent a neighborhood, why not spread the wealth to other sections of the city that are in far worse condition?

"The private sector said, 'We believe in this neighborhood and are prepared to invest a substantial amount of money,' " said Melvin R. Primas, a former mayor here who Governor McGreevey appointed to oversee the city's revitalization effort. "Camden has not been in this position for many years. We now have developers looking all over Camden."

For many of Camden's residents, 46 percent of whom live at or below the poverty line, the contemplation of such sweeping change is daunting. Where city and state officials see prosperity, many wary residents envision neighborhoods being gentrified to the point where they will be forced out and left with few places to move in the city or surrounding suburbs.

Indeed, Mr. Primas acknowledged that according to the city's master plan, every neighborhood here will be designated a redevelopment zone, giving it the right to acquire properties through eminent domain.

In Cramer Hill alone, up to 1,000 houses and 21 businesses are listed "to be acquired," while another 200 houses and 19 businesses "may be acquired" (plus an additional 64 homes to be razed to make way for a new elementary school). More than 500 of these homes are in two government-subsidized housing projects: Ablett Village, run by the Camden Housing Authority, and Centennial Village, a privately owned apartment complex that is largely subsidized by the federal government.

Over the past several months, much of the discussion at two planning board meetings - where the redevelopment plan passed unanimously despite the presence of about 800 angry residents - focused on the displacement of the public housing residents.

For now, the Cramer Hill plan calls for building 1,200 affordable homes - sprinkled among new homes that will sell for as much as $200,000 - to offset some of the public housing that is to be torn down, and city officials have promised residents that they will have the chance to move back into the neighborhood or elsewhere in the city.

Nevertheless, many questions have arisen over what constitutes "affordable" in a poverty-riddled city and where the poorest residents will be able to go.

Arijit De, executive director of the Camden Redevelopment Agency, insists that residents of Ablett Village will be given priority in the city's other public housing projects and will continue to pay the same rent; those living in Centennial Village will be given vouchers that can be used for similar rent-subsidized apartments.

"Nobody is going to be rendered homeless," Mr. De said. "We are asking you to believe that we are here looking out for your interests."

But Olga Pomar, a lawyer from South Jersey Legal Services who is representing the families in the two housing projects as well as many homeowners and businesses in the neighborhood, contends that the overall number of public housing units in the city has been reduced by about 30 percent in the past 10 years and that the competition for existing units is fierce.

Currently, there are 373 people on the waiting list for public housing similar to the units scheduled for demolition at Ablett Village, according to Ms. Pomar, who also pointed out that the number of landlords willing to accept vouchers for rent subsidies has also dropped.

"Even though they may not love Ablett and Centennial, they represent a very valuable resource for the city," Ms. Pomar said, "one that in this current funding climate we can't afford to lose."

Moreover, city planners agree that Camden, the recipient of four large public housing grants from the federal government over the last 10 years, is unlikely to receive any more; President Bush has repeatedly tried to slash funds for public housing.

Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution's Center on Urban and Metropolitan Housing called the endangered federal housing program the most effective one for providing new housing and revitalizing tough neighborhoods in the last 50 years, but said its future "would depend on the election, if we have a pro-housing government or not."

Regardless of the status of the federal program, city planners say they have no desire to build another housing project in Cramer Hill, but rather want to scatter the affordable housing throughout the area.

"We are not going to build a large low-income property in Cramer Hill," Mr. Primas said. "We don't want to build pockets of poverty. We have the lessons of many years to learn from, to do it right this time."

From his perspective, Mr. Katz warned that city planners trying to turn around deteriorating neighborhoods not lose sight of the residents. "Some public housing agencies have paid more attention to the redevelopment than the housing," he said. "They haven't paid attention to the needs of the families or provided enough support to families before and after they move."

While many in Camden are willing to trust city officials' promises to protect the interests of public housing residents, it is the homeowners - many of whom are not much better off than those living in public housing - whose status seems far less certain.

To try to attract private developers, city planners came up with an ambitious vision that included far more land than a contaminated landfill or vacant lots scattered throughout the neighborhood. "We've often focused on filling in the gaps, applying Band-Aids," Mr. De said. "That's been the history. Here there was the opportunity to assemble enough land to have a real impact, that a large-scale change in the environment was in fact conceivable."

Of the developers who responded to the city's request for proposals last year, Mr. De said, Cherokee was the only one to come back with a "holistic response" - a plan that would allow for the removal of about 700 private homes in areas desirable for redevelopment. Yet with some homes and businesses dating back more than a century, local residents feared not only the loss of their houses or workplaces but also the history and character of Cramer Hill.

The one-square-mile neighborhood got its start in the late 1800's, when a real estate developer, Alfred Cramer, came up with the idea of selling building lots to working people on monthly installment plans. By 1897, he had sold 5,000 lots in Cramer Hill and East Camden, and by World War II, much of the present housing stock was in place.

To some, Cramer Hill is best known as the site where Howard Unruh passed through a barber shop, a drugstore, and a local tailor shop on 32nd Street on a September morning in 1949, killing 13 people in 12 minutes.

Today, Cramer Hill is a quiet neighborhood, with one of the city's more stable residential populations and a healthy business district along River Road. Hispanics make up 65 percent of the area's 10,000 residents, and about a third of the people live below the poverty line, according to the 2000 Census.

A survey conducted by the Hillier Group, a private architectural firm, for the purposes of creating a redevelopment plan concluded that 28 percent of the area's 3,816 parcels of land was substandard or deteriorating, thereby fulfilling one of the state's criteria for a redevelopment designation. The drive-by survey found that 35 percent of the homes were in poor condition and 60 percent were in fair condition, according to the head of the Camden planning board, Charles Lyons Jr., though he acknowledged that the assessments were "subjective" and based solely on exterior examination.

Ms. Cortes, a teacher's aide who has been leading the fight to block the Cherokee development, said the findings were not a surprise. In an effort to avoid attention - both of the tax assessor and would-be thieves - Ms. Cortes said many of her neighbors did not worry what the outside of their houses look like. But behind the patchwork vinyl siding and occasional boarded up windows, residents have worked to build their own notion of heaven, Ms. Cortes said

"We are not a blighted area," said Ms. Cortes, who bought a four-bedroom split level house on Arthur Avenue 10 years ago for $27,000. "I have seen shacks that are falling apart turned into mansions."

Mike Hagan, a native of Cramer Hill, moved to San Francisco in the 1970's then returned in 1985 to be closer to his mother and bought what is referred to locally as "the Castle," a blue, three-story turreted house on 32nd Street near the Delaware.

"This used to be the dumps, the wrong side of the tracks," said Mr. Hagan, who bought the house - then in foreclosure - for $4,727 and like many in the neighborhood has lived mortgage-free for many years. "Now it's a real estate land grab in the guise of redevelopment."

Mr. Hagan, a part-time house painter and pianist, went on: "It's the American dream to have a house paid for. These are people who paid off their houses long ago and thought they were good to go for the rest of their lives."

To allay such concerns, Mr. Lyons said that homeowners who have maintained their properties and do not owe taxes will be paid the full appraised value for their homes and will be provided relocation assistance.

Recent census data lists the median price for a home in Cramer Hill at $42,900, but Mr. Lyons said homes in the area have been selling for $60,000 to $85,000 in the last 90 days. In addition, state guidelines provide homeowners with up to $15,000 in relocation aid, which Mr. Lyons said would be paid for by the developer.

"If you are in a two-bedroom home and you have paid off your mortgage, we will make sure you're in another two-bedroom home in or as near to Cramer Hill as you care to be," said Mr. Lyons, adding that the city will "attempt to equalize the cost, within reason."

Still, some have questioned why established neighborhoods had to be included in the redevelopment, rather than focusing on upgrading the public housing and cleaning up the 96-acre Harrison Avenue landfill.

For their part, city officials said there was no incentive for a private developer to simply clean up the landfill, an assessment supported by the head of Cherokee.

"We looked at individual sites and concluded that we needed to improve a larger area to make it worthwhile," said the chief executive of Cherokee, Tom Darden. "There are not much economics in a golf course. If you're trying to support the closure of a landfill with a golf course, it's not feasible."

Others are challenging the value of an 18-hole golf course is planned for one of the poorest cities in the United States - particularly when there is neither a movie theater nor a soccer field in all of Camden. They see the course as symbolic of the kind of gentrification they fear for the neighborhood, separating the haves - who will be living in homes worth as much as $200,000 or more - from the have-nots.

"Golf is a little rarefied for the population," said Howard Gillette, a professor at Rutgers University-Camden who is finishing a book on the history of Camden. "But it is not too rarefied to attract those middle- to upper-middle-class people they're trying to get."

For Cherokee, one of the nation's largest companies involved in the remediation of brownfields, building golf courses has offered one of the most affordable and expedient solutions for recycling contaminated land. In fact, the company is currently building two courses on 700 acres of landfill in the Meadowlands, and four weeks ago proposed another billion-dollar, mixed-use development for Pennsauken's waterfront.

While the City Council appears virtually certain to approve the Cramer Hill project, skeptics are concerned about where the money is going to come from, particularly the public financing. Included in the plan as "potential funding sources" are $100 million from the state's Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency, $75 million from the state Department of Community Affairs, $50 million from the federal Department of Transportation, and $35 million from the Camden Recovery Board for neighborhood improvement. At this point, however, none of those agencies have committed themselves to this project.

Mr. Primas said parts of the plan, like a new $100 million bridge across the Cooper River and the affordable housing units, will be covered by public subsidy, while the market-rate housing and retail development will be the responsibility of private developers. Cherokee will pay for the landfill remediation, but can expect to recoup 75 percent of that cost through tax credits and environmental cleanup funds, Mr. Primas said.

"The redevelopment plan is a general plan," he noted. "It hasn't been costed out to the penny. "These are rough numbers, what we think it's going to cost. Once we get the plan approved, then we can begin the process of negotiations."

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[Ernest Burden III]

June 27, 2004
Camden's Billion-Dollar Gamble
By JILL P. CAPUZZO
Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

I understand from a friend that this story was accompanied by a rendering. I did not see the article in the Times myself. Does anyone know if the rendering was posted anywhere on the web? It's not on the Times' site, which is good, but other publications may have run it (or them). There were two aerials produced, I don't know which one was run in the paper.

Thanks in advance
Ernest Burden III

[Jasonik]

http://www.courierpostonline.com/camden2015/images/multimedialogo.jpg (http://www.courierpostonline.com/camden2015/multimedia.html)

http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/discoverphilly/phase2plan.JPG (http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/discoverphilly/camden.htm)

http://www.steiner.com/_graphics/steinerLogo.jpg (http://www.steiner.com/portfolio/camdenwaterfront/camdenoverview.cfm)

http://www.camconnect.org/
Brownfields contact info:
http://www.ycees.njit.edu/NHSRC/outreach/TOSC/camden.html

[Ernest Burden III]

I don't know WHAT that is. It sure isn't the masterplan I am familiar with. Could I be in the wrong thread? We're supposed to be discussing the Cramer Hill re-developement?

I don't have the renderings on my site because they were the last of my watercolored work (I'm all digital now, baby!). I really was just curious which rendering was run on the paper and if they used all of it or a portion.

Now I'm confused, too.

[Jasonik]

Sorry for all the 'extra' info, just thought it would be informative about the complete Camden vision. Aspects of the Cramer Hill re-development are laid out in the links above, including zoning and redistricting maps, etc.

I did not find your watercolor aerial though.

[krulltime]

Jasonik I think that the 'extra info' was generous for people like me who are intereted beyond NYC. I am really interested in what is going on in camden and this link you found has great information.

Maybe NYC and the State could learn from this and built something like this development on the Brooklyn waterfront. Especially up on greenpoint.

I am so glad there is still alot of land to be develop on the waterfront of NYC. It is going to be amazing if it is spend the right way.

[Ernest Burden III]

Cramer Hill, bringing golf to the inner-city. And yachting, let's not forget that.

The design won. There was a lot of interest in preserving the welfare of the current residents while bringing 'renewal'.

There were also five sketch renderings showing pedestrian experience views. Overall, the design is well thought out. It will be interesting to see how it does, long term, for the area. Can you improve a blighted area without displacing the 'native' population? Does a rising tide lift all boats, or do some boats just have holes in them to begin with?

[Kris]

December 29, 2004

Camden's Streets Go From Mean to Meanest

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/29/nyregion/camden.184.2.650.jpg
Police officers in North Camden arresting a suspect in an armed robbery.

Slide Show: America's Most Dangerous City (http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2004/12/28/nyregion/20041229_CAMD_SLIDESHOW_1.html)

CAMDEN, N.J., Dec. 23 - If anybody was surprised that Camden was recently ranked America's most dangerous city, it wasn't the people who live here.

In the past 12 months, there have been 53 homicides, including a 12-year-old shot to death on his porch for his radio, more than 800 aggravated assaults, including a toddler shot in the back of the head, at least 750 robberies and 150 acts of arson, more than 10,000 arrests and one glaring nonarrest - a serial rapist on the loose downtown.

All in a city of 79,000, nine square miles small.

For decades, Camden has been the classic model of urban despair, a place where entire city blocks are boarded up and glassy-eyed heroin addicts roam the streets and cold, empty factories stand testament to the decaying fortunes of American industry.

But for the last couple of years, the city, on the banks of the Delaware River opposite Philadelphia, was supposed to be getting better. The state of New Jersey recently began a $175 million bailout plan and a real estate developer is about to start a $1.3 billion redevelopment gamble that includes fancy homes and, of all things, a golf course.

And so Camden's latest explosion of violence, which defies most national trends, is, for all its tragic aspects, also miserably timed. The city's dream of renaissance is being interrupted by a brutal reality, and at the cusp of a supposed economic recovery, the most thriving trade remains crack cocaine.

"This city would collapse without it," said Lt. Frank Cook of the Camden police.

Drugs are thought to be responsible for a vast majority of the city's problems, and the drug trade is picking up, detectives say, with better quality narcotics hitting the streets, big-city street gangs moving in and a new breed of criminals stepping up who are sophisticated enough to provide health benefits for crack dealers.

In a place where poverty is so concentrated - Camden is, essentially, one big blighted neighborhood - the outcome seems inevitable: more drugs, more drug wars, more bodies.

That dark formula is what caught the attention of researchers at Morgan Quitno, a group in Lawrence, Kan., that tracks national crime data. They calculated that Camden had the highest rate of violent crime per capita in 2003 among cities of 75,000 or more. And this year looks no better, with homicides up 20 percent and counting.

"It's not all peaches and cream out here," said Irene Miller, a prostitute who has been working Camden's streets for years. Local officials are close to desperate.

"I feel like I'm in Falluja," said Edwin Figueroa, Camden's police chief. "I don't have enough soldiers. The enemy is out there. And we're fighting the same battle over and over and over again."

No doubt, there are countless lives caught up in this.

Here are five.

Yaya Kirkland used to be a chatterbox. Now she barely coos.

She looks up from her hospital bed, blank and drooling, a tangle of tubes and wires and hoses attached to her as if she is some sort of science project. Her shiny coffee-bean eyes are wide open. Her mother puts a finger next to her lashes. But Yaya doesn't blink. Not once.

Sometimes her nose fills up with mucus and she makes a snorting noise. Sometimes little tears run from the corners of her eyes.

"My baby's in pain," her mother says.

Yaya, whose full name is Yahnajeah, is a 3-year-old casualty of Camden's drug wars. She was bouncing around the back seat of a car on her way home with her mother when a stray bullet fired from the doorway of a housing project drilled through the car's door and into the back of her head.

This happened Oct. 28, at 9:35 p.m., in the Centerville section of town, a drug-infested stretch of rundown row houses and housing projects. Her mother, Nathenia Kirkland, had just picked up cheese fries and fried chicken for dinner.

She heard, crack, crack. Two shots. Saw two flashes.

When she whipped around to check on her daughter, Yaya was slumped over the back seat.

"God, please don't take my baby, please," Ms. Kirkland recalled screaming.

The police didn't think the girl would live. They opened a homicide investigation.

But Yaya held on. She survived six operations and many complications, though it is not clear if she will ever fully recover.

"She's conscious, but she's not conscious," said her great-aunt, Kathryn Blackshear. "She can see but she can't see."

Ms. Kirkland is on her own now, a 26-year-old single mother looking after a wounded child in a city where social service agencies say 80 percent of children are born to single mothers, more than double the national average. She wanted to quit work but could not because she needs to pay the bills. She works at a nursing home folding sheets and wiping noses, and comes home at night to an empty apartment.

"I used to hear my baby playing in her room, she said. "I used to hear Elmo."

She is lonely and angry and frustrated and scared.

"I'm always looking over my shoulder now," she said. "Sometimes, when I'm driving around, I feel like it's me who's about to get shot in the head."

People say they know who the gunman is. But no witnesses will talk. No arrests have been made. In Camden, it's a familiar story.

A Nun's Blessings

Sister Helen Cole is known in North Camden as Sister Charles Bronson.

The other day she was walking down York Street with an Our Lady of Guadelupe pendant swinging from her neck, past once-beautiful peaked-roof houses now encased in burglar bars, past men in hooded sweatshirts mouthing "white horse, white horse," past murals of dead boys with R.I.P. painted below their faces in huge snazzy graffiti letters, when she bumped into a neighbor.

"Hey, Terry," she said. "Just doing a tour of the holy ground."

"Sister," the woman replied, "all Camden is going to be holy ground soon."

When somebody is killed, Sister Helen goes to the spot with a bottle of holy water. She lights a candle. She says a prayer. The spot becomes holy ground. She has turned sidewalks, street corners, porches, alleyways, weed-choked fields and even a Toyota Celica into holy ground. Lately, she has been very busy.

She began this work in 1995 when the mother of a missing girl knocked on the convent's door for help. The girl had been raped and murdered. Sister Helen hasn't looked back since.

"I'm not a seeker, an ambulance chaser," she said. "But I enjoy taking away pain. I hold out my hands and tell people, 'Give me your pain, put it in my hands, let it go.' "

She calls it companioning.

Every year on Good Friday, Sister Helen, a Roman Catholic nun, leads a Stations of the Cross procession through North Camden. People act out scenes from Christ's crucifixion and then stand on the street corners and belt out the names of known drug dealers and pray for them.

"I'm not stupid," Sister Helen said. "I'm not going to go up to these guys and confront them. I value my life."

How does she even know their names?

"We coached them in Little League," she said

Her church, Holy Name, has been running sports programs and social services in North Camden for years. It is one of the roughest neighborhoods in the city, and many houses have an unusual architectural feature: the totally fortified front porch, with burglar bars walling off not just windows and doors but the whole front part of the house. The police call them birdcages, and on many days when the streets are thick with drug dealers, it is the law-abiding citizen sitting behind bars.

Sister Helen, 46, lives amid all this in a convent on State Street with four other nuns. They have a Christmas wreath bound to their porch with three chains.

"The addicts," she explained.

The other day, she dropped in at La Dominicana, a corner store, with the daughter of the man who used to run it.

"This is where the lookout stood," the girl said flatly as she opened the door.

"This is where the robber was," the girl added as she walked in. "And this is where my father got shot."

"More holy ground," Sister Helen said.

One Man's Vision

At the top of Camden City Hall is a saying chiseled into stone: "In a dream I saw a city invincible."

Walt Whitman, Camden's most famous resident, wrote those words in 1860. Randy Primas, Camden's revitalization czar, still believes in them.

Mr. Primas steps to his window on the 13th floor of City Hall and looks out across the rooftops. He doesn't see the killing fields of North Camden where Sister Helen lights her candles. He doesn't see the Camden that is. He sees high-rise condos rising up from the waterfront, and new office towers in front of the Philadelphia skyline, and business and people flocking to downtown instead of fleeing in a trail of taillights when the sun goes down. He sees the Camden that will be, something like the Camden that once was.

"You know, Camden used to make everything from a pen to a battleship," Mr. Primas said. "It was a smokestack town. It had hundreds of factories. People had jobs. It worked."

Mr. Primas, 55, was a popular mayor in the 1980's and is among Camden's select few over the past 20 years not to be indicted. Then he moved away to the suburbs and made a lot of money working for a bank.

Two years ago, he came back to perform miracles. So far, it's been slow going.

He was appointed by the state to be Camden's chief operating officer, in charge of the $175 million bailout plan, with veto power over the mayor and the City Council.

Already, he has had to take the City Council to court three times to force it to approve his plans.

His goal is jobs.

"We've got to give these young men on the corners something to do," he said.

He rattled off a list of businesses that had closed since the 1960's - New York Shipyards, the Haddon book bindery, the Campbell soup factory. He remembered summer days when the produce trucks would line up at the factory and the streets would run red - with tomato juice.

He gave statistics of today's Camden: 20 percent of the city is unemployed; per-capita income is $9,815; half of the residents did not finish high school; one out of 20 graduated from college; 46 percent of children live in poverty.

"That $175 million may sound like a lot of money for this place," Mr. Primas went on. "But it's going to take billions."

Drugs and Real Estate

Kenny Jenkins used to cut an impressive figure in his silk shirts and Versace suits, driving his $60,000 Lincoln Navigator with the $10,000 rims around the Louis Street wasteland where he grew up. According to federal prosecutors, he was one of the biggest dealers in town, raking in $300,000 a week.

Now he is locked up and facing 30 years to life.

Over the past few weeks, in a hushed courtroom in the Camden federal building, prosecutors have tried to methodically build a case against Mr. Jenkins, 36, painting him as the living, breathing, crack-dealing embodiment of Camden's ruin - but with a twist.

After amassing a mountain of cash, prosecutors said, Mr. Jenkins tried to go straight by buying rundown houses, fixing them up and selling them. The problem was, prosecutors said, he defrauded mortgage companies and home buyers every step of the way.

They have called a string of witnesses to detail Mr. Jenkins's rise to power, starting with accounts of his humble beginnings as a high school dropout selling crack at the corner of Louis and Chestnut Streets, one of the city's most notorious intersections, to his emergence as a major player in powdered cocaine.

"You will hear how the profits were staggering at times, and that the cash was spent often as quickly as it came in," said Marc-Philip Ferzan, one of the prosecutors, at the beginning of the trial. "Cristal Champagne at $500 a bottle, expensive cars, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, Lincoln Navigators, S.U.V.'s, the finest designer clothes like Versace, Prada, Gucci, jewelry, Rolex watches, gold necklaces, diamond earrings, women."

As one police officer put it, Camden is "the richest poorest city in the country." And at any given moment, the war on drugs is playing out in multiple sites across the city's compact downtown - the federal court, the state court, the methadone clinic, the police station, the prosecutor's office, the county health bureau - all within walking distance of one another, almost like a mini-Olympics for the narcotics game.

But for all the drugs coursing through Camden's veins, there won't be any on display at the Jenkins trial. Despite three years of investigation, federal agents were not able to seize even a dime bag connected to him.

"This is a dope case with no dope," said his defense lawyer, Michael E. Riley. "They don't have any physical evidence to prove Kenny is anything but a legitimate businessman in the home repair business."

Mr. Jenkins, who was convicted of drug dealing in 1998, was not available for comment. The other day he sat in court in a crisp dress shirt, cupping his face, rubbing his shaved head, studying the faces of the witnesses, his old friends.

He was heard only when prosecutors played a tape recorded by an informant.

"There ain't nothing she can say about me," Mr. Jenkins said on the tape, referring to the possibility of his ex-girlfriend's testifying. "What? I sold drugs? They know that."

View From a Police Car

Capt. Harry Leon does not see America winning the war on drugs. His goal is a little smaller." I just try to keep the corner clean where my mama lives," he said.

As the sun sank behind Philadelphia's skyline, across the river but a world away, Captain Leon glided down Federal Street in his sleek black Crown Victoria, a complete mess rolling past his windows: houses half standing, half falling down, littered lots, broken down cars, teenage boys in groups with their middle-school lookouts riding bikes.

"We can suppress but we can't eradicate," said Captain Leon, who has been patrolling Camden for 15 years. A drug dealer once blew up his truck, and after that Captain Leon said his wife "strongly suggested" they move out of Camden. They did.

He said the Camden Police Department constantly shifted its tactics: officers on foot, officers on bikes, officers on horseback, going hard, going soft, going in between.

"But they figure it out," he said.

Today's drug dealers speak in code and use untraceable cellphones and brand their white bags of powder with special stamps to differentiate themselves, he said. The latest craze now is "wet," a marijuana joint rolled in embalming fluid.

Drug crimes and gun crimes are the two top priorities. Last summer Camden's law enforcement agencies, who are often at odds with each other, banded together to form a "shoot team" to investigate nonfatal shootings with the same rigor usually reserved for homicides. So far, they have increased the number of closed cases on aggravated assaults from 18 percent to 45 percent.

"The key is getting people to talk," said Sgt. Eddie Ramos, head of the shoot team. "We'll show up at a gun call and everybody will be standing around saying nothing happened and we'll turn the corner and find a body."

Where the bodies fall is often memorialized. It has become almost an urban cliché. But in Camden the sidewalk memorials are truly inescapable, one after another testifying to the swift current carrying the city's young men away.

During his patrol, Captain Leon stopped by a huge richly detailed mural of a 27-year-old man called "B." He had soft eyes and a little mustache. His face was in the clouds.

"We're going to tear this down," Captain Leon said.

Why?

" 'Cause it glorifies death."

But before he got back into the car, Captain Leon looked up once more at the mural.

"Beautiful though, ain't it?" he said.

Graphic: Mired in Urban Despair (http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2004/12/28/nyregion/28camden_lg.gif)

Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company

[ZippyTheChimp]

Camden, N.J., Ranked Most-Dangerous City

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer

November 21, 2005, 12:04 AM EST

CAMDEN, N.J. -- For the second year in a row, this destitute city has been named the nation's most dangerous, according to a company's annual ranking based on crime statistics.

Last year, the distinction seemed to hurt city boosters' feelings more than it harmed revitalization efforts. This time, city leaders are offended by the ranking, calling it unfair.

"We're doing so many nice things now. It's unfortunate that somebody always wants to bad-mouth Camden," Mayor Gwendolyn Faison said.

The city took the top spot last year from Detroit, which remained No. 2 in the most dangerous city rankings, to be released Monday by Morgan Quitno Press. The Lawrence, Kan.-based company publishes "City Crime Rankings," an annual reference book.

Camden, a former industrial city across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, is known for a history of corrupt politicians, drug-dealing and murders. It has been among the top 10 in the most dangerous city rankings in each of the eight years Morgan Quitno released them. By most measures, it is also among the nation's poorest.

The has state poured $175 million into the city to spur development projects and take over parts of its government, the city's aquarium doubled in size and a new library and technology center were built. Tourism continues to increase along the river, home to the aquarium, an amphitheater, a minor-league baseball park and a retired battleship.

But about 100 fewer prospective students than expected attended Rutgers University's downtown campus last year, something Provost Roger Dennis attributes to the crime ranking and a serial rapist who assaulted women near and on campus last fall.

Police are now using computers to try to track crime trends, and more officers are patrolling the city's neighborhoods.

Authorities say that has helped drive down the most serious crimes by 18 percent in the first 10 months of 2005 compared with the same period a year earlier.

Some residents say their neighborhoods feel a bit safer.

"I haven't heard that many gunshots," said Gracy Muniz, 22, a mother of three who lives in North Camden.

Critics note that Morgan Quitno's ranking is based on data from last year, when the city of 80,000 averaged a murder a week. Murders from January through October were down by 45 percent compared with the same period in 2004.

Scott Morgan, president of Morgan Quitno, said Friday that while the numbers may not be perfect, they are one of the only ways to compare crime in different cities.

*Copyright © 2005, The Associated Press

[TLOZ Link5]

An overview of the safest and most dangerous overall, in addition to by population group, can be viewed here:

http://morganquitno.com/xcit06pop.htm#25

New York is considered the fourth-safest among cities with at least 500,000 people; among cities with over a million, it's the safest. Dallas is the fifth-most dangerous city with at least 500,000 people, and the most dangerous among cities with at least a million.

[ZippyTheChimp]

November 22, 2005

Is Most Dangerous City in U.S. Turning Around?

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN (http://query.nytimes.com/search/query?ppds=bylL&v1=JEFFREY GETTLEMAN&fdq=19960101&td=sysdate&sort=newest&ac=JEFFREY GETTLEMAN&inline=nyt-per)

CAMDEN, N.J., Nov. 21 - For the second year in a row, Camden has been ranked the most dangerous city in America, but this year Camden's leaders refused to take the news without hitting back.

On Monday, the day the rankings were announced, Camden's leaders held a rally, with ringing gospel songs, dances and speeches that criticized the crime rankings as meaningless and insulting. About 100 people turned out.

Then, to make their point, city leaders organized a trolley ride for journalists to see new construction sites and other signs of progress. But all along the way, block after run-down block, boys in puffy jackets lingered in doorways of abandoned homes, glaring at the trolley or looking out from under their hooded sweatshirts at smokestacks in the distance that appeared to be rising from the weeds.

Vincent P. Sarubbi, the Camden County prosecutor, is leading the drive to rescue Camden's image.

"We wanted to show the other side of the story," he said during the trolley ride.

Mr. Sarubbi explained that city leaders knew that Camden was about to get another drubbing. Every fall, Morgan Quitno, a publishing firm in Kansas, releases its survey of the safest and most dangerous cities in the country, based on per capita crime rates, and Camden, which has about 80,000 residents, was once again on track to be at the bottom. Mr. Sarubbi blames the survey for scaring off development.

So about a month ago, at Mr. Sarubbi's urging, public officials formed a task force. It did not have a name, although a program circulated at Monday's rally was labeled, "Camden says no to Quitno." There was also a sheet of talking points.

Police Chief Edwin Figueroa said the report was out of date because it was based on data from 2004, the last complete year on record and an especially bloody one for Camden, with 54 homicides, including that of a 12-year-old boy killed on his porch for his radio.

This year has been much better, with homicides down 35 percent to 31 so far this year, and major crime down 18 percent.

"We're making silent progress," the chief said. "There are good things happening here. It's just no one advertises it."

Camden officials also said that the survey does not include all cities in the country, because some do not collect crime data in the same ways.

But Scott Morgan, the president of Morgan Quitno, responded that even if all the cities in the country were included, Camden still would have been ranked the most dangerous. (Detroit was second and St. Louis was third, while Newton, Mass., was listed as the safest city in the country.)

"I don't think the messenger is the problem here," he said. "The numbers are what they are."

He also said that every year, after the survey comes out, he hears complaints from cities ranked among the most dangerous.

What was unusual this year, he said, was that Camden started complaining before the survey was released.

"Obviously, they realize they have a crime issue," he said.

Mr. Morgan explained that the rankings are straightforward tables based on six major crime categories: murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and vehicle theft.

But maybe the numbers do not tell all. During the trolley tour, Mr. Sarubbi and other city leaders pointed out evidence of hope: a home for the elderly going up here, a cleaned up street corner there, a new hospital wing, a club for boys and girls and the first library built in 100 years. And all along the waterfront, they said, attractions were drawing record crowds.

Mr. Sarubbi said aggressive police tactics and long-awaited investment were turning the city around.

Camden used to be an industrial powerhouse, a city of workers who bolted together battleships during World War II and squeezed mountains of tomatoes for the town's Campbell soup factory. Old timers remember the streets running red with juice.

But in the 1970's, the city, located on the Delaware River opposite Philadelphia, began its long, slow slide. The jobs went overseas. The middle class left.

Now Camden is a town with plywood on the windows, garbage on the grass and plenty of fear.

Jackie Walls, a single mother, wants to move.

Where?

"Anywhere but here," she said.

Ms. Walls shrugged when asked about the report. Does it make Camden seem worse than it really is?

She answered with a story. Four years ago, she was at a check cashing shop on Mount Ephraim Avenue when she saw a man with a long silver handgun walk up to another man standing in a crowd. The man with the gun shot him in the head, just feet from Ms. Walls - she remembers seeing the flash of gunpowder - watched him fall, and then shot him four more times. The gunman then walked away. Nobody did anything.

"I think about it every time I cash a check," she said. "I keep seeing that gun."


Copyright 2005 (http://www.nytimes.com/ref/membercenter/help/copyright.html) The New York Times Company (http://www.nytco.com/)

[TLOZ Link5]

http://www.nbc10.com/news/5796723/detail.html

Camden Murder Rate Down In 2005
City's Murder Rate Still Seven Times National Average

January 2, 2006

CAMDEN, N.J. -- The number of murders committed in Camden, N.J., was down sharply last year.

The city had 34 homicides in the city in 2005, including four in the last two weeks. That is 15 fewer murders than in 2004, and it's the lowest number since 2002.

Camden's murder rate was still about seven times the national rate of about 5.5 per 100,000 residents.

Over the past few years, authorities in Camden, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, have tried ambitious new crime-fighting efforts, including a reorganization of the city police department.

This year, the U.S. Marshal's Office has arrested more than 300 fugitives and a new task force has been established to solve nonfatal shootings.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[harriet1954]

I live roughly a half-hour from Camden, maybe a few minutes less.

At present, I feel that Camden is still a "hole", for lack of a better word. One of my co-workers lives in Cramer Hill and seems to be pretty much in denial about her eventual displacement. All I can do is wish her and her four young daughters all the luck in the world when they do have their house taken away.

Sometimes I do have to go to Camden. I served 17 weeks on Grand Jury last year, and every single case within the city limits of Camden was a cookie-cutter drug case. Last month I needed to get some paperwork at the Hall of Justice, and my boyfriend, who is a detox counselor, took me to a methadone clinic across the street (he was looking for someone he went to certification classes with who works there). Approaching this unmarked gray door, I felt all the apprehension of being in an unsafe neighborhood crawling up inside of me. Thank G-d I was with a man 6'4", 280! Once inside, of course, it was bright and cheerful, and so were the people. The bathroom was interesting, since I had to use it.

I grew up in a large metropolitan area, but Camden's different. You have to have 50 eyes and 50 ears.

I haven't taken the River Line as of yet, but I think this might be a good way for me to approach New York, getting off at Trenton and then taking the Northeast Corridor train (any thoughts?).

I've talked to quite a few old-timers who grew up in Camden, and they just shake their heads. It depresses them to just read the paper about it. It'll take a lot to fix Camden. A lot.

[JCMAN320]

For poet of the people, tour aims to get people into Camden

5/28/2006, 12:00 a.m. ET
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
The Associated Press

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — It doesn't take much time in this city to have doubts about a line its most famous resident, 19th century poet Walt Whitman, wrote about it: "I dream'd in a dream I saw a city invincible."

In the decades after Whitman died here in 1892, the city just east of Philadelphia became a center of industry, home to RCA and Campbell Soup. Then it suffered decline that left Camden one of the poorest cities in the country, a place best known for government corruption and crime.

Now, local boosters are trying to get visitors to come see and explore Whitman's city — and not just the well patrolled sliver of it along the Delaware River that attracts some tourists.

The Walt Whitman & His Invincible City tour being offered this summer passes through neighborhoods of boarded-up houses and shuttered businesses, albeit on an air-conditioned bus. It's the first major effort by tourism officials to get visitors into parts of Camden away from the waterfront.

The tour, which celebrates the writer of "Leaves of Grass" and perhaps most famously an ode to Abraham Lincoln, "O Captain! My Captain!", is in contrast to a familiar scene on nights when the waterfront Tweeter Center has a concert. For concerts, police line the streets, directing traffic and ensuring concertgoers don't end up anywhere but the waterfront.

Since the early 1990s, not long after the last major factory there was shut down, the waterfront has become a draw for people in Philadelphia and the suburbs. The waterfront area features a minor-league baseball stadium, a concert amphitheater, an aquarium and a battleship open for tours.

But the prosperity of that stretch of the city has not spread out into the neighborhoods where most residents live.

In Whitman's time, too, the city was gritty. Philadelphians took a ferry across the Delaware River to get there and take advantage of more liberal liquor laws.

"We don't want to hide anything from anybody. This is a city that has had its struggles," said John Seitter of the South Jersey Tourism Corporation. "That's really the Camden that Whitman knew. It was a glorified beer garden."

The tours are guided by University of Pennsylvania graduate students in history who moonlight with Poor Richard's Walking Tours, which takes visitors on routes in nearby Philadelphia.

Only three tours, which cost $30 per person, were initially scheduled for this year, but organizers hope they become a regular attraction and even part of the itinerary for Philadelphia-bound buses filled with tourists.

The stops include Whitman's last home — now a carefully restored museum right across the street from the Camden County Jail — along with his tomb in a pastoral Victorian-era cemetery, the banks of the Delaware River and the Camden County Historical Society. There's also a visit with a Whitman impersonator who, during a preview tour in May, calmly read poems as police sirens from the inner city wailed in the distance.

Guides delve into issues such as Whitman's sexuality (he had relationships with men, though he was sometimes coy about it) and explain how Victorian-era Americans considered cemeteries good spots for picnics.

There's a refresher on Whitman's poems, which are often studied alongside those of his contemporaries in the transcendental movement, such as Emily Dickinson and Henry David Thoreau.

And the guides talk about the daily life of the scruffy Whitman, who was a gregarious artist, hosting Oscar Wilde and painter Thomas Eakins at the wooden home where he lived his from 1884 until his death eight years later.

Despite his famous visitors, Whitman's two-story wooden home a quarter-mile or so from the river was modest. Inside, it was hard to get around because his home was littered with piles of paper.

Tour guide Kyle Feeley said that admirers in Britain, where Whitman was celebrated as America's first great poet even before he achieved that distinction in his home country, were disheartened to see that he lived so modestly.

"He was so of the people," Feeley said. "If he actually lived the lifestyle that they wanted, he couldn't have written many of the poems he wrote."

___

On the Net:

http://www.visitsouthjersey.com/waltwhitmantour.asp.

[OmegaNYC]

Wow, I've never realized Camden was so down on it's luck. It would be good to see that city get back on it's feet. But what I wonder the most, will people visit Camden, even if that city turns around??

[stache]

I think to some extent yes, just because it's so close to Philly.

[Dr Funky]

Camden:

http://www.urbandecay.ca/Files/Content/Philadelphia/Philadelphia/Pictures/camden/camden9.jpg

http://www.urbandecay.ca/Files/Content/Philadelphia/Philadelphia/Pictures/camden/camden12.jpg

http://www.urbandecay.ca/Files/Content/Philadelphia/Philadelphia/Pictures/camden/camden35.jpg

[lofter1]

Dr Funky loves decay and decripitude (methinks) ;)

[Dr Funky]

Dr Funky loves decay and decripitude (methinks) ;)

All I do is show what people try to keep hidden

[Ninjahedge]

Camden:
All I do is show what people try to keep hidden
http://www.urbandecay.ca/Files/Content/Philadelphia/Philadelphia/Pictures/camden/camden35.jpg

Yep. I see they tried to hide the burnt house with that traffic cone.

How devious!

[JCMAN320]

Looks what the South Bronx used to look like.

[Dr Funky]

Yep. I see they tried to hide the burnt house with that traffic cone.

How devious!

Oh ha ha,

OK then explain this to me, why is it that in this country the biggest thing that people worry about is shit like what Brad and Angelina are going to name their kid, and cities are crumbling left and right?

[pianoman11686]

Brad and Angelina are considered sexy. Sex sells; ugliness doesn't.

Perhaps a better question to be asking is why they're spending all their time and resources helping out people in Namibia, while there are plenty of people here that could use some assistance.

[antinimby]

Namibia is exotic. Exotic sells.
Camden is domestic.
Domestic, as in domestic chores or domestic housewife, does not sell.

[OmegaNYC]

Sad.That's all I have to say. It is sad that we all live in the richest nation on the face of this Earth, yet we have citizens who can't even afford to feed their family for a day. We can wage a war on Iraq, fighting a faceless enemy, while we can't even begin to crack down on poverty in our own country. I know Republicans and conservatives, and even liberal Democrats will say, people in cities need to be more "fiscally conservative". Yet, people who live in extreme poverty don't even have the monetary means to conserve their own funds. Now, this doesn't excuse Camden, or any other city for that matter, for it's explosive crime rate. That city needs to do something, and fast. That is just embarassing. Though I can understand what can bring a person to commit such acts. Geez, something need to change. :(

[Ninjahedge]

Oh ha ha,

OK then explain this to me, why is it that in this country the biggest thing that people worry about is shit like what Brad and Angelina are going to name their kid, and cities are crumbling left and right?

Because it is a country where people want something better than their own lives.

Why were more people in ENGLAND concerned about princess Di, her life and her death, than the starving in Africa, etc etc.

It is human, and yelling about it is not going to change the fact.

I know you might feel frustrated. AAMOF, I am a guy that goes through the newsstands while in line at the supermarket and turns all the tabloid crap around so I do not see Spears tummy or Brangelena's baby pics, but comparing that to pictures of burnt out buildings and calling that as a demarcation of societal camouflage of internal hardship is BS.

You are playing too hard with too weak an argument. Yes you will get people to agree with you, but you will get more people ignoring you outright than wanting to help with whatever you are screaming about.


BTW, odd question, have you been involved in the reconstruction of any of these neighborhoods or do you just like yelling about them on bulletin boards?

[Ninjahedge]

Sad.That's all I have to say. It is sad that we all live in the richest nation on the face of this Earth, yet we have citizens who can't even afford to feed their family for a day. We can wage a war on Iraq, fighting a faceless enemy, while we can't even begin to crack down on poverty in our own country. I know Republicans and conservatives, and even liberal Democrats will say, people in cities need to be more "fiscally conservative". Yet, people who live in extreme poverty don't even have the monetary means to conserve their own funds. Now, this doesn't excuse Camden, or any other city for that matter, for it's explosive crime rate. That city needs to do something, and fast. That is just embarassing. Though I can understand what can bring a person to commit such acts. Geez, something need to change. :(


The difficult thing is, how do you get these NEIGHBORHOODS to change? It has already been proven that just giving them money does not change their attitude. The human race is notorius for doing as little as possible for as much as it can get, and if it can get something for doing nothing, it will continue to do nothing.

How do we break the minimum wage barrier? How do we encourage education and job training? How do we get people to WANT to accept these things instead of doing nothing until their health/safety depend on a bailout from the surrounding areas?

[OmegaNYC]

Good point Ninja, only cities that are in major problems such as Camden, can only fix themselves. But where do Camden even begin? These problems are so complex, that it can be just impossible to even begin to start. I think it's all in the thought process. I think that when someone is rasied and brought up in such poverty, one will begin to think that there is nothing else in life. I have had plenty of friends who grew up a hard life, they always tell me, "What's the point of going to school or college? That won't change anything". I feel that some people just don't feel there is a point in life. I'm not saying that all people feel that way. Though, living in a city that is hard and down on it's luck, you'll find plenty of people like that. I feel that a change in attitude is needed. Just become you're from the bottom, doesn't mean you can't rise to the top. It's hard, but not impossible.

[Dr Funky]

Because it is a country where people want something better than their own lives.

Why were more people in ENGLAND concerned about princess Di, her life and her death, than the starving in Africa, etc etc.

It is human, and yelling about it is not going to change the fact.

I know you might feel frustrated. AAMOF, I am a guy that goes through the newsstands while in line at the supermarket and turns all the tabloid crap around so I do not see Spears tummy or Brangelena's baby pics, but comparing that to pictures of burnt out buildings and calling that as a demarcation of societal camouflage of internal hardship is BS.

You are playing too hard with too weak an argument. Yes you will get people to agree with you, but you will get more people ignoring you outright than wanting to help with whatever you are screaming about.


BTW, odd question, have you been involved in the reconstruction of any of these neighborhoods or do you just like yelling about them on bulletin boards?

I know that in my own city, I've tried to get to city hall meetings and listen in one how things are done, but they were closed and I kept getting meeting dates messed up....


PS, these pics are from www.urbandecay.ca

[investordude]

I read this thread with a groan.

Altruism is dumb wrt to development, whether in Namibia or Camden. We're not talking about curing cancer or a breakthrough for mankind, we're talking about a real estate business proposal.

Landlors and developers want to make money - and thank God for that. Just look at every example in history where people have argued they should value something besides profits [I'd argue Newark's 1960s urban renewal blight is a good poster child - no need to look at even more disgusting international examples].

I think we should focus on how we can make business in these places a profitable venture that will pencil out without burdening other taxpayers unreasonably, rather than ponder on how we, alone, care for humanity while the rest of the world has the temerity to be entertained by something less morbid than urban decay.

[macmini]

Camden's direction up in air

Tuesday, December 26, 2006

By ALAN GUENTHER
Courier-Post Staff

CAMDEN

The hopeful and the hopeless live side by side all over Camden.
Four years after the state government took control of America's poorest city, it's hard to tell which way the city is going.


Dana, a 28-year-old prostitute, will tell you that little progress has been made in her neighborhood.


"They're spending all this money. I ain't seen it. Ain't nothing happened around here," she said as she cradled her smoke-scarred crack pipe in the palm of her hand.


It was a warm afternoon, and Dana was dressed in a loose-fitting white top, dark pants and spiky heels. A police car drove past at about 25 mph with the windows up. Tiny blue plastic baggies littered the ground near her feet.


The house behind her -- like thousands of dilapidated homes in Camden -- had the sour smell of filth, neglect and the pungent odor of old cat urine.
In a long and rambling conversation, Dana talked about how her mother had abandoned her at an early age and how "I began tricking on the streets when I was 12 years old to get my high."
But if she wanted help, a different way of looking at life stood right across the street.


If you stop by The Sword of the Spirit Christian Church on any given night, you might hear the immaculately dressed Rev. Willie Anderson telling his parishioners there's no need to be ashamed of money, no reason they can't find a life of comfort and success.


Anderson has spent countless hours at his church. And as head of Camden Churches Organized for People, he represents 30 city churches serving 10,000 people from all over the South Jersey area.


He knows there are prostitutes operating right across from his church. He says, ruefully, "They have quality-of-life issues." But like Dana, Anderson is also disappointed by the amount of change in the city since the state took control of the local government in 2002.


"All of us here thought there would have been more accomplished than this by now," he said.


Great -- and, as it turns out, unrealistic -- predictions were made on July 1, 2002 when the state Legislature voted to make Camden the only city in America where the right to govern themselves has been taken away from local residents.


A state-appointed chief operating officer, with czar-like powers over every board and agency, was put in charge. Randy Primas, a former mayor, was given the $175,000-a-year job.


But turning around Camden has been like stopping a runaway freight train in its tracks. It has been harder, it is taking longer and it is taking more money and more effort than anyone anticipated.


In recent months, the effort to rebuild the city has gone off track. Primas left his job on Dec. 8 -- a full year before the end of his term -- as state and federal grand juries continue to investigate how some of the $175 million in state money committed to Camden's recovery has been spent so far.


Gov. Jon S. Corzine has selected an 18-member committee to conduct a national search to replace Primas for the next five years. On Dec. 14, the governor named retired Superior Court Judge Theodore Z. Davis to run the city, on an interim basis, for the next four months.
By all accounts, the agenda for action is crowded with unfinished business. The state takeover legislation set lofty goals, and the jury is still out about whether progress has been made in the following areas:
Schools.



The 17,000-student school system is mired in scandal as law enforcement officials investigate whether administrators falsified test scores and college transcripts to make it seem Camden's students were doing better than they were. In addition, the state promised to spend $427 million to build 16 new schools but, to date, not a single new school has been built.


Redevelopment. Procedural errors by city attorneys stalled two $1 billion-dollar redevelopment plans in courts. Stiff community opposition threatens other plans.


Housing. Nonprofit groups say they want to rehabilitate hundreds of dilapidated homes, but the city won't let them. Hundreds of homes are tied up in the redevelopment plans that are stuck in court.


Police. Ten years ago, a harshly critical state audit said the city's police force was ineffective and improperly deployed. Union contracts require the same number of police be on the streets at all hours of the day regardless of the level of crime. A decade after the audit, Arturo Venegas was appointed to lead the police force and began making changes.


Corruption. Three of the last six mayors have been jailed on corruption charges. In July, the drumbeat of corruption continued as longtime Councilman Ali Sloan El, who called himself "the people's champ," pleaded guilty in federal court to taking more than $36,000 in bribes.


But the start of the new year may bring some good news.


The 300 dilapidated apartments at Roosevelt Manor, near South 8th Street and Carl Miller Boulevard, may soon be torn down.


To Terrence Young, who owns a store across the street from Roosevelt Manor, the change has been a long time coming.


The authority spent $3 million three years ago to fix the roofs and heating systems in the apartments. But then, 14 months ago, the authority changed its mind.


The apartments were abandoned. Residents were relocated. And Young's once-thriving grocery store business faced hard times.
"It seems like they didn't have an idea of what they were doing," Young said as he walked beside the vacant, vandalized apartments.
More than 1,000 people were removed from Roosevelt Manor and relocated to other public housing throughout the city. Plans were made to tear down Roosevelt Manor and rebuild new housing in its place.


And then, for more than a year, nothing happened. The windows of the vacant apartments were boarded up. But as Young showed during a recent tour of the area, the boards from every window, from every apartment, have been kicked in. A fence put up to keep vandals out has been trampled. The apartments have been looted. From the sidewalk, holes are visible where fixtures have been ripped from the walls.


Housing authority Executive Director Maria Marquez says she is aware of the problem and vows the buildings will be torn down before the end of January.


The original bids for construction and demolition came in too high, she said. Now, finally, the authority is ready to act.


"We tried to contain it," she said of the vandalism.


But she did not have enough staff to watch the buildings around the clock. Police patrol the area and have made arrests, but she acknowledges the vacant apartments are an eyesore she will soon fix.
Young hopes change comes quickly.


"We're just hanging on," he said.


If the apartments are really torn down and new homes are built to take their place, things may finally improve, he said, both for him and for the city.


Reach Alan Guenther at (856) 317-7871 or aguenther@courierpostonline.com

[ablarc]

^ In the grips of the Universe.

Much too big for anyone to do anything about... :p

[Punzie]

If Sears building stays, Campbell's says it might go

Camden's quandary could come up for a vote tonight. The firm wants to expand.

By Dwight Ott and Troy Graham, Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writers

http://media.philly.com/images/20070515_inq_jsears15-a.JPG
APRIL SAUL / Inquirer Staff Photographer
The old Sears building , off Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden.
The city's Historic Preservation Commission has recommended
that it not be demolished, and the Planning Board may vote tonight.


Camden has a proud history as a center of commerce and industry, but in recent decades the city has known little good economic news.So it's not without some painful irony that the city now is faced with the choice of preserving the past or, potentially, securing the future.

Camden leaders must decide whether to tear down the old Sears, Roebuck & Co. building - a national historic landmark - to make way for an expanded Campbell Soup Co. headquarters.

If they save the Sears building, they risk losing Camden's last Fortune 500 company at a time when the soup giant is willing to invest millions in the moribund city.

"If the demolition of the Sears building does not take place, we will be forced to evaluate all our options - one of which is, yes, to move," Anthony J. Sanzio, Campell's director of corporate communications, said last week.

In place of the Sears building, a fixture on the Admiral Wilson Boulevard since 1927, Campbell's proposes a $72 million building that would expand its corporate headquarters and a sprawling office park that might attract jobs to Camden.

"It puts the city in a dilemma. It's a choice between history and progress," said Mayor Gwendolyn Faison. "I believe any historical monument should continue to have impact. . . . Most historical sites are museums for tourists, something of value, not ugly and vacant and not producing."
But, so far, Camden has sided with the past. The city's Historic Preservation Commission, which has a nonbinding advisory role in the process, voted unanimously earlier this month to oppose demolition of the Sears building.

Tonight, the issue lands before the city Planning Board. It's unclear whether the board will vote on the matter. Even if the board agrees to raze the building, the plan still would have several more hurdles to clear.

Complicating matters, businessman Ilan Zaken told the Historic Preservation Commission that he would like to purchase the Sears building and make it the headquarters for two of his clothing retail businesses, one of which is Dr. Denim.

He said he has 20 retail locations in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Atlanta.
"I'm looking for a warehouse and offices," said Zaken, under questioning from his attorney. "I'm aware of all of the issues with the Sears building."
Faison said she was willing to consider Zaken's offer, but she had concerns.

"Is Dr. Denim really serious?" she asked. "If he's serious, why is it just coming up now?"

At the Planning Board meeting, to be held in City Council chambers in City Hall, Campbell's officials are expected to argue, again, that the Sears building is standing in the way of its proposed 80,000-square-foot office building.

Or, as Campbell's attorney, Ed Sheehan, told the historic commission, "if that building stands, those buildings will not rise."

Historic commission member Paul Schopp, a historian for an environmental planning firm, expressed displeasure at Campbell's "all or nothing" approach to the problem.

"You're saying play our way or we'll pick up and go home. Compromise and negotiations form the basis of our society," said Shopp. "Demolition should always be viewed as the last resort."

Sanzio, Campbell's spokesman, said after the commission's vote that the company was hoping for better luck before the Planning Board.

"We remain optimistic," he said. "The $72 million expansion is a great benefit far outweighing the Sears building."

Campbell Soup, which was founded in Camden and has remained there for nearly 140 years, still plays a major role in the city's economy. The company pays $1.3 million annually in lieu of taxes, donates more than $1 million to local charities, and provides 1,700 jobs, though critics complain few are held by Camden residents.

But, like most manufacturers who once made Camden a boomtown, Campbell's closed its Camden factory, more than a decade ago.

The expanded headquarters would deepen Campbell's roots and reduce fears that the company might leave the city.

In February, with Gov. Corzine in attendance, Campbell's officials announced that the new complex would be built on 110 acres that included the Sears structure and the old Canal Liquor store parking lot.
They said at the time that construction on the new site would begin this month and be completed in November 2008.

But last week the forces of opposition seemed to be rising to protect the building that was once the retail center of Camden - a place where shoppers from the city and surrounding suburbs bought everything from washing machines and lawn mowers to clothing and holiday toys.

The Sears building, renowned for its Greek Revival-style architecture, was on the cutting edge of retail in its day - built outside of the crowded downtown, with plenty of parking for the new, automotive world.

Similar Sears sentimentalism greeted former Gov. Christine Todd Whitman when she tried to tear down the Sears building in 1999 as part of a makeover of the Admiral Wilson Boulevard for the Republican National Convention. A number of other commercial properties were acquired and demolished to provide an unobstructed view of the Cooper River, but the Sears Building remained.

Supporters such as former building owner Mark J. Willis and civic activist Frank Fulbrook make the same argument they made then - that the building is of historic value to Camden and is still capable of bringing jobs to the city.

Sears closed the store in 1971, when it opened a new one in Moorestown.
Historian Howard Gillette, author of a book about the city called Camden After the Fall, said it would be a sign of "how capitalism ran over history" if the Sears building were demolished.

Contact staff writer Dwight Ott at 856-779-3844 or dott@phillynews.com (http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/mailto:dott@phillynews.com).

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/business/20070515_If_Sears_building_stays__Campbells_says_i t_might_go.html

[Punzie]

For those who have never seen Camden, a few dozen photos from
Skyscraper Page:

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=19761

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=19805

Zippy- Since these links are obsolete, is another way access to the photos of the Sears Building? The Inquirer's photo didn't do the building justice.

[ZippyTheChimp]

That was 3 1/2 years ago; I don't remember if the building was included.

What am I, the concierge?

Search.

[Punzie]

Zippy, I thought you knew my posting style well by now.:D Of course I did a site-wide search -- and having come up with nothing, I wanted to know if somebody still had the 3.5-year-old pics.

My general web searches yielded a few good (Camden) Sears Bldg. pics that I bookmarked. Maybe I'll post them.. depends on whether anybody really cares about the place.

[OmegaNYC]

^^^ ahhh... I kinda care...

[pianoman11686]

In Camden, Campbell Co. Says It May Go if Sears Building Stays

By KAREEM FAHIM
Published: June 5, 2007

CAMDEN, N.J. — For decades after it was built in 1927, shoppers drove to the Sears, Roebuck & Company store on Admiral Wilson Boulevard just beyond the center of town. A colonnaded temple to both commerce and the automobile, the store, in the classical revival style, had a lot with parking spaces for about 600 cars.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/05/nyregion/camden190.jpg
The former Sears, Roebuck
building in Camden is a designated
historic site, but the door has
been ripped off and the interior
is rotting. The Campbell Soup
Company says it interferes with
its redevelopment plans.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/06/05/nyregion/campbell190.jpg
The Campbell Soup Company
wants to demolish a 1927
building that housed a Sears,
Roebuck & Company store in
Camden, N.J., and use the
site to upgrade its headquarters,
pictured here, and create
an office park.

But in 1971, as the middle class fled the city, the store closed, and reopened at a mall in nearby Moorestown. In the years afterward, most of the drivers who stopped by this despondent stretch of freeway were visiting seedy strip joints. And the old Sears building went on to become a car dealership, then an office. Today it is vacant, vandalized and in need of repair.

Now, amid an effort to revive a city mired in a crippling cycle of crime and unemployment, the Campbell Soup Company, Camden’s longtime and most prominent corporate resident, has proposed expanding its presence and transforming the area where the empty store sits into an office park.

The soup company is prepared to spend $72 million to improve its headquarters, and has also promised to help lure developers to an adjacent office park with the help of $26 million in state funds. But the company’s pledge comes with one nagging caveat: The Sears building, which is listed on state and national historic registries, must come down. If not, Campbell Soup, which has been an enormous presence in the city since 1869, may abandon Camden and go elsewhere.

Thousands of the city’s residents worked at the factory on the Delaware River, producing the famous condensed soup invented by John T. Dorrance, until the plant closed in 1990. The company still employs 1,200 workers at its corporate headquarters here, and its soup cans, which captured Andy Warhol’s fascination with the American marketplace, are visible everywhere in this city — on wall murals, hanging in courthouses and, most prominently, on the front of a downtown baseball stadium.

Leveraging that reputation, the soup company says it could lure investors to the office park. But the Sears building, with its wide footprint, would thwart the effort, blocking the views of all the proposed development, including a view of the Campbell headquarters, the company said.

“If you’re leaving Philadelphia, you would like that office park to be visible for potential occupants,” said Anthony J. Sanzio, a Campbell Soup spokesman. “This structure is completely inconsistent with what one would expect in a 21st-century office park.”

In mid-May, the city’s planning board narrowly approved the soup company’s application to raze the yellow brick building. Local leaders, ranging from the mayor to the heads of community groups, said it was important for Camden — one of the nation’s poorest cities, according to recent census figures and studies — to look forward, especially when the past and the present look the way the old Sears building does.

As if to emphasize that point, in the past few days the front door of the building has been ripped down, exposing the building’s moldy innards.

Those opposed to the demolition are a small but committed group that includes a former owner of the building, preservationists, a local activist, a Camden historian and the head of the local N.A.A.C.P. branch. They have asked questions about a city’s connection to its past, and about the influence of corporations on development.

“I’m not submitting to blackmail from anyone,” said Frank Fulbrook, an activist here who has a filed a lawsuit against the soup company as well as the heads of the local planning board and the redevelopment agency, saying the planning board violated procedures when it approved Campbell’s demolition plans.

“I want Campbell’s to stay, but I’m not going to beg them,” said Mr. Fulbrook, who owns a few properties in Camden.

For the city, the importance of the company — the only Fortune 500 corporation operating here — is hardly disputed. In fact, it is spelled out in the development agreement for the proposed 110-acre office park, which notes that the soup company is one of the largest taxpayers in Camden and contributes millions to local charities.

In its odd but not-so-subtle vernacular, the agreement spells out the stakes: It says that if the soup company “were to relocate its headquarters out of the city, it is probable that these numerous public benefits derived by citizens of the city, county and the State of New Jersey would be severely reduced if not eliminated.”

The importance of the faded Sears building, surrounded by abandoned buildings, overgrown lots and roads riddled with potholes, is less clear. But Paul W. Schopp, a consultant hired by the building’s previous owner — who in 2000 wrote the successful application for its designation as a historic site — sees it differently.

Mr. Schopp said that Charles W. Leavitt, a New York landscape architect and planner, conceived the whole area in the 1920s around what was then called Bridge Boulevard, as what he hoped would be Camden’s civic center. And Mr. Leavitt insisted that the architects design the Sears building accordingly.

“He designated it in the classical revival style, as an interpretation of the City Beautiful movement,” Mr. Schopp said. “They acquiesced.”

The architects, Nimmons, Carr and Wright, had designed other Sears stores, including landmark buildings in Chicago and Boston that have been preserved. Their Camden store, a few miles from the Benjamin Franklin Bridge linking Camden to Philadelphia, was a destination for drivers at a time when America’s love affair with the automobile was blossoming. In the 1930s and ’40s, families from southern New Jersey and Pennsylvania flocked to the nation’s first drive-in theater, on nearby Crescent Boulevard, and to the Whoopee Coaster, a Depression-era amusement for automobiles and passengers on undulating wooden tracks.

“There was a drive-in boxing arena, and White Tower, a drive-in restaurant,” Mr. Schopp said. “At one time, the Admiral Wilson Boulevard was a source of car culture, perhaps more so than Los Angeles.”

The supporters of Campbell’s plans have focused not only on the importance of keeping the food giant in the city, but also on picking battles wisely as the city makes hard choices.

“Look, if it was a beautiful building downtown, that would be one thing,” said Caren S. Franzini, the chief executive of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority. “It creates new tax ratables in the city. It enhances a neighborhood in terms of new development. It provides opportunities for new jobs for Camden residents. Those are all fantastic things.”

In addition, Thomas P. Corcoran, the president of the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association, which focuses on the city’s waterfront, said that the soup company’s demands, despite what detractors say, were not unreasonable. “I think if I were Campbell’s, I would insist on the same thing,” he said of the building’s demolition. “They’ve got to present a vision of the future.”

The shaping of that future is still bitterly contested in Camden. Some opponents of the demolition have also complained about the proposed office park, saying it will create an enclave of nonresident workers rather than employing locals.

They have urged the city to take a closer look at other options, like the bid by the businessman Ilan Zaken, who is trying to create an outlet of his Dr. Denim clothes store in the old Sears building. “It would employ more than 100 people, most of them Camden residents,” Mr. Zaken said, adding that he hoped the office park would be built.

There have been other recent attempts to demolish the building, including an unsuccessful effort in 2000 by Gov. Christie Whitman, who sought to clean up Admiral Wilson Boulevard, which had become an eyesore.

For now, Mr. Fulbrook’s lawsuit and several other obstacles could get in the way of the Campbell plan. The state’s Historic Sites Council will make a recommendation to the commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection for a final decision. And the Camden City Council may still have to vote on parts of the plan.

Howard Gillette Jr., a historian and a professor at Rutgers-Camden, who opposes the demolition, said: “That building is one of the few links to the old city. Camden was once the height of the region, and it’s been severed from the region. You need lines of continuity.”

But underscoring the problem, he added, “The presence of Campbell Soup is one of those lines.”

Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/05/nyregion/05soup.html?ref=nyregion&pagewanted=all)

[JCMAN320]

State maintains control over Camden

by Associated Press Sunday September 16, 2007, 1:38 PM

Gov. Jon Corzine today extended a state takeover of Camden, saying the troubled city had made progress but more work needs to be done.

"In the past five years, we have taken important steps toward a brighter future for the City of Camden and its people," Corzine said in a statement. "But it is clear that we have plenty more to do."

The governor signed legislation extending certain provisions of the Municipal Rehabilitation and Economic Recovery Act, the law passed in 2002 authorizing the Camden takeover. The extension will be in effect for five years.

As part of the 2002 legislation, the state took over many of the powers of the local government and school board; the legislation passed today will retain the governor's veto power over school board decisions.

The legislation also extends funding for economic-recovery programs. Since 2002, the state has been paying for major infrastructure upgrades and subsidizing major expansions of Camden's hospitals.

[JCexpert558]

I wonder why there is not any new Buildings or anything lately. Does it even have a Airport

[JCMAN320]

No JC it doesn't. It is across from Philly so it uses Philly airports. The city is just distressed and hasn't found any new economic base.

[JCMAN320]

Report: Camden improving with state aid, but more work remains

by South Jersey News Online
Tuesday March 11, 2008, 9:23 PM

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press Writer

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) -- From the new law school building going up on Rutgers University's campus here to duplexes under construction amid boarded up homes, there are signs that the city is changing five years after an infusion of state money began.

On Tuesday, a report hailed progress on the state's efforts to transform a city that has long been among the nation's poorest and most violent. But officials say there is still much to be done.

One key area for improvement: Finding a way to keep middle-class residents from moving to the suburbs. For decades, as residents have gotten a toehold on financial security, the first thing many of them have done is think about getting out.

http://blog.nj.com/southjersey_impact/2008/03/medium_corzinegoonsmile.jpg
(AP Photo/Mel Evans)
New Jersey Gov. Jon S. Corzine smiles as he walks from the new Waterfront Technology Center after speaking to a gathering in Camden, N.J., Tuesday March 11, 2008, about the successes in the revitalization of Camden under the state's stewardship."They're beaten down," said Theodore Z. Davis, the city's state-appointed chief operating officer. "They're so wound up in escaping."

Five years ago, the state government took the unusual step of trying to rescue Camden from its despair by committing $175 million to city development. More than one-fourth of that money was designated to help pay for expansions of the Camden's existing health and educational institutions.

State money also has helped pay to expand the Adventure Aquarium, run job training programs, upgrade a crumbling century-old sewer system and to give residents loans to fix up their homes that are forgiven if they stay put for five years.

The money came with a catch: The governor gets veto power of actions by the city council and school board.

Officials say the transformation they're trying to spur in Camden will take many years, even decades. But they are optimistic.

"We are nowhere near the end of the road," Gov. Jon S. Corzine said. "We are on the pathway."

On Tuesday, representatives of the educational and medical institutions released a report that finds they have done well over the first five years of the transformation effort with the $47 million allocated to their institutions.

So far, they have spent more than $32 million of the state money on expansion projects, matching it with $314 million from other sources.

"Very few times have I seen investments where each dollar gets a $10 return," said Corzine, who was in Camden Tuesday.

The institutions, which include Our Lady of Lourdes Medical Center, Rutgers University and Camden County College, say they now employ 1,250 Camden residents -- an increase of 31 percent in five years.

Part of the hope of the overhaul of the city was that the public spending would attract private investment.

Davis, a retired judge appointed to oversee the city government and redevelopment, says he gets calls regularly from private developers. But so far, not many have followed through.

A few major projects have been announced to great fanfare, but have not panned out.
One called for redeveloping the Cramer Hill neighborhood with thousands of new homes, retailers and even the city's first golf course. Residents of the area said they were not properly included and fought back. Last year, the developer, Raleigh, N.C.-based Cherokee Investment Partners, said it was abandoning its efforts.

Last year, the Campbell Soup Co., the only Fortune 500 company with a headquarters in the city of under 80,000 near Philadelphia, announced plans to expand its headquarters and build an office park nearby.

Those plans were stalled by a lawsuit. Last month, Campbell announced it would remain in Camden and move ahead with its expansion, though the company scaled back plans for the office park.

In North Camden on Tuesday afternoon, 72-year-old Jessie Shaw said she expected more people to move into the city.

"People will come back," said Shaw, who is retired from a job assembling fluorescent lights. "They'll want low mortgages and come back."

But not everyone wants to stay.

Four years ago, Anissa Bush fell on hard times, separated from her husband and moved with her three daughters from suburban Pennsauken to her mother's home in Camden. She's since got a new job and reconciled with her husband, and says her family is financially secure. Now they are looking to buy a house -- in Pennsauken.

City Council president Angel Fuentes said Tuesday that it's up to officials like him to persuade people who earn enough to live elsewhere that the city has a future.

"We're saying, 'Stay. Camden is getting better,'" Fuentes said. "'We need you.'"

------

On the Net:

Camden Economic Recovery Board: http://www.camdenerb.com

[block944]

I took a trip down to the camden waterfront to the aquarium and i was pleasently suprised and excited to see the "Victor lofts". I researched whats going on in the area.. sadly with the usual corruption, the projects for the Victor Radio condos has stalled... worse yet the first business to open at victor lofts are closing. If anyone can fill me in on whats going on in Camden.... as the view into philly was amazing


http://chewru.com/lariveria-closes-doors/

La Riveria Closes Doors; Camden Economy Axes a Favorite (http://chewru.com/lariveria-closes-doors/)

Posted by Chewru Guru (http://chewru.com/author/chewru-guru/)
June 17, 2008

I was upset to be notified today that one of our highest-ranked Italian & Pizza restaurants had closed its doors (http://www.courierpostonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008806110380) as of just a few days ago. This is really a shame and big loss for the Camden waterfront area that is trying so hard to rebuild itself. Thank you to all the kind people at La Riveria Tuscany Bistro (http://chewru.com/la-riviera-tuscany-bistro-camden-nj/) who treated us so nicely and consistently made delicious food. They really did have some superb stuff. Hopefully we’ll see them bounce back on their feet and reopen shop somewhere in the future.
CAMDEN — In what could be a sign that the planned future for the redevelopment of Camden’s waterfront may be occurring too slowly to succeed, another dining establishment in The Victor loft apartment building closed Tuesday.

The fourth restaurant to go out of business at The Victor in approximately three years, La Riviera Tuscany Bistro opened to fanfare early last year. City boosters applauded one of the initial full-scale eateries to hang a shingle in the residential building that’s hailed as the first living facility able to attract upper-middle class professionals to Camden.
As one of the few places to eat within a several-block radius, it drew a regular lunch crowd made up largely of Victor tenants, Rutgers University students, police officers, paramedics, and others who worked in the area.
But last week a hand-written sign appeared in La Riviera’s door announcing the bistro was closed for the day.
On Tuesday, that sign was replaced with a commercial-grade “closed” sign.
“It’s a really sad thing for the neighborhood,” said Victor tenant Denise Spaulding.
“They had the freshest bruschetta around. And they did a great job of catering parties.”
While La Riviera owner Sal Pietrangeli did not return calls seeking comment, other merchants there speculated on the the closures.
“There aren’t enough people down here to make any money,” said Joe Papa, owner of Miss G’s convenience store, which shares an entryway with La Riviera. “When the university students leave for the summer, business falls out of bed.”
It’s a complaint heard often among pioneering business owners at The Victor, who worry privately about their own ability to keep their doors open in a city where promise and potential don’t always add up to profit.
“We need more people down here,” said Sam Sarin, who owns The Victor’s Pub, a spacious resto-bar that faces Camden’s entertainment district.
Papa insists the luxury lofts’ owner, Philadelphia developer Carl Dranoff, is partially to blame for the lack of foot traffic.
“There are all of these development projects that haven’t come to fruition,” Papa said, referring to Dranoff’s plans to build or convert three major residential developments in the neighborhood.
The first project — The Radio Lofts, used as a strong incentive for investors like Papa and Sarin — is already several years behind schedule.
Dranoff didn’t return calls to his office seeking comment, but Tom Corcoran, president of the Cooper’s Ferry Development Association, explained that The Radio Lofts’ progress was stalled by state environmental inspectors and should get under way later this month.
He added Dranoff’s proposed 1200-unit mixed use “village” designed for the lots adjacent to The Victor should begin construction in 2010.
Yet, Corcoran too, empathizes with the merchants’ plight.
“We don’t yet have a critical mass of people living close to The Victor to sustain a good dinner crowd, (But) there’s no magic wand.”
Remaining owners are cautiously hopeful that ongoing construction of a neighboring bank and two offices, plus other developments in the works like a Hilton Garden Inn, will provide them with a fresh supply of patrons.
Papa, meanwhile is already feeling the pain.
He estimates his revenues have fallen 30
in the week since La Riviera stopped serving.
“Sal’s was a destination. People bought food from him then came to me to buy soda, to buy cigarettes, to buy chips. Business picked up for a while,” he said.
“Now we’re back to where we were, which is basket case.”