Yesterday’s post by Keith Benson triggered this interesting response from “SB” that I’ve bumped up from the comments section:
Newsflash: this has nothing to do with gentrification. And the schools aren’t being reformed, they’re being privatized. And not for “white people”, as you so claim. They’re being privatized for PROFIT. As for the other “amenities” that you reference – what amenities? The mega-projects on the waterfront weren’t built for whitey. They were built as a result of the “build it and they will come” development philosophy that has dominated Camden for over 40 years. There’s a crappy baseball stadium, an annoying entertainment venue, and an aquarium that is owned and operated by Christian fundamentalists from Ohio. Not exactly the land of milk and honey. So please stop with the dramatic conclusions that make everything about class and race. And stop referring to these development disasters as “gentrification”. You’re giving Camden officials/leaders WAY too much credit. This is a bloated public relations and marketing effort. Above all, the 76ers PRACTICE facility is a disastrous waste of money. As previously stated in other media articles, this is just another “mega project” that is meant to give the illusion of “things are happening in Camden”. Like clockwork, another tacky, useless, ugly “thing” is built on or near the waterfront. These “things” are always touted as a catalyst for change and PROOF that Camden is on the rise.
As for gentrification? Camden should be so lucky. There is no gentrification. Any progress that you see is smoke and mirrors. The projects that do come to fruition are always over-budget, years behind schedule, and they do not pay taxes or produce jobs. More importantly, these mega projects and other ancillary developments are always made possible with tax payer money. Even the few developments downtown that are touted as private-sector/market rate are subsidized and chock full of government support. Millions upon millions of dollars is spent on idiotic mega-projects, low income housing, political pet projects, and useless yuppie projects that are 15 years ahead of their time (Camden bike trails, etc).
With $87M dollars, you could rehabilitate HUNDREDS of abandoned homes throughout the city. Now, THAT would create jobs. The civic and political leaders always claim that there is never any money for sensible projects and plans, yet they always seem to find the funding for another useless mega project that is a failure before it’s ever built. The public and private sector “development” people have little or nothing to show for their efforts, so they jump at any opportunity to build or create SOMETHING. “Oh look, there’s an empty lot. Let’s build a garden….or a park bench….or a mural of Dana Redd. ANYTHING”. When I learned of the cost associated with the “night gardens”, I almost threw up in my mouth. Close to $1M dollars for what?!? And now they have secured another $500,000 for additional “programming”? We can’t tear down the crack house next to a school or repair a sewer pipe, but we can find $1M so we can prance around in the dark on a vacant lot. It just blows my mind. I suppose it goes along with the other two development mantras: “Anything is better than nothing” and “it’s better than it was”. That’s really something to be proud of.
Whatever happened to the “business space” at L3? That was supposed to be a small business incubator of sorts. Then they said it will only be for a few large companies. Now they’re saying it is going to be for Lockheed Martin. More empty promises. They claim that there is a shortage of retail and office space, yet the city is littered with space. They claim there is a lack of housing, yet the city is full of empty homes, rental vacancies, and empty multi-purpose spaces. And the Shop Rite on Admiral Wilson Blvd? Forget that it’s the worst and most inaccessible location possible, but they haven’t even performed basic environmental studies on the site. Yet they’re promising it will open in less than 1 year. What about the transit village near Lourdes hospital that has been dead in the water for over 18 months, yet the city acts like it will break ground any day. It’s a shame that there is so little planning and intelligent design within the city. Camden is where design aesthetic and planning go to die.
In short – don’t make this a race issue or an income issue. We are years away from that argument being relevant or accurate. This is about politicians using taxpayer money to build useless mega-projects. And these mega-projects are then used to prop up their political agenda and rhetoric. The private sector refuses to do business with a corrupt and dysfunctional city government. The only quasi-successful private sector developments happening right now are taking place in and around Cooper Hospital. They have the blessing from the powers that be, so they are able to operate in a vacuum; build and move about with little or no obstacles. And on the backend, they are subsidized to the hilt. So they aren’t true market-rate/private sector developments. They run around the city telling people that they are building and selling $240,000 homes, when in reality, they’ve only sold 5 of the 35 homes they’ve built. And even then, those sales were only possible because they struck a deal with NJHMFA to provide 100% financing with no appraisals. It’s easy to claim success when you bypass the checks and balances system of the private sector.
Let’s address the real issues at hand: Camden is a wasteland with a corrupt and dysfunctional government. Camden’s institutional sector is just as dysfunctional. Camden and it’s stakeholders need to focus on improving infrastructure, reducing crime, and rebuilding the niche economies within the neighborhoods (local services, small grocers, other service providers). In case people haven’t noticed, the “build it and they will come” development philosophy isn’t working. And it never will. No single project – no matter how big or expensive – is capable of bringing about needed change. Change and positive growth is an organic process, not something that is engineered by a politician or civic group.
Share it!
I am glad you have. Anthony is very involved and passionate. I know Anthony and I know his family. Arrogant he is not. He seems that way to some but not all. Good day to you [editor’s note: I’m redacting a name here – I think if folks want to remain anonymous, it’s a good idea to allow them that courtesy].
SB- I know Anthony personally. I wish you would instead of posting your bashing here under the name SB why don’t you be a man grow up. You would not go to anthony’s office and say those things.
Kirk – I would, and I have. Everyone who knows Perno knows that his arrogance is off the charts. He hides in his corner office, up in the ivory tower. Like many “leaders” in the city, he is so disconnected from Camden and reality.
@Joseph – I sincerely appreciate your positive remarks and thoughtful analysis. If only there were more intelligent people discussing Camden…
Regarding the night gardens – I am not against them. I love gardening. I love the night. I love kitschy civic programming, and positive events are always great, regardless. My “beef” is that these events and other “programming” are used as a front. Coopers Ferry and the other entities are so inept, and the prospects of real development are so far into the future, that they need to produce SOMETHING to justify their existence. Basically, they devote the majority of their time plucking the low hanging fruit in order to maintain the illusion of “moving forward”. It the equivalent of politicians at a ribbon-cutting ceremony. They aren’t accomplishing anything, but it sure does look good.
My other point (generally speaking, and regarding the night gardens) is that programming of this nature, along with other developments (tangible or not), are way ahead of their time. As I noted, it’s backwards that we cannot address the most basic and fundamental issues within the city, but we can find millions of dollars for feel-good programming. I understand that the money is use-specific. The money was issued from XYZ foundation for this specific feel-good purpose So from that standpoint, yes, it looks like found money, right? Again, on it’s face it’s not bad or evil. The problem lies with the motives behind the programming, in addition to the fact that time and resources were used to pursue those funds. If the city or CF had an option of how to use their time and resources, what would you prefer? Should they chase down federal money to build bike lanes in one of the worst neighborhoods in the country? Or should they be hunting down funding for infrastructure projects, housing, assistance to small businesses, etc. I know what you’re going to say: “they kinda do that already”. Yes, in several cases, they have. But, in good Camden fashion, the execution of such programs was horribly mismanaged. The infrastructure projects have amounted to 1. extending Cooper Street (which helps no one. it’s just to entice future developers) 2. installing signage throughout downtown that is entirely too small, poorly designed, and confusing 3. replacing the sidewalks with brick 4. replacing sewer laterals in downtown (took 10 years) and 5. building a bike path from the BF Bridge to Collingswood, traversing some of the worst neighborhoods in the city. At that rate, it will take 2000 years to repair the rest of the city.
Unlike Philadelphia, Camden city government has basically handed over all development management to Coopers Ferry. Coopers Ferry is now the “gatekeeper” of development in Camden. Which is wonderful, because Anthony Perno already had an ego the size of manhattan…now it’s beyond control. People speak of Camden’s corruption in past tense. Which, quite frankly, I find amusing. Corruption, negligence, nepotism, and incompetence (sounds like a really bad law firm, or perhaps the new motto for Camden) are alive and well throughout the city. Developers and private businesses have made attempts to enter the city, however, they find the business environment to be toxic and void of support. Even the people in city hall whose job is “Business Ombudsman” are raging idiots that closely resemble used car salesmen. We need city ambassadors that are competent, educated, and *gasp* PERSONABLE. Dealing with anyone in city hall is like talking to a dead fish with long nails and bad highlights.
Here’s my very high level opinion regarding all of Camden development: the city isn’t ready. And I mean that on SO many levels. The government isn’t ready. The economy isn’t ready. The infrastructure isn’t ready. The people aren’t ready. And the marketplace isn’t ready. Period. Done. Don’t fight it, just accept it. Supply and demand is a tricky beast. A politician can try to engineer economic change and persuade the masses with expensive watercolor renderings and plans. But at the end of the day, the market will tell you if the time is right. People are leaving the city in droves. White, black, hispanic. If someone has the financial ability to leave, they do. And why not? Why would they stay when they can go one or two towns over, and immediately have a quality of life and access to amenities that is 1000x’s that of Camden. And for what? $150,000? $200,000? That’s a bargain. This isn’t 2005 or 2006 when people were paying $250,000 for a crappy condo. People can scoop up very nice homes for under $250,000 in almost every town in Camden, Burlington, Gloucester, and Philadelphia county. If you leave the pro-camden mantras at the front door and just look at the statistics and reality of things, you would have to be a flippin idiot to live in the city. Horrible schools, high violent and non-violent crime, corrupt and incompetent city government, severe lack of amenities, relatively high taxes, high insurance, poor housing stock/inventory, substandard water and sewer infrastructure, militant civic groups, the list goes on. It’s a third country that is sitting in the middle of America. I don’t want to open the can of worms as to “why” and “how” Camden is this way. I just want to list the very black and white reality of the city. And because NJ has a 5 year backlog of foreclosures that is about to flood the market for the foreseeable future, housing in Philadelphia and South Jersey will be relatively affordable and attractive for many years to come. So long as it is cost prohibitive to build, rehab, or invest in Camden, progress will be on hold. Additionally, so long as Philadelphia and South Jersey are flooded with affordable housing options, there is not real incentive to move to the city. It’s going to take more than a dirty PATCO station and a bankrupt baseball stadium to justify such a move.
I love the city. My family lived and owned businesses in the city from 1920 until 1994. I want nothing more than to see the city flourish and succeed. But I cannot stomach the nonsense, the lies, and the corruption. Worse yet, it’s impossible to even have a constructive conversation with people who live in the city. Everyone is so defensive and unrealistic. The civic groups are truly misled, misinformed, and extremely idealistic about what it will take to bring about real change. That is the social cycle at play: people are bamboozled into moving themselves, their family, or their business into the city. They are fed false promises and shown expensive water colorings of the “near future”. Shortly after their immersion, they soon realize that they bought into a dream. The city government and groups like Cooper’s Ferry are a bunch of snake oil salesmen, and the business owner or resident in question just bought a whole case! They cannot turn back, because that would only make them look bad in the eyes of their family and friends whom they so tirelessly convinced. And they would be ridiculed by the militant yuppies that occupy the transitional neighborhoods. So many people – in the past, and right now – are stuck in that DMZ. They want to leave, for one or multiple valid reasons, but they feel stuck. Perhaps literally, figuratively, or both. And that is sad. Rarely do transitional neighborhoods or “yuppie areas” roll backwards. Truly. I’m drying to know of one example outside of Camden. But in Camden, that is the true testament to what I have said. The “success” one or more neighborhoods was like a house of cards. It had no real footing because the success and progress was engineered. I know, blame the recession. The recession hit everyone. And it certainly hit other urban neighborhoods, such as the ones in Philadelphia, Trenton, NYC, DC, etc. And yes, perhaps they property values took a huge hit, more or less. But the actual civic fabric and progress of those urban neighborhoods didn’t roll back 20 years.
You can love Camden and root for its success without having to drink the Kool Aid. Many people refuse to see those two things as mutually exclusive. The “us” versus “them” mentality within the city is very dangerous. Whether you’re white, black, or hispanic, you’re indoctrinated to see yourself as a combatant at war. That’s not a very healthy or productive mental state for anyone. Any and all criticism or feedback that does not tow the talking points, is immediately shut down and vilified. And we wonder why people aren’t moving to Camden? If anything, it is easy to see why they are quietly leaving. And yet, developers near Cooper Plaza continue to build 3 and 4 bedroom town homes. For who? “Families” they will tell you. They are very out of touch with reality. And what a shame that is. Have they too drank the Kool Aid? A lay person can look at the data and see the reality. It’s about about smoke and mirrors, or lipstick on a pig (whichever saying you prefer).
The sad reality of Camden is two fold: the incompetence and dysfunction at every level of public and private life, and the severe lack of demand for everything and anything in the city. Even if we could wave a magic wand to fix the corruption and incompetence, we cannot change the forces of supply and demand. A mentor once told me: “Don’t push the river…just go with the flow, and the rest will follow”
I will say this about the Night Gardens. They have the potential to bring people into the city for an interesting cultural event that has them interacting with actual Camdenites, and that can only be good. Events like this get people into places they wouldn’t normally have a reason to go to. Think about the Night Markets in Philadelphia, which has been held in places people might not’ve normally ever had a reason to go to. These things can get people into the same area that might never be together, and that’s powerful. A lot of the problem of people’s attitudes towards Camden is that their only source of interaction with it is through articles about murder and drugs. This gives people the opportunity to see each other as real people and not just fantastical headlines in a newspaper. Having grown up 20 miles from Camden without anyone ever actually talking about the city, I think that’s important. And honestly, did you go? There were tons of young people there, from the city, from the college, from the surrounding areas. That’s promising for the future. The older generation is going to have their opinions and intolerances and that’s not going to change, but getting people involved with each other in their late teens and early 20s, I think that’s going to result in a monumental shift in people’s attitudes towards Camden in the coming decades. And this is how you start that.
(And about the money: That money Cooper’s Ferry got for that is from an arts grant organization. The city isn’t getting that money for anything else; they’re not diverting funds from another, more worthwhile project.)
Quick point…Atlantic City has tried to survive for years on the ‘build it and they will come’ philosophy. Where has them gotten them? We have seen the headlines that Revel is fighting bankruptcy. Today’s headline announced that Showboat will be closing its doors August 31st. I completely agree with SB’s comment:
“Camden and it’s stakeholders need to focus on improving infrastructure, reducing crime, and rebuilding the niche economies within the neighborhoods (local services, small grocers, other service providers).”
Nice post! SB should run for mayor on this platform.