I wanted to pull up this comment from last week’s post on the State of the City:
Tom Knoche*:
Good piece, Stephen. Not mentioned, however, is the role that Cooper’s Ferry Partnership plays in the Camden scene. It is the central body of powerful people in our region that works to set the development agenda. It is what urban academics call the local “growth machine” — it’s all about advancing growth and development in very traditional ways. These entities, quite consistently, do not understand the local culture, the local people, and the diverse assets they have. In fact, they see them as obstacles to be worked around and overcome. So what folks got at the Cooper’s Ferry Partnership (CFP) annual meeting is what one would expect at such a gathering. Not real. Not grassroots. But loaded with resources and connections, committed to shaping the City in their image. And to shape it in their image, they need to spin its successes in their image.
Look at the CFP Board. Leaders from regional corporations, hospitals, waterfront attractions, banks, institutions, and development entities. The CEO was part of the Barer Commission that initially recommended the Rutgers-Camden and Rowan merger and politicization of University governance that seemed so wrong to many of us. These folks are not Camden folk, and they have an agenda that does not include the assets of the “real” Camden Stephen speaks about.
Hence the importance of neighborhood-based community development entities that work to give residents more control over the development agenda, encourage and support true neighborhood businesses, and that sometimes are able to challenge the “growth machine” agenda. The most recent notable (and noble) example is Cramer Hill’s successful fight to ward off the pillage that Cherokee offered to bring, with no objections from anyone at CFP.
*as always, I don’t follow-up to confirm the identity of folks who comment.
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