So much going on last week and upcoming this week that I’m struggling to keep up. I’m going to simplify this and break it into bullet points about a few key issues such as the proposed methadone clinic move, the New York Times piece on the Metro Police, the Camden High lawsuit, and Sumner’s closing: 

• Camden residents are protesting the moving of Camden’s downtown methadone clinic to Bergen Square in Camden. There was a community meeting last Thursday to organize resistance. The plan centers around testifying at tonight’s (4/3/17) Camden Zoning Board Meeting to deny a needed zoning change. More after that meeting, but I think there are a number of standards that need be used when considering the location of a methadone clinic: a) access by public transportation for those seeking treatment b) the support needed by the clinic itself (police, $s, location, facilities) to help ensure there aren’t negative spillovers into the surrounding community c) the potential for these negative impacts to spillover and specifically effect children and d) whether NIMBYism means we are locating these facilities in our most vulnerable communities / whether the surrounding region is taking its fair share of resources. The new location does very poorly on these metrics — there are elementary schools in the surrounding neighborhood, the clinic has a history of being poorly resources and having spillover effects, the location is only covered by buses, and there is so much demand for methadone that the majority of its patients are from the surrounding suburbs. More to come.
  
  

  Photo of the methadone clinic thats located on the corner of 5th St. and Market St. at 424 Market St, Camden NJ. The clinic is right across Camden’s City Hall. Tuesday afternoon, February 14th. 2017. ANTHONY BELTRAN / Staff Photographer Philadelphia Inquirer

• The New York Times did a piece on Camden’s Metro Police. The glowing coverage is puzzling, nowhere does it mention the influx of homicides over the last year, the struggles with retaining officers, or other local issues with the department. It does highlight the concerted effort and training that deemphasizes violence, with a particular focus on police bringing gunshot victims directly to the hospital. And, good for the Metro Police. Policies can result in more than one thing, and in this case, the focus on community policing has always been the best aspect of the reform. But its come with anti-union policies that have destabilized the force and made it difficult to retain officers, and with broken windows strategies that (counter to the quotes in this article) have increased tickets for minor offenses. 
  
  
• I went out to a press conference on Keith Errol Benson (a local activist here in the city, and father of occasional guest poster and education activist Keith Eric Benson) and his lawsuit about the pending demolition of Camden High. If it seems like I’ve punted on writing in depth on the Camden High issue, it’s true. I haven’t gotten my hands on anything to support claims that the High is going to receive a historic designation. And I was away when much of this opposition coalesced. But this event reaffirmed my big-picture take on the Camden High protest: that while the demo of Camden High animates residents, the opposition to it has remained loose and unorganized. Keith Benson held a press conference, but the general event (which had been on my calendar for weeks) did not mention the lawsuit. The press release I received was a single paragraph, with few details. As of the press conference (which very little press attended), the suit had not been filed, making coverage very difficult. Copies of the suit were not provided. The event was sparsely attended (though with familiar faces who I admire). I keep waiting for opposition to the demolition to bubble up into something more formidable, but it has not happened. My broader thoughts on the demolition and the rebuilding of Camden High are a bit more complex, and I’ll save them for another post, but I think it’s important to remember that the demolition is occurring because of SDA investment in building a new high school. While I respect those who fear gentrification in Camden’s neighborhoods, I do still want to live in a world where those neighborhoods can receive investments and modern facilities (and understand how the history of Camden High and this administration makes it hard to trust those claiming to provide this investment in this case). 
  
  
• Sumner is closing, and there’s not much of a fuss about it. But the argument in this article, that Sumner needs to close because it has poor facilities, needs to be put into context. Particularly this argument: 
  • “In Camden, where many buildings are woefully outdated, Rouhanifard has said turning schools over to Renaissance operators results in faster renovations, since they can secure construction work without a public bidding process.

The state has a legal requirement, as a result of the Abbott v. Burke case, to fund needed renovations. The SDA has been underfunded for so many years, that schools are in such poor conditions that a district literally is using this as an excuse to close schools and push students out. It’s an ugly way to get the type of schools preferred by those in power. Frankly, it’s hard to watch individuals who claim they are progressive do the most quintessentially conservative thing possible — use conservative fights against funding public services, and resulting government failures, as a way to outsource public services. 

Lots more to talk about, to share, and discuss. So much going on in the city — I’d love to have your thoughts! I’ll try to get to some of these issues more in-depth over the course of the week, and say hi if you’re at tonight’s Zoning Board Meeting.