Editor’s note: We’d planned to run a series of posts about the upcoming May 7th Zoning Board meeting that was going to consider approval of a billboard in North Camden. With the recent news that the issue may be delayed another month, we’re adjusting our posts — we’ll be sure to keep you in the loop. This first post by Jared Hunter covers last week’s CGNA meeting. We hope to cover the North Camden angle later in the week. 

Last week I went to the Cooper Grant Neighborhood Association monthly meeting.  The group met at the Office of Civic Engagement on Rutgers’ campus and I found myself quickly realizing that I was in a very similar meeting to ones that I’ve sat in before since I got to Camden.

I’ll start off by saying that I appreciated the local police lieutenant for the northern part of the city attending the meeting and showing a real motivation to work with CGNA.  In deepening my understanding of community development, not just in theory but in practice, I’ve come to realize the value and importance of on-the-ground interaction with law enforcement and neighborhood associations are an amazing way for communities to stay thoroughly connected to them.  The lieutenant gave updates about recent crimes reported in the area, fielded crime and safety-related questions and concerns from community residents, and also provided announcements about upcoming community events taking place with the police department (including a 5^th anniversary celebration at Cooper Poynt Park next month).

There were some other great updates about ideas that could take place in the community like a bike-sharing program and a community yard sale, but the main course for this meeting surrounded the controversial story that has been brewing lately about a billboard being erected in North Camden.  Phaedra Trethan, of the Courier Post, recently wrote an article chronicling what’s happened so far:  

Here’s an excerpt: 

Over the last two weeks, a Cherry Hill-based company has been meeting with residents in North Camden and Cooper Grant to present its plans for a billboard at the base of the Ben Franklin Bridge.

The billboard, said Interstate Outdoor Advertising CEO Drew Katz, would be the first of its kind in the nation: a billboard, which, once construction costs and maintenance costs are recouped, would funnel 100 percent of its proceeds to Camden-area nonprofits.

Phaedra Trethan also captured the overall community sentiment: residents don’t want a billboard in North Camden.

The pitch man for the billboard, who was representing the company Interstate Outdoor Advertising, seemed to grow increasingly anxious and even defensive toward the residents who brought concerns about the billboard for a multitude of reasons. It grew tense enough to the point that my “favorite” tag line at meetings like this came out: “Listen, I’m a developer…” 

I say this jokingly, but with a point.  There’s something about a good intention that seems to make people feel secure in their actions, whether good or bad; it’s when those actions are called out that we, for some reason, feel an attack on our intentions.  An attack on your intentions can garner many emotions, but one that drives the ship more often than not is defensiveness, and so we shroud ourselves to preserve our emotions and intention – this is usually in the form of throwing our profession under the bus. 

“I’m just a developer…I’m just a business man…I’m just a blah blah blah…” and this gives the false sense that it’s not the person who is doing harm but just the profession in which they’re placed.  This doesn’t just apply to the private sector either; in fact, there are probably more instances where public officials throw around their titles to shield themselves from consequences they may have created. 

What was even more demeaning and cringeworthy was that the developer constantly made note of the fact that Interstate would “receive no benefit” from erecting the billboard; it would be self-sustaining in that it would provide 100% of its revenue to nonprofit organizations in the city of Camden. It was in-a-word disgusting to me that someone could come into a neighborhood, tell residents that something was happening they had no say in, and then tell them essentially that it was the best thing for them. It was like that one scene in Pocahontas (I’m a Disney nerd, so welcome to that part of my life) where John Smith is explaining why he’s come to America, “We’re going to show your people how to use this land properly, how to make the most of it!”  While it might be true that there are tons of nonprofits in the city, and many of them do great work with scarce resources and funding, no one asked if an imposing structure in a residential neighborhood would be the best silver bullet to that problem; and the answer will always be “it’s not” when you don’t meet with that neighborhood before you schedule a zoning board meeting for Monday, May 7^th at 5:30 pm in the Camden City Hall council chambers on the second floor.

But I want it to be understood that even with the best of intentions, and even if you find yourself in a less than accommodating profession (to residents/communities), your actions are what are noticed most, especially in places where the historical precedent has been “we’re here to show you how to properly develop your city.”

My mother always told me that the road to hell is paved with good intentions; the residents have been raising hell of their own on multiple fronts – I think its time for folks to start listening before we find ourselves running down a road from which we can’t turn back.