Camden Matters...

When I returned to Jersey in 2019, I moved to Camden on purpose. I considered Camden and I considered Trenton, both cities allowed to deteriorate making them ripe for gentry-fication.

Like many in South jersey, I was born in Camden at Cooper Hospital. My Mother died there. As a student in college and later as a social worker, I worked in Camden. I moved away in the late 80's and returned to New Jersey in 2004 to go to law school in Camden. I was shocked at what I saw. The city had deteriorated for sure. I remember thinking, with few exceptions, the city mostly looked like a bomb had been dropped and those who could not get out were still there. 

I tried hard to find an apartment to live in Camden while in law school. It was difficult, I was under pressure to get settled before classes began, so I ultimately moved to Collingswood. But I wanted to live in Camden because of what I saw happening there. We have to be willing to move into and rebuild our cities and not wait for others to gentry-fy them and then complain that we can't afford to be there.

Fast forward to 2019, I do move to Camden. I move into The Victor, an apartment building on the waterfront perceived as "upscale". Some would say moving into The Victor was not really moving into Camden. I disagree. I remember being impressed with development of the waterfront, only to understand that Camden City doesn't own any of it. Some "brilliant" politician along the way, sold out the residents and sold the waterfront to the county. 

All those companies on the waterfront have no obligation, no incentive, nor pressure, nor commitment to hire Camden residents nor make the city a better place to live and work, and they don't! Non-residents drive into Camden City daily to realize their livelihood as Camden residents are sidelined to watch and cannot partake. 

Camden residents are not in control of their government. The businesses don't care about Camden's mostly Black and Latino population, because overwhelmingly Camden's politicians don't care. They are not in control of their vote. The norcross machinery and their token mouth pieces, need to go! 

It is hard to see what has become of Camden. I remember my Mother, who died more than 30 years ago, telling me how in her youth, they didn't have to go to Philly for anything. They got everything they needed in Camden. From clothes to entertaiment, they were able to find it in Camden. 

Then came the riots, followed by a denial of services. US interstate 676 was built over the city making it unnecessary for motorists to stop in Camden, killing the economy, laying the ground work for the convenient excuse of blight to set in, opening the door to abuse of eminent domain policies to take over the city. There is a tried and true formula used to destroy inner cities nationally...

Presently, there are no supermarkets in Camden, not one. An innoculous, seemingly  innocent, term has been created to describe this intentional act of trying to starve urban dwellers. They call it "food deserts". Deserts that seem only to take root in urban areas filled with people, many melanated and/or poor, who don't have cars and who need a supermarket in proximity to their home. Supermarkets are essential to any community. HOW does it happen that Camden has no supermarkets, if not deliberately?

Cooper Hospital, Campbell Soup, Rutgers University, Subaru, and so many other companies in the city, yet the people in Camden suffer. Where are the tax dollars going as they, and the companies on the waterfront, are fed tax breaks that cripple the city and gobble up the land? 

With so much industry, why so much unemployment? Where are the government services? Why no meaningful partnerships between the city and these corporations? Because they don't care and the faces of Camden City government, faces because its really the machine that dictates who and what, will and will not happen in Camden, have ZERO power beyond their face and their willingness to serve an agenda not always in the best interest of their constituents. Perhaps, also, it is because they too, have little to no interest in making Camden a better place to live. Those who do care, are defamed and/or chased out of government. 

There IS hope for the new and improved Camden envisioned by the poet in the video below but only with new politics, new leadership, and committed and unified residents who band together, to take charge of their city. Get rid of the old guard. Get rid of the norcrosses. Revitalize the city from top to bottom, holding state and city government accountable, building a new Camden, one neighborhood at a time...

~ Miss Higgi Says

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