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NYT: Camden's Streets Go From Mean to America's Most Dangerous City, Liberalism's Showcase
New York Times ^ | December 29, 2004 | JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

Posted on 12/29/2004 5:48:19 AM PST by OESY

click here to read article


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To: pgkdan; OESY

At this point Camden is hopeless. There is no tax base, no market, no skill base. There is no conceivable tax break or subsidy that would induce any businessman who values his life to set up shop there.

It only serves as a concentration of those too poor or dysfunctional to be able to afford to move.


21 posted on 12/29/2004 6:41:10 AM PST by Sam the Sham
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To: OESY
If Camden's residents were concerned, why would they keep electing Democrats to solve their problems?

People of every color and political stripe are reluctant to accept personal responsibility. The Democrats are the party of envy, they externalize responsibility. "You are poor because Haliburton took the money the Government had earmarked to provide you with health care and education."

22 posted on 12/29/2004 6:44:20 AM PST by Lonesome in Massachussets (Deadcheck the embeds first.)
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To: Recovering Ex-hippie
I visited this city to visit a nun 10 years ago. I drove there in the daytime. It was not this bad!

___________________________________________

I was there in '81, looking for someone in Spanish Town. It was as bad as the South Bronx in the early seventies.

23 posted on 12/29/2004 6:44:35 AM PST by wtc911 ("I would like at least to know his name.")
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To: OESY
enkins . . . the living, breathing, crack-dealing embodiment of Camden's ruin - but with a twist.

After amassing a mountain of cash, prosecutors said, Mr. Jenkins tried to go straight by buying rundown houses, fixing them up and selling them.

Anyone watch the HBO original series, The Wire? Sounds just like Stringer Bell. And we all know how he wound up.

24 posted on 12/29/2004 6:44:54 AM PST by governsleastgovernsbest (Watching the Today Show since 2002 so you don't have to.)
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To: OESY
new breed of criminals stepping up who are sophisticated enough to provide health benefits for crack dealers.

??????

25 posted on 12/29/2004 6:49:59 AM PST by Lazamataz ("Stay well - Stay safe - Stay armed - Yorktown" -- harpseal)
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To: TonyRo76
The place is a war zone. Literally. I feel sorry for those innocents who live there. I myself live in S. Jersey about 17 miles south of Philly. Camden is no place Anyone who had a choice would go. Best way to fix it? Blow it up.
26 posted on 12/29/2004 6:54:33 AM PST by Hu Gadarn
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To: Sam the Sham

Ask Jerry Brown in Oakland, CA. He turned that city around in five years. My father worked there for 20 years, supervising custodians who cleaned up the BART stations there.

Jerry was a pretty liberal D in the 70's. You wouldn't recognize him today. He brought business in, reduced crime, fixed the schools, etc. He brought in a lot of early real estate investment in the mid 90's. The ROI on that investment is somewhere around 340%.

I'll bet you can buy acres of Camden downtown land for pennies on a dollar. With the right people and the right plan Camden could be flipped.


27 posted on 12/29/2004 6:59:53 AM PST by RinaseaofDs (The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money.)
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To: OESY

But, but, if you just legalize drugs, Camden would become a utopia.


28 posted on 12/29/2004 7:06:35 AM PST by frgoff
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Comment #29 Removed by Moderator

To: OESY

Haven't they established a Green Zone in Central Camden yet?


30 posted on 12/29/2004 7:12:13 AM PST by WideGlide (That light at the end of the tunnel might be a muzzle flash.)
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To: TonyRo76
Ha! If not for the Posse Comitatus law, we could send the Marines in there to rectify the situation, just like Fallujah.

Great news, Komrade, there's a drug war exception to the Posse Comitatus act. It's why there were tanks at Waco - an alleged meth lab (that was never found and was later admitted to not exist).

31 posted on 12/29/2004 7:20:35 AM PST by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
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To: Cloverfarm

Yeah some of that graffitti is awesome. Art is probably the only hope some of those kids have to get the hell out of there.

I know some guys from the ghetto who were totally awesome artists. The only way out for them was to crack a few books, and amass an impressive art portfolio.

I hope that some of these kids make it to art school in Philly or NYC. The guy I know now has a great job in the advertising industry in NYC.


32 posted on 12/29/2004 7:21:19 AM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: frgoff

Nobody says legalizing drugs would create a utopia. It would, however, stop the war and the killing ... if that would be something you'd possibly want to do.


33 posted on 12/29/2004 7:21:35 AM PST by coloradan (Hence, etc.)
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To: TKDietz

you might be interested in this article


34 posted on 12/29/2004 7:24:37 AM PST by t_skoz ("let me be who I am - let me kick out the jams!")
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To: Owl_Eagle; brityank; Physicist; WhyisaTexasgirlinPA; GOPJ; abner; baseballmom; Willie Green; Mo1; ..
If this article mentions that Camden has long been run by Dems, I missed it.
35 posted on 12/29/2004 7:31:22 AM PST by Tribune7
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To: Jim Noble
Corrected text: Classic model of government by Democrats.

Corrected text: Classic model of government by Democrats organized crime, aka MOB.

36 posted on 12/29/2004 7:35:51 AM PST by independentmind
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To: OESY
Hi All-

Posted in article:
"...They have called a string of witnesses to detail Mr. Jenkins's rise to power, starting with accounts of his HUMBLE beginnings as a high school dropout selling crack at the corner of Louis and Chestnut Streets, one of the city's most notorious intersections, to his emergence as a major player in powdered cocaine..."


What is so humble about being a violent drug-dealer? This is hardly a "good kid from the neighborhood" success story.

Perhaps it would be considered defeatist, but Camden is almost beyond the point of no return. I attended an outdoor concert there last summer, but I didn't spend a dime in that town at restaurants or linger after the show concluded. Hopped in my car and drove home after the show.

In another episode five years ago, I passed a highway exit I needed to take near the Ben Franklin Bridge. I figured one could simply take the next exit and "loop around" to the correct highway headed for the Jersey Shore.

What a nightmare this became! My family and I stumbled into progressively worse neighborhoods...out of the frying pan and into the fire as it were. I began to run stopsigns to help ensure the safety of my family. My car was NOT going to stop rolling under any circumstances.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a police station surrounded by a chainlink fence topped with concertina wire. I rang the doorbell and a desk sergeant buzzed me in. An officer wearing BDUs, a shotgun slung muzzle-down, and plastic shinguards was surprised to see me and barked, "How the f*ck did you get in this building?!" Dressed in khaki shorts and an orange polo shirt, I replied that I had been buzzed.

After they determined I was a good person, they opted to lead me back to the highway to provide an extra margin of safety. I'm a younger person, healthy, tactically aware, and psychologically prepared to use my vehicle as a weapon against those who would attempt to carjack me and my family. Sheeple who accidentally wandered into this horrible city would really be in a world of hurt. There should literally be cautionary signs advising people to remain on the highway until they exit the city. Camden ain't a place for the faint of heart...

~ Blue Jays ~

37 posted on 12/29/2004 7:36:44 AM PST by Blue Jays (Rock Hard, Ride Free)
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To: gridlock
New Jersey has been pouring money into Camden with all the usual boondoggles. Highway beautification, the NJ Aquarium, the Battleship New Jersey museum, an arena, minor league baseball, the works.

Hmmm... Big construction involves big unions. Now, who gets a piece of the money from the big unions?

Once you understand that, you understand New Jersey.

38 posted on 12/29/2004 7:37:12 AM PST by Modernman (Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. --Benjamin Franklin)
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To: Hu Gadarn

They could relocate the UN headquarters there. If we can't bulldoze the UN into the East River, maybe we can use it to revitalize Camden.


39 posted on 12/29/2004 7:37:28 AM PST by Lekker 1
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To: OESY
Sadly, this sort of thing is a major side effect of what happens when manufacturing flees a country, which the powers that be would prefer that everyone ignores.

Not everyone in America is equipped to work a technical job, and you can only have so many McDonald's on so many street corners.

40 posted on 12/29/2004 7:37:52 AM PST by jpl (The tribe has spoken, now for goodness sake, get a life.)
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