[OESY]

A young woman and child pass a corner on Ferry Street in Camden, N.J., scene of a drug-related killing in October.

A wall memorial to a gang killing in North Camden.

Some homeowners, like Jose Gonzalez, have enclosed their porches in burglar bars for protection.

Sister Helen Cole, left in photo, with Theressa Hokke-Sanchez, whose brother and sister were killed in Camden.

The walls of abandoned houses are often decorated with tributes to young men, some of the dealers, lost in the drug wars.

A memorial street mural honoring "B," described by the police as a drug dealer; there are plans to tear it down.

Nathenia Kirkland comforting her 3-year-old daughter Yaya, who was wounded by a stray bullet in October and has undergone six operations.

A memorial for a youth shot and killed in North Camden.

Police officers in North Camden arresting a suspect in an armed robbery.

THE BIG QUESTION: If Camden's residents were concerned, why would they keep electing Democrats to solve their problems?
Giuliani made NYC safer than over 200 other U.S. cities, which translates into saving more than 2000 lives each year.

[HMFIC]

THE BIG QUESTION: If Camden's residents were concerned, why would they keep electing Democrats to solve their problems?

Because STUPID IS as STUPID DOES.

[independentmind]

THE BIG QUESTION: If Camden's residents were concerned, why would they keep electing Democrats to solve their problems?

LOL. How much do you know about Camden?

[Wil H]

It seems that the murders are mainly among the drug community so maybe the "Iraq terrorist philosophy" applies here - Better to have them all concentrated in one place and deal with them there than have them move into our neighborhoods...

[Mr. Jeeves]

"I feel like I'm in Falluja," said Edwin Figueroa, Camden's police chief. "I don't have enough soldiers. The enemy is out there. And we're fighting the same battle over and over and over again."

A couple of Marine divisions could clean up Camden, too. ;)

[XRdsRev]

It may sound crazy but one of my hobbies is digging for antique bottles. Myself and my digging friends dig out old privies which sometimes contain really good old glass from the 19th century.

The old cities are the best places to dig but you have to go into the worst neighborhoods to find "spots". Over the years I have dug in some rough parts of Philadelphia, Newark NJ, Elizabeth, Trenton, New Brunswick etc. We have had guns pulled on us, bricks thrown at us and have had to deal with lots of bad people. I can tell you that Camden is definately a scary place, one of the worst that I ever dug in. It does have some nice old bottles though ;)

[pgkdan]

I truly believe that Camden is beyond fixing. I was born in Our Lady of Lourdes hospital, went to St anthony of Padua School and lived in the Cramer Hill section of the city in the 60's. It was urban, but Cramer Hill was still a community back then. I was there 2 years ago and felt as if I'd entered some weird parallel universe where everything was ugly and bombed out. Our old house was still lived in but about 6 of the other 9 houses in the row were collapsed. The block literally looked bombed out.

I went to my old Church, thought I'd attend Mass..no way. The one Mass of the day was over and the Church was locked up and the entire campus...Church, rectory, convent and school were locked behind a chain link fence with barbed wire at the top. I drove there the same way I used to walk to school and nearly every building I passed on River Road from the old RCA building to the school was boarded up, burned out, collapsed or all three. It was the most ugly and depressing thing I've ever seen. I've never seen even a Hollywood portrayal of urban blight that came close to what I saw that day.

[gridlock]

Ten years ago, my wife had to decide between Camden and Newark for law school. I took a day off to drive around downtown Newark and downtown Camden to check things out. When I got home, I gave her some mace and an auto club and told her she was going to Newark. Camden was beyond scary then. I can only imagine what it is like today.

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. And still it gets worse and worse. The parking lots by the waterfront attractions are all empty because the visitors drive across the river, pay big bucks to park in Philadelphia, and take the ferry back across the river, rather than drive ten blocks through Camden.

[Sam the Sham]

What difference would a Republican make ?

New Jersey does not need its cities (aside from Newark Airport and Trenton State House) or the people in them. New Jersey is all suburban. The days of smokestack industry that the cities were intended for is over. The big pharmaceutical firms are along the highways and much of the state is bedroom communities.

And since Camden is just across the Delaware from another city with similar but not as bad problems, what does it offer that isn't in Philadelphia ?

[Jim Noble]

For decades, Camden has been the classic model of urban despair

Corrected text: Classic model of urban despair government by Democrats.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

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."

[governsleastgovernsbest]

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.

[Lazamataz]

new breed of criminals stepping up who are sophisticated enough to provide health benefits for crack dealers.

??????

[frgoff]

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

[WideGlide]

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

[Tribune7]

If this article mentions that Camden has long been run by Dems, I missed it.

[Blue Jays]

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 ~

[jpl]

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.

[fastattacksailor]

When I was stationed at Philadelphia, people were advised to NOT go to Camden under any circumstances.


There was a joke too:

"How do you get through Camden?"

"Running or speeding"


WEll, that's what you get for keeping the democRATS in office!

[P.O.E.]

Faulty morality and economics of which we are supposed to be "tolerant".

[detsaoT]

Didn't Christine Todd Whitman have SWAT teams basically go door-to-door disarming and arresting gang members about 10 years ago? A sweep which was widely praised by the city's residents?

And didn't some Federal judge rule that she was violating the law by doing that, and that she had to release all of the people arrested in the raid?

The Federal court system will be the end of us all.