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.
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.
I was born in Cooper Hospital, but a few years ago I spent a lot of time at Lourdes when a family member was ill. The Camden hospitals still offer the best care for the seriously ill outside of Philadelphia.
Camden is so depressing that I have a great deal of sympathy for anyone who has the misfortune of living or working there.