Little progress seen in Camden

From the Courier Post Online:

Camden’s direction up in air

The hopeful and the hopeless live side by side all over Camden.

Four years after the state government took control of America’s poorest city, it’s hard to tell which way the city is going.
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“They’re spending all this money. I ain’t seen it. Ain’t nothing happened around here,” she said as she cradled her smoke-scarred crack pipe in the palm of her hand.
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If you stop by The Sword of the Spirit Christian Church on any given night, you might hear the immaculately dressed Rev. Willie Anderson telling his parishioners there’s no need to be ashamed of money, no reason they can’t find a life of comfort and success.
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“All of us here thought there would have been more accomplished than this by now,” he said.

Great — and, as it turns out, unrealistic — predictions were made on July 1, 2002 when the state Legislature voted to make Camden the only city in America where the right to govern themselves has been taken away from local residents.

A state-appointed chief operating officer, with czar-like powers over every board and agency, was put in charge. Randy Primas, a former mayor, was given the $175,000-a-year job.

But turning around Camden has been like stopping a runaway freight train in its tracks. It has been harder, it is taking longer and it is taking more money and more effort than anyone anticipated.

In recent months, the effort to rebuild the city has gone off track. Primas left his job on Dec. 8 — a full year before the end of his term — as state and federal grand juries continue to investigate how some of the $175 million in state money committed to Camden’s recovery has been spent so far.

Gov. Jon S. Corzine has selected an 18-member committee to conduct a national search to replace Primas for the next five years. On Dec. 14, the governor named retired Superior Court Judge Theodore Z. Davis to run the city, on an interim basis, for the next four months.

By all accounts, the agenda for action is crowded with unfinished business. The state takeover legislation set lofty goals, and the jury is still out about whether progress has been made in the following areas:

Schools. The 17,000-student school system is mired in scandal as law enforcement officials investigate whether administrators falsified test scores and college transcripts to make it seem Camden’s students were doing better than they were. In addition, the state promised to spend $427 million to build 16 new schools but, to date, not a single new school has been built.

Redevelopment. Procedural errors by city attorneys stalled two $1 billion-dollar redevelopment plans in courts. Stiff community opposition threatens other plans.

Housing. Nonprofit groups say they want to rehabilitate hundreds of dilapidated homes, but the city won’t let them. Hundreds of homes are tied up in the redevelopment plans that are stuck in court.

Police. Ten years ago, a harshly critical state audit said the city’s police force was ineffective and improperly deployed. Union contracts require the same number of police be on the streets at all hours of the day regardless of the level of crime. A decade after the audit, Arturo Venegas was appointed to lead the police force and began making changes.

Corruption. Three of the last six mayors have been jailed on corruption charges. In July, the drumbeat of corruption continued as longtime Councilman Ali Sloan El, who called himself “the people’s champ,” pleaded guilty in federal court to taking more than $36,000 in bribes.