Hordes of state overlords packed the historic event that marked the start of a $175 million spending spree in a city most of them normally wouldn't be caught dead in. I wrote back then:

"State Sen. Wayne Bryant was there, feeling the love as the guy who brought big bucks to town, paving the way for Gov. McGreevey and friends to feast on Camden's carcass like buzzards at a desert drive-through.

"South Jersey labor boss Donald Norcross - brother of South Jersey power broker George - sat quietly in back, mentally adding up all the construction jobs they'll get to dole out to their loyal buds.

"Mayor Gwendolyn Faison and City Council President Angel Fuentes were in the house, too, doing their best to sing the takeover plan's praises while watching democratic self-rule stripped from the city like copper pipes in an abandoned house.

"In case the locals weren't getting it, Team Trenton said it slowly.

" 'Sometimes,' a McGreevey messenger relayed to the feisty Faison, 'you need to step aside to move forward.' "

This is progress?

McGreevey joined an Episcopal seminary after leaving office in a sex scandal, Bryant went to prison for corruption, and Donald Norcross - thanks to the family name and muscle - won a seat in the Legislature.

The biggest municipal takeover in U.S. history will go down as a colossal disappointment. Such are the failures of the nonrecovery that my colleague Matt Katz needed four days to document all the promises made and unkept.

A city where tourists spend $165 to swim with sharks at the Adventure Aquarium still has no means to keep sewage from flooding locals' homes or provide clear tap water. Genny and Button, the adorable aquarium hippos, have better living conditions than much of Camden's impoverished human population.

At least the swimming beasts have steady employment. Thanks to the revitalization, the percentage of jobs in Camden held by Camden residents has actually decreased.

As appalling as it was that less than 1.5 percent of the recovery funds went to job training, another number, $210,000, strikes me as even more alarming.

That's what the state spent on a plan to overhaul Camden's chronically inept city government, a plan that was totally ignored.

Who's the boss?

South Jersey Democrats such as the brothers Norcross can't wait to return Camden to self-rule now that they've blown through the money and elected machine loyalist Dana Redd as mayor.

In the spirit of bipartisanship, Republican Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie seems eager to appease. Christie said this week he'd "like to return control of Camden to the City of Camden" ASAP.

Before Corzine signs on the dotted line with his successor's heartfelt blessing, I hope both men read Katz's final installment in the Camden saga - about the miraculous makeover of another waterfront city left for dead.

In Chelsea, Mass., a no-nonsense businessman appointed to clean house radically altered city operations, as opposed to just throwing money into the political cesspool. Everyone and every department was fair game for dismissal. Chelsea's very survival depended on breaking up the status quo.

Camden needs such an earthquake. The city's bureaucracy remains as financially and morally bereft as it was seven years ago.

The people who've mismanaged one of America's poorest cities should be sent packing. The outsiders who treated the takeover like a political ATM must not be trusted with Camden's fragile financial future.

Critics are correct to label state control of the city a travesty. But to walk away from Camden now? That would be a crime.