New Jersey Gov.-elect Christopher J. Christie yesterday described the state takeover of Camden as mostly a "failure" and said he would work with Camden's next mayor to shift power back to the city.
"I'd like to return control of Camden to the City of Camden as quickly as I possibly could," he said after meeting with high school students in Hamilton Township, Mercer County. "My fundamental position is, I don't believe that the state should be controlling municipalities in New Jersey."
Christie's comments, an elaboration of his criticism of the takeover during the gubernatorial campaign, came as The Inquirer publishes a four-part series examining failures under the 2002 law that put Camden under state control.
In July, a Christie campaign spokeswoman said the Republican candidate favored an end to state control by 2012, when the law is due to expire.
Yesterday, Christie indicated that control could end sooner and said he would work with Mayor-elect Dana Redd and legislators to create a "realistic timetable to return local control to the City of Camden."
State legislators already have said a law loosening state control could be approved even before Christie takes office.
Last night in North Camden, community leaders gathered to lobby one local official about a key provision of the state takeover law that has been violated - that all unsafe buildings be demolished.
There are more than 1,500 buildings deemed "unsafe structures" or "imminent hazards" left in the 9-square-mile city. The takeover's $175 million loan-and-grant package paid for only a few hundred to be knocked down.
Members of Camden Churches Organized for People, a civic group, described a Byzantine process of petitioning various city and state officials, with demolition requests and getting nowhere.
When shown a picture of one such abandoned and dilapidated house at a community forum in September, Gov. Corzine said: "This breaks my heart. Do you think anybody wants this situation?"
Yet two months later, Shelly McCargo Braxton - despite backing from religious leaders and community organizers - still lives next door to that same smelly abandoned house filled with trash, fleas, and rodents.
"Nothing has changed," she said.
The official in attendance last night at Camden Bible Tabernacle Church, Camden City Council President Angel Fuentes, was elected this month to a state Assembly seat.
"You deserve dignity, respect, and decency," he told Braxton.
He said he would write a memo to Camden's governor-appointed interim chief operating officer, Albertha Hyche, and ask Council to approve a nonbinding resolution saying that about 20 of the worst homes in the city should be demolished immediately.
He said he did not know where the money would come from. As an elected official in a city under state control, he can do little more.
In an interview last week, Corzine said the priority, given limited funding, was working with law enforcement to demolish abandoned buildings where there's criminal activity.
He said it was complicated to demolish structures that are attached to inhabited buildings, like Braxton's house.
To Braxton, Fuentes said: "I really apologize."
Contact staff writer Matt Katz at 856-779-3919 or mkatz@phillynews.com.
Inquirer staff writers Adrienne Lu and Jonathan Tamari contributed to this article.
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