New Census statistics paint grim picture of Camden
The recently released Census figures paint a grim picture of Camden. One that is worse than the year before. It is the poorest city in the country. Lowest medium income in the country and one of the worst drops in medium income.
New Census statistics paint grim picture of Camden
The recently released Census figures paint a grim picture of Camden. One that is worse than the year before.
According to the new estimates, Camden is the poorest city in the country with a poverty rate of 42.5 percent. The rate for children living in poverty in Camden was even higher with a rate of 56.7 percent.
Other stark statistics included Camden’s median income in 2011 was $21,191, the lowest among the 555 cities and places surveyed. It was a huge drop from Camden’s median income in 2010 of $28,720.
The 26 percent decrease in median income put Camden at the top of the list in an almost tie with Goodyear, Ariz., which had a 26.5 percent drop.
In an e-mail Friday, I asked city spokesman Robert Corrales how the Mayor Dana L. Redd reacted to the news and what she is doing to address the situation.
Here is what he said:
“Camden has been faced with many hardships for several decades, especially since the decline of manufacturing jobs in the City. This Administration is working hard to reverse these hardships by addressing issues such as public safety, education, and economic development. Mayor Redd is committed to moving Camden forward by confronting these issues and creating real sustainable solutions with all our stakeholders – residents, faith based institutions, our higher educational and healthcare institutions, private and civic organizations.”
Unfortunately this is the setup for a long, very tough time in the city. It will get much worse than this. The best solution is to evict the present government out of the city and install one that has nothing to do with the county democrat machine. Another solution is to eliminate Sec 8 housing along with other housing programs in the city and watch the hardcore unemployable migrate out to the suburbs, then everyone can share in the solution.— camback- Cities like Camden, Detroit, Chester, Oakland, etc...are all the modern day versions of the old Southern Plantation the only difference is today, the plantation's role isn't to produce anything...it's to consume more and more and be the basis for more and more government borrowing.
After the Civil War, Southern Democrats formed the KKK and have since then been "re-enslaving" minorities using entitlements and government programs to keep them dependant on Governement (their new master) and its puppeteers, the bankers whom make trillions on profits funding these expensive government programs.
It's a painful message to hear this I am sure. However how else do you explain the fact that over 150 yrs after slavery was abolished, millions are still dependant on The System...a system that emphasises "separation" and non-integration with the majority.
In Europe (where slavery also existed), these entitlement programs simply don't exist and minorities, for all intents and purposes seemlessly integrate into the mainstream. Europe already has socialism so no need to mount an effort to create a dependancy there.
In America, minorities are kept dependant, obstructed by goverment and bankers from integrating and becoming part of the mainstream. Stimatism has been indoctrinated by the countless Government programs designed to create animosity, mistrust and separation between the races.
American cities are manifistions of a mission started in 1913 by the private banking cartel (today's Central Banks) to make money off of the Government by turning a nation into a "guarenteed revenue source" and no better way to create a guarenteed revenue sourse, then by creating a mass of people dependent on "The System" and always at "odds" with the majority.
Trust is sometimes painful. Until America realizes its being manipulatd for the gain of bankers and their puppet politicians, it will never change.— Professor1982 - It's official. You are the most ignorant person out there. First of all, you cannot run around saying Obama is going to make us socialist the. Turn around here and say there is no socialism in Europe. Europe has and is proud of its entitlement systems because they believe the government should take care of the poorest. Second of all, there was no institution of slavery comparable to the American system in Europe. Yes, there has been slavery but not of a specific race and not at the dam time we had ours. God back to whatever rock you crawled out from under — jonline
- The truth is always more painful than the status quo....just ask Germans of the 1930s. They didnt want to believe their Govt was evil either but in the end they found out the hard way. Another group suffering is the Native Americans. — Professor1982
- Minorities "seemlessly [sic] integrate into the mainstream" in Europe? That might be the least true thing ever written. I can't believe anyone has the gall to claim authority on a subject about which he obviously knows so little. I hope you're not up for tenure soon, "Professor." — Thad Lawrence
- Yet there's no "Affirmative Action" or racially based entitlemnt programs there to aggravate the race relations either....imagine that. Americans are enslaving there minorities right in plainview. — Professor1982
- Keep pulling American jobs out of the country, and Camden will have lots of company.— Boru
- poor reporting:why the big drop in median income in a year?— camdenlawprof
- A reporter can't report on the story and give a detailed account of all the competing theories in 200 words. It's not an investigative piece. Stick to law. — Thad Lawrence
- camden needs to really redevelop its waterfront. I hate to see all those surface parking lots between the aquarium and the ball field. A couple condo towers would draw in young professionals and small businesses. The prison is gone, any development there yet?— palmyra21
- Anyone who lives their life in Camden should get a pass on purgatory.— wistahoma
- Unfortunately poverty itself has become a kind of big business. As a Democrat, I have nothing but disgust for the Camden County machine and for the man that heads it: George Norcross. The hundreds of millions in state "aid" poured in over the years did a lot to enrich connected contractors (based in Cherry Hill, etc.), but did nothing to further the prospects of Camden residents. City infrastructure crumbles, drinking water remains unsafe, but yeah there's an aquarium on the waterfront.
One suggestion for real improvement: for Campbell's to step up and relocate its headquarters downtown, so to jump start a functional business district. With 1,000 or so white-collar employees downtown everyday, local delis, fruit stands, and other small business can be sustained. If others follow suit, you have the beginnings of a real City economy.— Augs 
Comment removed.- waterdog
Yes, because as everyone knows, the republicans always make a better economy. That's just common sense. Wait, you mean Reagan and Bush I ran up the deficit? Oh, Clinton actually balanced the budget and oversaw more job creation than either? Wait, Bush 2 took a surplus and overspent it into a loss. But thats just has to be recent history, though. Some weird historical anomaly. Let's see. Um, it seems republicans oversaw the beginning of the great depression. Well, it had to be a fiscally responsible republican that pulled us out of it. Oh, wait FDR was a democrat. Man, why do these pesky historical facts always have to get in the way?— Hemingway - FDR? That's just silly. What about Jimmy Carter and 15% inflation, or Abraham Lincoln, a Republican? There plenty of historical facts to go around, but mean nothing today.
Prior to covering Camden, Claudia wrote about South Jersey’s interesting dead as the South Jersey obituary writer. Before arriving at the Inquirer in 2010, Claudia covered crime in Rochester, NY, which, like Camden, has struggled to emerge from the fall of its industrial peak several decades ago.
You may contact Claudia at cvargas@phillynews.com and follow Claudia on Twitter here.
