Youths seeking change

CAMDEN Peering over a lectern nearly as tall as she, Stephany Aldana, 11, held up a color photo for City Council members showing the drug vials strewed in Von Nieda Park, which she walks by every day to get to school.

Stephany, a sixth grader at St. Anthony of Padua, along with a dozen members of the Von Nieda Park Task Force, came to City Hall on Tuesday prepared with photos, logs of dates and times indicating when calls were made to city officials, and a plea for help in accelerating improvements at the park.

The task force received down-the-road promises of action and a lesson in the slow-moving nature of city government.

The group of sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade students has been committed to the beautification of the park for several years under the guidance of the Rev. William "Jud" Weiksnar, pastor of St. Anthony. They've seen improvements, but challenges remain.

On Tuesday, five members, speaking for the group, asked for vandalized fences to be reinstalled, better lighting, and a crackdown on drug use and homeless people sleeping in the park.

"This is a picture of how dark it is at morning when students walk through the park to get to school. We've been asking for lights since November 2012," said Ashley Melendez, 13. "You promised twice." Melendez reminded Council President Frank Moran that the second time was in July, holding up a picture of him smiling with the children as proof.

Moran thanked the students for their advocacy and explained that the cost of implementing additional lights in the county-owned park, specifically on the basketball courts, came to more than $200,000, well over what the county expected.

Instead of adding cameras to the park, which is open from dawn to dusk, he said, he was hoping to improve lighting around the perimeter, a city cost.

"The county will have to sit down and talk about, do we really have the resources to put $200,000 into that?" Moran said.

Five of the lights are inoperable, smashed by vandals. The city is waiting on quotes from PSE&G on replacement lighting, Public Works Director Patrick Keating said.

When Councilman Luis Lopez, who represents the Fourth Ward, which includes Cramer Hill, asked if more lighting could be installed by the end of the year, Moran said, "Realistically, no. We haven't put out the purchase orders, we're still working on replacing the existing lights."

The students also asked for a stronger police presence and noted that some of the drug vials photographed were found only minutes apart.

Mirta Nieves, a mentor to the group, warned of the risks posed by drug paraphernalia so close to the school: "Some vials still have drugs inside. Can you imagine if a kid walking by picked it up? It would be a tragedy."

Moran said that once the county police's Metro Division receives an additional 100 officers by January, the police presence everywhere will increase.

Dean Rosario, 16, asked why the basketball courts could not stay open - and get lights - for a few hours after dark. "By the time I get home, do homework and eat, it's 5:30, it's dark already," said Rosario, a junior at LEAP Academy who is an alumnus of the group and still helps it.

Rosario also urged Council to better advertise nighttime activities offered in the Cramer Hill community center. "If I would have never joined this group, I never would have known about them," Rosario said.

Moran asked that the director of human services, who was not present at the meeting, do more outreach in the community.

"I think we got a good response," Stephany Aldana said. "I feel like they want to help."

Weiksnar saw another benefit: "For the rest of their lives [the students] know they can have a voice" in government.

The students have a monthly meeting Friday at the park and will gather again Saturday morning to finish painting a mural funded through a PNC grant.