Camden is a city of neighborhoods, built on the backs of the most resilient residents in the nation. As the results from the general election sink in and creep further behind us, I am now looking into the future with my colleagues in the state’s other urban areas. We are focusing on what another Donald Trump presidency will look like for the cities made up of mostly Black and brown people and what the policies will be during the coming tenure of the president-elect.
Make no mistake, Camden has been a tremendous beneficiary of U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration. The federal government has invested in our city and made a priority out of quality-of-life projects from the LINK trail, that will provide children and families new greenspaces, to funds for a once in a generation upgrade to one of our biggest economic engines in Camden, the South Jersey Port Corporation. Infrastructure money will continue to flow for years to come from federal legislation that passed two years ago, and the city will again be the beneficiary of it.
That said, our core principles here in city hall will not change and we will continue to keep pushing and working hard for our residents every day. Irrespective of who the president of the United States has been over the years, there has been a lot of changes in Camden, one brick at a time, and I believe we still have miles to go and promises to keep to our neighbors. This year has been another year of progress as violent crime has been reduced by almost 20% over last year, shootings have been brought down by about 40% and the city is safer than in 2023.
Most importantly, we have launched programs this year that are capturing kids that we lost to the streets from COVID and getting them back into workforce development programs with Hopeworks and the Center for Family Services, amongst many others. We’ve successfully started working on building another new over $100 million Eastside High School to create equity in education in the city and have seen more city students heading to college than ever before.
We’ve seen construction start on a new 52,000 square foot office building at the Holtec campus as they continue to expand, and Rutgers University is investing $60 million into its campus and the surrounding neighborhood. We’ve broken ground and finished projects like Oliver Station and the Harrison in East Camden for more than $40 million in new housing investments. In fact, one of the largest announced projects in the Delaware Valley, the Cooper University Health Care $3 billion expansion, will redefine the city and the downtown. On top of that, one of the state’s largest transportation centers is getting a full $500 million makeover by the state of New jersey.
Also, you may have heard that the Philadelphia 76ers are thinking about investing $1.5 billion into Camden City for a new arena and mixed-use development along the waterfront. I’m here to tell you today, that is still very much a possibility.
There’s a lot of positive steps to point to in the city where you can see and touch the growth taking place, far away from its deindustrialized and disenfranchised past. As we collectively move into this new presidential administration, one I know many of us are not happy about, we need to keep our minds open to collaboration and steel our spines to defend the improvements we’ve made. I will personally continue a robust dialogue with my counterparts throughout the state, especially with Newark City Mayor Ras Baraka, to figure out ways to collaborate and share ideas.
Regardless of who you voted for, we need to keep Camden strong, and we need to ensure that we continue to create a safe environment for our families, provide the children of Camden with state-of-the-art places to learn and keep lifting residents out of poverty with jobs that pay a livable wage. These are the metrics I use to measure my success in this job. Furthermore, this is how we will know if we are charting the right course when we see residents thriving, eliminating food and housing insecurity, and creating strong and growing neighborhoods.
In short, we are asking for President-elect Donald Trump’s assistance to achieve these goals and come to the table with a comprehensive urban agenda that will benefit every city in New Jersey.
Victor Carstarphen is the mayor of Camden City and a former city council member. He was the former boys’ basketball coach of Camden High School and worked for an accounting agency before becoming the mayor.
