A TRIP TO CAMDEN
I had a business meeting in Camden this morning. I crossed the river via PATCO, a rail line that I picked up at 8th Street on the Philadelphia side of the Schuylkill River, and rode across the Ben Franklin Bridge to Ferry Station in downtown Camden. My colleague, the incubator manager at Rutgers Camden, picked me up and gave me an impressive tour of Camden and of development projects being initiated by university, government, and private sector. I would've paid money for a tour like this, fascinating and insightful as it was, but my companion was happy to oblige his time and expertise.
Lots of exciting things going on. The university, expanding in student body population and in programmatic offerings, is buying up abandoned properties and renovating them into academic buildings and student dormitories. The city of Camden is prettying up the areas near its tourist destinations, such as the aquarium and concert hall, and has recently added a light rail that can take you all the way to Trenton for $1.50 (although that's a starter price that's bound to go up, once people get used to using this mode of public transportation). A private developer that is prominent in Philadelphia is renovating historic structures in Camden into luxury lofts, one of which is already 100% leased even though renovations are nowhere near completed; two more empty shells await construction, should the first tower do well.
It will be interesting to see if there is tension over allocation of resources between downtown and the neighborhoods, a contentious tug-of-war that Philadelphia is currently in the middle of. Former mayor Ed Rendell, now the governor of Pennsylvania, was often accused of neglecting Philly's neighborhoods in his focus on big downtown projects; many say that his successor, John Street, is guilt of the opposite. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't understand how one benefits the other, but when you're talking about where dollars go, there's going to be some grumbling.
I left Camden and my meeting glad for having visited, and eager to keep in touch with my colleague, to get the latest scoop on the ambitious plans. But, stepping back above ground at 8th Street in downtown Philadelphia, I was glad to be back in my city.
I had a business meeting in Camden this morning. I crossed the river via PATCO, a rail line that I picked up at 8th Street on the Philadelphia side of the Schuylkill River, and rode across the Ben Franklin Bridge to Ferry Station in downtown Camden. My colleague, the incubator manager at Rutgers Camden, picked me up and gave me an impressive tour of Camden and of development projects being initiated by university, government, and private sector. I would've paid money for a tour like this, fascinating and insightful as it was, but my companion was happy to oblige his time and expertise.
Lots of exciting things going on. The university, expanding in student body population and in programmatic offerings, is buying up abandoned properties and renovating them into academic buildings and student dormitories. The city of Camden is prettying up the areas near its tourist destinations, such as the aquarium and concert hall, and has recently added a light rail that can take you all the way to Trenton for $1.50 (although that's a starter price that's bound to go up, once people get used to using this mode of public transportation). A private developer that is prominent in Philadelphia is renovating historic structures in Camden into luxury lofts, one of which is already 100% leased even though renovations are nowhere near completed; two more empty shells await construction, should the first tower do well.
It will be interesting to see if there is tension over allocation of resources between downtown and the neighborhoods, a contentious tug-of-war that Philadelphia is currently in the middle of. Former mayor Ed Rendell, now the governor of Pennsylvania, was often accused of neglecting Philly's neighborhoods in his focus on big downtown projects; many say that his successor, John Street, is guilt of the opposite. You'd be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't understand how one benefits the other, but when you're talking about where dollars go, there's going to be some grumbling.
I left Camden and my meeting glad for having visited, and eager to keep in touch with my colleague, to get the latest scoop on the ambitious plans. But, stepping back above ground at 8th Street in downtown Philadelphia, I was glad to be back in my city.
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