As one of the greatest all-time basketball players from Camden High School who went on to play for legendary coach John Chaney at Temple University, Camden Mayor Vic Carstarphen understandably mixes in a lot of sports metaphors when talking about his hometown’s transformation over the past decade. And while he may be front and center when it comes to much of the improvement and growth taking place in the city, he insists that it’s a team effort.
“I deflect to everyone who works with me and everyone I work with, because it’s important that this community, this city and the leadership know that we’re in this together,” says Carstarphen, who recently made a State of the City address that he entitled “Resilient and Rising.”
“I grew up in a time when a lot of people cared in the community, in the ’70s and ’80s,” he continues. “We sort of took a spin for some years with the narrative and the things that were happening in the city, but since then we’ve been pushing forward. Camden is rising. The administration before me, the leaders before me, have come in and tried to create a culture of everyone working together to get a win for the city. We’ve been getting wins the last four years in a lot of different areas, [such as] improving the quality of life for residents and economic development. There’s a lot of great things that we’re doing and we’re working together to build a better community and a better city of Camden.”
A key piece of the revitalization efforts has been the city’s relationship to its business partners. State tax incentive programs helped lure major corporations to relocate their headquarters to Camden, from Subaru of America to the Philadelphia 76ers, and those companies have in turn been counted on to spark a renaissance.
“We have Subaru, Campbell Soup, Holtec, the 76ers, American Water and others all in the city, having chosen Camden as the place they want to have their headquarters,” Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. says. “That tells the rest of the world that it’s a good place to be and helps us to attract new development to the city.”
The commitment to “Eds and Meds” has also been crucial, with Cooper University Hospital, Virtua Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital and Rutgers University-Camden remaining as significant cornerstones. Cooper broke ground earlier this year on a $3 billion expansion—the largest building investment in Camden County history—and it will include three new towers, up to 745 private patient beds and a brand-new emergency department.
“Cooper Hospital has been here for many, many years and employs so many residents from the city of Camden,” Carstarphen says. “They’re doing a $3 billion expansion that is going to continue to help that city, continue to be the staple that they’ve been for health care, and continue to beautify the downtown area.”
Cappelli notes that Gov. Phil Murphy has committed $250 million to creating an updated, state-of-the-art Walter Rand Transportation Center, and directly across the street in a separate but related project, the county is developing The Beacon Tower, a possible 25-story structure that will include office space.
“We’re still exploring the potential uses and how tall it will actually be, but it will definitely be the tallest building in the city,” he says. “I would say the building will be built over the next five years.”
Along with economic development, a brand-new Camden High School is now in use and several charter schools have been established to improve education. Carstarphen says the city has paved more roads in the past four years than during any other period in Camden’s history, and he is also excited about programs to assist seniors with repairs to their homes and athletic associations geared toward the youth.
More importantly, he adds, the Camden County Police Department has worked hard to build trust with residents, and crime is at a 55-year low.
“We’re an urban community and we have challenges, but I’ll tell you, we have mitigated a lot of those challenges, and we’re working hard to continue to mitigate them to the point where you have to look really hard to find something wrong,” Carstarphen says.
“Most of neighborhoods in Camden City are just as safe as any neighborhood in the suburbs,” Cappelli adds. “We still have some challenging areas that we’re addressing, and we will address, but generally speaking it’s a much safer city.”
Cappelli believes the next step is improving the residential sector for current residents and to attract professionals in the city—whether professors at Rutgers or doctors and nurses at Cooper—to want to call Camden home.
“We need to attract market-rate housing developers to the city,” he says. “We have plenty of land on which to build and I think that’s the next phase of development we’ll see. What we’ve done through the Camden County Improvement Authority is put together a map of all publicly owned properties in the city of Camden and we are now actively marketing those properties to potential developers. So far we have a lot of interest, and I think in the near future some very exciting announcements will be made.”
Nonprofits also play a role, like the Woodland Community Development Corporation, a faith-based organization that supports veterans, youth and families through various programs like it community garden.
“Obviously we can have a tremendous impact in Camden,” says Floyd White, Woodland’s president. “There are a lot of young kids in Camden, a lot of young families, and the geographic location is good being near Philadelphia, having the waterfront and the neighborhoods. It’s a very good place to work and to develop people.
“The city has always been welcoming to me. I think the current administration and past administrations have been very supportive of the people in the city and guys like myself. We work together in partnership all the time for veteran services or youth development, whatever it may be.”
Finally, despite the headlines that the major companies may grab, the importance of small and family-owned business in the big picture cannot be overlooked. Whether it’s restaurants or service providers like dry cleaners, having those opportunities for people to make a living and serve the employees or fellow residents is critical.
“That’s why we’ve started a new program that we’ve been working on for well over a year and put so much effort into, and it’s called Buy Camden First,” Carstarphen says. “It’s about bringing small business services and goods to big business corporations; having a portal where our corporations can look at vendors in the city and work with them. What that does is breed confidence in the community, because our small business owners are the heartbeat of the city of Camden.
“I always talk about this—the waterfront to some people might feel like the head of Camden, but the core of the city is in our belly and we have to make sure our belly is strong. That’s community and we have to work hard to make sure the belly is just as strong as the head, because without a strong core the head is nothing.”
Carstarphen clearly believes the future is bright for all aspects of Camden, and the energy in his voice is clear whenever he talks about the next steps.
“I’m excited every day that I get up,” he says. “This is the city that raised me, this is the space that has given so much to me individually, and I’m just trying to give all I can back.
“I’m getting calls upon calls about people wanting to be part of Camden and be a part of Camden rising. Right now we have many projects in the cycle and I’m looking to do what I love to do: Break ground and have ribbon cuttings.”
