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| Closing Prison offers New Opportunity |
| By The Canadian Press |
| Published: 02/23/2009 |
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CAMDEN, N.J. — The majestic Ben Franklin Bridge slices this city's waterfront into two worlds. On the south side of the bridge, there's a spiffy red brick minor-league baseball stadium where statues of the Campbell Soup Co.'s Campbell Kids stand sentry and suburban families spend summer evenings. On the north side, chain link fences topped by razor wire surround a cluster of grimly functional buildings that make up Riverfront State Prison. After years of requests, the state is preparing to close the prison. Activists see the decision as not only an opportunity to redevelop a seven-hectare tract of prime riverfront land with its view of the Philadelphia skyline, but as the catalyst for the rebirth of the original neighbourhood in a city that routinely ranks as one of the nation's poorest and most violent. "The prison needs to be out of there for anything to happen on this waterfront," said community activist Rodney Sadler, a marina owner and president of the advocacy group Save Our Waterfront. The prison could close by summer, over the objection of the correction workers' unions. Already, the state Corrections Department has scattered inmates among other New Jersey prisons with plans to transfer the staff as well. Fewer than 650 inmates remain at Riverfront, which can accommodate 1,000. What will happen to the prison property is not set. Rutgers University, whose Camden campus occupies nearby land on the south side of the bridge, is interested in using some of it. The prison was never a popular addition to the waterfront. In the early 1980s, the city was in the midst of a long decline and hurting for revenue, and then-Mayor Randy Primas took a deal from the state: US$3.4 million for the land. The state built its prison and Primas tried to persuade residents that it would provide jobs. The prison was opened in 1985. From current Mayor Gwendolyn Faison to neighbourhood activists, almost no one believes it brought much lasting benefit. What's more, other sections of the waterfront began changing - making the prison an increasingly incongruous sight in one section of the city that has prospered. Within a few years of the prison opening, the south waterfront began to change. RCA and Campbell Soup closed their last factories and an aquarium opened. It was the first of several attractions, including the baseball park and an amphitheater, which have turned the area into an entertainment destination. Luxury apartments and an upscale tavern followed. While those developments might help the city's image, many residents don't see how they help life in the neighborhoods where most of the people live. Over the decades, the city as a whole has continued its long decline. Things got so bad that in 2002 the state put up US$175 million to jump-start redevelopment and took control of some aspects of the local government. Educational institutions such as Rutgers and Camden County College have used a mixture of state money and their own to expand, as have hospitals. While there's been some private investment, some of the splashiest private proposals in the residential neighbourhoods away from the waterfront have not been realized. Save Our Waterfront, formed in the early 1990s to turn back a state proposal to build a second prison in North Camden, has been trying to secure a better future for the neighbourhood. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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