CAMDEN, N.J. (KYW Newsradio) — The city of Camden is kicking off a new initiative aimed at tearing down decaying homes in several neighborhoods, in an effort to help build the city up.
Seeing dilapidated houses in the city is nothing new for Camden County Police Chief Gabriel Rodriguez.
"It's something that makes me very sad," Rodriguez said. "I grew up in this city, and I played in some of these homes that are still vacant today, and I'm 38 years old."
He says he has seen firsthand that houses like these, used by kids as playgrounds, can lead to traumatizing situations.
"Getting calls that these kids just found a body — of someone who may have overdosed or a body ... that may have been dropped right after someone committed murder," Rodriguez said.
With hundreds of blighted properties on the list, Camden Mayor Victor Carstarphen says demolition is just one step in the process of rebuilding.
"My plan is to bring the community together. ... Give our residents an opportunity to build and have home ownership in these particular areas."
Carstarphen says he hopes taking down these building will help reduce crime. Many of the more than 300 vacant homes across the city have been incubators for criminal activity, he added.
"Prostitution coming in and out, drug dealers, shootings — all these things in a home that someone purchased and never took care of it."
He adds they're often more than just an eyesore for the other folks who live on the block.
"People have called the police department because of the rodents that it's attracting as well, and these are the kinds of environments they have to raise families in," he said.
He says much of the blight is caused by people with no connection to the community.
"We often find, more often than not, that these properties are owned by people as far away as California," he said.
Rodriguez is pushing for the soon-to-be-vacant lots to be adopted or sold for reasonable prices to neighbors who will take care of them.
