Camden holds off decision on law that would force makeshift memorials to be taken down after 15 days

The Camden City Council on Tuesday night put off a decision on a controversial proposed ordinance that would have forced makeshift memorials to homicide and traffic victims to be removed after 15 days.

In a Council chamber packed with residents, police officers, and activists, the councilman who proposed the law, Angel Fuentes, recommended to his colleagues a delay in voting, saying they needed to hear more input before considering it.

Council agreed, voting to take no action. It also approved a public meeting, to be hosted by Fuentes, at 4 p.m. March 21 at City Hall to discuss possible courses of action.

“If we want to do this right, let’s do this right from the get-go,” Fuentes said.

In the month since he introduced the proposed ordinance, citing a decline in property values and the effect these tributes can have on Camden’s youth, he said, he has heard from many members of the community opposed to it.

At Fuentes’ behest, Council heard from an opponent of the proposal, Nyzia Easterling, whose Saving Grace Ministries was formed to assist children in Camden who have lost a parent to violence.

“You need to get to the root of the issue,” Easterling said, and focus on violence instead of the symbols associated with it.

“We don’t want to bring problems, we want to bring solutions,” Easterling said in an interview. Next week, she said, she will advise Council to look at ways to keep community centers open longer, and to build a “trauma community center” to help people in need.

When Easterling’s husband was shot and killed outside of a now-closed bar at Viola Street and Broadway in 2004, she said, her daughter Jennah was traumatized by the loss of her father. To pay for the then-12-year-old to get therapy and the resources needed to cope, Easterling had to take a second job. No places in Camden offered these services, she said, so she drove her daughter to Cherry Hill and Collingswood.

Last year, there were 22 homicides and 13 vehicular deaths in Camden, the kind of tragedies that families typically recognize with a memorial. In 2019, there have been 6 homicides and 2 vehicular deaths.

Some Council members have said that for many reasons — such as the steep cost of a funeral — families need to honor their loved one in nontraditional ways, including temporary memorials.

Fuentes and others, however, say the memorials are an unnecessary reminder of the violence occurring in the community. Residents opposed to the measure believe that Council is largely trying to paint a new narrative of the city to bring in new commercial development and homeowners.

Although makeshift and roadside memorials have been regulated through other measures like litter laws and highway safety policies, this ordinance would be the first to officially regulate such displays in New Jersey.

Vida Niel, a political blogger and member of the Camden County chapter of the NAACP, says Council shouldn’t be discussing the ordinance, but should concentrate on cutting crime.

“City Council is worried about the wrong thing,” Niel said. “Why aren’t these [police] officers on the street protecting our citizens? That’s the question that needs to be answered."