Camden's story seen as more nuanced than Christie narrative

Big businesses moving in. Less crime. A school district under new leadership.

Camden was front and center during portions of Gov. Christie's State of the State address Tuesday, as he revisited now-familiar talking points about the city as Mayor Dana L. Redd, School Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard, and Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson listened from the front of the legislative chambers.

Five years ago, Christie said, violence-wracked Camden was "devoid of hope," with corrupt leadership and failing schools. Now, he said, homicides are down 51 percent and violent crime down 22 percent. He touted state tax incentives that are bringing Subaru of North America to build a new headquarters there, as well as the 76ers' new training facility on the waterfront.

Camden, he said, is "an example of what we can achieve."

But Camden residents and activists say the picture of their changing city is more nuanced than the narrative Christie seeks to present to a national audience.

"Camden's his poster child, simple as that," said Kelly Francis, president of the local branch of the NAACP. "All that's going to be his campaign material."

The steep drop in homicides, for example, is culled from comparing the 33 in 2014 with 2012 - when the city saw a record high of 67 following a slashing of the police force.

Nearly half of the city's officers were laid off because of budget cuts in early 2011, and crime skyrocketed. In 2012, the city's police force - and its union - was dismantled in favor of a county-run department. Officers were hired under a new contract. On Tuesday, Christie said the takeover had put nearly 400 officers on the street for the amount of money it once took to employ 260.

Last year's homicide count was essentially the same as in 2009, which had 34, and 2006, when there were 32.

Dan Keashen, a spokesman for Camden County, said the reduction in 2014 was a significant achievement, given that it was the first full year under a county force. He noted that numbers dropped after Thomson's first full year leading the Camden Police Department.

"In 2008, the city had 50 homicides with a full staffing of police officers," he said. "A change in leadership was made, and those numbers came down."

Assembly Majority Leader Louis D. Greenwald (D., Camden) said Christie was "right to talk about the successes of Camden."

"We are seeing recovery for the first time in my lifetime in a city that has constantly been on the decline," Greenwald said at a Statehouse news conference following Christie's speech.

Christie's description of Camden's government as "corrupt" didn't sit well with Gwendolyn Faison, who served as mayor for close to a decade before retiring in 2009. For most of Faison's time in office, the city was under state control, which left her with little mayoral power.

"It's amazing that he would say that," Faison said. "He needs to review his history. Because I was never corrupt, I can tell you that."

Faison said that she welcomed the positive developments in Camden but said that many residents feel that state leaders have gradually stripped away their political power, most recently with the state's 2013 takeover of the school district.

"There's a difference in supporting the city and controlling it," she said. "Certainly, everybody appreciates the things that have been done here. But there's also ways to work together. To cooperate together."