Camden community group closes amid confusion
The demise of a neighborhood happens slowly. But the demise of a community organization created to save that neighborhood can happen quickly.
The demise of a neighborhood happens slowly. But the demise of a community organization created to save that neighborhood can happen quickly.
So quickly, in fact, that some of the organization's members might not even know it's happening.
For more than a decade, United Neighbors of Whitman Park has offered summer and after-school programs from a storefront community center in one of the poorest, most dangerous neighborhoods of Camden, Whitman Park.
But some volunteers grew too old to help out. Or died. Or moved. And there weren't enough replacements.
"People weren't dedicated," said Louise Dobbs, 78, a former city councilwoman whose late husband founded the group. "They were not the same neighbors that used to cooperate."
Dobbs was among the first African Americans to settle in the Polish neighborhood in 1966, but she moved to Pennsauken this year because the crime got too severe.
"I just could not take it any longer," she said.
She said no one was willing to continue the neighborhood watch programs and field trips that used to be the hallmark of the group, so in the summer she wrote a letter to the mayor, offering to deed the property to the city "because of a lack of community support."
The property has $1,400 in liens on it, and under the arrangement the city would absolve the organization of its financial liability. Ten years ago, the group bought the Chase Street property, the former Frank's Meat Market, from the city for $1.
The measure went before City Council yesterday, but Steven Carmichael, a past acting president of the group, objected, saying, "The members of United Neighbors have no idea about this."
He said that the group remained active, adding that last week members planted trees on the sidewalks.
And the community center must stay there, he said, because "kids are still in need."
In fact, two 12-year-olds and a 10-year-old hung out on the corner stoop in front of the group's building yesterday. Apparent drug dealers held the other corners, only to flee when police drove by.
"Too much violence around here," said Naseem Cartman, 10.
McQuawn Walker, 12, said the people who ran United Neighbors "treated us nicely."
"We went to the zoo, to the museum. We had so much fun there," he said.
No decision was made at the Council meeting, but confusion abounded.
Council President Angel Fuentes said the Police Athletic League was interested in using the site, but in an earlier interview Sgt. Tyree Nobles, PAL vice president, said the league had not discussed that at all.
"News to me, sir," he said.
Councilman Bill Spearman told Council that he was working on the situation, but said that it was complex and that he couldn't discuss it publicly.
A member of another community group one block away, the Hope Community Outreach Center, attended the meeting, too. He said that his group had offered to manage the building for its own programs, but that United Neighbors wouldn't make a deal.
There is some good news. After a 4-year-old was shot and killed in cross-fire in August, police stepped up patrols and there has been a "tremendous reduction" in violence, Police Chief Scott Thomson said.
"It's still not where we want it to be, but we've made some significant strides," he said.
