Officials: City needs team effort, trustworthy leader

By KIM MAIALETTI
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN

Asked what type of leader could begin turning this battered city around, an urban policy expert answered without missing a beat.

"Is Jesus available?" said Jerome Harris, director of the Urban and Public Policy Institute at Rowan University.

The list of problems facing this city of 82,402 is long.

If all Camden's economic problems and social ills were not enough, it also is beset by corruption. A jury on Thursday convicted Mayor Milton Milan of 14 corruption charges.

Milan is the third of the city's last five mayors to be convicted of wrongdoing.

In addition, Gov. Christie Whitman's administration is pushing legislation that would strip the city's elected leaders of their powers and allow a state takeover of day- to-day operations.

Since May, the city has been under state supervision, the highest degree of oversight currently allowed under New Jersey law.

The poorest city in the state, Camden continues to see its tax base shrink while the demands of its population continue to grow.

So what - or who - will it take to break the cycle of corruption and mismanagement and return prosperity to Camden?

In interviews with national experts, state officials, residents, community activists, religious leaders, professors, city employees and local businesses, a picture emerged of a visionary leader who is part cheerleader, part politician - someone who possesses the skills to unite the fractured community while maintaining the utmost level of honesty and integrity.

Yet first and foremost, Camden's next leader must realize that he or she cannot save the city single- handedly.

"They're going to need an awful lot of assistance," Harris said. "No single individual will possess all of the skills needed, so it's going to have to be a team effort."

Most believe former Philadelphia Mayor Ed Rendell would not have been able to rescue the city without David Cohen, his chief of staff, working tirelessly behind the scenes. In Trenton, Mayor Doug Palmer built a team of competent cabinet members who carry out his vision for revitalizing the capital city.

Former Camden Mayor Randy Primas (1981-90) agreed with Harris, noting that the city may have to suspend its residency requirements for cabinet members and increase salaries in order to attract top-notch directors.

"I believed if I couldn't hire a director who knew more than me then I didn't need them," said Primas, who today is chairman of the Camden Development Collaborative, which provides funding for nonprofit development corporations. " The new mayor is going to have to attract some very thoughtful and competent directors, but you are not going to be able to attract external people for the salaries that are available in Camden."

Currently, directors are paid $62,000 annually. The new state-appointed business administrator, however, earns $98, 000.

Just as all of Camden's problems cannot be blamed on the city alone, its solutions don't all lie within its 9 square miles.

"Camden is not a city that can pull itself up by its bootstraps," said Monsignor Robert McDermott, head of St. Joseph's Pro Cathedral, the city's largest Catholic church. "Without the proper resources to lead, you could put the greatest leader in the world there and they're not going to be successful."

McDermott is one of many who said the right person to lead Camden to recovery may not be someone within the city.

"It's really going to take somebody who has the ability to make those essential, but unpopular, decisions. With all due respect to people who live in the city, there aren't a lot of those people around," McDermott said.

So far, two candidates have announced plans to run for mayor in the May 8 election: Councilman Gilbert "Whip" Wilson and former city spokesman Keith Walker. Council President Gwendolyn Faison is expected to announce within the next few months.

Regardless of who wins the post, the new mayor will be forced to work closely with state officials who already have outlined a potential plan for the city's fiscal recovery.

In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the state provided $70 million of the city's $112 million operating budget. That amount included $13.5 million in special aid over and above what Camden was due from the state in distressed cities assistance, compensation for tax-free properties like Rutgers' campus, and other regular funding. Local property taxes provided only $21.4 million.

The city's next leader, city officials and residents say, must have a realistic vision and also be able to restore hope and trust. "We need a leader that genuinely cares about bringing the city back, not personal gain," said city purchasing agent Richard Felicione, who has lived in Camden for 41 years. "We need someone who can get a dialogue going with the state."

Harry Pozycki, chairman of New Jersey Common Cause, a government watchdog group, believes Camden is ripe for bold campaign finance reform under which races are publicly financed and spending caps and low contribution limits are imposed.

"Camden needs a leader who is not chosen by the money," Pozycki said. "If we're to expect we're to get the best and brightest - that's generated by competition and competition is generated by fair-play rules."

Perhaps Carole Thompson of the Annie E. Casey Foundation summed it up best.

"Camden needs what most communities need, which is an open, intelligent, strong person who is able to assess the current situations and incorporate promising and best practices from other cities across the country," Thompson said.

Thompson's Baltimore-based philanthropic organization began work in Camden two years ago, after identifying the city as one of 22 nationwide where it could improve the future for children by strengthening families and neighborhoods. As for a turnaround of the city: "It's doable," she said. "You don't just write off 85,000 people. We have to keep working until we get it right."