Photos by James A. McBride
Father Jud Weiksnar (left), pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Parish, Camden, watches as workers prepare to raze the property at 923 North 27th Street (below).
CAMDEN — On Wednesday, Jan. 13, faith leaders from Camden churches gathered together to tear down a house, and build up hope.
Adult and youth leaders from Camden Bible Tabernacle, Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP), Hope Memorial Baptist, and St. Anthony of Padua Church held a celebration and rally on in the morning to kick-off the demolition of 23 Camden houses on a list of Imminent Hazards and approved for demolition by Camden City Council last November.
Last September, CCOP held a contest to find Cramer Hill’s ‘Ugliest House’ to raise awareness of abandoned buildings and unsafe structures in the city, and the winner was 923 North 27th Street, which was the first to be demolished last Wednesday. Also demolished was the house on 713 North 10th Street.
Soon enough, the other 21 houses will be razed.
“Just a year ago we were standing five blocks from here celebrating the demolition of two abandoned police sub-stations, which now houses a community garden,” said Father Jud Weiksnar, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church and CCOP clergy leader. “We are confident that whatever goes up on the site of these houses will be just as much a symbol of hope for our neighborhood and city.”
Before the demolition, Father Jud blessed the demolition machinery, used to take down the house.
“We are confident that our positive working relationship with the Department of Public Works, the City Council, and hopefully with our new mayor will make the demolition and rehabilitation of other ugly houses a reality,” he said.
Both CCOP local organizing committees in North Camden and in Cramer Hill have spent the last six months shepherding these properties through the demolition process.
“We have learned that the process to get a dangerous house demolished is complex, confusing and complicated,” commented Gordon Johnson, CCOP leader from Camden Bible Tabernacle. Gordon and his team met with then-City Council President Angel Fuentes to get the Camden City Council to support the demolition of the 23 properties. “The progress marked by this demolition shows that together, we can achieve a good purpose; when we can get involved, and work together, we can support our officials in completing and streamlining a demolition and rehabilitation process” concluded Gordon Johnson.
“We tracked this entire process, step by step,” commented Mandi Aviles, CCOP leader from Cramer Hill. “What CCOP plans to do now is to go to our housing partners like the CCDA and the City to see what it would take for all of us to sit down together and evaluate this broken system. Together we can come up with an improved system that works both more efficiently and cost effectively for Camden.”
at the bottom and then tap “Add to Home Screen”
