Camden: The New Fishtown

I've been saying it for awhile. In 15 years Camden will be Illadel's Brooklyn: across the river from downtown, cheap, filled with "poor" white people earnestly working on their first EP/Mashup/DJ Mixtape. As gentrification pushes out from downtown (NoLibs is for yuppies and Fishtown will soon be the same way) it will eventually spill over the river in a big way. I have spent many hours in Camden (Tweeter Center) and really see a city waiting to bust out. This morning's Inquirer highlights that the Camden transformation is already underway. The article gives a couple good reasons Camden is a solid bet for improvement, one business owner's take:


"If you go to big cities like New York and Philadelphia, the economy goes up and down," George Trimis said. "In an area like this, the economy can't go down, it can only go up."

Well said. And really it's true. Camden's prices can't get any lower. They have lowered sales tax to 3.5% to make it easier for businesses to grow. I don't actually know if 3.5% is low or not, or what Philadelphia's is, but it's advertised on the city's website, so I'm guessing it's good. I took some pictures with my hi res camera.

The scenic Camden skyline
(from across the river, natch)

Eventually gentrifiers will run out of room, and then it's Camden's turn. It's only 4.5 minutes from downtown Illadel by car or one really fucking annoying ferry ride. Also, it's the not most dangerous place in the country. Yes, Camden does still have some negative attributes:

Camden City Council

But things are looking up...