Segregation and Social Stratification are two different things. The first is artificial and man made, a construct meant for the subjugation of one class of people over another. Social Stratification is a natural and voluntary separation according to race, social and economic status. Social stratification is what you see in place most visibly in high schools, where Asian, Black, Hispanic and others choose to group and sit with each other. It is the difference between the makeup of clientele at a Soul Food restaurant and an Italian restaurant. It is the difference between the golf course and the basketball court. It is seen where people of the same race and socio-economic order select entirely different norms of behavior, slang and entertainment options.

It is the choice made when someone who can afford a house in Haddonfield or a house in Camden chooses Haddonfield.

Social Stratification, or "Class" is the 800 pound gorilla sitting in the middle of the room that no one in Camden has yet found a way to acknowledge and discuss, let alone account for in redevelopment plans.

From the late 1940's into the 70's, forces of powerful elitism and racism isolated Camden from regional mainstream opportunities, creating a ward of the state by design to keep the suburbs white, the product of traditional racist attitudes and a collusion of numerous zoning boards, developers and state officials that pretended not to see. Considering the shredding of the social order, collapse and calamity that followed in Camden, the state of New Jersey and regional communities  must carry the shameful burden of guilt. 

Camden's predicament is the result of sins of commission and omission by the state, and people and organizations with the power to shape events over many year's time. The state's guilt will not be absolved in seventeen months. It may never be absolved. This fact has been resoundingly acknowledged by the New Jersey Supreme Court through it's historic and precedent setting Mt. Laurel decisions.

The greatest challenge and paradox facing Camden's Economic Recovery may be to resolve the results of segregation while enabling social stratification to occur, by somehow creating spaces and places for classes of residents who do not yet exist in Camden, but must be lured to Camden for a sound tax base ever to exist, and for social bridging opportunities to be created for Camden residents who have acquired sufficient social, education and job skills to move up the socio-economic ladder.

Camden's future ultimately depends on thousand's of individual decisions rooted in self-interest, un-planned and unsubsidized, incentive free, "Free Market" choices, and government as enabler and not planner. Yet a contradiction must be embraced temporarily, that is, in a social and economic matrix as fractured as Camden, state government must plan and fix what it broke. As the sign say's in many retail stores of precious fragile items, "You Break It, You Buy It." So the state is obligated to "buy it" while it still governs Camden and there is still 17 months left in the Economic Recovery Act. The state of New Jersey should earmark and develop at least some small sections of Camden separate from the rest, become the "developer of necessity," a paradoxical "un-natural" act to allow for "natural" social stratification, without engaging in segregation, so that Camden is a viable choice for those considering Collingswood, Haddonfield, Old City or Northern Liberties. At first glance, this is a bitter and demeaning pill for current residents to have to swallow. The class spectrum terms themselves, Lower, Lower Middle, Middle, Upper Middle and Upper Class, have irritating divisive qualities. Nevertheless, they have real approximate values of meaning and usefulness in reality. One must realize that social stratification is a condition that would exist by now naturally anyway if the city's social structure was not destroyed by the regions political and commercial elite decades ago. 

Wealthy classes who complain they are being exploited and victims of extortion through the taxation process for the benefit of inner city deadbeats, and impoverished city residents who complain they are being exploited by the wealthy classes through the renewal process are both incorrect, paranoid and shameful positions. And the inner city needy will never be free from poverty and government dependence as long as they live in a city that does not encompass all classes with its commensurate opportunities.

 Any class member that criticizes the stereotypical behavior of another should examine their own. In the hierarchy of needs and desires, all the classes have much more in common than divides them. It takes big men and women with open minds to overcome class prejudices. Class prejudice and conflict, initiated by any part of the spectrum and directed against another is poison to Urban Renewal. Until Camden can incorporate a variety of social classes and see at least parts of itself in league with Collingswood, Haddonfield, Old City or Northern Liberties, Camden will remain bypassed.

Instead of the people of Camden "shucking and jiving" for support from the state, it is the state who should be "shucking and jiving" in front of the people to avoid the indictment and trial it deserves. Much of the damage done to shape today's Camden occurred decades ago. Just as a man who commits a murder at age 21 can still be tried in court at age 61 for it, in the court of public opinion and civil court the state is not relieved by time.

If the state and region were ever indicted and convicted, and an appropriate fine levied, the amount of money in the current Recovery Plan would be miniscule in comparison.

But direct payments in the form of housing vouchers, low income housing creation and rehabilitation and block grants, drug clinics and "half-way" houses" in the city, commonly called "in place applications"  would be a remedy that would only stretch out the day of reckoning for the city's ills, and foul the natural human ecosystem. It would interfere with the process of natural selection, self-interest residential selection, investing, and social stratification which must be acknowledged, enabled and encouraged.

The state could begin to make amends by acknowledging the interference and damage in the human ecosystem it has caused by enabling segregation years ago, relieve Camden of the stigma of being a "ward" of the state by reversing the stigma and terming it's financial assistance as "obligations" rather than "support" or "subsidies" with its "welfare" and "public assistance" connotations.

The state must realize it's obligation is until Camden has been fully repaired, and not just restricted to a artificial legislative expiration date. The amount of money dedicated to the levy should not be a fixed amount, but enough to get the job done. The "job done" can be measured when city tax assessments can support all city government obligations.

The levy against the state should be applied in the areas of education, blight demolition, infrastructure repair and enhancement, environmental remediation, the state as real estate developer of necessity in basic new urban forms, and transportation asset enhancement. This should also include an expansion of the PATCO Hi SPEED LINE to the Waterfront at a minimum, but throughout the city optimally, since Camden's greatest asset is it's enviable location in relation to Philadelphia's best areas and the entire Northeastern seaboard. Location assets mean little if not developed through transportation.

The board to promote regionalism should be made permanent, and obligated to meet benchmarks year after year.

The ERB to date has made progress in the development of affordable housing. In fact it is the ERB's most salient feature to date, unfortunately with its welfare connotations, and image of painting and rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. It has accomplished no measurable increase, outside of the Victor apartments, in attracting a Middle Class, or more importantly, Urban Pioneers, who may or may not be "middle class" but in fact could be impoverished artists or economically struggling educated young people looking for affordable real estate while pursuing careers.

The slow progress of the ERB to date can not be laid at the feet of the city. The ERB is a creature of the state, and the input of city officials is legislatively impeded. Its efforts are uninspired boilerplate, lacking in creativity in practical vision and execution.  Though well intentioned, out of the 15 seats on the ERB not one person has any experience in a successful Urban Renewal, or any expertise in the field. Out of the members who are Camden residents this of course goes without saying. Of the suburban public members on the board there is no renewal experience or expertise. The same goes for the Public Officials and bureaucrats on the board.

This is not to suggest that renewal in Camden is dead. Quite the contrary, Camden moves in fits and starts inexorably forward. The "tipping point' is just a matter of time. Renewal is a desire and eternal process of the human urban condition, no matter what "programs" exist or not. At its inception, ERB leaders wisely declared the plan flexible and amenable to changing form and outlook as it unfolds. Failure cannot be an option. Failure would damage the city image so badly it would take twenty years to recover. Now may be the time to reassess. 

The potentially saddest part of the ERB's failure, if that should occur, is that the state will wash it's hands and walk away, leaving the city with the national public image that once again it could not get it's act together. To date the state Economic Recovery Act has created much sound and fury signifying little. Despite the seemingly miraculous reduction in crime in the past year, the one area of success that no one can deny, a credit to the effort of Camden's dedicated police force and state partners, this has not translated into any increase of residents and businesses from outlying regions to move into the city.

The positive forces in action in the city of Camden need several more years to culminate as the exciting, dynamic urban area it is destined to become. The logic of the times, the international and national movement back into the cities, is a piece of good fortune netting the city no matter what. Camden will succeed despite politicians, not because of them.

But this does not relieve the state of its obligations to repair what it has broken, no matter how many years it takes.

In the meantime, the residents of the city and the ERB need to begin acknowledging and talking about the 800 pound social stratification gorilla in the room who goes by the name of "Class Differences" and what to do about it.

Structured inequalities influence your opportunities for achieving economic prosperity, referred to as life chances by sociologists.

"The stratification that exists among different groups of individuals is not only real but also has important consequences. These structured inequalities influence your opportunities for achieving economic prosperity, referred to as life chances by sociologists. In our society the social class of the family into which you are born and the community in which you grow up will affect your life chances. Regardless of their own social class location, individuals living in upper class, or upper middle class communities, have many more resources and opportunities than individuals living in lower middle class or lower class communities." - Anthony Giddens, Mitchell Gunier, Richard Apelbaum

The closer one is geographically and spatially to well off upper social classes the more the opportunity increases for interaction and accessing the capital, socially and economically, of the well off. High density neighborhoods where different classes are in easy proximity and walking distance of each other offer the best opportunities for socio-economic mobility across class lines. Upper Classes who are invested in their neighborhood for the long haul, living close to Lower classes, tend to consider their fate intertwined with the other classes, and  support local upward mobility through voluntary civic associations and philanthropy.