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According to Taibbi, the only person in the state of New Jersey with any moral responsibility for his or her actions is the governor. The city of Camden is pop

by JackFr 13y ago

According to Taibbi, the only person in the state of New Jersey with any moral responsibility for his or her actions is the governor. The city of Camden is populated entirely by victims, and the cause of their misery is Chris Christie.

Edmond 13y ago
I believe Camden is more or less under state control so it is right to blame the state. NJ has an awful track record when it comes to how it treats its urban areas. Newark, which would be considered a crown jewel anywhere else has been left to rot for 40yrs. The state is very unequal in terms of investment to various areas, basically you can quickly tell where the high income earners live and where the rest live wherever you go in NJ. I didn't realize how shitty NJ's resource distribution model was until I moved down to Baltimore and saw how differently Maryland invests in the state as a whole.
- cafard 13y ago
  New Jersey has very fragmented local government. In Maryland, the school districts (for example) are by county. As for Baltimore, a) for eight years the governor was William Donald Schaeffer, a former mayor of Baltimore who thought of Maryland as a life-support system for Baltimore, b) not coincidentally, the cash cow of Maryland has for many years been Montgomery County, which is full of good-government types who seem to lack the technical political skills to make their influence felt.
  - Edmond 13y ago
    The fragmented government is definitely a major issue, I believe there was an attempt to consolidate municipalities sometime back, not sure how well that went. In some places it seems every few blocks is a new municipality. I am still holding out hope that Cory Booker would become governor and make the necessary push for Newark, but I am not holding my breath for that. He may have higher ambitions. >b) not coincidentally, the cash cow of Maryland has for many years been Montgomery County, which is full of good-government types who seem to lack the technical political skills to make their influence felt. I suppose in that regard NJ is cursed because its source of tax revenue is from wall street types who are not exactly known for their egalitarianism :)
- yummyfajitas 13y ago
  According to the article Christie was unable to take over the schools in Camden, and took over the police force in 2013. Blaming him for not fixing the problems of Camden in less than a year is a little silly. Complaining that NJ didn't force Hoboken to subsidize Newark is silly - San Fransisco and Toronto didn't subsidize Camden either, but I don't see you blaming them.
  - Edmond 13y ago
    In a single comment you've managed to deploy all the dismissive language anti-government folks use to derail meaningful discussion. Complaining: Pointing out problems isn't complaining. Subsidize: Investing and subsidizing aren't the same thing. When the arena was built in Newark I am sure some state help was involved, the end result has been an attraction that brings hockey fans to Newark who otherwise would have no reason to be there and patronize businesses. I am not sure where SF and Toronto factor into what goes on in NJ. Blaming: You mean as opposed to the poor citizens taking responsibility and rebuilding the city?
    - Crito 13y ago
      A defense of NJ's state government is... anti-government? You've got a few screws loose.
    - JackFr 13y ago
      "...derail meaningful discussion..." Oh. Who's being dismissive, Kay? You refuse to address the parent's arguments on their own terms, purposefully reading them in as obdurate a manner as possible, completely failing to engage them, and then blame the parent's "dismissive language". They are meaningful discussion.
  - trailcable 13y ago
    I put in another comment. There is no Camden police force. It is now Camden County which encompasses a lot more than just the city. Camden schools were taken over. http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/05/camden-schools-takeover-day-one-and-counting/ http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/05/camden-schools-t... Not sure what you're talking about.
twoodfin 13y ago
I don't think that's a fair reading of the piece. By the end, Christie comes off pretty well: Then, this year, after two years of chaos, Christie and local leaders instituted a new reform, breaking the unions of the old municipal police force and reconstituting a new Metro police department under county control. ... Predictably, the new Camden County-run police began to turn crime stats in the right direction with a combination of beefed-up numbers, significant investments in technology, and a cheaper and at least temporarily de-unionized membership. ... In recent months, Christie has visited Camden several times, making it plain that he puts the daring 2011 gambit here in his political win column. And not everyone in Camden disagrees. One ex-con I talked to in the city surprised me by saying he liked what Christie had done, and compared Camden's decades-long consumption of state subsidies to the backward incentive system he'd seen in prison. "In prison, you can lie in your bed all day long and get credit for good time toward release," he said, shaking his head. "You should have to do something other than lie there." For a guy like Taibbi, who can't describe union "excesses" without persistent scare quotes, this is praising with faint damnation.

by JackFr 13y ago

Edmond 13y ago

I believe Camden is more or less under state control so it is right to blame the state. NJ has an awful track record when it comes to how it treats its urban areas. Newark, which would be considered a crown jewel anywhere else has been left to rot for 40yrs. The state is very unequal in terms of investment to various areas, basically you can quickly tell where the high income earners live and where the rest live wherever you go in NJ. I didn't realize how shitty NJ's resource distribution model was until I moved down to Baltimore and saw how differently Maryland invests in the state as a whole.

cafard 13y ago
New Jersey has very fragmented local government. In Maryland, the school districts (for example) are by county. As for Baltimore, a) for eight years the governor was William Donald Schaeffer, a former mayor of Baltimore who thought of Maryland as a life-support system for Baltimore, b) not coincidentally, the cash cow of Maryland has for many years been Montgomery County, which is full of good-government types who seem to lack the technical political skills to make their influence felt.
- Edmond 13y ago
  The fragmented government is definitely a major issue, I believe there was an attempt to consolidate municipalities sometime back, not sure how well that went. In some places it seems every few blocks is a new municipality. I am still holding out hope that Cory Booker would become governor and make the necessary push for Newark, but I am not holding my breath for that. He may have higher ambitions. >b) not coincidentally, the cash cow of Maryland has for many years been Montgomery County, which is full of good-government types who seem to lack the technical political skills to make their influence felt. I suppose in that regard NJ is cursed because its source of tax revenue is from wall street types who are not exactly known for their egalitarianism :)
yummyfajitas 13y ago
According to the article Christie was unable to take over the schools in Camden, and took over the police force in 2013. Blaming him for not fixing the problems of Camden in less than a year is a little silly. Complaining that NJ didn't force Hoboken to subsidize Newark is silly - San Fransisco and Toronto didn't subsidize Camden either, but I don't see you blaming them.
- Edmond 13y ago
  In a single comment you've managed to deploy all the dismissive language anti-government folks use to derail meaningful discussion. Complaining: Pointing out problems isn't complaining. Subsidize: Investing and subsidizing aren't the same thing. When the arena was built in Newark I am sure some state help was involved, the end result has been an attraction that brings hockey fans to Newark who otherwise would have no reason to be there and patronize businesses. I am not sure where SF and Toronto factor into what goes on in NJ. Blaming: You mean as opposed to the poor citizens taking responsibility and rebuilding the city?
  - Crito 13y ago
    A defense of NJ's state government is... anti-government? You've got a few screws loose.
  - JackFr 13y ago
    "...derail meaningful discussion..." Oh. Who's being dismissive, Kay? You refuse to address the parent's arguments on their own terms, purposefully reading them in as obdurate a manner as possible, completely failing to engage them, and then blame the parent's "dismissive language". They are meaningful discussion.
- trailcable 13y ago
  I put in another comment. There is no Camden police force. It is now Camden County which encompasses a lot more than just the city. Camden schools were taken over. http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/05/camden-schools-takeover-day-one-and-counting/ http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/05/camden-schools-t... Not sure what you're talking about.

twoodfin 13y ago

I don't think that's a fair reading of the piece. By the end, Christie comes off pretty well: Then, this year, after two years of chaos, Christie and local leaders instituted a new reform, breaking the unions of the old municipal police force and reconstituting a new Metro police department under county control. ... Predictably, the new Camden County-run police began to turn crime stats in the right direction with a combination of beefed-up numbers, significant investments in technology, and a cheaper and at least temporarily de-unionized membership. ... In recent months, Christie has visited Camden several times, making it plain that he puts the daring 2011 gambit here in his political win column. And not everyone in Camden disagrees. One ex-con I talked to in the city surprised me by saying he liked what Christie had done, and compared Camden's decades-long consumption of state subsidies to the backward incentive system he'd seen in prison. "In prison, you can lie in your bed all day long and get credit for good time toward release," he said, shaking his head. "You should have to do something other than lie there." For a guy like Taibbi, who can't describe union "excesses" without persistent scare quotes, this is praising with faint damnation.