Camden Courier-Post, August 22, 1936View transcription
VON NIEDA OPPOSES 'PARKING LOT' PLAN
Mayor Calls Razing of 20 Blocks 'Destruction,' Denies Slums Exists
Mayor Frederick von Nieda last night denied that he approved the recommendations of the Camden Housing Advisory Committee to remove 20 blocks of houses to provide public parking places for motorists in North and South Camden.
The mayor particularly stressed his opposition to the razing of properties in the area designated by the committee as Section A, embracing Tenth to Twelfth streets between Market and Linden streets, taking in Linden, Penn, Lawrence, Cooper and Carpenter streets between Tenth and Twelfth strets.
"If some people in Camden have gone crazy you can tell them the mayor has not," Mayor Von Nieda declared.
"If you move these people then you only place them somewhere else. I am emphatically against any Zioncheck plan like that. I believe in construction, not destruction.
'No Slums in District'
"This plan was proposed to me by Joseph N. Hettel, a member of the committee, as a slum district elimination. I want to say here and now there are no slums in that district and the people who live there resent that statement.
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Von Nieda Opposes 'Parking Lot' Plan
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"I said I would favor the plan if it meant slum elimination, but it does not. If there were actual slums in the area I would say 'Amen.' The residents are poor people in modest homes. Here and there is a dilapidated property. But to take them all down, I say 'No!'
"There are 825 families living in that section. The advisory committee says a survey shows the city's annual operating expenses in the area is $95,335.30. The income to the city is placed at $27,061.63, causing a loss to the city of $68,273.67.
"I want to say the cost of operation is $141,000 a year. We spend $66,000 yearly to educate children in that area. If we moved them we would not save anything. We would have to educate them wherever we moved them. The relief administration spends $75,000 yearly in that area. That would have to be paid wherever we move them. If the costs of operation were $180,000 that sum would be insignificant.
Wants to Help City Grow
"I want to help Camden grow if I tread on my own political toes. That progress must come slowly and not takes away wage-earners' homes. That survey is an overstatement of facts. I have lived with figures all of my life.
"If it is a question of slums then that is a matter for police to clear up. I know there is no slum district in Section A. As far as ratables are concerned, there are lots of good ratables in the area.
"When the government proposed constructing Westfield Acres apartments it was said it would aid slum clearance. It will not. It will provide only cheaper housing for wage-earners who do not get enough to live in higher-priced houses.
"The project will house less than 600 families. If they take large families of children with them we will have to provide another school, more teachers. It will cost $75 per child a year for education. Say there will be 500 children housed there, that will mean an additional $37,500 piled on the taxes for education. The city will get a gross take of five percent on the rentals and I dread the tax rate when another year comes around.
Would Keep Veterans' Homes
"I also am opposed to razing the two veterans' homes at Broadway and Benson street. They are substantial. To tear them down would be an absolute crime. If they were a menace I would say yes. But not to lease the site for a parking lot. If anything should be done it would be to convert them into stores to give revenue to the city."
James W. Burnison, chairman of the housing advisory committee, recommended the plan for the elimination of the two areas. He said the recommendation was being made on the basis of a survey made by the State Housing Authority.
Burnison declared the parking areas would bring additional business to the city and remove a costly burden.
Mayor Calls Razing of 20 Blocks 'Destruction,' Denies Slums Exists
Mayor Frederick von Nieda last night denied that he approved the recommendations of the Camden Housing Advisory Committee to remove 20 blocks of houses to provide public parking places for motorists in North and South Camden.
The mayor particularly stressed his opposition to the razing of properties in the area designated by the committee as Section A, embracing Tenth to Twelfth streets between Market and Linden streets, taking in Linden, Penn, Lawrence, Cooper and Carpenter streets between Tenth and Twelfth strets.
"If some people in Camden have gone crazy you can tell them the mayor has not," Mayor Von Nieda declared.
"If you move these people then you only place them somewhere else. I am emphatically against any Zioncheck plan like that. I believe in construction, not destruction.
'No Slums in District'
"This plan was proposed to me by Joseph N. Hettel, a member of the committee, as a slum district elimination. I want to say here and now there are no slums in that district and the people who live there resent that statement.
"I said I would favor the plan if it meant slum elimination, but it does not. If there were actual slums in the area I would say 'Amen.' The residents are poor people in modest homes. Here and there is a dilapidated property. But to take them all down, I say 'No!'
"There are 825 families living in that section. The advisory committee says a survey shows the city's annual operating expenses in the area is $95,335.30. The income to the city is placed at $27,061.63, causing a loss to the city of $68,273.67.
"I want to say the cost of operation is $141,000 a year. We spend $66,000 yearly to educate children in that area. If we moved them we would not save anything. We would have to educate them wherever we moved them. The relief administration spends $75,000 yearly in that area. That would have to be paid wherever we move them. If the costs of operation were $180,000 that sum would be insignificant.
Wants to Help City Grow
"I want to help Camden grow if I tread on my own political toes. That progress must come slowly and not takes away wage-earners' homes. That survey is an overstatement of facts. I have lived with figures all of my life.
"If it is a question of slums then that is a matter for police to clear up. I know there is no slum district in Section A. As far as ratables are concerned, there are lots of good ratables in the area.
"When the government proposed constructing Westfield Acres apartments it was said it would aid slum clearance. It will not. It will provide only cheaper housing for wage-earners who do not get enough to live in higher-priced houses.
"The project will house less than 600 families. If they take large families of children with them we will have to provide another school, more teachers. It will cost $75 per child a year for education. Say there will be 500 children housed there, that will mean an additional $37,500 piled on the taxes for education. The city will get a gross take of five percent on the rentals and I dread the tax rate when another year comes around.
Would Keep Veterans' Homes
"I also am opposed to razing the two veterans' homes at Broadway and Benson street. They are substantial. To tear them down would be an absolute crime. If they were a menace I would say yes. But not to lease the site for a parking lot. If anything should be done it would be to convert them into stores to give revenue to the city."
James W. Burnison, chairman of the housing advisory committee, recommended the plan for the elimination of the two areas. He said the recommendation was being made on the basis of a survey made by the State Housing Authority.
Burnison declared the parking areas would bring additional business to the city and remove a costly burden.
