Joseph Incandela is proud of himself for staying in North Camden. He’s lived here since 1985, and there were many times he considered leaving, tired of “lots of violent people, disrespectful people.” Tired of potholed streets that blew out his tires and bent his axels. Tired of feeling like his neighborhood in the shadow of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge, to the north of Rutgers University’s campus, was neglected and left to fall into further and further decline.
“Every time I was ready to go, something positive happened to make me stay,” he said Monday. Ground was broken on a new aquarium. Improvements were made along the waterfront. A much-despised state prison was closed, then razed and turned into a park.
And as he stood on a grassy median strip at Vine and Front streets watching a succession of local and federal officials talk about a recently completed $16 million infrastructure project, he knew he made the right decision.
“This is a blessing, what’s going on today,” said Incandela, who used to work on ships dredging the Delaware before buying and managing rental properties.