Current Affairs — Ugly!!!

How ugly is your house?

 

Ugliest House in Camden  

 

 

By Rich Luongo

CAMDEN — Crowned with the dubious title of the “Ugliest House in Camden for 2009,” the property on 27^th Street in Cramer Hill is a symbol of what’s wrong in the city.

Father Jud Weiksnar, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Church, said the title is designed to bring more public awareness to the abandoned housing problem plaguing Camden “and to focus attention on tearing these buildings down.”

Camden Churches Organized for People (CCOP) ran a “contest” last month to vote for the ugliest house. The winner was declared at 11 a.m., Aug. 27 in a meeting that started in the parking lot of St. Anthony’s and ended in a procession to the house at 923 N. 27^th St. in Cramer Hill.

More than 300 votes were tallied from residents in the Cramer Hill/CCOP faith communities which partnered with Cramer Hill Community Development Corporation (CDC) that conducted the award ceremony on Aug. 27.

Some 30 people showed up, including Mayor Gwendolyn Faison who declared, “I may not have much more time left in office but I will work to get this down before I leave.”

The mayor referred to the demolition of the house and even called the Department of Public Works on her cell phone while at the meeting. She found out the house was sixth on the list of “imminent hazards” that are to be demolished.

Father Jud noted that not only are the abandoned buildings unsafe — they could collapse — but many are used as crack houses, among other illegal uses.

Other officials at the ceremony included Iraida Afanador, code enforcement director, Zoraida Gonzalez-Torres, a CCOP leader and a parishioner of St. Joseph Pro-Cathedral (who proclaimed, “Nowhere else can you stand on a city block and see a burned out building in every direction”), and Manny Delgado, CDC director.

For more information contact CCOP at 856-966-0741.