It’s with mixed emotions that I read the January Camden News article on visions for West Broadway. Hurray! West Broadway may finally get some attention. And here we go again, reinventing the wheel and delaying any action on West Broadway.
In the early 1990s, Farview Neighborhood Development Corp., West Broadway Business Association, Hawthorne, Jordan and Northside Residents Council all were involved in a massive planning project for envisioning the future of West Broadway. We had large, well publicized community meetings, a truly representative and inclusive coordinating committee, retreats, planning sessions, proposals and feedback, all resulting in a detailed report on the future of West Broadway, what the whole community saw as our needs, and an action plan for how to get from here to there.
Unfortunately, about that time the main advocate for West Broadway, Council Member Sandra Hilary, got elected to the County board. Her replacement, Joe Biernat, never did “get” the Northside. Council Member Jackie Cherryhomes’ priority was Plymouth Avenue. The political will to improve West Broadway evaporated.
My point is to encourage the Northside to not let history repeat itself. You already have this extensive, well thought-out, community-based study on how to improve West Broadway. Use it! Sure, it will need some revision and updating. But we did address public safety, traffic, pedestrian friendly amenities, attracting businesses and jobs that the neighborhoods needed. Take it off the shelf, use it as a starting point for revision, and jump start the implementation process.
People are tired of talk; we need action. Let’s use this community based, comprehensive report as the discussion starting point, and start a community based process for its revision and implementation. (Planners can rest assured it was done with a legitimate process that brought all the stakeholders to the table.) Take a couple months for community review and revision, update the action plan, and put it to work. Please don’t waste the moment’s momentum — the Northside deserves better — now!
Lauren Maker
(former member of HACC, FNDC and WBBA)
Victory