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The news coming out of Camden in recent years has been almost universally positive — a sharp turnaround from the days when the city was considered a hopeless case. From the 1950s into the 1990s, jobs and residents fled, leaving a shell across the Delaware River from the infinitely more prosperous Philadelphia.
But the narrative slowly shifted. An aquarium opened. New corporate citizens arrived. And older anchor institutions – notably Cooper University Health Care – bolstered their presence in the city. By most measures, Camden is recovering, and its finances have improved dramatically.
Today, Victor Carstarphen leads the city. Appointed mayor in May 2021, he was returned to office by the voters in November of that year. Carstarphen was born and raised in Camden and is a former high school basketball star there.
In this edition of NJBIZ Conversations, Carstarphen discusses the city’s renaissance, what it will take to keep the momentum building and his relationships with one of the city’s most prominent citizens — South Jersey power broker George Norcross.
Watch the interview below:
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