|
Credit: Addison Geary
Just as more students are choosing to
live on or near urban campuses of Newark
and Camden, a small wave of professors
and administrators -- both senior
faculty and younger appointees -- are
coming to live in these cities, as well.
J.W. (Bill) Whitlow, a psychology
professor in Camden, bought an
appartment in The Victor, a luxury
apartment building near campus that is
attracting a growing number of faculty.
Whitlow enjoys walking to work and his
unobstructed view of the Delaware River
and downtown Philadelphia. "It's
absolutely gorgeous at night," he says.
"There is nothing between me and the
river."
|
Rutgers staff live in Camden’s Fairview section – one of the nation’s first planned communities – and in Cooper-Grant, an area near campus that has older Victorian-style homes. “It’s a nice neighborhood with a real community feeling. We do block parties,” said Jon’a F. Meyer, associate professor of criminology. Her neighbors include Camden campus staff and law students, city workers and others. Meyer rents an apartment in a 1912 building and is on a list to buy a new home in a development under way nearby. The Camden campus gave some of its land to make that project happen, said Provost Dennis.
Still, there are shortcomings to life in the two cities. Price noted that most faculty and staff moving to Newark are “empty-nesters or people who don’t have kids . . . There are still issues in a town like Newark, the foremost being public education.” Both Camden and Newark need more retail establishments. The Newark campus hopes for businesses such as bookstores, coffeehouses and restaurants, Diner said.
Shopping is even more difficult in Camden. The opening of a CVS drug store was cause for celebration because it gave campus-area residents somewhere local to buy milk. Whitlow drives to the New Jersey suburbs for groceries. Meyer takes the PATCO high-speed line into Philadelphia to the Reading Terminal farmers’ market. “There are a lot of fruit and vegetable stands over there where you can get nice stuff. But it is kind of interesting that I have to take a suitcase and ride a train into another state to do my shopping,” she said.
A few small retail businesses have opened recently near The Victor and the Camden campus. Hopes for more hinge on continued development. “The notion of trying to create a downtown village around the campus is something that is in everyone’s interest – the university’s and the community’s,” Dennis said.
Newark and Camden share one big attraction – close proximity to a major metropolis. That’s a big draw for those considering a move. “If you live here, you’re 20 minutes from New York City,” Diner said. From the Camden campus, residents can walk over the Benjamin Franklin bridge, drive, or take the high-speed train line to Philadelphia.
As a historian and a city dweller, Price has seen attitudes about urban living evolve. He now fields calls regularly from professors and administrators interested in making Newark their home. “What I find is an intersection of changing perceptions of race, class and culture with changing perceptions of cities,” he said. “And that has brought a lot of people at least to a level of interest in moving back to the city.”
|
