The opportunity in Camden was once to work in the tomato fields for Campbell’s Soup, the mayor of Camden told the Governor’s Task Force examining the administration of tax incentives.

“For many years the beacon for Camden was the Campbell’s Soup [sign],” said Mayor Frank Moran, standing at the podium in the Trenton War Memorial.

There was the shipyard.

Some other businesses.

Then “there came a time when there was an exodus from the city. They took off. We were left behind to fend for ourselves,” he said.

“Individuals with disposable incomes are gone,” Moran said.

“He said to me, ‘We have your back,’ and I want to believe that,”  Moran said of his July 4th meeting with Governor Phil Murphy.

“I implore you to do your due diligence and expose whatever it is that you expose, but let us not be the ones who pay the price,” the mayor told the task force.

He indicated the presence in the room of the Camden City Council President Curtis Jenkins, Sr., whose grandson was reported missing on July 1 and later reported kidnapped and murdered.

Jenkins appeared at the same microphone on the heels of the mayor.

“If we don’t prepare our folks to take advantage of these opportunities, it’s going to be all for nothing,” he said.

There must, he said, be some kind of mechanism in the tax incentives to prepare Camden residents for jobs in the city.

“The people of Camden are my main concern,” he added.