HE BLAMES BLIGHT ON DRUG SALES

Camden Landlord Eyes Empty Homes

Associated Press

A longtime activist who studied the correlation between Camden's open-air
drug markets and property foreclosures says the main reason residents flee
the city is the presence of illegal drug corners.

Frank Fulbrook says the government will never win the war on drugs, so it
should regulate, not ban, their sale.

Fulbrook, 51, a city landlord, analyzed the locations of the city's 181
open-air drug markets and property tax foreclosures over the past 13 years.

He found that 78 percent of the 1,167 properties that were foreclosed upon
were within one block of a long-term, open-air drug market. More than half
were within half a block of the drug areas.

Fulbrook surveyed city property tax records from Jan. 1, 1987, until June
30. He chose 1987 as a starting point because nearly all of the city's
open-air drug markets were in place by 1986, when crack cocaine became
popular in the city, he said.

Working with the Police Department, he showed where drug markets had been
closed down by law enforcement, and where new markets opened. Since 1996,
for every market that was shut down, about two have opened, he said. Most
often, dealers simply set up shop a block or two away from the old market,
he said.

"In this way, the devitalizing impact moves from place to place. One
neighborhood's gain is another neighborhood's loss," he said.

Fulbrook said his study shows that the drug markets preceded the abandoned
properties, not the other way around. Many of the newer drug markets have
been established in viable neighborhoods, not near clusters of foreclosed
properties, he said.

Fulbrook acknowledged that crime and the exodus of industry also have been
responsible for the decay of Camden and other cities.

"I'm not saying that the only form of urban blight is drug dealing, but
it's a particularly pernicious form," he said, adding that prohibiting
drugs "creates a violent underground economy."

Fulbrook, who admitted experimenting with drugs in his youth, said the
government should regulate the sale of drugs, rather than continue to wage
an "ill-conceived" battle.

A 46-year city resident, Fulbrook said he is considering running in the
City Council election in May. He unsuccessfully ran for mayor in 1997.

Camden County Prosecutor Lee Solomon said Fulbrook is right in that
open-air drug markets have driven residents away, but he disagrees with his
contention that drugs should be legalized.

"The idea that government would ever sanction something that is as
devastating and destructive to people, family and society as drugs like
crack and heroin and powdered cocaine is abhorrent and would be one more
nail in the coffin of our social fabric," Solomon said.

He said law enforcement officials have successfully closed several open-air
drug markets by increasing the number of police officers on patrol in
high-crime areas and at high-crime times.

Solving the problem will "have to be done location by location, based on
activity and community support," Solomon said.

"If we hang together and follow that approach, we can begin to make some of
these locations places where people will want to live again in the future."