CAMDEN — A new billboard on a major road near a homeless encampment in Camden makes a request of people passing through the embattled city.

It says: "Say something nice about Camden."

The billboard is the brainstorm of Manhattan communications executive Jennifer Barton, who once worked in the city. She's put up a website, saysomethingniceaboutcamden.org and a Facebook page of the same name to try to encourage the compliments.

Barton tells The Philadelphia Inquirer she wants to raise the visibility of good things in the city, which has a vibrant community garden scene.

The city of 77,000 near Philadelphia has had a rough time. It's among the nation's most impoverished and violent.

So far this year, there have been 63 homicides. That's the most ever in the city.