As for other encampments nearby, he said the city will need to post additional notice before staging more evictions. You can do that in Amsterdam, Will Sims says, comparing hard-ass Kensington with what he perceives to be the touchy-feely Netherlands, but this is Philly, and Philly aint Amsterdam.. They declared a statewide disaster over the drug epidemic in 2017. During the hunt for the strangler, the area was flooded with cops. Some, such as the second location for the Baltimore Avenue-based Vientiane Cafe, are just getting started. In addition to having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% of Philadelphia's overdose deaths involved opioids, and Kensington is a significant contributor to this figure. The increase in violent crime, homelessness, and out-of-control drug use in Kensington are far greater threats to residents of Philadelphia. When resources are limited, you get to a point as a police officer where you ask yourself, Why am I doing something ineffective? says former Maryland State Police officer Neill Franklin, executive director of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), a group of criminal-justice professionals who favor drug-law reform. Kensington Avenue is infamously regarded as 'the largest open-air drug market on East Coast' In 2019, the city removed four encampments in the area that was known to be frequented by drug. There was a major street gang located at K&A that started as a burglary ring but eventually moved into drug trafficking in the 80s. This should not be ignored, and is, in fact, impossible to avoid. These merchants do not need your pity, they want your business, and they deserve to be taken seriously. Construction is slated to start this week on Arguto Court, an adaptive reuse project featuring office space and a cafe. Between 2013 and 2015, the number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50%, with more than twice as many deaths from overdoses as homicides. All About Max Winkler. They tried to institute safe-injection sites, where users can shoot up without fear of prosecution. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed in the United States over the last two decades, and Philadelphia is no exception. PHILADELPHIA - Acting United States Attorney Jennifer Arbittier Williams announced that Ricardo Carrion, a.k.a. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you . As momentum grows, more and more entrepreneurs are looking at Kensington Avenue as a viable corridor for their businesses. [56], In 2010, three women (Elaine Goldberg, 21; Nicole Piacentini, 35; and Casey Mahoney, 27) were strangled to death in the neighborhood. Despite what you may read, Kensington Avenue is open for business, and there are plenty of reasons to visit the Avenue. Addicts duck into vacant lots on the Avenue after returning from dope corners a couple of blocks away and, barely concealed by high weeds, casually cook and shoot speedballs. Kensington has several medium and small sized parks and playgrounds which offer a variety of uses for visitors. Kensington, as most long-term residents view it, refers generally to the area consisting of Kensington, East, or Lower Kensington, West Kensington, and Harrowgate. Upwards of 100 people camp out there every night and its not for stargazing. This Philly neighborhood is purportedly the largest open-air narcotics market for heroin on the East Coast with many neighboring residents flocking to the area for heroin and other opioids.4 With such a high number of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have zoned in on this area to try and tackle Philadelphias problem. It is this sort of activism, buoyed by engaged (and zoning savvy!) Safehouse, a nonprofit founded in 2018 with the purpose of opening the first supervised injection site in the country, sought a location in Kensington after their proposed South Philly location ran into opposition from neighbors of the site. Over the next two years, the city closed down four highly visible tent cities that grew along a series of underpasses. Progress, even the slightest measures, can have enormous impact. The U.S. Called the largest open-air narcotics market on the East Coast, Kensington Avenue has, without a doubt, made a name for itself. Neighborhood in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States, primarily white young urban professionals, H.W. Addicts say the police came down hard on indoor drug establishments. At A and Indiana, an anxious crowd gathered, their eyes filled with the weary desperation that is so emblematic of addiction. Every day Jorge Rosario, 52, a resident of the Kensington section Philadelphia cleans the sidewalk along the 2700 block of Kensington Ave., Philadelphia. The Free Library of Philadelphia operates the McPherson Square Branch at 601 East Indiana Avenue,[50] and the Kensington Branch at 104 W Dauphin Street. Personal items will be held in city storage for 30 days, officials said. It is my sincere hope and belief that Kensington is arming itself against the forces of apathetic, tone-deaf gentrification. The number of drug overdose deaths in the city increased by 50% from 2013 to 2015, with more than twice as many deaths from drug overdoses as deaths from homicides in 2015.2 A big part of Philadelphias problems stem from the crime rate and drug abuse in Kensington. City personnel help to clear an encampment on the 3200 block of Kensington Avenue, raze a large-scale encampment known as El Campamento, after SEPTA briefly closed the Somerset El stop. Google Maps borders for Kensington show it including much of what is considered Fishtown and excludes West Kensington. Because of the high number of drugs in Kensington, the neighborhood has a drug crime rate of 3.57, the third-highest rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia.3 Like a lot of the country, a big part of this issue is a result of the opioid epidemic. NKCDC is working on the redevelopment of the Orinoka Civic House. In addition to having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% of Philadelphia's overdose deaths involved opioids, and Kensington is a significant contributor to this figure. WHYY offers a voice to those not heard, a platform to share everyones stories, a foundation to empower early and lifelong learners and a trusted space for unbiased news. SEPTA City Bus routes 3 (on Kensington Avenue, running underneath the "El") and 60 on Allegheny Avenue, with route 5 nearby on Frankford Avenue, also serve the K & A area. 2 Kensington's high crime rate and drug abuse contribute significantly to Philadelphia's problems.Because of the high number of drugs in the neighborhood, Kensington has the third-highest drug crime rate by neighborhood in Philadelphia, at 3.57. Just a few blocks away, the Kensington Storefront, a collaboration between Impact Services, NKCDC, Mural Arts, Prevention Point Philadelphia and The Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disability Services (DBHIDS), transformed an abandoned Cricket Wireless Store into a hub for arts-based community events, trainings, and meetings. They were en route to more serious crimes going down to the west in the Badlands. Housing justice advocates have criticized the citys treatment of encampment residents in both Kensington and Center City, alleging that officials fail to provide adequate long-term housing options after shutting down their living sites. A new phase of the Wayne Junction revitalization plan is underway. Philadelphia is known for its rich history, cheesesteak, and love for the Eagles. "PR," age 41, of Philadelphia, PA, was convicted at trial of all counts with which he was charged, including conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and possession with intent to distribute crack and heroin, arising from his leadership role in supplying a drug . But the Tracks, like Kensington Avenue, resemble a libertarian utopia gone wrong. The whole city, its always a battle for space, and any open space is going to get filled., Love Philly? Many progressives endorse the idea of allowing addicts to get high in certain sections of cities without fear of arrest. Gladstein acknowledged the problem is too vast to contain with just targeted actions like the one Wednesday morning. [5] The current greater Kensington area roughly coincides with the former Kensington District, Richmond District, Aramingo Borough, and Northern Liberties Township. The super brief history is Kensington was a thriving industrial area of factory workers until deindustrialization happened which left the neighborhood impoverished and jobless. The city sees hope in this kind of intervention. The influx of immigrants and low-income households many of whom were unaware of the drug situation, or were forced to ignore it due to the stark affordability has made little difference in gentrifying the area. Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. It is part of the River Wards section of the city, a group of neighborhoods close to the Delaware River in North Philadelphia. [7] Police, after a year and a half, removed these encampments causing its residents to spread up Kensington Avenue. City workers arrived in the early hours to clear out two homeless encampments the latest dustup in a years-long saga in Kensington and try to get the roughly 50 people living there into housing or recovery services. The Avenue runs 3 miles through what is now a dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhood. Answer (1 of 7): I live and minister here as a pastor. [Kensington] presents a prime opportunity for a heroin maintenance program where addicts could get heroin legally, safely, and free of cost so they dont commit robberies and other crimes to support their habits. According to Philadelphia Police, the accident happened at 3300 Kensington Avenue in the Kensington section of Philly. This section of Philadelphia is considered the center of opioid drug use and the city and community are working to bring the crisis under control.Read more ANTHONY PEZZOTTI / Staff Photographer With the promise of rent subsidies and financial technical assistance from Shift and partners, nine new businesses will be opening shop on Kensington Avenue by this summer. History set Kensington up for a steady decline. The case was dropped in July. Kensington has always been a rough area since before the 70s. Driven by a resident engagement process, this is a best practices model for how to equitably manage what could be a tidal wave of gentrification as Philadelphians continue to discover the under-the-radar appeal of the area. The United States Post Office operates the Kensington Post Office at 1602 Frankford Ave.[47] The U.S. The town of Kensington was named for the area in London known as Kensington, which had been recently established as the residency of the British crown. Want a digest of WHYYs programs, events & stories? Forgotten by whom? Addictions a medical problem; cops dont want to deal with that. Some residents of Kensington wont go out without driving, not wanting to walk through the neighborhood despite living there. [59] [60]. ', "Trapped by the 'Walmart of Heroin' Housing Alliance of PA.org", "Philadelphia's Kensington Avenue: Heroin, Prostitution, and No Police", Police arrest 'Kensington Strangler' person of interest, "9 people shot outside bar in Philadelphia: report", "9 shot outside bar in Kensington: Philadelphia police", New Kensington Community Development Corporation, Graduate Hospital / Southwest Center City, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kensington,_Philadelphia&oldid=1140536041, Articles using NRISref without a reference number, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Pages using infobox settlement with possible area code list, Pages using infobox settlement with no coordinates, Articles with unsourced statements from June 2022, Articles with failed verification from June 2022, Articles with unsourced statements from August 2022, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Philadelphias District Attorney Seth Williams risked backlash from hardcore law-and-order types when he recently stopped criminally prosecuting minor marijuana offenses. But we cant do this until the federal government changes its stance on prohibition., Lt. Ray Evers has a harsh retort for Franklin and his reform-minded law-enforcement ilk. Read more ALEJANDRO A. ALVAREZ / Staff Photographer by Alfred Lubrano Published Aug 5, 2021 Whos got works? she calls out to nobody in particular. The area is densely residential, but crime rates are highest in this part of Kensington and, because of relocation actions taken by Philadelphia's Police,[7][8] it has the highest concentration of homeless and opioid addicted residents. Several men rush to be the first to make a dollar selling her a syringe. Using proceeds from the sale of the Hope Farm estate (present day Port Richmond), which included three enslaved people named Abraham, Hannibal, and Phillis,[9] Palmer purchased what was called the Fairman Estate, located along the Delaware River in the Northern Liberties Township (area just north of the City of Philadelphia on the Delaware River). Close to the Delaware River where factories have since closed it is called the Walmart of Drugs and it is the world leader in heroin sales and usage. Rule 2 does not apply when replying to this stickied comment.. Rule 2 does apply throughout the rest of this thread.. What this means: Please keep any "meta" discussion directed at specific users, mods, or r/conspiracy in general in this comment chain only.. These 4 nieborhoods are very simialer as far as their economic situations. However, some sections of the neighborhood have been revitalized in recent years, especially those near Frankford Avenue, Kensington's neighbor south of Lehigh Avenue, and Fishtown, another traditionally working-class neighborhood which has seen rents increase. Since Mayor Jim Kenney took office in 2015, encampment closures in the name of public health and safety have been a near constant in Kensington. This isnt a Kensington problem, he said. Mark Squilla is the Councilmember for District 1 and Maria D. Quiones Snchez is the Councilmember for District 7. Emerald Street, Tulip Street, Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue . A recent piece chronicles the authors adventures day drinking in forgotten Philadelphia. Looks not far from K&A, the intersection of Kensington and Alleghany Ave. Between the two encampments targeted on Wednesday, half a dozen other spots continue to grow. Along with its teeming trade in illicit materials, Kensington is also a highly dangerous neighborhood. This street wears its heart on its sleeve, triumphs, and failures on full display. There is no hands-free zone' in the city of Philadelphia, and there never will be, says public-affairs officer Lt. Ray Evers. But Gladstein said many people remain shelter resistant for various reasons and the number of emergency beds near Kensington where people actively use drugs is limited. Butterworth and Sons Company Building, Kensington Corridor Trust Community Garden, community development financial institution, Jules E. Mastbaum Vocational Technical High School, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia, "National Historic Landmarks & National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania", "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Beatty's Mills Factory Building", "Coral Street Arts House - NKCDC - An income based apartment for artists", "Insane Surge in Philadelphia Gentrification", "PhilaPlace - The Kensington Riots of 1844", "Maps make you wonder, what is Fishtown?
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