In-depth, original reporting on housing, transportation, and development. Answer (1 of 3): Kensington is the dark side of Western Industrialized society. Several men rush to be the first to make a dollar selling her a syringe. However, the drug market remained decentralized, running through small groups of dealers that were harder to prosecute than, say, a crime syndicate. She has been living the van life for 3 years and has not looked back since. Kensington was founded by Anthony Palmer in the early 1730s. Kensington was the birthplace of the K&A Gang, an Irish American organized crime association known for their distribution of methamphetamine in the 1980s. On Wednesday, Steve, a 30-year-old fentanyl user who declined to give his last name, said he sympathized with the residents plight. Who is Henry Winklers Son? Want a digest of WHYYs programs, events & stories? McPherson Square is the heart of Kensington. Mariska is a recovering attorney who gave up her professional job to discover new perspectives of life while traveling in a 2009 Ford Transit. The drug overdose rate in Philadelphia is also concerning. The problem is that Kensington Avenue is largely unseen by Philadelphians. Police confirmed that a total of eight vehicles became involved in a messy collision in the [] Opioid abuse has skyrocketed in the United States over the last two decades, and Philadelphia is no exception. [7] Police, after a year and a half, removed these encampments causing its residents to spread up Kensington Avenue. They declared a statewide disaster over the drug epidemic in 2017. [33] Such a phenomenon is happening across Kensington, causing long-term residents to be priced out. All About Max Winkler. Disinvestment and general neglect has led to high abandonment in some sections of the neighborhood, catalyzing several grassroots actions from its residents. Ever since the strangler, addict Will Sims says, we do everything out in the open and the cops are cool with it. Several other addicts out here concur: The reason for all the bustle is that Kensington Avenue has become a drug-bust-free zone. [32], Kensington's high percentage of low income renters puts its residents at risk of displacement from gentrification. Xany bars are 2mg Xanax pills, the strongest dosage, often used with Suboxone to give users a heroin-like half-consciousness. The underpass is cleared of homeless during the regular Friday morning police enforced clean-up at the homeless encampment on Kensington Avenue north of E. Lehigh Ave. on the Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia on Friday, April 27, 2018. Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave. Story. Sign up for our weekly newsletter. The neighborhood has long been a catchment for people from the suburbs, Delaware and New Jersey who suffer from addiction, and yet the city has been left on its own to clean up the mess. This street wears its heart on its sleeve, triumphs, and failures on full display. Last month, the city announced plans to clear out two of the larger encampments: one just north of K&A, the other about a mile south on Lehigh Avenue. Kensington was founded by Anthony Palmer in the early 1730s. My name is Mariska and I'm living my best life while living the van life. Juniata, the neighborhood to the north, and Kensington are similar demographically, yet the former is slightly wealthier and has more green space. Close to the I-95, and a stones throw away from the scenic Delaware river, Kensington is a neighborhood in northern Philly with quite the reputation. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you . Kensington belongs to or divides Lower Northeast and North Philadelphia. But about 15 people remained around 8 a.m., many shielding their faces from news cameras as outreach workers helped them fill plastic bins with their belongings. Within Kensington, various sub-neighborhoods including Kensington (the Heart of Kensington), Harrowgate, Lower Kensington, West Kensington. Kensington has many playgrounds within or adjacent to its boundaries including Nelson Playground, Waterloo Playground, Hissey Playground, McPherson Square Playground, Heitzman Recreation Center, McKinley Playground / McVeigh Recreation Center, Scanlon Playground and Ice Rink, Harrowgate Park Playground, Fairhill Square Park Playground, Eric Casiano Field, Mascher Park / Maguire Playground, Black Coyle and McBride Playground, Pop's Playground, Pop's Skatepark, Hagert Street Playground, Shissler Recreation Center, and Towey Playground. GDP . Local news should be free and accessible, which is why we ask readers like you to support our work rather than charging a fee to see it. This is a regional problem that Kensington is very graciously dealing with., Nice to see you. Emerald Street, Tulip Street, Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue . The original area of Kensington is now more commonly called "Fishtown," mainly because of the shad fishing that was one of the dominant businesses in Kensington in the 18th and 19th centuries. NKCDC is working on the redevelopment of the Orinoka Civic House. Youre out there talking to junkies with a couple ounces of drugs in them who cant be trusted to make a lucid statement.. Along with having a high rate of drug overdose deaths, 80% percent of Philadelphias overdose deaths involved opioids2 and Kensington is a big contributor to this number. The help is there, but its not enough. 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. The intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues (commonly referred to by Philadelphians as "K & A") is a major transportation and retail hub in the Kensington neighborhood, as it is served by the Frankford Elevated portion of the MarketFrankford Line which, running on top of Kensington Avenue, dominates the intersection. While the moniker Killadelphia implies gangland warfare, Kensington is plagued by another culprit: the drug trade. Neighborhood residents have raged against City Hall for years over the litany of woes from drug dealing to missed trash collection. Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Ave Story, Here's What Happened Today, Tuesday, Sept 7, 20 . Fairhill and Norris Square are separate from Kensington with a more central North Philadelphia identity; however, exactly where the neighborhoods separate is subject to much debate and there are people within both neighborhoods who identify with Kensington. From there, drug dens sprung up across the neighborhood and allowed for gangs to breed in the area. [48], In 2011 the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia announced the closures of three Kensington Catholic schools, as their student numbers had declined: Ascension of Our Lord, St. Anne, and St. Hugh of Cluny.[49]. The city sees hope in this kind of intervention. Emerald Street, Tulip Street, Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue the city shut them down one by one, vowing improvement at every step of the way. Johnson knowseven with a colorful awning and bright lightingher cafe might not get a lot of consumer street traffic. The citys violent crime rate is higher than the national average and other similarly sized metropolitan areas.1 Also alarming is Philadelphias drug overdose rate. Fentanyl has devastating withdrawal effects, though. Philadelphia's most dangerous street.Problems with Drugs and Crime in Kensington Ave, PhiladelphiaIn Philadelphia as a whole, violent crime and drug abuse are major issues. Stop writing about Kensington Avenue like its Mordor. Nine years later and were still talking about it. It is craft fully omitted, in lieu of the salacious and the tragic. 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. 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. 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. These merchants do not need your pity, they want your business, and they deserve to be taken seriously. The decision has saved the city millions, and won cheers nationwide from drug-law reformers. ", "Philly, Conrail near deal on cleanup of Kensington drug encampment", "Mother Jones leading a protest, circa 1903", "Today in labor history: Mother Jones leads march of miners' children", "Kensington: A Lot Of Heart Has Gone Into Revitalizing A Community", "Kensington: Rise and Fall of the Housing Market", "Kensington: Artists Make New Homes Amongst Longtime Residents", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Clifton Mills, 1833 N. Howard Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Clifton Mills, 1809-11 N. Howard Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: The Columbia Works, 155-59 Cecil B. Moore Avenue, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: The Decorating Plant of Gillinder & Sons' Franklin Flint Glass Works, 1700-06 N. Howard Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Frankford Avenue Baptist Church, 2437-49 Frankford Avenue, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Harbisons' Dairies, 2041-55 Coral Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Kensington's historic milk bottle flashing refurbished look", "Kensington's giant milk bottle gets historic designation", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Kensington Hospital for Women, 128-40 Diamond Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Peter Woll & Sons, Curled Hair & Bristles, 173 W. Berks Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: Second Associate Presbyterian Church, 1527 N. Front Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: The Star Carpet Mills, 1801-03 N. Howard Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Philadelphia Register of Historic Places Nomination: Weisbrod & Hess' Loading Room, Condenser & Storage/Boiler & Wash House, 2117 E. York Street, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA", "Gentrification disproportionately affects minorities", "How Fishtown, Philadelphia Became America's Hottest New Neighborhood", "Philly residents in areas affected by overdoses want a say in talks over a supervised injection site", "SEPTA To Indefinitely Close Somerset Station In Kensington To Develop Safety & Security Strategy, Repairs", "Kensington protests closing of SEPTA's Somerset El station, a lifeline for a battered neighborhood", "SEPTA closing Somerset Station temporarily to fix elevators, confront safety concerns", "SEPTA to Reopen Somerset Station on Monday, April 5 | SEPTA", "Safehouse drops South Philly plans, looks to Kensington after judge suspends launch", "Safehouse vows to take more community input on supervised injection site plans", "Kensington neighbors dismayed by ruling on supervised injection site", "Who We Are - NKCDC - Community development should benefit residents", "Three Catholic schools closing in Bucks County", "As the pandemic surges, 'no one deserves what's brewing in Kensington. WHYY provides trustworthy, fact-based, local news and information and world-class entertainment to everyone in our community. Strong community groups and nonprofits in Kensington have used the neighborhood's empty lots as an opportunity to create community garden spaces. SBC News 188K subscribers Subscribe 5.3M views 7 months ago #SBCNews Documentary by SBC News covering Streets of.