Representatives from these organizations economic development teams work hand in hand with business owners, residents, developers, and other stakeholders to strengthen the business community. Opioid abuse has skyrocketed over the last two decades in the United States and Philadelphia is no exception. [36] The closure, which happened without consulting with residents and lacked advanced notice,[37] was ostensibly to repair elevators that had been damaged by human waste and trash and concerns about safety for workers. They marched from Kensington to Oyster Bay, New York, carrying banners demanding, "We want to go to School and not the mines! Users flock to the scene. A rail-thin woman with hollowed-out cheeks rushed from beneath the El tracks. 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. Parents will walk their children to the bus stop, even if it can be seen from their front door, and wait there with them until the bus comes. We have four outreach teams out in Kensington every day. Neighborhood residents have raged against City Hall for years over the litany of woes from drug dealing to missed trash collection. Since then, drug activity and homelessness has intensified in the shadow of the El between the Somerset and Allegheny stops on the Market-Frankford Line. The U.S. Kensington development team seeks middle ground between gentrification and stagnation. One such is the cluster of businesses just off the Huntingdon Market Frankford Line stop, where two of Phillys best Vietnamese restaurants, Thang Long Noodle Restaurant and Caf Pho Gha Than Than reside. During the hunt for the strangler, the area was flooded with cops. With such a high concentration of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have focused on the neighborhood in an attempt to address Philadelphia's problem. Subscribe to SBC News: https://www.youtube.com/c/SBCNewsYouTube?sub_confirmation=1#SBCNews GDP . When we can make the right connection for people, its really successful, Gladstein said. Emerald Street, Tulip Street, Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue . [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]. During our visit, addicts casually moved in and out, bringing and injecting their Badlands-bought heroin. Most encampment residents had moved out from the former site before Wednesday morning. Kensington Avenue's ghoulish world of addiction and prostitution exists outside the law. Kensington was featured in Nat Geos 2013 docu-series, Drugs Inc. in the episode about Philadelphia. Max Marin (he/him) was Billy Penn's investigative reporter from 2018 to 2021. This isnt a Kensington problem, he said. This has made it hard for police to quell the trade. Drug activity is not hidden here, especially not when heroin can go for as cheap as $5 a bag. Emerald Street, Tulip Street, Kensington Avenue, Frankford Avenue the city shut them down one by one, vowing improvement at every step of the way. The drug market is so strong in Kensington and the joblessness and institutionalized racism so engrained, the community struggles while the state flounders with resolutions. Significant rent increases are commonly triggered by increasing property values and a new wealthier demographic that can afford to pay higher rents. Forgotten by whom? This Philadelphia neighborhood is said to have the largest open-air heroin market on the East Coast, with many neighbors migrating to the area for heroin and other opioids. The city sees hope in this kind of intervention. Read the news of the day in less than 10 minutes not that were counting. Drawing from community informed strategic plans, they build relationships and provide support business by business. There still is no answer for the full number of people out here, McKinney said. Called the largest open-air narcotics market on the East Coast, Kensington Avenue has, without a doubt, made a name for itself. Learn more about Social Responsibility at WHYY. Addicts can be found in the woods along the Tracks openly cooking and shooting drugs in broad daylight, a daily occurrence that indicates this is territory clearly forsaken by the law. 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. According to Philadelphia Police, the accident happened at 3300 Kensington Avenue in the Kensington section of Philly. The part of Kensington below Lehigh Street, or as it has been rebranded[citation needed] "Lower Kensington" or "East Kensington", is the part of Kensington most clearly experiencing gentrification. However, the drug market remained decentralized, running through small groups of dealers that were harder to prosecute than, say, a crime syndicate. I cant just arrest someone for hanging out on a stoop looking like theyre high on drugs., Even if Philadelphia hasnt officially decriminalized drug use in Kensington, the citys addicts are well aware that this is a place where they can get high without police harassment. Many died there. 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. Kensington mostly lies under the 180th State Representative District, being represented by Jose Giral. Parts of the neighborhood lie in the 177th or 197th Districts, represented by Joseph C. Hohenstein and Danilo Burgos respectively. These are bakeries, daycares, artist spaces, and coffee roasters; businesses selected to draw foot traffic and fill much-needed service gaps. With such a high concentration of drugs in Kensington, many state and local officials have focused on the neighborhood in an attempt to address Philadelphia's problem.#SBCNews During my career I concluded we werent making a dent in drug addiction or related crime. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Those of us who work and have worked in this community are routinely disappointed by these narratives, and the merchants on Kensington Avenue have their livelihood betrayed by them. The panel was developed in part by Tony Heriza, a documentary filmmaker working on a film about the Storefront, an art and community services hub set up in Kensington by Mural Arts Philadelphia. According to NeighborhhoodLink, an online source for demographics, geography and economic statistics, the average house value in the 19125 zip code of Kensington is now at $43,500. [59] [60]. In recent years, Kensington has experienced increasing social issues primarily related to drug abuse. 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. Its how we live. Answer (1 of 7): I live and minister here as a pastor. Upwards of 100 people camp out there every night and its not for stargazing. City Managing Director Tumar Alexander, who oversees the police response in Kensington, said there will be a zero tolerance policy for new encampments on the two targeted blocks. Ironically, even some addicts on Kensington Avenue dont believe in legalization. Everything You Wanted To Know About Los Angeles Skid Row, Everything You Wanted To Know About Los Angeles' Skid Row, Is Philadelphia Safe To Visit? Watch on Most dangerous street in Philadelphia Kensington Philadelphia Drug & Crime Problems Violent crime and drug abuse in Philadelphia as a whole is a major problem. To the east of Kensington, Port Richmond and Olde Richmond are each predominantly white neighborhoods. Who is Henry Winklers Son? The Avenue runs 3 miles through what is now a dangerous and crime-ridden neighborhood. City housing officials say 300; police estimated over 650 people this summer. Folks are going to migrate to wherever they can go, McKinney said. Its central to the neighborhood and offers an ideal place to shoot up and camp out. A Google search for " Kensington Avenue Philadelphia " yields horrendous images of sad-eyed people slumped over in varying poses of despair. Subs and Xany bars, subs and Xany bars, chant men in cockeyed baseball caps while pacing the corner, searching the crowd for potential customers. Give your readers the whole story. It has always had the El train that runs straight through Kensington. (Crime Rates And Crime Stats), Top 10 Things To Do In Harleysville, PA In 2022, Top 11 Things To Do In McDonald, PA In 2022. link to Who is Henry Winklers Son? Frankford Avenue Baptist Church, 2347-49 Frankford Avenue, Kensington, Philadelphia, PA (1889). If he wants them to get treatment so bad, how about I round up all these junkies in Kensington and put them in his neighborhood?. Impact Services and NKCDC collaborate with the shared goal to better the avenue that cuts through multiple neighborhoods. Two men nodded in a drug-addled stupor on a sidewalk on Kensington Avenue. [52], The neighborhood has gained nationwide attention and great notoriety because of extensive press coverage of its thriving narcotics drug scene, often described as the largest on the east coast. Then they, like Kensginton, began to decline further. February 28, 2023 Police seek person who cut Comcast lines on Super Bowl Sunday, causing panic among Eagles fans Approximately 17,000 Xfinity customers in Fishtown and Kensington were affected by . Estimates vary between 300 and 650 people living on the street. Google Maps borders for Kensington show it including much of what is considered Fishtown and excludes West Kensington. Subs are Suboxone, a pill containing buprenophine, a drug that eases the pain of heroin withdrawal. Heroin isnt sold here muchthat trade is controlled by Latin drug crews in the Badlands. The white residents fled to the suburbs and people of color and limited means moved in. In the absence of a larger plan, he was certain those encampments would grow in the coming weeks. On Wednesday, Steve, a 30-year-old fentanyl user who declined to give his last name, said he sympathized with the residents plight. But a day later, and not far away, on the 1700 block of West Atlantic Street in North Philly, there was bloodshed and death. They draw a diverse crowd: tight-pantsed hipsters and long-time residents alike enjoy the delicious food in equal measure. 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. Adjacent neighborhoods are Northern Liberties (ZIP code 19123), Fishtown and Olde Richmond (ZIP code 19125), Port Richmond (ZIP code 19134). Words such hopeless and dystopian punctuate an endless scrawl of depressing articles. Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Avenue, What happened today, Aug, 2021. kimgary 267K subscribers Subscribe 5.3M views 1 year ago Show more 1.9M views New Orleans Tourist Traps and Things to. The increase in violent crime, homelessness, and out-of-control drug use in Kensington are far greater threats to residents of Philadelphia. Suffice to say it is not a place to go at night. Additionally, there is a large population of homeless individuals. Any given day, a walk down Kensington Avenue yields ample reminders that the neighborhood is the "aortic valve of the region's opioid crisis," as Billy Penn's Max Marin recently put it. Mattresses lie in the mud along the railway where prostitutes trick, and rapes and assaults are common. "The blocks [where drug dealing takes place] never closed," said Christine Russo, 38, who's been using heroin for seven years. Weisbrod & Hess' Loading Room, Condenser & Storage/Boiler & Wash House, 2117 E. York Street (189091). Each program mixes interviews with guest travel experts, your call-ins with questions and comments, and music.