Imminent ‘Cleanups’ Scheduled Under Philadelphia ‘State of Emergency’ Kensington Operations

  • April 18, 2024 1:53 am

from Unicorn Riot

A schedule obtained by Unicorn Riot shows an imminent government plan to “cleanup” specific locations in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood — but who benefits from altering a “billion dollar” drug shadow economy?

Philadelphia, PA — Unicorn Riot has obtained a schedule for “cleanup” operations due in the next 72 hours in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood, one element in new Mayor Cherelle Parker’s plan to dramatically change local conditions through state action. Some parts of Kensington have become well-known for open-air drug use and homelessness, which has become a subject of international attention, national political sniping and Internet clickbait. Days after Parker toured the area, “Kensington Cleanup Days” are slated to happen at certain locations. The “clearing” of encampments has been publicized in recent days.

Some local groups are concerned that Mayor Parker’s heavy-handed approach could increase incarceration or lay groundwork for wealthy developers to move in. Other parts of Kensington have seen rapid construction recently, just blocks away from the targeted area.

The Parker administration declared a State of Emergency just after swearing in (PDF of Executive Order 1-24 here). The previous mayor, Jim Kenney, refused to declare a State of Emergency. Now, a “Kensington Community Revival” “five-phase initiative” has been launched as well, but we hear that information on important plan features like specific treatment centers for people facing addiction in the area is hard to come by. (The police department also released a 100-day report (53 page PDF) last week as directed by the emergency order.)

We have learned imminent clearings are scheduled at the following locations under “Scheduled Kensington Cleanup Days” on Wednesday April 17th, 2024, and Friday April 19th, 2024, “at or after 8 AM.”

  • 1800 East Somerset Street (both sides)
  • 2700 Emerald
  • 2000 Silver
  • 1800 Cambria
  • 100 W. Gurney
  • 2900 Ruth Street
  • 3100 Kensington Avenue (both sides)
  • 3108-3114 Kensington Ave
  • 3142 Kensington Avenue (Rainbow storefront)
  • Ruth & Hart Lane
  • 2800 Kensington Avenue
Kensington Avenue and Somerset Street, underneath the Somerset Market-Frankford Line SEPTA stop, faces an imminent “Kensington Cleanup Day” on April 17 and 19, according to documents seen by Unicorn Riot.
“Kensington Community Revival” (KCR) plan area, via City of Philadelphia / Kensington Voice.

For many years, Kensington ‘revitalization’ plans have come and gone. According to local urban anthropologist Bill McKinney, the previous plans included:

  • “All efforts have run through the city’s Managing Director’s Office or the often centralized efforts of the Philadelphia Police Department, which lack the expertise and resources to implement strategies to address poverty, addiction, violence, and helping the unsheltered.
  • No authentic, participatory, community engagement processes that lead to sharing of power and co-creation of solutions with the community.
  • Each effort has treated Kensington and its residents as the problem, thereby ignoring the actual causes of the core issues, vilifying residents, and encouraging additional exploitation of the community.
  • After 20 years of interventions, racial disparities in areas ranging from housing to health outcomes have increased, and while every effort has claimed success at some point, none have had any form of measurable sustainable accomplishment for residents, only for those leading the efforts.”

“History is repeating in Kensington. It doesn’t have to be this way.” Bill McKinney, WHYY, May 2021

McKinney acknowledged the giant scale of the area’s shadow economy, which was a result of decades of disinvestment: “We’re trying to turn off a billion-dollar industry […] There was intentional disinvestment in this community — and so that economy was replaced with another economy. That other economy needs to be addressed. It’s not addressed just by picking up a few people and locking them up.”

From the perspective of people like former Kensington Neighborhood Association President Eduardo Esquivel, the government’s existing strategy has been to “keep a billion-dollar open-air drug market contained in Kensington.”

Not much is going on at the 2700 block of Emerald Street, but it’s named as an imminent cleanup site.
The corner of Kensington Ave., Somerset Street and D Street is named as an imminent cleanup site.
The 2900 block of Ruth Street is named as an imminent cleanup site (right side of image).

Other planning frameworks previously developed include the “North of Lehigh Neighborhood Revitalization Plan” (Dec. 2013 PDF) and the Heart of Kensington plan. KensingtonPlan.org has more information about these plans and the use of opioid settlement funds.

Questions over Krasner & DEA Roles in Kensington

Apart from the Kensington Caucus at Philadelphia City Council, which has been openly hostile to well-known harm reduction programs like needle exchanges, there are other players to consider. (Council member Quetcy Lozada “asked the real estate developer who owns the building where Savage Sisters is located to terminate the organization’s lease,” CBS Philadelphia reported in February. Harm reduction nonprofit Savage Sisters provides services like wound care, caused by ‘tranq’ (xylazine) – a tranquilizer commonly found in the area drug supply.)

With Mayor Parker’s new pressure to remove people, any plan to force people into “treatment or jail” decisions hinges on District Attorney Larry Krasner’s discretion. The de facto policy right now doesn’t push jail time for simple drug possession. Therefore, the DA office would need a policy shift to impose this choice on detained people. (Paraphernalia or public intoxication charges could also be leveled.)

A source with close knowledge told Unicorn Riot that they heard the federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) is also taking an interest in the situation. Federal agents have been photographed in the area in recent months. The source relayed that the DEA was concerned about violence around the clearing operations so they may want to reshape the marketplace by coercing dealers into leaving, hoping that would disperse open-air drug consumers to other areas of Philadelphia. (The DEA Philadelphia Field Division office conducts “Operation Engage Philadelphia” in the city.)

Unicorn Riot was also told that the Philadelphia Police Department has intentionally been dropping off intoxicated people at dispersed locations around the city.

This police operations pattern reminded us of multiple instances during the 2011-2012 Occupy Movement where police would drop off intoxicated people at the protest camps, as well as the 2012 Drug Recognition Evaluator (DRE) scandal in Minneapolis, where the Minnesota State Patrol was running a program to give unhoused people drugs at a shed by the MSP International Airport before dropping them off at the protest encampment at Peavey Plaza.

Locations identified for “Scheduled Kensington Cleanup Days” based on documents seen by Unicorn Riot.

Cover image composition and photos by Dan Feidt.

Anti-Gentrification Action

  • April 15, 2024 1:55 am

from Unravel

Philadelphia police are searching for multiple suspects caught on video vandalizing cars in the city’s Fishtown neighborhood back on Friday, March 29.

In the social media video obtained by police, you can see the suspects jumping on hoods of parked cars and kicking in windshields along the 1400 block of Oxford Street. Police say the string of vandalism incidents along Oxford Street happened around 8:30 p.m.

An Introduction to the Ghost Robotics Corporation

  • March 6, 2024 1:57 am

Submission

Ghost Robotics Corporation is a Philadelphia-based robotics company. They are located in the Pennovation Works compound in the Grays Ferry neighborhood in South Philly. They specifically cater to the military and “defense” markets. This article will go over some basic information about the company that readers opposed to colonialism, militarism, technological advancement, or gentrification may find interesting. Others are encouraged to verify this research and supplement it with their own.

Ghost Robotics is best known for their robot dogs. The robot dog, officially known as the VISION 60 Q-UGV, is billed as a “mid-sized high-endurance, agile and durable all-weather ground drone.” It is being used by US and foreign militaries, border security, and commercial companies. The robot is able to operate autonomously to some degree or accept real time instruction from a human operator via remote control. The dog has the capability of accepting add-ons, the most controversial of which have been weapons such as SWORD’s SPUR (basically an unmanned sniper rifle). Researchers have also put together a “guide to combat robot war dogs” that addresses dealing with Spot, a very similar robot dog developed by Boston Dynamics, which is linked below.

Those opposed to the war on Gaza, and Israeli colonization generally, may be interested to know that Ghost Robotics Corporation partners with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems. Rafael is Israel’s national R&D defense laboratory, developing and producing weapons for the Israeli Occupation Forces. The Ghost Robotics website touts its “cutting edge solutions addressing defense, homeland, and enterprise customer needs.” In an article on The National Interest a journalist covers a demonstration of Rafael using a robot dog from Ghost Robotics alongside a Raven drone to “clear nine rooms and identify the threats there.” An archived version of the article is linked at the end.

In addition to the roboticization of war and policing, and assistance in the genocide of Palestinians, Ghost Robotics Corporation is also part of the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan. The master plan is a scheme concocted by University of Pennsylvania, the City of Philadelphia, and corporate interests to develop the lower Schuylkill River into an “Innovation District,” a “Logistics Hub,” and an “Energy Corridor.” The Pennovation Works compound that Ghost Robotics is located in is an early step in creation of the “Innovation District” along the Schuylkill in South and South West Philly. This same district threatens the Bartram’s Garden area with a bio-technology campus. Also of note is that the master plan’s “Logistics Hub” is responsible in part for the destruction of South Philly’s FDR meadows, building an artificial wetland in FDR Park to offset having destroyed wetlands by the Philadelphia Airport. The Lower Schuylkill Master Plan and the zine Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” are linked below.

Links and Information

Ghost Robotics Corporation

Address
Ghost Robotics Corporation
3401 Grays Ferry Ave, Bldg 200, 2nd Fl
Philadelphia, PA 1914

Website
ghostrobotics.io

Contact
sales@ghostrobotics.io
vendors@ghostrobotics.io
careers@ghostrobotics.io
press@ghostrobotics.io

Social Media
instagram.com/ghostrobotics
linkedin.com/company/ghostrobotics
twitter.com/ghost_robotics

Staff
CEO and co-founder Gavin Kenneally
CTO and co-founder Avik De
President and chief executive Jiren Parikh (died March 2022)

Guide to combat against robot war dogs
https://www.jwz.org/blog/2021/02/guide-to-combat-against-robot-war-dogs/

Archived News Article Regarding Relation With Israeli defense company Rafael
https://web.archive.org/web/20230206160050/https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-israel-brings-together-robots-and-ai-lethal-combo-175518

More Information About Rafael
https://web.archive.org/web/20130514133537/http://duns100.dundb.co.il/ts.cgi?tsscript=comp_eng&duns=600024863
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Advanced_Defense_Systems
http://www.rafael.co.il/

Pennovation Works
https://pennovation.upenn.edu

Lower Schuylkill River Master Plan
https://www.design.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/LSMP_Exec.pdf

Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” zine

Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” Zine

Defying Displacement: Urban Recomposition and Social War — Author Andrew Lee with Keyssh from Decolonize Philly

  • February 2, 2024 1:14 am

from Making Worlds Books

Cities are in the midst of a profound transformation as the wealthy price out the remnants of the urban working class, especially people of color. Defying Displacement, focused on the US but informed by global examples, investigates gentrification from the perspective of the people fighting some of the most powerful institutions on the planet. As mass displacement alters the composition of gentrifying cities, the avenues available for social change become unsettled as well, forcing us to reimagine our strategies for building a better world. Author Andrew Lee will be in conversation with Keyssh Datts of Decolonize Philly.

“So often gentrification is a process understood in limited terms as a flow of people or the impersonal and inevitable flow of capital. In Defying Displacement, Andrew Lee analyzes both in tandem, illuminating how gentrification transforms not only housing markets, but the horizon of possibility for revolt. Regardless of where they are reading from, readers will be able to understand this subject with a fresh appreciation of how global struggles past, present, and future are linked by the making and unmaking of cities.” —Ayesha Siddiqi, editor in chief of The New Inquiry

Advance registration recommended and appreciated.

About the Speakers
Defying Displacement author Andrew Lee participated in a multi-year fight against the construction of a Google campus in San José, California that culminated in the creation of the first community land trust in the so-called Silicon Valley. He currently lives in Philadelphia and is a member of the No Arena in Chinatown Solidarity group opposing the planned 76ers arena. Lee supports grassroots social movements as managing editor for The ARD and his work has previously appeared in Yes! Magazine, The New Inquiry, Teen Vogue, and ROAR Magazine.

Keyssh Datts is a multimedia creator, community organizer, and founder of Decolonize Philly, a racial and environmental justice group using media and direct action to bring changemakers together to build towards a land revolution.

  • Friday, February 9, 2024
  • 6:00 PM 7:00 PM
  • Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center 210 South 45th Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 United States (map)

Two Excavators Attacked at North Bartrams

  • October 27, 2023 1:33 am

Submission

We attacked two excavators that were demolishing the street dept warehouse in north bartrams. When we arrived we were delighted to realize that someone had already damaged the machines! In addition to smashing the machines, we poured quick-setting concrete into the exhaust pipe of a machine. We choose this method because of its simplicity and ease. The other machine we used various techniques that can be found in warriorup.noblogs.org. Good luck finding what we did!

Clarkvilled Attacked During Eddie Irizarry Riots

  • September 29, 2023 1:01 am

Submission

On Tuesday, September 26, during the widespread looting, a small group attacked Clarkville. It’s another business that’s gentrifying West Philly and exploits its workers. After hearing about the looting we decided it was an easy way to contribute to the chaos. We read a cool zine called Toward Insurrection, in that zine they talk about anarchists interfacing with the riot. One way to do that is targeting our enemies just outside of where the riots are happening to overextend the police. Hopefully actions like these will grow the general disorder. We encourage other like-minded individuals to take action similar to this one next time.

 

Death to small businesses

Love to the looters

 

-some anarchists

Call to Struggle Around Bartram’s and Against the Proposal for “Cellicon Valley”

  • August 10, 2023 1:21 am

Submission

Development is officially moving forward – though very slowly – in destroying the alluring wastelands of Bartram’s North, the wooded riverside area just north of Bartram’s Gardens in Southwest Philly. For years, this area has been a favorite hangout spot for anarchists, ravers, feminist nude sunbathers, and other companions in being up to no good. Within the past eight months, a fence has gone up – twice – around the fields adjacent to the bike path that runs through the area, and a nearby building is slated to be demolished at the end of July. Earlier that month, three surveillance cameras were installed high up along Botanic Ave, the street that leads up to Bartram’s North. An unpermitted rave at Bartram’s in mid-July was reportedly broken up by police, which was to our knowledge the first time cops had kicked a party out of that location.

Resistance to the project has also been moving along, but slowly. According to websites like Philly Anti-Cap, over this calendar year so far the following events and actions have taken place:

– January: A zine is released entitled “Fuck a ‘Cellicon Valley’: Against the Proposed Development of Bartram’s North and South.”
– February: “Fuck Cellicon Valley” graffiti goes up along with “No Cop City” slogans.
– February: A Valentine’s Day-themed communique entitled “ISO Fence4Fence” notes that the fence around Bartram’s North has been broken down and is accompanied by anti-Cellicon Valley graffiti nearby.
– February: Iffy Books hosts a zine launch and social to publicize “Fuck a ‘Cellicon Valley.'”
– March: A communique claims the sabotage of a machine at Bartram’s North that was in the process of destroying “one of our favorite post-industrial wildernesses.” Bleach was poured into the tanks and tools were stolen.
– March: An anarchist assembly meets to discuss the various ecological and place-based struggles across the city, connecting the proposed struggle at Bartram’s with other campaigns like Save the Meadows, Save the UC Townhomes, No Arena in Chinatown, and the fight against the Cobbs Creek golf course.
– March/April: Anti-development and other anarchist graffiti goes up in Bartram’s North, including “Land Back” and Developers GTFO (A).”
– April: A communique posts photos of graffiti at Bartram’s North (with slogans including “fuck in the forest (A)” and “developers GTFO”) “for those Sexy Elves and Fairies out there in the Sex Forest. Let’s make the space more fun and cute while we defend the land. ;-)”
– May: A “work party” takes down most of the fence around the Bartram’s North fields for a second time and puts up more graffiti.
– June: “Feral gnomes” write a claim taking responsibility for pouring grit into the lubricating system of an earth-destroying machine at Bartram’s.

The proposal for “Cellicon Valley,” part of the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan, threatens to build a biotech campus at the sites of Bartram’s North and Bartram’s South. As well as demolishing the green spaces in those areas, the proposal also likely involves razing Bartram’s Village (the project housing nearby), and displacing its residents to build a new road to the Bartram’s South site.

This proposal is part of an ongoing effort by Philadelphia’s city planners to attract tech investment and brand the city as a new tech hot spot in competition with innovation hubs like Boston, the Bay and Silicon Valley itself. The city has been trying to do this kind of thing for a while, with mixed results, for example with Philadelphia’s failed attempt around 2018 to win the bid to house Amazon’s second national headquarters.

It is critical that we help them continue to fail in this goal. The effects of gentrification have already been devastating, and taking it to this level would make the city unlivable for everyone except a newly arrived generation of yuppie tech gentry.

The city is still looking for a partner to actually carry out the development process at Bartram’s. The PIDC (Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation) is reportedly in conversation with three development firms: Quaker Lane Capital, Gattuso Development Partners/AR Spruce, and Lincoln Property Company. The latest information we have, from February 2023, says they expected to select a partner and negotiate a development agreement by the second quarter of 2023.

It is much easier to intimidate potential developers, discouraging them from committing to the project in the first place, than it is to dissuade companies that have already signed a contract. Waiting until a developer is actually chosen might galvanize resistance by helping publicize the project and showing people it’s a real threat, but do we really want to wait til the deal is done, mainstream media has decided to start talking about (i.e. advertising) it, and everyone else on the opposition has been put on point to promote the project and squash resistance?

At this time, it’s not certain that any of the above development firms will even decide to commit to the project. If we act now, we can make this potential failure a reality. If we wait til later, we can still make construction a problem for the developers, but we’ll be at more of a disadvantage.

We don’t need to rely on our opposition’s timeline or their media; we can create our own. At this moment, we have the chance to widely publicize the project *ourselves*, spreading the information we want to see spread and finding potential accomplices, while the city waits around for their side of things to get finalized. It might not feel like it, but the time in which it’ll be most effective to act is now.

Who’s Responsible:
– PIDC (Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation), a non-profit founded by the city of Philadelphia and the Chamber of Commerce that funds development, is the main vehicle of this project
– Anne Bovaird Nevins, President of PIDC
– Angie Fredrickson, Vice President of Real Estate Services of PIDC (oversees the group’s marketing efforts in the Lower Schuylkill)
– Tom Dalfo, Senior Vice President of Real Estate Services for PIDC (oversaw the implementation of the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan)
– Colliers Life Sciences, “elite” real estate advisors leading the effort to solicit developers for the biotech campus
– Joseph Fetterman, Executive Vice President
– Clifford Brechner, Vice President
– Matthew Barkann, Associate
– William Penn Foundation, funders of the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan, along with the City of Philadelphia
– PennPraxis, local advisors and facilitators for the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan
– PHA (Philadelphia Housing Authority)
– Urban Land Institute (ULI) Philadelphia – assembled the panel of experts in 2021 (sponsored by PIDC) that recommended and specified suggestions for the development of Bartram’s
– All development firms that have shown interest in the project

Some ideas:
– Counter-information about the project (on site and in general)
– Actions against people responsible for development
– Work parties
– Dare to dream >:)

Report from Anti-Gentrification Action At Bartram’s Garden

  • June 10, 2023 1:17 am

Submission

A couple weeks ago, a friend sent me a flyer for a “work” party at Bartram’s Garden. Anarchists have been agitating around stopping gentrification of that area for a while after that zine came out…I forgot the name. Generally, one of the cooler things about anarchists in Philly is that we have a pretty long history of actually fighting gentrification through sabotage as opposed to just complaining about it on a megaphone. The flyer advised us to mask up, bring tools, that phones were bad and to bring trusted friends. It also advised for folks to keep off the internet and big threads. I was excited to have been sent a flyer for an action that seemed a bit more devious especially since all the leftist stuff going on in the city is very uninteresting to me. Yelling at buildings is very boring and doesn’t seem like a good way to adequately address gentrification in my view. As a Black radical, it is pretty disappointing that most of the Black organizations in the city are uninterested in attacking in ways that actually combat gentrification, materially.

Anyway, I sent the flyer to a few homies. Some were able to make it. Some weren’t. Anyway, myself and a comrade rolled down there a lil after the time it was supposed to start. We scoped it out. We weren’t sure exactly where everyone was meeting but after hearing cutting sounds, we went over. The action was pretty cool. People were just cutting this big ass fence that the developers had set up in Bartrams. Everyone was kinda just doing their own thing. My homie and I didn’t bring adequate tools to cut so we ended up just carring the fencing and throwing some of it into the river along with other attendees. The action was very chill and it was good to see a few familiar faces. We both had some shit to do early the next day so we peaced out a bit early after leaving a few tags. There wasn’t really much else to do though other than cut the fence…and I wish the action maybe had another goal or something. Despite this, it was pretty cool.

Either way, actions like this are cool because they are pretty low level and a good entry point for people that are interested in learning how to be more confident in doing attack with their own hands as opposed to asking some politician for help. I hope that this energy can continue into the summer. I’d love to get invited to more night demos or work parties. And I’d definitely bring my friends.

I guess I’m sorta a movement oriented person (which puts me at odds with a lot of insurrectos in the city) so I just wonder how a more aboveground anti-gentrification movement could interface with these more underground attacks in Philly. Is that something worth pursuing? What would it materially look like? I’d like to see attacks grow and I wonder how much of that means trying to interface and impose our will on the more leftist anti-gentrification forces in the city. Despite this, most of them are pretty liberal and against violence but maybe there are some openings. Who knows? It was refreshing though to take part in something that wasn’t liberal. I’ve love to get more invitations in the future.

More anarchy
More destruction
Fuck the Gentry

-a new afrikan anarchist in Philly

Fuck Cellicon Valley Graffiti!

  • April 12, 2023 1:45 am

Submission


Some graffiti against the Cellicon Valley development for those Sexy Elves and Fairies out there in the Sex Forest. Let’s make the space more fun and cute while we defend the land. 😉 Fuck Cellicon Valley! Developers and Gentrifiers Get The Fuck Out!

“Fuck a Cellicon Valley” Zine Launch and Social

  • February 12, 2023 1:07 am

from Iffy Books

February 19 @ 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm

Flyer with a drawing of various cartoon animals sitting around a campfire under the stars. The text reads as follows: "Fuck a Cellicon Valley" Zine Launch and Social February 19 3:30 PM Iffy Books, N. 11th St. #2I Zines, snacks, socializing, & info on the development at Bartram's Garden

Join us Sunday, February 19th at 3:30 p.m. to celebrate the launch of “Fuck a Cellicon Valley,” a zine about a development plan that would displace residents and destroy wild space in the area around Bartam’s North and Bartam’s South. We’ll have snacks and free zines!

Read the zine
Print the zine

Here’s an excerpt:

After we heard rumors about UPenn developing the land around Bartram’s North we did some research and discovered an evil plot. In 2013 a group of economists, developers, city planners, and other villians came up with the Lower Schuylkill Master Plan, a 143 page document envisioning a “21st century industrial district” in Southwest Philly along the Schuykill river corridor. The report details massive development projects to be carried out over 20-25 years. Reading the report in 2023 provided us with some answers and many many questions.

The Master Plan is worth looking over carefully if you are someone who cares about environmental destruction and gentrification. You can find it online at https://www.design.upenn.edu/sites/default/files/LSMP_Small.pdf

The plan breaks up the development projects into three sections. The first is a Logistics Hub, connected to the Philadelphia Airport, whose recent expansion destroyed wetlands to build a cargo facility. We’ve already seen how this has gone down for the FDR meadows. The second is the Energy Corridor in South Philly, where they are currently focused on remediating decades of industrial pollution from oil infrastructure. The remediation is predicted to take years, then they’re going build factories.

The third zone, the Innovation District, is the focus of this zine. Because it is closest to us, because it threatens the places we live in and love. In writing this zine, we hope that other people will look into the master plan and oppose gentrification as they see it manifest in their contexts.

The Innovation District consists of the Pennovation Center and the areas near Bartram’s North and Bartram’s South including some wild lands and spaces. We spend a lot of time in those spaces and despite what developers think, there is already vibrant activity, innovation, and life, we don’t want to see the area get paved over and built up.

…

The Lower Schuylkill Biotech Campus is part of what people at the University of Pennsylvania are calling “Cellicon Valley”. It’s an attempt to brand Philly as the next hi-tech hotspot for pharmaceutical companies and research institutions. Like Silicon Valley, Cellicon Valley is a bad and annoying idea that should never come to fruition. It’s literally a scheme to capture, commodify, and sell us ways to live, by destroying and locking us out of the ways we live.

ISO Fence4Fence

  • February 8, 2023 1:52 am

Submission

with valentine’s approaching, i need a date – will you show your interest? i always make the first move – so take the broken fences at bartrams north as your cue. half is done – now do your part and we can kiss under the FUCK CELLICON VALLEY graffitti down the road. NO BORDERS. NO FENCES.

our desire fuels an end to all development.

your secret admirer-

Opponents of Philly FDR Park Development Speak Out

  • January 27, 2023 1:11 am

from Unicorn Riot

By Dan Feidt, Unicorn Riot January 26, 2023

Philadelphia, PA – The FDR Park in South Philly is in the midst of a new redevelopment plan supported by the city and private groups like Fairmount Park Conservancy. Opponents of the plan have dubbed their cause “Save the Meadows,” referencing a wild area that was partly bulldozed late in 2022. The plan’s authors are finally hosting a community event on January 26, 2023, although opponents believe that they will not be allowed to speak inside.

A demonstration outside the Grand Yesha Ballroom in South Philly is highlighting reasons they oppose the plan. An ad-hoc coalition of several groups, under the flag “The People’s Plan for FDR Park,” has pushed local officials to reconsider the plan and preserve more meadows while unlocking often-shuttered sports fields around the city.

Among the main concerns opponents have is that the expansion of the Philadelphia International Airport will remove wetlands near the town of Eastwick, which can thus expect more flooding as climate change intensifies. (The airport’s expansion is a key part of the financing of the FDR Park project.)

Live coverage below:

[Video Link]

See our video report from last fall below:

[Video Link]

Opposition to the development plan was also an element in a large demonstration and march in November 2022 that highlighted several different, yet related causes in the city.

[Video Link]

Fuck A “Cellicon Valley” Zine

  • January 12, 2023 1:14 am

Submission

PDFs of a zine that got put out this month regarding development at Bartrams.

[Read] [Print]

banner for forest defenders

  • December 18, 2022 1:57 am

Submission

On Saturday the 17th we hung a banners in solidarity with our friends jailed in Atlanta for defending the Weelaunee Forest against developers and cops. We hope that our action although small inspires others to act in solidarity with the arrested and against the system that arrests free life.

The struggle against cop city is not over!

From Philly to Atlanta let’s spread and intensify the struggles against police, gentrification, and the destruction of nature!

Protesters Call Attention to Development and Gentrification in Philadelphia

  • November 13, 2022 1:42 am

from Unicorn Riot

 

Philadelphia, PA – A number of groups are rallying and marching on Saturday afternoon around concerns regarding how space and development in the city are controlled, the day’s call is about “democratizing development.” The group is gathering at FDR Park in South Philly.

Follow our livestream here:

[Video]

Organizer flyers included some of the key concerns. According to an event page the attendee groups include “Philly Thrive, Sunrise Movement, VietLead, Save UCTownhomes, Save the Meadows, RECLAIM, PSL, Cobbs Creek EJ”.

Organizer flyers for the march in Philadelphia on Saturday, November 12.

One major concern is the redevelopment of a massive Southwest Philly refinery site which was the site of a massive, dangerous fire in 2019. Highly toxic hydrofluoric acid was released, and an explosion launched a section of a tank all the way across the Schulykill River. On October 11 the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) released its final report on the disaster including a gripping video animating the sequence of events. Despite the many decades of chemical exposure on nearby neighborhoods, the public has been largely shut out of the redevelopment process (including a recently shelved, long sought community meeting with the development company).

[Video]

Another issue raised by organizers is the rapid redevelopment of FDR Park itself, which they argue put people at risk by felling trees without warning. Unicorn Riot released a closer look at the park site in September.

Another topic raised by organizers is the impending eviction of 70 families on Market Street. UC Townhomes residents have been struggling to reprieves from eviction this year — the Save the Townhomes campaign has pushed for more time and demanded ‘just compensation’ for the sale deal, part of a long history of displacement including eminent domain in the 1960s.

Organizers are also calling attention to Chinatown residents who are “having another stadium forced on them” after “fighting off a casino and a stadium.”

Cover aerial photo by Trev Adams.