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.

January discussion: the schizophrenic experience

  • December 26, 2021 1:41 am

from Viscera

With the holidays coming up, we’ll be having our next event on Sunday, January 2nd from 1-3, where we’ll be discussing (anti) psychiatrist R.D. Laing’s writing on schizophrenia and social control with a chapter from The Politics of Experience and the Birds of Paradise.

There is no such ‘condition’ as ‘schizophrenia’, but the label is a social fact and the social fact a political event

the schizophrenic experienceDownload

Barring the weather being really awful, this event will be in our backyard somewhere in West Philly where we can have a fire in peace. Please contact us for the address and (optional but encouraged) bring something to burn.

Reportback from the Eagles riots: A chance for solidarity, but more importantly, a chance for Joy.

  • January 25, 2018 1:03 am

Submission

On January 21st, we took the opportunity to take part in the temporary autonomous spaces created by the post victory fervor of thousands of football fans. Realizing that the soon to be victory of the Eagles was an ample time for us to strike back against the domination of civilization, the police, and the prison walls built by our own deteriorating mental, we met up with friends outside of Lincoln Financial field with the intention of freeing ourselves, albeit temporarily. We joined up with fellow members of the continuous class war in their celebration, singing, chanting, lighting fires, and using this opportunity to attack ATMs and throw a little bit of art on the dismal walls of south Philadelphia. We moved down broad street with a roving party that the Philly PD just couldn’t seem to shut down.

After the pigs threatened an individual with noise violations for playing music to the crowd, the atmosphere took a more exciting turn. South Philly sports fans who normally shrieked about the thin blue line became agitated at who they viewed as their protectors. We took this opportunity to begin chants such as “Fuck the Patriots” and “Fuck Tom Brady” which many didn’t notice quickly became abbreviated to “FTP” and “Fuck 12” (Brady’s number). The crowd began to swell, with people leaving and even more left their homes to join the party and follow what soon became an autonomous, spontaneous anti police demonstration.

We made our way to city hall where our moving party joined up with an even larger group, the smell of smoke and alcohol filled the air and the distinct sounds of chanting bellowed in our ears, drowning out the orders of the Philly PD. With growing anger, the police attempted to clear the street. We used this opportunity to use the hundreds of bottles littering the streets as projectiles, with many others soon following our lead. The riots moved slowly, untamed by the police as people continued to share their joy and release their rage against the city through attack. More and more riot cops materialized from the side streets as someone with a speaker played NWA’s “fuck the police” to the excitement of many within the crowd. We continued to throw projectiles, light things on fire, and paint the walls with many other folks, most of whom we had never struggled against domination with, but whom we certainly hope to have at the barricades with us in the future. The crowd moved towards 15th and JFK and eventually dispersed. At this time, we are unsure of anyone arrested for taking part in this spontaneous riot.

This action was super great for us and hopefully for the hundreds of others who took to the streets at our sides. It was a beautiful change of pace to strike back in such a low stress environment on such a large scale without the traditional cover of the black block. As insurrectionary anti-authoritarians, we’re far too aware of how damaging to our mental health the institution that is the state is, and how little we get to exercise our rage to the capacity we would like to. This battle in the on going class war was extremely refreshing, and most importantly it was fun. By striking back, we were reminded of the level of joy only experienced when we make our executioners fear us, to watch the uncertainty and terror that manifests in their eyes when they realize that they’ve lost control. We are reminded that within the chaos, we can be free. Most importantly, we are reminded of our own power and that class war and insurrection will never be a few small groups taking actions, but a writhing unstoppable horde of love and rage.

 

We took these actions in memory of all our comrades across this dying world who are no longer with us and those who are slowly slipping from our embrace, whether it be from toxic institutions pushed onto them, or ones they’ve summoned for themselves. A riot will always carry the ghosts of our losses, and our hopes for a world we hope to see one day. For this reason, we view every attack as a eulogy, and a chance for inspiration. We hope to see y’all in the streets February 4th.

Fuck Cops, Go Birds

Icarus Philly Radical Mental Health Support Group

  • May 24, 2016 11:56 am

from Facebook

A safe place to share support and witness one another’s mental health experiences with hope that we will create healing connections personally and help break down the stigma of “mental illness” globally.

Everyone is welcome to attend. All humans with races, sexes, genders, diagnosis, moods+feelings, psychiatric histories, abilities, religion/beliefs or ages are welcome. Also any lack of the above forementioned. : )
Donations are suggested but not mandatory.

[June 1st 6-8pm at A-Space 4722 Baltimore Ave]

“Nazi Cabbie” Gabriel Diaz Caught Attempting to Infiltrate Antifa

  • May 3, 2016 2:19 am

from Philly Antifa

Gabriel Diaz: National Socialist Infiltrator and Stooge for the National Socialist Movement

About a year ago, Anti-Fascists around the country started seeing a man calling himself Mohammed coming out to demonstrations against Neo-Nazis and Klan as well as Anti-Fascist/Leftist events and conferences and trying to get involved in the Anti-Fascist movement.

“Mohammed” has been busy the past year, travelling from his home in the Bronx to places like Ohio, Georgia and here in Philly trying to make connections with Antifa and extract personal information from them. He managed to get a couple phone numbers and promptly handed them over to the National Socialist Movement (NSM). The NSM’s “head of security” Mike Scholer, then began making harassing and threatening phone calls to those Antifascists.

Fortunately, Scholer is about as smart as the rest of the NSM and couldn’t help but let certain clues slip during his calls that allowed Anti-Facists to realize not only that there was in infiltrator in their midst, but that the only person it could have been was “Mohamed.”

From there it wasn’t hard to figure out that “Mohammed” was actually Gabriel Diaz, also known as “The Nazi Cabbie,” who grabbed headlines 2 years ago when he suspended for 30 days after being photographed driving his cab around Manhattan wearing a Swastika Armband. Diaz got his license back after the suspension, but it is unknown whether he is still working as a cab driver or not.