[...] Philly says that the New Kensington Community Development Corporation is ready to begin implementing Phase 2 of its q… While largely contingent upon the whims of local residents, phase 2 will at the very least include [...]

let me get this straight. you are complaining about a leed platinum school right next to the el? just checking. 

yes there needs to be mixed used and density near the el… but this school is not a bad thing for the neighborhood, at all.

 The school is fine. But there is just a lot of land there. And next to an existing rec center. Would have been a great opportunity for a school. And housing. And retail. And to knock down the ridiculous racism-driven wall that was meant to keep the Others out of Fishtown. And a consistently open path from Fishtown to the Berks station. This building was successful at reducing energy costs for a single building and providing a good learning environment. This site plan however is not in the least bit reflective of sustainability, and demonstrates the tunnel vision of some in the “sustainability” industry.

I couldn’t make it past the first sentence in the article because it contained the phrase “‘New’ Kensington.”  That is un-fucking-bearable.  If you really want to distinguish yourselves from poor minorities that much just move to the burbs rather than moving to Kensington, sticking your Yuppie Flag into the ground, and carving out a section for yourselves and renaming it.   What you need is a “New” black eye to go with your “New” Kensington.

The most sustainable thing this committee could do is build a pedestrian path to connect Berks Street in Fishtown to the Berks St EL stop. That big swath of green looks ridiculous next to an EL stop.

Yeah, and it feels especially desolate walking down that big empty stretch of nothing to Norris Street after I get off at Berks St. Kind of uncomfortable, you know? 

Hey Ryan O’Hara, why don’t you just move out of New Kensington and go to the Burbs?  My grandmom lived in Kensington and I grew up there.  I grew up in a different section than this area but get real —- when I grew up, my neighborhood might not have been rich but it was a nice and quite safe, I walked to school in first grade with my sister two years older.  My area of Kensington was litter free, graffiti free, filled churches on almost every corner, and friendly neighbors – that was the real Kensington – before it became what you  call “poor miniorities”.  By the time I finished college on loans and scholarships – yes, still from Kensington —-yes public school system all of my life —-there are no excuses– the neighborhood went so downhill it was unrecognizable – litter filled the streets, now it has the top 10 drug corners of Philadelphia all to itself.  Who wouldn’t want change for that area, who wouldn’t want growth —- you think you GET it, you are clueless!!!!!

I thought fer sher that when the ball field was being improved (no more cinders) and the school was being built that SOMEone would wake up and see to it that a pathway was constructed from Berks & Blair to the El station. It would be so easy to construct a sidewalk between the ball field and Shissler and around the curve of the parking lot, wouldn’t it?

So after all the brouhaha and backslapping over Phase I (which really is nice, no kidding) people from the neighborhood STILL need to walk all the way around the “superblock” to get to the train? [Insert facepalm here.]

My problem is people renaming neighborhoods because they’re embarrassed of the neighborhood they moved into.  It’s been Kensington for over 150 years but some carpetbagger moves in and decides he’s entitled enough to erase history.  You’ll notice the renaming only happens when gentrifiers move into minority neighborhoods.  

They don’t want to be associated with minorities and even go as far as renaming the community so they don’t have to say “I live in Kensington” or “I live in North Philly.”  Funny how nobody changed the names of Manayunk, Roxborough, East Falls, Pennsport, Fishtown, Queen Village, and Bella Vista when those neighborhoods were gentrified.  Why?  It’s because they were white neighborhoods to begin with so they didn’t feel ashamed enough to differentiate themselves from the longtime residents.

Compare that to all of the newly white areas renamed Templetown or Newbold or New Kensington by some mook from Jersey to differentiate themselves from the people of color who’ve been in those neighborhoods for 40+ years.  

You’ll also notice displaced black people don’t rename neighborhoods.  Croyden, Frankford, Taconey, Torresdale, and Mayfair haven’t changed their names and I guarantee they won’t. Well, at least until the white flight in those areas is complete and a new flock shows up to gentrify them years later.  Maybe we’ll have a New Frankford and a New Mayfair 50 years from now.

I’d love to know how these initial conversation went.  

“Regular Kensington is, like, those people over there; the blocks that are still all black.  We’re, like, the new Kensington.  OMG!  That’s it!  That’s how we can differentiate ourselves from them!  Let’s call it New Kensington!”

Ryan
New Philadelphia

My ass nobody’s tried to rename it.  The article calls the a carved out section of Kensington “New Kensington” and even gives the coordinates, “smartypants.”

who cares about a name?

i’ll never understand why people get so up in arms. so people want to implement some marketing to sell houses… whats the big tragedy here?

There is a walkway.  It starts between the school and the el stop and comes out between the basketball court and the baseball field.

you don’t se the big picture, it’s marketing, and business, and the almighty dollar rules it. i grew up in mayfair, it was clean working class white irish, now with parts of the city being gentrified, the “trash” is being pushed to mayfair, it’s a ghetto know “and thoses people” come in, swarm, and destroy like locust. 50 years from now when mayfair get’s reinhabblitted by white people and once again comes back as a working class clean respectable neighborhood, they will have to rename it. germantown, point breeze, oleny, the list goes on, wake up and be a realist not a racist. some people just weren’t meant to live around others… i wonder if you blast your gun off as much as your mouth, no wonder there are 400 murders a year here and 93% of them are black on black… oh but thats ok right? free treyvon!

 In that case when Kensington – a white section – –gentrified hispanic and black –who regardless of income or race just trashed the neighborhood –well those moving out should have renamed the area to New Kensington, so that they could differentiate themselves from being from the part of Kensington that wasn’t full of drugs and litter.  Yeah, that would work.  I am not pro-change community names – but in this case I disagree terribly with what you say because well, people should be ashamed when they can’t sweep their own street, and have a little pride about cleanliness which doesn’t cost a dime.  Have you ever even been to Kensington, who wouldn’t want to change the name, there are so many little neighborhoods within Kensington that are trash filled, drug filled, prostitutes, graffitti – and yet you are bashing people who will move into the area, give it a new name and clean it up.  Keeping in mind that in the city this can vary by block —-even in Point Breeze there are streets that are not gentrified that are cleaner than streets that are gentrified – —- but Kensington, well, Point Breeze looks like Rittenhouse compared to Kensington.  I just can’t see bashing people moving into those areas who make improvements – to what otherwise is an area where the people living their already do not care about where they live.  I even rented in Brewerytown and let me tell you, get on the bus and the people there coming from further up North Philly, they will laugh at a handicapped person, they are hardened by life and you can see it on their faces.  South Philly, Point Breeze, the people are more polite old and new.  Kensington needs change, nothing for the people who leave their streets to garbage to feel proud about, they lost their chance with their refusal to care about where they live.  Regular Kensington is not just blocks that are still black, there was a time when some blocks in Kensington were white and still are.  If you want to talk about history then to just call Kensington a black neighborhood isn’t even accurate.  There was a time when there were Polish blocks, Irish blocks, Italian —-.  I don’t think you truly understand about city neighborhoods, and you may not have even grown up in the city.

I for one am very happy to see redevelopment in this area. I grew up at Amber and Suesquehanna and that area turned into a pit in the mid 70′s and early 80′s. It’s great to see people return to the area. maybe the area can become a great neighborhood full of young families and happy and productive people again! I know that most of the people who stuck it out will be happy to see the neighborhood return to what it once was in the earlier years!

[...] a new Kensington High School for the Creative and Performing Arts. The block is contained within a 20-acre site bordered by Front Street, Frankford Avenue, Palmer and Norris [...]