IS KENSINGTON CHANGING? Demolition,Evictions and Vacant Stores

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Here we are.

[00:00:12]Oh, here we here we are.

[00:00:23]Here we are. Kensington over there.

[00:00:26]That's McVey Playground. It's Monday afternoon. It's 12:56 and this is the most parking you'll find in Kensington because technically nobody is supposed to be parking here. It's street cleaning time. 11:00 a.m. to 100 p.m. You can't have a car parked on this block. If you do, uhoh, you'll get a ticket. And what I'm doing today is I'm going to give a little update on Kensington.

[00:00:56]Starting here at McVey Playground. Look at this. Touching the top of the light post of the old playground. It's still a playground. It's just currently in the middle of renovations.

[00:01:10]Uh oh, the pool's still here. Let's go look at the pool. I'm afraid I'm afraid I'm going to get a ticket. I got to wait two more.

[00:01:16]>> Crazy thing is you can't park your car anywhere around here from 11 to 1. But that's for like every single block around here. So, what do you do if you live around here? Or what if you're like an old person and you can't really get out and like reasons why they have the street cleaning thing happening. It only happens in certain areas. It's one of the ways the city uses to get rid of abandoned cars.

[00:01:48]You get a few tickets, then they get towed. Um, but it it is it is an inconvenience for those who have uh mobility issues. Right. We're going to McVey Playground. I'm going to risk it.

[00:01:59]It's 12:58 and if I get a ticket, it's my fault. I'm parked illegally.

[00:02:06]Whenever I watch that show, Parking Wars, we have Our Parking authority is notoriously uh fantastic at writing tickets. That's how good they're so good at writing tickets. Uh they're so good they they have their own TV show where you watch their workers get verbally berated.

[00:02:27]It is now officially 100 pm. I could not get a ticket. Huzzah.

[00:02:33]So, this is where in McVey playground. This is where the old rec center was. I mean, it was a building just a few months ago. And look how quickly grass has grown.

[00:02:48]And then over here, this is the McVey playground pool.

[00:02:56]Oh, this is it, guys. This is the McVey pool.

[00:03:01]We're going to go inside. I don't know if this is going to stay here. Or maybe it is. Maybe it is cuz they kept the wall up. They kept some of the fence up. Oh, they got rid of the basketball court. They got rid of everything cuz this is it inside McVy Pool.

[00:03:37]Yeah, I guess maybe they are going to keep the pool.

[00:03:41]Like why why would they keep that one wall up? But doesn't seem like it was a deep pool. I I I've been in here a few times, but people are dumping motor oil in here.

[00:04:01]You see right there, they got the light post up.

[00:04:22]Climbing up the ladder here at McVey Pool. I don't know how many times I'll do that again.

[00:04:33]It looks like there's somebody living over there. So, we're not going to go over there.

[00:04:38]But yeah, they even they tore up the basketball court.

[00:04:43]The whole playground's getting renovated.

[00:04:48]Oh, the fence is open over there.

[00:04:56]A lot of the playgrounds in my neighborhood.

[00:04:59]I grew up in uh I grew was born in Kensington. I grew up in Port Richmond.

[00:05:04]And all the playgrounds in Port Richmond were contaminated with lead, all the fields, all the dirt.

[00:05:11]So they had to like dig up the dirt. I wonder if Kensington had that lead problem.

[00:05:19]Over here was a baseball field. I did they take down the baseball cage? I think they took down everything.

[00:05:26]Oh, this is crazy.

[00:05:31]I used to play soccer for I played for Kah Hawks playground and then for one year for some reason I played for the Kensington Ramblers and I was their goalie and we played on this field right here and my best friend at the time is a kid named Kurt and Kurt was the goalie for Kahawks and I was the goalie for the Ramblers. I think we won. The Ramblers won. And at the end of the game, you high five everybody. And my friend, my best friend, when we hit the high five, he went to like hit me in the forehead, but he missed and he hit me in my nose and my nose was bleeding. And uh yeah, that's what that but we won. That's what I remember. I remember the bloody nose and we were friends afterwards.

[00:06:24]They had a baseball field. All the cages are gone. Now, when I first started making videos in this area, I would make the videos and I didn't really talk about the uh events happening on Kensington AV. They were just like although was it it was bad 8 years ago. I feel like it it it got really worse during co and uh we'll be talking about that in a little bit.

[00:06:56]But when I start first started walking around here, I got to go inside the McVey Rec Center and I talked to a person who worked for the city and the employees here had to take like an extra hepatitis shot, prevention shot because there's so many people going to the bathroom like in the woods over here in the trees where the old ba there was a baseball field over here, too.

[00:07:29]I guess that's the update on McVey playground.

[00:07:33]Now, not only was the wreck destroyed, but everything else from your childhood was destroyed. Your baseball field, your basketball courts, your playground, it's all gone. Cuz if you're not from Kensington, uh they're renovating a playground.

[00:07:56]I'm wearing sunglasses on a very cloudy day because I had you ever have a a pimple on the side of your eye and you you go to pop it but it's it's like a day too early and then you just I can't leave things alone.

[00:08:15]It's where I went to school from fifth grade to 8th grade. It's called Conwell Middle Magnet School. Uh it was supposed to well they were talking about closing it down attendance has been real low uh because if you go you know a block down there you are actually right here on the corner there's usually people passed out from uh doing stuff they shouldn't be doing.

[00:08:42]So the attendance used to be like 500 kids not that long ago. Then it went down to like 170.

[00:08:51]And back when I went here, it was a pretty you had to take a test to get in here. And so the the school district is trying to close schools. And uh they're not closing Conwell. Long story short, they're not closing Conwell, but they are going to take kids from schools in the area that is a little that are a little too crowded, I think, from Elkins and they're going to be going to school right up here.

[00:09:22]This is one of the I think that's a police camera. There are so many of the police cameras. This is the clearest I've seen Kensington in Clearfield in a long time. Um, last week, Dr. Oz, who put out a video on his YouTube channel, he uh he was down here. I think he's part of the current administration that's in the White House. What's this right here? You are you are not authorized to use this location to erect the tent.

[00:09:59]So that's why this area is so clear.

[00:10:01]They have this notice that they're uh telling people you're not allowed to put a tent. It's been two years since the city's done a major cleanup in Kansas.

[00:10:10]You see all these these are burn marks from like fires that people they just burn garbage right here in the middle of the pavement.

[00:10:21]So Dr. Oz was down here. He was filming.

[00:10:24]I think he was filming with the guy who runs the Rock Ministries down near Kensington and Somerset.

[00:10:32]And I think the guy's name is Buddy.

[00:10:35]And Buddy's been down here 20 years trying to get people sober, feed people, save people. They're always doing stuff with Rock Ministries, cleaning up the streets.

[00:10:46]So, Dr. Oz was down here and uh he went around and he talked to some people who were addicted to drugs. They offered them help and uh you know you know I have addiction problems. I have I had a I I had a a problem with alcohol.

[00:11:08]One of the things about getting sober is you got to want to get sober and you can't really you can't really force anyone into rehab.

[00:11:26]So, all during his little 10-minute video and in the video, Dr. eyes was walking with the uh the police commissioner of Philadelphia and the guy uh Buddy from Rock Ministries and they're offering people, hey, we can help you get sober and no, you know, nobody takes them up on the offer.

[00:11:50]And what they're doing is they're it's everything's TV, if this makes sense.

[00:12:02]like they're they're getting ready to clean up Kensington. When I was watching the video, I saw the police commissioner say like the mayor is trying to uh get some new laws down here so we can enforce the law.

[00:12:22]It was two years ago today the city put a ban on like they got rid of all the tents.

[00:12:29]No tents are allowed to be put up. Well, actually, it's illegal anywhere in the city. Uh, but now it's really illegal here in the uh Kensington corridor.

[00:12:40]That's what they call this area.

[00:12:43]This is Kensington and Somerset. You got the transit cops here standing on the corner. They're just pretty much shoeing people away. They don't really arrest people for being intoxicated.

[00:13:10]I think recently the mobile hospitals, there are only a few mobile hospitals that are allowed to go on Kensington to treat people with infected wounds or if they have anybody who has um one of The biggest problems in this area is the infected wounds. If people people are uh shooting like tranquilizer or they're doing the street cleaning right here, they're shooting this stuff that eats away at their flesh.

[00:13:44]And it's it's absolutely horrifying to see. When I first started coming down to this area, making videos about what's happening down here about 8 years ago, I maybe saw I think there was one guy who had an amputated leg and he was in a wheelchair. He was always in the bike lane. There was one guy. Now you go down the street, it will be it would it wouldn't be odd to see at least one person missing an arm or missing a foot.

[00:14:18]every everybody has stuff wrapped up in bandages because the infections are so bad and when you're down here you're not really taking the best care of yourself.

[00:14:28]So those mobile hospitals do uh help people and it actually frees up hospital space too. All the closed businesses.

[00:14:42]One of the things they did uh is they closed the convenience stores down here.

[00:14:48]They're not allowed to be open after a certain time. Right now it's Monday at 1:35. Got the training parking authority out today. They got two of the parking authority people out.

[00:15:02]There it is.

[00:15:04]But it used to be a lot of people down here. Um especially up where this yellow truck is. a lot of people hanging on these steps. And it used to that used to be a real bad hangout spot. Like there used to be 30 40 people deep hanging on that step.

[00:15:24]There is this thing called wellness court which is on Wednesday and if somebody gets arrested on Wednesday.

[00:15:32]Um they can opt out to get sobriety and uh they the city will you know work with them to help them get sober instead of going to jail to withdraw.

[00:15:53]Who takes care of you? Who takes care of you? Cuz there are still a lot of people on the streets right now. But I I'm honest. I was just thinking like compared to what it was 4 years ago, the streets are so much cleaner than what they were. And it's I mean I guess that is bound to happen if you have a street sweeper come down the street every day when they don't have many trash cans. So the people who are addicted to drugs whenever they get anything and it's not just the people addicted to drugs. There's people who live at the neighborhood who just throw the litter right on the street. It's kind of infuriate. Infuriating. That's not a word. It's it's it's it's annoying when you see it. Yeah. Right here. This is where the rock is and that's where the guy walking around with Dr. Oz.

[00:16:58]That's where I saw him go. And he offered people sobriety left and right.

[00:17:09]I've had um so many people die because of what happens down here. So many people I know uh because I grew up in Port Richmond, the neighborhood right next to this neighborhood.

[00:17:25]And uh I have friends in this neighborhood. When I went to school in this neighborhood, a lot of my friends are in this neighborhood. And there were a lot of people who became addicts.

[00:17:34]Luckily, some of them made it out.

[00:17:37]Fortunately, uh, a lot of a lot there's every year there's a friend who I grew up with or went to grade school with or, you know, somebody I know and you go, "Oh, yeah, he died."

[00:17:51]And it's something I've been dealing with probably for 20 years, like funerals for friends because they they they overdosed.

[00:18:02]And uh I just want it to stop because I'm sick of uh I'm sick of people dying and and I still have family or friends come down here or um uh people who have addiction problems and I come Oh, look at this. This is And I come down here and I I help I look for people occasionally. That fence is to keep people from camping next to this bank, which is something that happens all the time. Oh, wow.

[00:18:33]Maybe somebody bought the bank. But as soon as you get right past this turn, right when you get past Kelly's Corner, it kind of you'll you'll see a person passed out here and there. And that actually happens all over the city.

[00:18:52]Yeah. I I I actually it's it's been two years since the mayor's done her cleanup. And uh one of the things they did is they put up these bike racks or security gates and nobody was allowed to put up a tent and then and they just they they move people along. And what they've been doing is making it uncomfortable for people who are addicted to drugs. I think it I think it is working a little bit. I think that we're seeing less people down there. There are still a lot of people down there. I would still Yeah, it's it's it's it's not great or it's not good by any means, but it is getting a little bit better. A little bit better.

[00:19:39]And with Dr. Oz making that video where he, you know, it kind of makes you realize that people are offered help. They don't want it.

[00:19:53]And it's time to uh and now now this is what they're going to do. I think they're going to start arresting people and uh you know, we'll see how it goes. I I've always said that the uh eight years I've been doing YouTube or whatever, the seven years I've been making content in Kensington, I always said 2026 was going to be the year Kzitin uh got cleaned up.

[00:20:28]I I still I I have a I have a feeling that I may be right, which makes me think it it was all choreographed from the whole time. Like it was so obvious to me what FIFA World and I didn't know FIFA was coming, but with the semiquincentennial, you figured there would be a lot of tourists coming to Philadelphia. So, I just it's just a safe assumption that they were going to clean up our mess because we had visitors coming. And isn't it a shame that it took that?

[00:21:06]It It's a shame that it took uh people from around the world to come so we're not embarrassed. Same thing happened in California before the Olympics. They got rid of everything. And uh I wish they would just treat the people uh like I always just my thing about Kensington is like I always worry about the little kids growing up in that neighborhood because uh what are they going to think about humanity when they grow up at the Gard Ltop? up. Going to head down to Center City real quick. I hear big things are happening on Market Street. Want to check that out. I just noticed this welcome to Fishtown sign.

[00:22:00]You can see on the L platform. That's a brand new uh apartment building. Used to be a SE 71 there. Now it's 23 West. And here comes DL. And I need to buy a belt. So, I'm coming to the Levi store here at the fashion district. You know what I realized? This entire section of this mall, a lot of it is vacant. Well, they have Burlington Coat Factory in that corner, but this whole section of the mall is completely empty.

[00:22:56]When I was taking the L here, uh the uh police got on my L and they kicked off anybody who was high on drugs, which is really weird to see. I guess because they're SEPTA police. They can't do that in Kensington or they sort of do that in Kensington, but it was very weird to see right here.

[00:23:24]Big Bryce Harper billboard. That's his favorite protein. There you go.

[00:23:33]And right here, this is this vacant space. It stood here for I think about a decade with no stores inside of it. And the city is doing a special thing inside these stores where they're pretty much giving people this space and there's like a coffee shop. There's some you can buy some clothing and they're helping out independent artist.

[00:23:55]It's called Meantime on Market and they're these stores are going to be here for the summer highlighting some special Philly artist.

[00:24:09]I thought it was a lot bigger than what it really is. It's only two buildings.

[00:24:13]And it's not even It's I mean it's nice.

[00:24:17]It's better than having a vacant store.

[00:24:22]You can buy that tie and that shirt from that store if you want to.

[00:24:30]And they're not open. They're not open.

[00:24:32]They should turn that around. There it is. Market East, I guess.

[00:24:42]You believe I came down here for that?

[00:24:44]They're all closed, too.

[00:24:47]If you ever wondered how they cleaned the windows at the fashion district, go ahead cuz honk the horn. That's important.

[00:24:56]What was he honking at? There was people coming.

[00:25:01]Was he honking cuz he was in the turn lane?

[00:25:04]That's his fault. What a douchebag.

[00:25:06]Anyway, so what they do is they put a guy in a cherry picker. They get they get a super long squeegee.

[00:25:15]How exciting. And they close off the entrance so nobody gets wet. This is really how riveting.

[00:25:23]Yeah, this food truck here, he doesn't have the prices listed. Don't ever buy from a food truck that don't have their prices listed. That's And I'm at the Independence Hall area.

[00:25:36]Guess I'm going to hop on the All and go home.

[00:25:44]This is the Yo statue. It's right in front of the National Museum of American Jewish History. That way it says Yo. But if you go this way and then you turn around it says Oi. How exciting.

[00:26:00]We have roses in bloom here at Franklin Court. This is where Ben Franklin lived near the end of his life.

[00:26:10]And we also have dead flowers right there. That's the ghost house of what used to be Ben Franklin's house.

[00:26:19]Pennsylvania, New Jersey. We had a a few freezing days this spring and it's killing a lot of our a lot of our crops in Pennsylvania. They like the farmers had to declare an emergency through the governor.

[00:26:37]They even have the police cameras down here in the historic district. It's not just a Kensington thing.

[00:26:45]Look at this. He's loading up the robot.

[00:26:48]I've never seen Look at that. He's loading up the robot for delivery.

[00:26:57]There he goes. Oh, he opened up the door.

[00:27:02]Oh, his door's open. Oh, no.

[00:27:05]Now his door is shut. It's like an automatic garage door. Very, very excited. Oh, there he goes.

[00:27:11]He's off to make his delivery.

[00:27:16]>> There you go. Hope it's not hot food cuz it won't be when it gets there.

[00:27:21]>> Oh, he's stuck. There he goes.

[00:27:29]Bye-bye.