What I want you to know about Allegheny Avenue, what I want to tell you, are not its mere externals–for example, that it runs parallel to and above Lehigh Avenue the breadth of the City of Philadelphia, both streets perpendicular to Broad Street. Although this is true. Also true is that Allegheny originates at Ridge, on that corner, the sleeping sentinel in the form of an unkempt shaggy graveyard, then spans across sections of abandoned warehouses and row homes, discount shopping centers, intersects Broad, ducks under the railway, offers its address to the Spanish-speaking pediatric and mental health centers, Welfare, WIC, bars with strings of lights and salsa music playing on heatbeat summer sidewalks, and by the time Allegheny reaches Kensington, the Avenue under the shadow of the EL, she ‘is’ the Badlands, home, for instance, a  tiny park  at the public library nicknamed, “needle park” — not knitting, of course, but hypodermic. Latino, African American and White cultures and races are the majority of whom you see along the Avenue. But again, this is not what I want to tell you.

Getting to know Allegheny Ave has been like getting to know anyone – taking place over time. Encounter by encounter, through changes in weather and season, by what is observed, smelled, heard — and recounted by others — you form opinions, you estimate stature, you are touched, you are repelled. Not all of what you hear is true, not all of what you see is representative, and nothing is conclusive.  But you may learn something, and if so, you are changed. In an alchemical way, a shift happens. And therein is relationship. This is what I want to try and tell you.

 

 I have been driving the length of Allegheny for months, two or three times a week. I go to Kensington Ave. to see the DeLay family, for my work. Two parents, four children, all in the ’system’ since forever, taken from addicted mothers, moved from one foster home to another, time spent in juvenile detention, time spent in jail, signed up for welfare as teens with children. For me, the Delays and Allegheny are inseparable — East Allegheny Avenue is their town. The schools, doctors, dentist, all social services, are necessarily within walking distance. This is their world.

 

 

I will tell you more. Stay tuned,

 

 

Ms. Spin-down-the-Avenue