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“No They, Only Us”


EKNA’s New President Speaks Up On Why He Loves East Kensington

Nicholas Esposito is a man that wears many hats.  He is the founder of Head and the Hand, a small press that got its start in Fishtown on Sepviva Street, he works for the city in Parks and Recreation, runs an urban farm next to his Kensington house, and as of last week, is now the new president of The East Kensington Neighbors Association (EKNA).

EKNA is a registered non-profit community organization that holds public monthly meetings to discuss all things East Kensington. What is gleaned from these meetings is then communicated with community leaders, business owners, city officials, or anyone else that has a stake in the neighborhood. EKNA’s purpose is simple: to make the neighborhood a great place to live. In practice it can be a tall order, especially in a seemingly ever-changing neighborhood as diverse as East Kensington.

“It’s not some kitschy love, I really love being here,” Esposito said.

Esposito came to Kensington in 2011 to move in with his now-wife, Elisa, who bought a house on Emerald Street to develop the connecting vacant lot into an urban farm. Elisa was heavily involved with EKNA before Nic moved in, which in turn caused him to get involved early on. The effort put into EKNA by former presidents Jeff Carpineta and Clare Dych inspired Esposito.

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Nicholas Esposito with his son Luca

“I’m walking into a really incredible situation,” Esposito said, “the foundation was laid by a lot of hard work from Clare and Jeff.”

When describing what motivated him to seek the position, Esposito’s reason was simple, “Looking forward, this is one of the most exciting and important times to be involved in the neighborhood. I guess you could always say that, but we have reached a tipping point. This neighborhood is changing rapidly.”

Even a casual observer can see that East Kensington and Kensington as a whole are indeed changing.  New homes and businesses seem to be popping up just about every day. While rapid development is exciting, Esposito believes EKNA and residents of East Kensington would do well to welcome the newfound prosperity responsibly while being conscious of preserving the neighborhood’s identity.

“I want to maintain what’s already been,” Esposito said, “what I love about this neighborhood is, for better or for worse, not every house is perfect.” On the other hand, Esposito is excited for some of the ways some longtime vacant lots will be utilized, such as the development of St. Francis Villa, a 40-unit affordable housing space for seniors being built at the intersection of Hagert and Emerald Streets.  Another such project is in the works for a transitional house for homeless LGBTQ people between the ages of 18 and 25.

Since East Kensington was deindustrialized around the 1950s, the vacant lots aren’t just neighborhood eyesores, but very tangible representations of the job loss and economic downturn. Now that East Kensington’s newer development is cozying up to historically poorer blocks, it only makes Esposito’s position even more important to help guide the neighborhood away from full blown gentrification. As president of EKNA, Esposito, while not having direct legal authority over how the neighborhood will be designed, knows he will have the attentive ear of the city zoning board who have the final say-so as to what happens. Esposito expressed that he would like to again try to marry the new and the old.

“The gist of what I want to do is create thoughtful, mixed income development,” Espositio said, “every study you possibly can have says when you create mixed income areas and real integration — socioeconomically, racially, educationally, culturally — you create better environments. That’s why America has been looked at as a beacon of hope for the world.”

A culture of diversity, from the residents of East Kensington to EKNA’s collaborators, seems to be of utmost importance to Esposito. EKNA works directly with committees such as Greenspaces and other community organizations such as Friends of H.A. Brown, New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) and Trenton Avenue Arts Fest.

“If there’s anything I’ve learned from my time in city government, I am not a micromanager,” Esposito said. “People have their vision like I have a vision. Everybody has a vision. It’s about giving people the conditions they can succeed in and do the right thing. These committees have done great work. I want to empower the people that are already doing the work. This isn’t a takeover. That’s where the power lies, not in me saying ‘we’re going to do that,’ it lies in the people.”

Of course, maintaining diversity in the neighborhood and among committees is important, but a neighbors association is nothing without the, well, neighbors. Esposito said that one of his goals is to double the “number of people in the room,” vastly expanding the membership of EKNA. “One of my main lines is ‘it doesn’t matter how much money you make, what your culture is, or race is, what your education level is, whether you own your house, don’t own your house, how long you’ve been in the neighborhood, everyone’s voice matters.”

When asked if he had anything to say to new and old residents of East Kensington, Esposito recalled a thing outgoing president Clare Dych used to say that still resonates with him, “She said growing up in the suburbs there was always like a ‘they do this, they do that, they maintain the ball fields, you didn’t know who — they pick up our trash,” Esposito said, “and hopefully, what we raise our kids with is ‘there is no they, there’s us.’”

EKNA holds meetings the 3rd Monday of every month, 7PM at Philadelphia Brewing Company, 2423-39 Amber Street, Philadelphia, PA 19125

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