In Kensington, violence has plummeted. But the open-air drug market persists despite the city’s new efforts.

Gloria Cartagena Hart vividly remembers the scenes and sounds of her Kensington block just three years ago: The streets filled with trash. The sidewalks lined with dozens of people openly using drugs. Nightly pops of gunfire from dealers competing for turf, and the haunting screams that followed.

It was 2022, in the heart of one of the most notorious drug markets and poorest zip codes in America.

But Cartagena Hart, a longtime resident at Somerset and Jasper Streets, now says the neighborhood is experiencing something she once believed might never come.

“I see some progress,” she said.

For the first time in decades, under the renewed efforts of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration, some residents and city officials alike agree that many of Kensington’s most chronic challenges have