PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia City Council members are calling Wednesday’s encampment clear-out a good start to reclaiming the area.
On Wednesday, city officials cleared out the homeless encampment along Kensington Avenue as part of the Parker administration’s plan to dismantle the open-air drug market in Kensington and make the neighborhood safer.
The encampment clear-out started around 7 a.m. as heavy rain poured down.
Sanitation crews removed tents and other debris and swept and sprayed the streets and sidewalks.
Councilmember Jim Harrity lives around the corner from where the camp had formed and went down early to watch.
“We didn’t arrest. I think it’s going off as planned. Nobody wants to arrest anybody. We want to get these people into treatment or shelter,” he said.
Harrity says nearly 60 people accepted shelter on the spot, including 10 who went into treatment.
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents most of Kensington, says that’s in addition to 75 people who accepted services in the month leading up to the clean-up.
“That’s 135 families that slept better last night or have been sleeping better because their loved ones are connected to a resource that will give them an opportunity.”
She pushed back hard on reports that police had cleared the area before outreach workers arrived, calling them false, and said some campers left before the clean-up started, with many migrating to neighboring streets because of the early morning rain.
Lozada has been the loudest voice calling for a new approach to the open-air drug market there. She became emotional Thursday as she talked about why cleaning out the encampment was an important sign for residents.
“It’s just difficult. Sometimes we think that throwing money at people, or at places or things is going to bring a resolution to the situation, and we have seen in the Kensington community how doing so has done nothing for them,” she said.
Harrity said about 30 people were milling around his street Thursday morning, but neighbors were generally happy about the clean-up.
“The more we’re out there with the outreach people, the more we’ll get. It’s a process and nobody said it was going to be fast,” Harrity said.