PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA is making extensive repairs and safety improvements to Market-Frankford Line stations along the Kensington Avenue corridor.
The work is part of an emergency plan meant to not only fix the stations, but to address substance abuse and mental health issues in the area as well.
The physical condition of SEPTA's Somerset Station and aggressive behavior by drug users towards riders had the Kensington community calling for help from SEPTA, the city and various stakeholders. Earlier this month, SEPTA completed a two-week project to improve the stop's infrastructure, clean it up and add safety and security measures to the station.
Area resident Mark Pray said the stronger police presence seems to deterring harassers.
"It's a little better, because they have police sitting at the station now and they are sitting in that booth right there so they are keeping that crowd away."
But some, like Pastor Burton Gates of the Liberty Baptist Church, said while things may look better on the surface, substance abuse and mental illness have deep roots in the area.
"It doesn't matter how much paint and how nice of an elevator that you put in, we live in the belly of the beast," he said.
"They are going to clean it up, put a bunch of money into it and then it's going to be the exact same thing going on as what was going on before they started," Gates added, "unless they are going to enforce laws that would prohibit people from urinating at the station, selling dope outside the station, doing drugs in the station and harassing people around the station."
Related
Dr. Bill McKinney, executive director of the New Kensington Community Development Corporation, said enforcement isn't necessarily the answer.
"We have to move away from the idea that we are going to police our way out of, essentially, poverty and substance abuse problems. We need a more community-based, participatory process where we co-create solutions," he said.
Similar work is scheduled in less than a week at the nearby Allegheny Station. It will remain open while the work is being done. However, the stop will close early, on April 23-25 at 8 p.m. Train service will resume at 5 o'clock the next morning. Shuttle buses will be in operation. The agency said improvements to Huntingdon Station will likely follow.
SEPTA also said transit police are working closely with social outreach specialists to connect those in need to substance use treatment, behavioral health services and other assistance.