Residents remain wary but optimistic 1 week after cleanup of Kensington Avenue encampment
Kensington resident Keith Farley said it seems things are improving, but it depends on the day.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It's been nearly one week since the City of Philadelphia cleaned up and cleared out a two-block section of Kensington Avenue, an area long-plagued by open drug use among people on the street.
Last week, the city called the effort a success.
Despite this, some people who live and work in the neighborhood told Action News on Tuesday they weren't ready to say that just yet.
Sarah Laurel runs Savage Sisters, a nonprofit in Kensington that does outreach for the homeless and those living with addiction.
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"We haven't seen it slow down at all, in fact, there's actually been a bit of an increase of individuals coming in, which could be a good thing. They seem to be seeking to get into treatment," Laurel said.
Amid the efforts to clean up the area, she says there's fear among those she serves.
"They don't want to have a negative police encounter," Laurel said.
There was an obvious police presence Tuesday evening as pedestrian traffic flowed on both sides of the street.
There didn't appear to be much loitering or congregating between East Orleans Street and Allegheny Avenue, where the clearout occurred.
Barricades also lined cleared sidewalks with no tents in sight.
Kensington resident Keith Farley said it seems things are improving, but it depends on the day. He's hopeful for consistency.
"I would just tell the mayor to keep working hard. Try to see what works and what doesn't," Farley said.
Other neighbors are frustrated. Michael Pearson is concerned with the new problem of people fanning out onto side streets.
"I know I've seen people kind of like sleeping kind of further into the neighborhood. They keep moving it around as opposed to solving it," Pearson said.
There's also concern assistance isn't as robust as the community thought it would be.
Last week, the city said 59 people accepted housing and services as part of the encampment closure and four were connected to drug and alcohol services.
These numbers are what Pearson calls a drop in the bucket.
"There's hundreds of people, and so I think that was the concern that I had. It seemed like there was an idea that they were going to provide services, but the services weren't there," Pearson said.
A city official said Tuesday that outreach crews have been in Kensington daily since the encampment was cleared.
