Mayor Parker says she’ll do something her predecessors couldn’t: End the Kensington drug market

Minutes after she delivered her inaugural address, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker was whisked away to her first neighborhood visit, and she landed in arguably the city’s most beleaguered community.

At a school in the heart of Kensington, Parker administered the oath to Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel. Russell Conwell Middle School sits in the epicenter of the city’s drug trade and overdose crisis, where there is sprawling homelessness, open drug use, and, often, the gun violence that comes along with dozens of corners run by dealers.

The choice of venue for Bethel’s swearing-in signals that Parker’s administration knows it could be defined by the conditions in the neighborhood that have become a national spectacle. And Kensington factored into her first moves as mayor in other ways: It was specifically named in her first executive order that directed police to employ “any lawful means necessary to abate the public safety emergency” citywide.

Her administration’s 100-Day Action Plan says Parker is making Bethel responsible for developing a strategy to “permanently shut down open-air drug markets, including in Kensington.”

And she alluded to the conditions there during her inaugural address, saying that children often walk by people using drugs and residents “are saying please just don’t forget about us.”

The attention on Kensington and the pledge to clean it up are no surprise, given Parker’s campaign centered on ending “lawlessness” in the city. But delivering on that promise will be challenging, expensive, and likely controversial.

The problems in the neighborhood are complex and have dogged previous mayors. Former Mayor Jim Kenney took a variety of steps to improve conditions in the opioid-ravaged community, but the drug market has persisted and residents say the open human suffering has only worsened.

Police say they arrest drug dealers often, then others quickly take over. Clearing encampments is an enormous undertaking — the city does not force people using drugs to enter treatment, and there is often a lack of space even for those who do want to seek inpatient treatment or shelter. Mass drug busts can have unintended public-health consequences, such as sending people who use drugs into withdrawal, which physicians say can lower a person’s tolerance and increase the risk of overdose.

Parker, whose rhetoric on Kensington has been more law enforcement-driven than her predecessor’s, has not detailed what her plan in the neighborhood will look like. While on the campaign trail, she rejected more progressive strategies such as supervised drug consumption sites, and she floated seeking assistance in the neighborhood from the National Guard.

She was clear Tuesday that her administration’s approach wouldn’t be without controversy.

“We want to have a data-driven and research-based approach that is put together by the best law enforcement and public health professionals that we can find,” she said. “But I want you to know everybody is not going to be happy when we make some of these decisions.”

City Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, whose district includes parts of Kensington and who has been outspoken about adopting a law enforcement-driven strategy in the neighborhood, said she and other residents are cautiously optimistic about how Parker’s administration has emphasized the community.

“Myself, other leaders, community residents, we are watching, and we are ready,” Lozada said. “We are ready to provide whatever support is necessary to the mayor, her administration, and the Police Department.”

But, she added: “I’m not foolish. I know that this is not going to happen overnight.”

Any sort of lasting course correction in Kensington, whether it’s a large-scale clearing of encampments or more targeted strategies to get people into housing, would require a significant coordination between law enforcement, behavioral health providers, community outreach groups, the city’s Office of Homeless Services, the Streets Department, and a variety of other agencies.

» READ MORE: To fix Kensington, a new Philly lawmaker has a controversial proposal: Stronger law enforcement

All that could prove costly. Parker’s citywide public safety emergency declaration does not unlock new funding or resources. But a disaster or emergency declaration from the state or federal government could, and Parker has been clear that she will seek an “intergovernmental” response. (Calling in the National Guard, for example, would require authorization from Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has said it’s not something he’s considering.)

Rosalind Pichardo, the founder and executive director of Operation Save Our City, an organization that supports gun violence victims, said she hopes Parker also hears from those who work in harm reduction, the philosophy that aims to keep people who use drugs as safe as possible until they are ready to enter treatment.

“Just locking people up is putting people at risk,” she said. “They get out, think they can use the same amount of drugs, and then overdose.”

She recalled the city’s cleanup of a notorious encampment near the Gurney Street train tracks in Fairhill, a site that had been visited by such national television personalities as Mehmet Oz, the celebrity surgeon who later unsuccessfully ran for Senate.

Kenney’s administration cleared the area of people using drugs in 2017, but many never made it to treatment, and city officials acknowledged that they hadn’t offered encampment residents enough options. Afterward, permanent residents in Kensington said they saw encampments spread throughout the neighborhood.

» READ MORE: As Kensington drug camps swell, a plan to clear them draws more skepticism than hope

”I’m hoping that allowing us to have a seat at the table will lead to real solutions — not like what happened on Gurney Street,” Pichardo said. “Kensington has turned residents into crisis responders. Every day we’re living with this vicarious trauma when we walk out of our door.”

City Councilmember Jim Harrity, a Democrat who was recently elected to his first full term in Council, lives three blocks from the middle school where Bethel was sworn in and has made improving conditions in Kensington a central part of his agenda.

He said he’s met with Parker and members of her administration repeatedly and believes that police may aim to make more arrests for public drug use and other misdemeanors as a means of getting people into rehabilitation. The city offers multiple programs that divert defendants away from the criminal-justice system if they agree to treatment and monitoring.

Such a plan could prove controversial, as the city has for years moved away from criminalizing drug use. But Harrity said the strategy needs an overhaul and that residents who live on blocks surrounding parts of Kensington Avenue are experiencing “complete lawlessness.”

“[Parker] didn’t play around,” Harrity said. “She came in and said what she was going to do in Kensington, and then went and backed it up with the executive orders. They made a promise to the neighborhood to help us, and I believe they’re going to.”

In her inaugural address, Parker said that her administration’s approach would blend enforcement with public-health and social services that serve as mechanisms for prevention and intervention.

And she lamented that, while she was campaigning, critics said her vision for Kensington lacked compassion. She insists the opposite.

“If somebody tells you that ‘we think she lacks compassion because she wants to be too aggressive in cleaning up the open-air drug market,’” she said, “you tell them to think about whether or not they would want their mother, father, sister, brother, or loved one on the streets openly using intravenous drugs.”