Streets of Philadelphia, Kensington Avenue...zombies

[Paco Dennis]

‘I’m out here too, and I think it’s insanity’​

Official estimates vary as to how many people are living on Kensington’s streets. City housing officials say 300; police estimated over 650 people this summer. That’s anywhere from three to six times the mere 100 emergency shelter beds that were available in June, WHYY News reported.
Housing justice advocates have criticized the city’s treatment of encampment residents in both Kensington and Center City, alleging that officials fail to provide adequate long-term housing options after shutting down their living sites. Wednesday’s encampment closure was initially postponed due to a lawsuit filed on behalf of residents. The case was dropped in July.
Gladstein acknowledged the problem is too vast to contain with just targeted actions like the one Wednesday morning.
“We’re trying to make sure people are attaching to services rather than moving,” Gladstein said. “But this is an ongoing process. We have four outreach teams out in Kensington every day. This is not a one and done, and we’ll keep doing the work.”
When officials shut down the four bridge encampments between 2018 and 2019, Gladstein said 65% of people went into housing, and of those, more than half remain in housing today. City data supporting those numbers was not readily available. But Gladstein said many people remain “shelter resistant” for various reasons — and the number of emergency beds near Kensington where people actively use drugs is limited. Two emergency shelters closed along Kensington Avenue within the last year.

The situation feels like it’s at a breaking point for some. Neighborhood residents have raged against City Hall for years over the litany of woes — from drug dealing to missed trash collection. There is a common criticism that officials would never let this happen in whiter, more affluent parts of the city.
And public homelessness ranks high on the list of concerns.
On Wednesday, Steve, a 30-year-old fentanyl user who declined to give his last name, said he sympathized with the residents’ plight.
“You can’t walk down the sidewalk,” he said. “I’m out here too, and I think it’s ****ing insanity. Overnight, people are getting stabbed. People are scared to take the train to work. They gotta do something about it, and this is coming from someone who’s homeless living on the street.”

https://billypenn.com/2021/08/18/ke...ampments-clearout-philadelphia-opioid-crisis/

 

[Lewkat]

I really couldn't watch much of that video, but there is no excuse for this disgrace at all.

 

[fuzzybuddy]

What can you say. If you're scrounging around to get your next fix, I doubt you live in a suite at the Walldorf. It's amazing how we "let" things get so bad. The problem is not the trash in the street, but treating those fellow human beings as trash. To clean up the streets, and reset lives is going to take lots of money, time, work and caring that we are unwilling to give. You could say that street is a measure of our apathy, but how much do we owe to each other?

 

[WhatInThe]

Besides the obvious drug issues there is also Broken Window Syndrome. People see or are around this enough they won't care anymore. They won't try to clean up, push for clean up or protest. They just accept it even if they don't like it.

If the Los Angeles train story didn't make the national news the tracks would still be a mess because those who live or work in the area used to seeing it. The sanitation dept or track owners probably got a complaint or two and nothing was done.

Sometimes it pays to be nit picky as to nip problems like this in bud. That means enforce littering laws along with anti dumping laws. And of course enforce the criminal laws like drug dealing, drinking or drugging in public laws.