Philadelphia's mayoral candidates have ideas to end an open-air drug market. Longtime residents are skeptical

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Crisis in Kensington: Documenting America’s largest open-air drug market

Frank Rodriguez sold heroin for years before himself becoming an addict. Six years clean, he now aims to humanize addicts in Philadelphia's Kensington neighborhood.

Philadelphia mayoral candidates have begun releasing plans to try cleaning up the city’s open-air drug market, but the neighborhood’s residents are skeptical.

Kensington's streets are covered in litter and discarded needles — as well as passed out addicts. But residents say they’ve watched candidates and politicians make empty promises for decades.

FORMER KENSINGTON RESIDENT LIFTS THE CURTAIN ON OPEN-AIR DRUG MARKET'S HORRORS. WATCH:

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"I’ve lost faith in plans unless there are actionable steps and leadership," Israel Colón, a retired community activist and nonprofit leader, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.

And Marnie Aument-Loughrey, a 50-year Kensington resident and the chair of the Kensington Independent Civic Association told the Inquirer the community has gotten worse in recent decades.

"Even when I was a kid there were drugs but it wasn’t out in the open," she said. "It changed somewhere in the late ‘90s, early 2000s with the open-air drug market."

One mayoral candidate and former councilmember, Cherelle L. Parker, praised a previous enhanced policing operation and called it a blueprint. She said it "showed that a strong, proactive police presence can help to make these communities more livable."

But Colón said the previous operation was "like stop and frisk on steroids" and compared it to the invasion of Normandy. He also told the Inquirer that other earlier efforts were only temporary solutions that ultimately failed.

An addict lies on the sidewalk in Kensington. Rodriguez laments that they're seen as just parts of the neighborhood's landscape. (Fox News)

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Another former councilmember, Allan Domb, said that in his first 100 days as mayor, he would triple funding for recruiting police officers and would enact a citywide crime emergency as well as a public health emergency in Kensington.

Rebecca Rhynhard, a former city controller, also said she would declare state of emergency if elected. Additionally, she promised to appoint a drug czar.

Philadelphia faced nearly 1,300 unintentional overdose deaths in 2021 — a 5% increase from the year prior, according to the city’s health department. Across all of Pennsylvania, one person dies about every two hours from an overdose, according to preliminary data the state updated last week.

But a third former councilmember, Maria Quiñones Sánchez, has instead emphasized community investment. While in office, her district included Kensington.

Yet another ex-councilmember, Helen Gym, blamed racism and disinvestment for gun violence. One mayoral candidate, Brown’s Super Stores Inc. CEO Jeff Brown, said Kensington needs social workers rather than policing and said jobs were needed to alleviate long-term poverty.

An addict sits on the corner in Kensington. The foreground is littered with trash and other junk — a common sight in the Philadelphia neighborhood. (Fox News)

PHILADELPHIA'S OPEN-AIR DRUG MARKET IS ‘A THIRD WORLD COUNTRY,' FORMER RESIDENT AND ADDICT SAYS

From 2012 through 2016, Kensington’s average income was just under $12,670 — about half of the average salary for Philadelphia, a Drexel University study found in 2019.

A former municipal judge, James M. DeLeon wants more coordination among gun violence advocates and first responders, while Warren Bloom said his six-plan prioritizes crime reduction and the opioid crisis.

State Rep. Amen Brown aims to bolster the police by investing in forensic services, technology and tactic and training.

Kensington’s violent crime rate, according to the Drexel study, was about 30% higher than the rest of the city.

Rodriguez tries to rouse an addict passed out in a wheelchair. The activist warned the man that he would receive a Narcan dose if he didn't sit up. (Fox News)

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Meanwhile, as the candidates vie to become the City of Brotherly Love’s next mayor, Kensington residents suffer.

"I see the drug addiction," Frank Rodriguez, a former resident and recovering addict, previously told Fox News. "You know, I see the drug dealing. I see the violence. I see the poverty.

"Most of all, I see pain," he added.