PHILADELPHIA — David Oh is frustrated by the widespread and open drug use and high crime in the Kensington neighborhood.
That is why the mayoral candidate has formed a plan aimed at cleaning up the streets and to save and protect its residents, powerless to prevent addicts from stumbling around the streets in a daze.
“If we get rid of Kensington Avenue as a place that exists in this region, people will be better off,” said Oh, a Republican.
The Republican candidate, if elected, plans to use drones to detect illegal behavior and empower police so they can aggressively make arrests and take down drug havens.
Oh and a local community advocate, Britt Carpenter, has been critical of the city’s policy, but Carpenter isn’t convinced the Republican plan or its Democratic rival will help Kensington.
Residents “have seen this failure,” Oh said. “They are disgusted by it, and they find it completely against common sense. People are dying for a different approach.”
In a statement to Fox News, Mayor Jim Kenney’s spokesman said Democrats share the health and safety concerns of Kensington residents and businesses.
“We are committed to identifying solutions [sic] camping and dealing with public disturbances on an ongoing basis to address public health and safety concerns in the Kensington neighborhood as they arise,” the spokesperson said. “We encourage residents and businesses to call 311 or use the online submission form to report public health and safety concerns and the presence of campers.”
Drug addicts on a bench in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
But Oh told Fox News that the city isn’t doing enough, arguing that Kensington’s open-air drug market needs to be shut down entirely — a move he says will require some aggressive tactics.
One strategy would involve using drones to descend on neighborhoods to capture illegal activity.
“We will record them. We will record their videos,” said Oh. “Then, we will go up, and we will tell them first that this is a new day. You won’t do this again.”
“After that, we will start enforcing the law,” he continued. “Every criminal law, every public safety law, every quality of life law is going to be enforced, and I’m going to ask the police officers to do it.”
Philadelphia mayoral candidate David Oh wants to use drones to clean up an open drug market in Kensington. Philadelphia City Council
Critics say a law-and-order approach to an open drug market could lead to more overdose deaths.
Addicts’ drug tolerance decreases during incarceration, making it easier for them to accidentally overdose upon release, Stanford addiction researcher Keith Humphreys told CBS News affiliate San Francisco, a city with its own open drug problem.
Still, Oh criticized the Philadelphia policy’s focus on medical treatment without arresting criminals.
“The most important thing is to convey to them that these things will not be accepted,” he said. “No more open drug dealing. No more public injections of heroin or other drugs.”
“No more nodding and uncontrollable crowds,” he continued. “Stop wandering the streets. No more living in tents and defecating on people’s property.”
Kensington has gained international attention for uncontrolled public drug use which has shown the worsening effects of increasingly deadly substances infiltrating the drug supply.
The community also had among the worst violent and drug crime rates in the entire city over the past month, according to data compiled by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Carpenter, whose nonprofit provides resources to the homeless, said organizations like her are forced to participate because of the city’s inaction. But she disagrees with Oh’s approach to helping Kensington.
A man with skin wounds from xylazine was treated in Kensington.AP Photo/Matt Rourke
“The organizations that are here, the nonprofits, the groups, the harm reduction advocates that are here doing what we do every day, I think we’re filling a huge void that the city has left,” Philly Unknown Project Director said. “The city is not filling that void where they should be.”
“We made a difference,” Carpenter said. “We are people who care and have empathy, and we spread awareness.”
The director of the non-profit maintains a garden on Ruth Street to provide a safe space for drug users to sit among the flowers and art as an escape from the needles and litter littered throughout Kensington.
Oh said that residents are “dying for a different approach” to the troubled neighborhood. Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
He also drives a cart full of snacks, clothes and hygiene supplies every week to give to drug users.
Carpenter told Fox News that he doesn’t trust Kenney — a term-limited mayor — or anyone vying to replace him in the November election to reverse Kensington’s downward trajectory.
He said politicians only come to Kensington during election season.
“City officials live as far away from Kensington as possible unless there’s a photo op,” he said. “City officials, especially Mayor Kenney, have forgotten that … every life that has been taken here through an overdose, no matter what happened, was someone.”
Oh said the drone would film addicts and then be used to help police “enforce the law.” Photo by Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Pennsylvania has consistently ranked among the top 10 states with the highest overdose deaths in the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In 2021, drug overdose deaths reached a record high of 5,449 deaths across the state, an increase of almost 25% since 2019.
Philadelphia, in particular, had nearly 1,300 accidental overdose deaths in 2021. More than 80% of the deaths involved opioids like fentanyl, according to city data.
Oh said he is confident in his plans to end the open dealing and dealing of drugs.
He hopes his strategy will reduce pain and suffering for drug users and residents of Kensington Avenue.
“You have to stop the drug addiction,” Oh said. “You have to stop the abuse they’re going through.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
