PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – The owners of a restaurant in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood say that since the city’s actions last month, including street cleaning and the removal of an encampment in the area, people experiencing homelessness and people using drugs have been pushed into an area near their businesses.
Mariangeli Alicea and her husband, Chef Dionicio Jiménez, are co-owners of Cantina la Martina at D Street and Kensington Avenue. They say people who used to gather further south have now been pushed to a spot near their restaurant.
“When we come in in the morning, we now have to remove people sleeping in front of our door… It doesn’t feel safe,” Alicea said.
A group of about a dozen people stood on the sidewalk across from their restaurant Sunday afternoon.
“We need solutions,” Jiménez said. “We don’t need to move people from one side to the other.”
Alicea and Jiménez said sales at their Kensington location have dropped 60% since the city’s efforts began in early May. They rely on their food truck at Cherry Street Pier for additional income, they said.
“You hear all these speeches about how you’re going to support the kids, you’re going to support the families, you’re going to support the businesses, but your actions say something different,” Jiménez said.
Jiménez and Alicea said they understand this crisis has been years in the making and won’t be solved overnight, but they are also excited about the plan to place more police officers in the area is not enough. They said they hope the mayor shares more about her long-term plans with the people who call these streets home.
“You can’t get out of this situation,” Alicea said.
The Philadelphia Police Department newest graduating class of officers will be deployed to Kensington, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed to CBS News Philadelphia on Friday.
“We really feel like we’ve taken ten steps forward and now we’re twenty steps back,” Alicea said.
Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker’s office declined to comment for this story.
The Philadelphia Police Department said that “sharing our plans with community members first has always been a top priority.”
