Frustrations over Kensington erupted in Philly City Council with heated speeches: ‘How dare you!’

A Philadelphia lawmaker who represents the Kensington neighborhood, the site of the city’s largest open-air drug market, unloaded on critics of her tough-on-crime approach during an impassioned speech in City Council chambers Thursday, saying those who see her efforts as heartless are operating in bad faith.

At issue was a bill authored by Councilmember Quetcy Lozada that would restrict how some medical providers and volunteer groups serve people in addiction in Kensington. The legislation, which prompted a similarly emotional hearing last year, would require the mobile groups to operate only in areas designated by the city and create a framework for a permitting system.

After several providers testified in opposition to the legislation Thursday, Lozada delivered a lengthy speech, at times raising her voice and hitting her desk, saying: “How dare you organize and tell people lies … without reading the damn bill.”

“This bill will take people off of people’s sidewalks,” she said. “I have seniors who are living with people who are unsheltered on their porches and threatened by those individuals if they call police on them. Would you allow that in your house? Would you allow that on your property? Hell, no. Hell, no. So why should my residents?”

Lozada, a Democrat, was then backed up by several other members who delivered similarly emotional remarks. Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson told Lozada: “You don’t have to stand alone in this fight.”

And Councilmember Jim Harrity, who represents the city at-large and lives in Kensington, slammed the bill’s critics, accusing them of implying that Council members don’t care about people living in addiction in the neighborhood.

“It’s utterly ridiculous,” he said. “We may not always be right, but damn it, we’re trying. And I’m tired of this. I care. That’s why I ran [for office]. I didn’t have to run. I live in that neighborhood. I ran because of that neighborhood.”

The heated exchange Thursday punctuated a monthslong process to develop regulations for the mobile service providers, which range from nonprofits distributing food to medical professionals and behavioral health organizations providing care.

Lozada introduced minor amendments adding new exemptions to the legislation Thursday, which were approved by a majority of Council. Only Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, both of the progressive Working Families Party, voted against advancing the legislation.

The bill will be up for a final vote next week.

A parade of opponents testified in Council against the bill Thursday, including healthcare professionals and people who favor an approach more centered on “harm reduction.” One opponent called Lozada’s bill “anti-religious.” Another said the new constraints would render street medicine efforts in Kensington “ineffectual.”

And a physician for a medical mobile clinic said the bill “will ultimately harm our patients.”

“The proposed legislation would force these people to leave or mobile providers to leave areas in greatest need of outreach and services, effectively isolating an already marginalized population,” said Sam Stern, the physician.

For years, a wide range of groups have operated out of vans or buses in Kensington as a means of serving people who are in addiction or living on the street. They say the patchwork mobile system is critical to delivering services, like distributing overdose-reversal drugs, because it allows providers to meet people in need where they are. The city also operates mobile units that offer first aid services in Kensington.

However, the vans and those who operate them have at times rankled neighborhood residents, who say they attract nuisance crime and often leave trash strewn about. Lozada has said her goal is not to reduce the number of mobile units in the neighborhood but to regulate them and to foster better relationships between the groups and other constituents.

Her legislation seeks to address neighborhood complaints by separating the groups into two categories: those that provide medical services and those that do not.

Medical service providers would be allowed to operate only in areas designated by the city. Nonmedical providers — such as groups that distribute free food or other supplies — would be permitted to do so freely, but would be allowed to stay in one place only for 45 minutes or less.

The initial daytime location for medical providers would be a parking lot at 265 E. Lehigh Ave., which is maintained by the city. It is adjacent to a resource center where police have in recent months taken people who are arrested for evaluation by a nurse and an addiction specialist.

Under Lozada’s bill, medical providers could operate at night along the two-block stretch of East Allegheny Avenue between Kensington Avenue and F Street.

Groups that violate the new regulations, including operating without a permit, would be subject to a $1,000 fine. If organizations rack up three violations or more in a year, they would be ineligible to renew their annual permit.

The legislation outlines several exemptions, including for emergency medical service providers, city-operated services, public health vaccination programs, and healthcare professionals offering pediatric services. Food trucks that sell items are also exempt.

Following Thursday’s session, City Council President Kenyatta Johnson said Lozada’s emotional speech was indicative of “democracy in action.”

“You have a member who feels very strongly about the issues and concerns in her district,” he said, “which … the city of Philadelphia have left a particular neighborhood to pretty much rot over the last several years.”

Staff writer Jake Blumgart contributed to this article.