Debate over Fairmount treatment center draws unhappy neighbors to City Council hearing

From Philly and the Pa. suburbs to South Jersey and Delaware, what would you like WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Residents in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood spoke out Wednesday morning at a hearing on plans to expand use of a treatment facility at 2100 Girard Ave.

Councilmember Jeffrey Young was unhappy that Mayor Cherelle Parker’s administration sent in written testimony to the hearing rather than offering someone to appear in-person to answer questions.

“We put this bill in to have a substantive conversation with the administration on the property rather than putting in some kind of resolution,” Young said. “We wanted to be able to talk substance, and I think it is unfortunate that the administration has chosen not to have someone come and testify.

Fairmount Civic Association head Tim Butters said neighbors are experiencing issues with the center’s expansion.

“Since the facility has been expanded to including increased homeless services, we’ve had reports of increased drug use, increased drug paraphernalia and trash, including needles and baggies, overdoses,” Butters said. “These are things that we were not ready to be helping people with.”

Butters said residents are also “concerned about the safety of the building” in close proximity to a residential neighborhood that also has several schools nearby. Teresa Hoberg of the civic association also spoke out at the hearing.

“This is kind of our only avenue for dealing with the use of the property. We don’t really have a legal avenue,” he said. “So we’re kind of counting on City Council to help structure the current and prospective use of this property, and that would include, obviously, putting in a use that has some controls on the population, which it does not seem to have at this point.”

The statement from the Parker administration said the City Council bill that would prevent a lease of the facility does not align with the administration’s vision and commitment to providing long-term care, treatment and housing to vulnerable residents struggling with homelessness and addiction.

The facility has been mentioned as a possible location for one of the triage centers Parker wants to establish to take in some of the people who had been living on the streets in Kensington and using drugs, while also offering treatment and other services to the unhoused population in that area.

Parker’s budget proposal includes $100 million to the triage effort, but that plan still needs approval from City Council.