After sharing his first-hand experiences on Philadelphia’s drug-stricken streets, one local business owner and recovering addict has criticized city officials for causing the crisis.
"I blame the city officials 100%. It's allowed to go down there. This is done right in front of the law enforcement," Frank Rodriguez said on "Varney & Co." Monday. "It's allowed to go down, it's tolerated, if not encouraged, in that area. You can come to Kensington and break all the rules that you want."
Taking Fox News Digital on a recent tour of the Philadelphia suburb, Rodriguez showed the "in-your-face horrors" plaguing the neighborhood: people sleeping on business doorsteps, using the bathroom there as well as illicit substances.
"What I see is chaos," Rodriguez told host Stuart Varney. "I see businesses having to set up sprinkler systems that are set up on a remote where they can hit a button, and it'll spray water if there's people laying down on the sidewalks."
"There's numerous times where you'll see human feces, people using the bathroom right in front of their doorsteps," he continued. "And a lot of them are going through withdrawals, they're literally laying in their own vomit, in their own feces."
As storefronts put in place so-called "booby traps," Kensington has also gained international attention for its excessive public drug use and has become a focal point for high crime and poverty in the City of Brotherly Love. The neighborhood had among the worst violent and drug crime rates citywide over a 30-day period ending Aug. 14, according to data compiled by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
In addition, Kensington's violent crime rate was around 30% higher than the rest of the city from 2012 to 2016, while the area's average income per capita was half the average citywide salary, according to a Drexel University study published in October 2019. The area also had more complaints about graffiti removal, illegal dumping, vacant houses and dangerous buildings than the city at large.
Rodriguez called out local officials’ hypocrisy, arguing if you walk four or five blocks in any direction away from the Kensington neighborhood, police seem to care a lot more about illegal activity.
"I'm a business owner myself, and I couldn't imagine my customers that want to support my business having to bring their children or themselves through this type of chaos just to support my business," he said.
The Philadelphia mayor’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment in response to Rodriguez’ criticism.
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Identifying as a recovering addict, Rodriguez expressed his hopes that others dealing with the personal struggle can one day share a comeback story such as his.
"My wife found me in the bathroom basically dead, and I just realized, man, I almost absolutely caused the biggest pain and heartbreak to my family and loved ones. And it would have been all my fault, nobody else to blame," he reflected. "And I realized I wanted more for myself. I wanted more for my children."
Fox News’ Megan Myers and Jon Michael Raasch contributed to this report.
