On Kensington Avenue near the Somerset SEPTA station, garbage piles —some 20 bags high—slump against the blue metal posts of the Market-Frankford Line. In some spots, the bags are torn open, revealing food containers, soiled clothing and other waste from residents, businesses and pedestrians along the neighborhood’s busy main artery.
Exiting her home near Kensington Avenue and E street on Monday, Diamond Natal commented on the worsening smell of the trash mountain on her sidewalk.
“Every business is piling up their trash outside,” she said. “Yes, it was trashy [before]. But it’s worse because there are rats and raccoons that open everything. The people, too, looking for cans.”
In Kensington, a neighborhood already grappling with public health challenges related to the decades-old open-air drug market and opioid crisis, residents say the AFSCME District Council 33 strike exposes longstanding problems including illegal dumping, homelessness and a lack of city support.
Natal, along with all the residents interviewed by Kensington Voice, expressed support for the 9,000 workers who initiated a work stoppage on July 1. Since then, the Department of Sanitation has modified its services and is asking residents to bring their household trash to designated drop-off sites on their regular collection days.
Some residents are leaving their trash out in solidarity with the union, which also represents workers in water, parks and recreation, libraries, and police dispatch, among other departments. The union is demanding wage increases, cost-of-living adjustments, and back pay for time worked during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today marks the eighth day of the strike, and talks between the union and the city of Philadelphia have not yet yielded a compromise. Negotiations are expected to continue.
“They need to have backup and hurry up and give these people that raise,” Natal said. “They deserve that raise.”
Councilmember Quetcy Lozada, who represents parts of Kensington, said in a statement that she supports District 33 workers and is “encouraging [residents] to hold their trash and, in solidarity for the striking workers, refrain from using the trash drop-off sites unless no other option is available.”
“I understand that in various parts throughout my district, trash is piling up,” the statement reads. “However, I am encouraging residents and business owners in my district to do their best to maintain the fronts of their homes and businesses to the best of their ability.”
‘We gotta walk out here’
Ligia Rodriguez said the labor strike has been a major topic of conversation among visitors to her Kensington Avenue religious goods store, Botanica San Expedito.
She said her store, which sells candles, statues, herbs and books, doesn’t generate much trash. But the garbage from nearby residences and businesses is a growing concern.
“It attracts a lot of rats and a lot of insects—yes—and that brings a lot of problems with it,” she said. “A lot of flies. I’ve seen many more flies recently.”
One of Kensington’s two trash drop-off sites is on Allegheny Avenue and C Street, across the street from a strip of businesses and around the corner from fully residential blocks. The other faces the Trenton and Auburn Playground and an apartment complex along Auburn Street.
Maria Fernandez, who owns a food truck on Allegheny Avenue across from one of the dump sites, said the location is unsuitable.
“It is very bad here since there are stores nearby. They should move it to a place where there are no houses, where there is nothing,” Fernandez said.
After buying food from the truck, another resident expressed concern for the health of workers cleaning up the site and children walking by the trash.
It was Stephanie Nieves’ first day back at work across the street at Family Dollar. She stood on Allegheny, looking at the trash piles, downwind from the site. The air wreaked.
“It’s frustrating,” she said. “We gotta walk out here. We gotta breathe that. Kids gotta walk around.”
A child carrying a laptop walked into a neighboring electronics repair shop as Brian Figueras held the door open. He said he’s seen trucks illegally dumping “left and right” at the location.
C Street has long been a hotspot for illegal dumping, according to residents. On Monday, the entire street—on both sides of Allegheny Avenue—was littered with trash. But Figueras said the dumping is now worse than ever.
“You see trucks and everything … Now they're taking full advantage,” he said.
Trash overflow
Trash bags continue to pile up along Kensington Avenue and throughout Kensington, including at the corners of McPherson Square Park.
A dumpster in the center of the park—normally emptied once a week—is overflowing, according to Tiffany Scott, who was at the park Monday.
“This is out of control … there’s trash everywhere,” said Scott. “And it’s not just trash from immediate neighbors. I’ve seen people with cars pulling up, dumping, a whole trunk full of stuff.”
Scott and others in the park emphasized that sanitation workers deserved higher salaries.
“Give the workers their money. They deserve their money,” said Desire Quiros, who just moved into her home facing McPherson Square about a month ago.
Quiros came home on the night of July 4 to find a trash pile on her corner crawling with maggots. With the park dumpster full, she said she doesn’t know where to take her trash.
Public trash cans are scarce on Kensington Avenue. Most are concentrated in Center City, according to Green Philly.
That disparity has bothered Kensington resident and veteran Michael Byron for a long time, but he said the strike has made the problem more visible.
“You go downtown, you see the recycling and the trash can together,” he said. “It’s dirty down here. Seven days a week, 24/7.”
Since 2018, the city has piloted multiple cleanup efforts in Kensington, including a 24-hour cleaning initiative that began in 2023. But 311 complaints about litter and illegal dumping remain as frequent as ever.
Representatives from Impact Services and the New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) were out on Kensington Avenue Monday, wearing vests and using trash picker sticks. Some noted increased debris from the overflowing piles and outsiders driving in to dump trash.
These organizations regularly clear litter from the sidewalks and streets but don’t remove residential or commercial trash, which is the city sanitation department’s responsibility.
Impact Services recently installed four trash cans on Kensington Avenue, painted by local artists. As part of a grant-funded pilot program, Impact’s staff brings full bags of trash to a private facility.
The city’s Community Life Improvement Program (CLIP), which is not part of the strike, was helping to manage the public drop-off site in Port Richmond on Monday.
Have any questions, comments, or concerns about this story? Send an email to editors@kensingtonvoice.com.
