The City of Philadelphia and the Secret Service have imposed draconian vehicle restrictions on the residents of Philadelphia in preparation for Pope Francis’ visit:
No cars can be parked inside the black “secure vehicle perimeter” (I live 1/2 block outside, the PPA started towing on Wednesday), no vehicles may enter the green “traffic box” (oops, the renamed Frances Festival Zone) after 6 pm Friday until sometime Monday afternoon (exact time has not been announced yet), and the Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) and the Ben Franklin Bridge will be closed Friday evening until Monday.
This seems like gross overkill. It’s like having the city locked down. Schools and city offices are closed, and because of concerns that staff can’t get to their jobs in Center City (many bus routes have already been canceled or rerouted) many businesses are shutting down too. Hotels, hospitals, restaurants and other businesses are trying to figure out how to stay open, staffed and supplied during the weekend. You can’t even leave for the weekend and go down to the Shore to escape the anticipated crowds if you live in the green traffic box, because you can’t cross back into Center City on Sunday night so you can go to work on Monday morning. I am prisoner in my own city.
Now I’ve heard some snarking, mostly from New Yorkers about how maybe Philly just can’t handle large crowds and that we should leave the major events to the big boys: New York and Washington. First, the City has held numerous events attracting similar sized crowds on the Parkway without this kind of security and without incident. The fact is that a lot of this security wasn’t under local control–it was being dictated by the Secret Service. Second, the plans don’t reflect the unique character of Philadelphia–a colonial city with narrow streets and a large residential population. Center City has a population greater than 180,000, second only to midtown manhattan. New Yorkers were complaining that 5th Avenue was closed for 12 hours or so. Center City is being closed for 2-1/2 days! How would New Yorkers feel if midtown was closed to all incoming traffic; the FDR Drive, West Side Highway and Holland Tunnel were all closed; bus routes through midtown canceled; subway stops closed; and special prepurchased passes required to ride trains in and out of Grand Central for the weekend?
