Parking matters so much in this city that street cleaning was cast aside years ago because nobody wanted to move their car. In South Philly, people park on the medians. In Fishtown, they crowd onto sidewalks, well into intersections. In Manayunk, they practically pray to parking gods to find a spot. New developments have gotten scuttled because of parking. Neighborhood wars have been initiated because of parking.
So, yes, parking is a big deal. As a new series, Billy Penn plans brings you The Week in Philly Parking. Because this is the first installment — and the NFL Draft is causing some probz and because City Council is having a hearing on parking today — we’ll have a few selections of crazy parking details.
For future weeks, we’ll be highlighting terrible/awesome parking jobs, news about parking or maybe sharing some random statistics about parking. And we would like to hear from you. If you ever see a crazy parking job or want to share a story, tweet us or email it to contact@billypenn.com.
The horror at 2400 Pennsylvania Ave
So, the NFL Draft. Despite all the closures so far and the closures to come, the parking impact has actually been minimal. That is, as long as you don’t live at The Philadelphian or know someone who lives there.
About 40 spots outside of the condo building located at 2400 Pennsylvania Avenue were closed for draft prep starting last week. As June Idzal, board president of the Philadelphian sees it, they closed at the exact wrong time.
“You’re going over Palm Sunday and Passover and Easter Sunday,” she said. “I don’t know any neighborhood that is inconvenienced that much.”
Not to mention a popular American Watercolor exhibit at the Art Museum. Idzal said they had been meeting with the city to express concern over losing the spaces and basically “got a lot of lip service.”
“The city is not giving us any alternatives,” Idzal said. “So people who pay for a one year parking pass, they don’t even get 11 months.”
A South Philly masterpiece
Parking is a big deal everywhere in Philadelphia. It is a colossal deal south of South Street. And here, this week, we have a masterpiece: An unpictured car (according to Redditors a “fucking Civic by Bainbridge”) has picked up a PPA parking ticket and two notes.
The blue one tells the car owner to not park in the neighborhood. The white one tells the owner the car’s alarm went off at 4 a.m.
And as of Thursday afternoon, the car was apparently still there.
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Will our parking become more like it is in Hollywood?
City Council members know that parking can be the worst, and they’re ostensibly working on it. The first of several hearings on parking started today.
There was a lot of talk about data and revenue, and early on they brought up Hollywood. So maybe Philly parking will turn into something resembling what happens in Southern California, which isn’t the best.
