Median Parking: A South Philly Tradition Some Hope Will End

"Parking in the middle of South Broad is technically illegal, yet the Philadelphia Parking Authority and other city officials haven't enforced the rule in decades," according to an article by Bobby Allyn.

Despite the parking status quo in this corner of South Philly, a group of local activists calling themselves 5th Square is mobilizing to end the practice of median parking. 5th Square even has a case study of life without the media parking, which was eliminated during the Democratic National Convention. "That short time, according to 5th Square, "was proof that drivers are able to find other spots."

According to Allyn, the debate over median parking dates back to the administration of Mayor Richardson Dilworth in 1961, who proposed a parking plan that would have ended the practice of median parking. " During a public meeting, Dilworth was greeted with thousands of angry residents who pelted him with rocks. An officer guarding the mayor was struck in the head with a glass milk bottle," writes Allyn. "One councilman said, the mayor "better get out of here before somebody gets killed," wrote a reporter in 1961 in the Philadelphia Tribune, describing the scene as a 'near riot.'"

The article calls on 31-year-old Jake Liefer, a four-year resident of South Philly and member of 5th Square, to make the case against median parking:

In a five-block radius, there are 20,000 parking spaces, according to Liefer with the urban policy PAC. The median parking on Broad creates just 200 more. Accidents happen less frequently north of Washington Avenue, he said, where middle-of-the-road parking is less common. Pedestrians and motorists tend to be safer without a string of parked cars hemming lines of traffic, he said.

The article includes the cause will have trouble achieving its goals in the unique culture of South Philly.