Petition calls for enforcing ban on Broad Street median parking

A group of politically active Philadelphians wants the ban on parking in the median along South Broad Street enforced all the time, not just when the city is packed with visitors like during the Democratic National Convention.

The Philadelphia-based political action committee 5thSquare launched a petition calling for daily enforcement of a ban on median parking that typically spans a 16-block stretch of South Broad,CBS3 reported.

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“Cars that are trying to parallel park, in a very tiny space, right next to cars going 35 mph — it’s not a recipe for how a streetshould be working,” Jake Liefer, who started the petition at 5thSquare, was quoted by CBS3.

Parking in the median is reportedly illegal, but the city has turned a blind eye to it for years. The ban was enforced, however, during last week’s DNC, when the city hosted thousands of delegates, members of the media and other visitors.

Residents along Broad Street, though, have complained about being unable to find parking, particularly on street cleaning days when they claim they have no choice but to park in the median, NBC10 reported. Residents have said they wouldn’t have a problem with the ban being enforced if there was a parking facility for homeowners, who can spend 20 minutes or more looking for parking.

“Before any changes are made, we’d need to have a dialogue with the people most affected … which are the residents of the surrounding community in South Philly,” Mayor Jim Kenney was quoted by NBC10.

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Most of the petition’s supporters live near the area of South Broad Street where illegal parking is commonplace, 5th Square said in a PhillyVoice report.

“This isn’t a case of Center City residents telling South Philly what to do; it’s South Broad Street neighbors who are asking for a safer street,” the group told PhillyVoice.