Consternation over bicycle lanes and parking dominated a City Council hearing that went on for nearly five hours Monday.
Lawmakers advanced two bills permitting the Streets Department to implement loading zones on Pine, Spruce and 47th streets. A third ordinance – authorizing a bike lane around City Hall – was tabled.
The arguments for and against each measure are representative of a larger, citywide battle over the use of Philadelphia’s roads. Often, the heated, localized debates pit neighbors against each other – from Society Hill to West Philadelphia.
“I got to get home to my kids,” remarked Chris Gale, executive director of the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, as he testified on the City Hall measure. “When we’re sitting here talking about protection and the fact that folks are saying like, ‘I can’t do this, I can’t do that.’ It is literally an ask of life-or-death for me.”
“You either want bike lanes in any way, with walls up there, or you want bikers to die,” Nicole Galli, a member of the Friends of Pine & Spruce group, told Council. “That’s ridiculous. You know that. Compromise is necessary.”
Both sides presented the other as belonging to a vocal minority and said they were speaking for many residents that lacked the privilege of taking off work to provide public comment at a weekday Council meeting.
Pine and Spruce
In August, Court of Common Pleas Judge Sierra Thomas Street ordered the city to eliminate loading zones that had been rolled out a couple of months prior along Spruce and Pine.
She ruled that the Streets Department needed corresponding legislation to allow for the changes. The decision came as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Friends of Pine & Spruce.
One of the bills that moved closer to final passage Monday specifically outlines the department’s power to reinstate the zones. Initially granting Streets the authority to implement loading regulations throughout Center City, lawmakers amended the bill Monday to incorporate only Spruce and Pine streets.
The zones are part of a two-stage project intended to improve safety on the corridors following the death of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Dr. Barbara Friedes, who was killed by a drunk driver in July 2024 while riding a bike near 18th and Spruce streets.
City officials have said a second phase will involve the construction of concrete barriers and planters to bolster existing bicycle paths.
Cycling advocates hold signs during a City Council hearing about bicycle lanes and loading zones Monday, Sept. 30.JACK TOMCZUKCycling advocates argued the loading zones are needed because residents, contractors and delivery drivers frequently pull into the bike lane for quick stops, forcing bikers to swerve into traffic. Mayor Cherelle Parker signed a law in December prohibiting drivers from stopping in bicycle lanes, with higher fines levied in Center City and University City.
“I felt safer while the loading zone signs were up,” testified Andrew Posmontier, who lives on Pine and is a member of Philly Bike Action. “They were working very well.”
Debbie Zak Cohen, who said she was speaking on behalf of the Society Hill Civic Association, said the neighborhood organization opposes “granting unchecked authority to a single agency forcing through a cycle superhighway at the expense of street safety, community cohesion and the democratic process.”
Albert Meister, an 82-year-old Society Hill resident, asked Council to pass the bill, and talked about still suffering from aphasia and short-term memory loss 45 years after a truck hit his bicycle.
“I don’t want to see happen to anyone else what had occurred to me,” he added.
47th Street
A similar piece of legislation would give Streets leeway to set up loading zones on 47th between Chestnut Street and Kingsessing Avenue in West and Southwest Philadelphia.
The alterations are meant to complement a reconfiguration that turned 47th into a one-way street in mid-August. The other vehicular lane was converted into a parking-protected bike path to complement a corresponding project on 48th Street.
Despite the impassioned debate, the two loading zone bills were voted out of committee in uneventful fashion, in a ‘yay’ or ‘nay’ tally alongside anodyne ordinances approving sidewalk cafes.
Under the body’s practice of councilmanic prerogative, members almost never oppose legislation put forth by a district representative concerning issues within their district.
Councilmember Jeffrey Young Jr., chair of the Committee on Streets and Services, even directed a couple of folks who spoke out against the 47th Street bill to bring their complaints to their district member, Jamie Gauthier.
Gauthier, who introduced the ordinance, noted at the beginning of the hearing that “there has been a lot of misinformation around this bill and this project.”
“This is about safety,” she added. “It isn’t about politics. It isn’t about anybody running for office. It’s about safety for our kids, our elders and everyone in between.”
Council could consider the 47th Street and Pine/Spruce bills for final approval as early as Oct. 16.
City Hall
A vote on the City Hall bike lane is likely to be a little further out.
Young, the author of the bill, opted to hold it in committee, meaning it will not be advanced to the full Council at least until the next Streets and Services hearing. The measure would authorize the introduction of a bike lane and removal of a vehicular travel lane.
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation is currently repaving the City Hall/Penn Square loop, and cycling activists are worried that the project could wrap up without a green light for the bike path.
Young told Metro that his understanding is that PennDOT is comfortable installing the lane as a pilot initiative, as long as a bill has been introduced in Council. He said he is holding the bill to flesh out the idea and give the community time to weigh in on the proposal.
Krys Johnson, a spokesperson for PennDOT, said Tuesday that the department “is currently waiting for further guidance from the city” about the bike lane. The city is responsible for such traffic control devices, she added.
