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| Viewed from the Embassy Suites hotel traffic moves along the Benjamin Franklin Parkway leading to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, Thursday, July 30, 2015, in Philadelphia. On the parkway Pope Francis is scheduled to visit The World Meeting of Families' festival and celebrate a Mass during his visit to the United States. |
PHILADELPHIA
(AP) -- Pregnant women are calling up the mayor, concerned they won't be
able to get to the delivery room. Some businesses say they've been told
to close for a three-day weekend. Others are bringing in cots for
workers to sleep. Taxi drivers, fearing onerous checkpoints and distant
drop-off locations, are planning to stay home.
With
official information scant just eight weeks before Pope Francis makes
Philadelphia the centerpiece of his U.S. trip, rumors are swirling about
massive security fencing and miles of street closures. Residents and
visitors alike fear long walks to and from papal events, too-few
bathrooms, and a dearth of food and other amenities in areas where
delivery trucks could be restricted.
The lack
of clear information is breeding confusion and consternation in the City
of Brotherly Love and contempt for the people who run it - particularly
around the downtown parkway where Francis is expected to attend an
outdoor concert and celebrate Mass before more than 1 million people.
"There
are serious logistical problems for residents and visitors alike," said
Barbara Epstein, who lives three blocks from the Benjamin Franklin
Parkway. "It would be nice if the powers that be could reassure us that
our lives aren't going to be disrupted in an irreconcilable way."
City
officials are blaming the Secret Service, which has declared Francis'
Sept. 26-27 visit a National Special Security Event. The agency said it
would release road closure and security checkpoint information about
three weeks before he lands - leaving the city and visit organizers
vulnerable to rumors.
"Security plans are
fluid and continue to evolve," Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback
said Thursday. "As soon as the plans have been settled on by all of the
many partners involved in the planning process, we will jointly share
the final plans."
The agency said late
Thursday that it is not forcing any businesses to close that weekend but
instead has agents reaching out to local business owners and residents
within the security zone.
Mayor Michael Nutter
this week repudiated maps that popped up showing purported security and
vehicle-free zones covering most of downtown, saying they were
unofficial and premature. He blamed "little people who have little
pieces of information" and speculative reporting for misleading the
public.
Nutter, who mentioned the calls from
the expectant mothers at a news conference this week, said the city
would start providing updates next week. Organizers of the World Meeting
of Families - the triennial Roman Catholic conference that is
attracting Francis to Philadelphia - said it will post a "Papal Visit
Playbook" for residents to its website next month.
"We're
all eager to put the rumors to rest and put the information out there,"
said World Meeting Executive Director Donna Crilley Farrell. "But as
the mayor said, it has to be the correct information."
Officials
have confirmed there will be some type of security fencing - commonly
used at big events like presidential inaugurations and Philadelphia's
annual Made in America concert - but the size and scope have not been
disclosed.
They have also said there will
certainly be street and highway closures, particularly when the pope is
in transit, but would not confirm a planning consultant's claim that the
Benjamin Franklin Bridge - a vital link to Philadelphia's New Jersey
suburbs across the Delaware River - would close. The consultant, who
also requested that Interstate 95 be closed for the duration of Francis'
visit, has since been dismissed from the papal planning process.
With
dozens of agencies involved in the planning and so many details to work
out - from accommodations for visiting clergy to the number of portable
toilets on the parkway - some stakeholders are feeling left out.
"We
haven't heard anything concrete yet," said Ron Blount, the president of
the Taxi Workers Alliance of Pennsylvania. "We're asking every day."
The
clearest details on logistics so far have come from Philadelphia's
regional transit agencies - and even those haven't instilled confidence.
Commuter
and subway train service will be limited, with the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Transportation Authority limiting the number of
commuter-train tickets each day to 175,000 to ease overcrowding; normal
daily ridership is about 130,000. After a computer system crashed last
week, the agency said it would sell the passes only through an online
lottery. Regular tickets won't be accepted.
The number of subway riders won't be limited, but trains won't make all their regular stops.
"I
don't think they are at all considering the lives of their regular
riders who must still work, volunteer or just go about their daily lives
in spite of the Pope's visit," said Steve Flemming, a Philadelphia
teacher.
Francis is expected to stay at St.
Charles Borromeo Seminary just outside the city limits in Lower Merion
Township. The police chief there said residents should prepare "as if
it's a big snowstorm," encouraging them to fill their cars with gas and
stock up on milk, bread and other staples.
The
reward of seeing Francis in person is worth the potential hurdles,
Farrell said, comparing the visit to a recent feat from a now-traded
Phillies pitcher.
"I say, it's awesome to
watch Cole Hamels throw that no-hitter on television," she said, "but
wouldn't you rather say you were in the ballpark?"
