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“It looks a lot better Sarge,” Paul Bryson, the 1st District’s community relations officer said to 1st District Administrative Sgt. John Ryan.
The two were driving through the district Friday checking on the new initiative that will make double parking a thing of the past in South Philly.
“The 1st [District] has always had historically a huge parking issue more so than any other part of the city,” Ryan said.
The brainchild of lifetime Packer Park resident and 1st District Capt. Lou Campione, the proposal is converting thoroughfares where locals have made double parking the norm into roads where cars are aligned neatly on a 45-degree angle backed in facing the direction of traffic on one side and parked parallel on the other. For westbound streets, the north side of the street is angled while the opposite is true for eastbound streets.
The measure will still hold the same number of cars if not more, Ryan, who calculated about 38 angle- to 15 parallel-parked cars on the 1900 block of Wolf Street, said.
“As you know, it’s not the 1950s where every household has one car per family, if that,” he said.
Laying the groundwork more than a year ago, Campione’s team has implemented the switch or is in the process of doing so on dozens of blocks. The uniformity not only prevents cars from being blocked in, but also makes the streets easier for emergency personnel to navigate.
“A lot of people are for it,” Ryan said noting some are not accustomed to backing in on an angle. “Once they get used to it, they like it.”
While some blocks have the new system down many are still adjusting by angling on the wrong side, pulling in to face the curb on an angle or creating a mix of parallel and angle on the same side — all of which the police are currently just issuing warnings.
“Once it’s done wrong, it’s hard to correct it because you need everyone at their cars at the same time virtually,” Ryan said.
“By end of May, the warning stage will be over,” Campione added noting officers have been proactively answering concerns in person on the blocks, as well as at civic and church meetings. “Unfortunately, we’ll have to go with the negative discipline.”
The 2700 block of South 17th Street implemented angle parking four years ago. Now the 1st District is trying to expand that model to many blocks mainly along Jackson, Wolf, Ritner, Porter and Shunk streets along with a few north-to-south blocks below Oregon Avenue.
“When I was transferred here in January 2010, the complaints started coming in,” Campione said. “The No. 1 complaint in the 1st District is parking and traffic congestion. I’ve lived here my entire life, so I was very much aware of it.”
First, the Street Department’s traffic engineers approve a block that meets the criteria, which includes, but is not limited to, a 36-foot wide road. Then City Council must approve the measure before officers go door-to-door to attain 75 percent of the residents to sign a petition. So far the reaction has been mixed with 39 blocks approved or in the approval process and 29 blocks voting against the measure.
While some signs are posted on the side of the street to have angle parking, some have not been yet. The department also is working on getting lines painted to help residents with the transition.
“Safety is always No. 1,” Ryan said of the district’s motivating factor for the initiative.
The second is to ease congestion, which Bryson has already been told is occurring.
“People say when they come home from work now, they can find parking,” he said.
Blocks approved by residents:
• East sides of the 2900 and 3000 blocks of South 15th Street
• West sides of the 2500, 2600, 2700 and 3000 blocks of South 17th Street
• East side of the 2700 block of South 18th Street
• North sides of the 1500 and 1800 to 2300 blocks of Jackson Street
• South sides of the 1400 to 2300 blocks of Wolf Street
• North sides of the 1400, 1700, 1900 and 2000 blocks of Ritner Street
• South sides of the 1400 to 1600 and 1800 to 2000 blocks of Porter Street
• North sides of the 1500 to 1700 blocks of Shunk Street
• North side of the 1900 block of Johnston Street
• North side of the 1400 block of Bigler Street
Blocks not approved by residents:
• 2700 and 2800 blocks of South 15th Street
• 2700 to 2900 blocks of South 16th Street
• 2800 to 2900 blocks of South 17th Street
• 2800 to 2900 blocks of South 18th Street
• 1400, 1600 and 1700 Jackson Street
• 1500, 1600, 1800 and 2100 blocks of Ritner Street
• 1700 and 2100 blocks of Porter Street
• 1400 and 1800 to 2100 blocks of Shunk Street
• 1700 and 1800 blocks of Johnston Street
• 1500 to 1800 blocks of Bigler Street
Contact Managing Editor Amanda L. Snyder at asnyder@southphillyreview.com or ext. 117.
Also in this week’s Police Report:
Craigslist scammer apprehended
Robbed on the job
Tribute to the 1st
Aiding the Maniscalcos
Meeting wrap up
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