Society Hill Towers

Street of Pain

Mayor Street: Listen to the voices

TODAY, the head of the National Park Service is scheduled to powwow with Mayor Street, local pols, businesspeople and civic leaders about the pros and cons of reopening the 500 block of Chestnut Street.

This meeting comes on the heels of one the mayor had last week with a coalition of frantic business and community leaders who pleaded with him to reconsider his decision, last month, to permanently close the block.

The mayor said he'd think about it.

I'm glad to hear that. And I want the decison-makers at today's confab to bear one thing in mind: Each day Chestnut Street remains closed, the little guys who rely on the neighborhood's vibrancy for their very livelihood take another crippling hit.
The cradle of liberty needs to be reopened to easy vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Now. Independence Park, a two-block piece of priceless American history, is fenced in by metal grates and concrete barriers. Traffic that used to flow right through the park onto Chestnut Street is now diverted blocks out of the way.

The effect on the area has been devastating.

Residents on the 500 block of eastbound Pine Street complain of the dangerously heavy rush-hour traffic that now blasts past their front doors, thanks to the rerouted traffic that used to traverse eastbound Chestnut. Fire, police and rescue workers worry about losing valuable emergency-response time, now that an important west-to-east route has been lost. Retail shops, restaurants, and other small businesses on either side of the closed block are either suffering huge losses now that customers don't have easy access to their services, or they're having a harder time delivering goods to customers on the other side of the closure. So far, much of the hue and cry against the Independence Park closing has focused on a philosophical question: Why are we protecting the symbols of liberty at the expense of liberty itself? Especially when the protection appears to be nothing more than a token measure - given that Independence Hall's east and west boundaries are unprotected? But today, as Mayor Street and the gang discuss the fate of Chestnut Street, they need to consider a galling irony: The "protection" of the historic area from attack is doing deep damage to the neighborhood surrounding it. But don't take my word for it. Listen, instead, to the voices of Chestnut Street.
And then, Mayor Street - if you're reading this - please do the right thing and reopen this important block. The sooner, the better.

THALIA NICOLAIDES,
owner, Mrs. K'S Koffee Shop, 325 Chestnut St.

"Weekday business is down 30 percent. Weekends by 50, because we used to do mostly tourists on weekends. Now they don't walk this way. I'm behind in my bills. I've laid people off. Even my delivery business is less, because it takes so long to get around town."
KEVIN MEEKER, owner, Philadelphia Fish & Co., 207 Chestnut St.

"I'm down to serving 60 lunches a day, from 120. Unless it's a sunny, warm day, no one wants to walk all the way around Independence Park to get here. They don't have time. People [miss] their reservations because they don't know Chestnut Street is closed, so they drive around and get lost. In 21 years here, this is the worst business has ever been. I won't lay people off, but I've had to cut back some hours. I'm so angry, I'm ready to reopen Chestnut street myself and get arrested. I'm from the '60s, so it wouldn't faze me."