parked cars in center median of streets in south philly (Philadelphia: neighborhood, live)

[pbergen]

random question for the philly folks from someone who only visits the city occasionally:

i've noticed that there are certain streets, especially in south philly, where cars are parked in the center median. i believe i've seen this on washington ave near the italian market and possibly on south broad st (south of washington) and oregon ave as well.

what's the deal with this? is this legal street parking? are these the cars of local residents or perhaps city employees? does one need a special permit to park in the median, or can anyone park there?

last time i was in the city, i took a quick look at the street parking signs in this area, yet i still couldn't determine whether these cars were illegally parked. i've never seen parking tickets on any of these cars' windshields, so it seems to be an accepted practice in the neighborhood.

i'm curious about this because it's such an unusual parking arrangement. to be honest, it looks kind of random and haphazard to an outsider such as myself (absolutely no offense intended).

as trivial a matter as this is, i'd love to get the inside scoop from a local.

[solibs]

It's not legal. In Philadelphia there is the law, then there's 'the way we do things here'. The latter usually trumps the former. That's especially so in South Philly.

The last police captain who told his officers to ticket people parking in the median was reassigned the following week. You don't eff with the parking supply in South Philly.

Personally, I can't stand it. We could have a planted median. We could have bike lanes. But no, it's basically a linear parking lot for people who rarely use their cars.

Now don't even get me started on the double-parking on Jackson or Wolf or Ritner

[pbergen]

thanks for the insight.

i'm surprised that philly is so lax about something like this, especially since tickets are an important source of municipal revenue for most cities. i honestly don't know of any other major city in the u.s. where people are allowed to flout the local parking regulations in this manner. in nyc, for example, the ticket writers are like nazis - you'll get a citation within minutes (or even seconds) of parking in an illegal spot. and if your parking meter is about to expire, chances are that the meter maid will linger by your car and start the ticket writing process before your time is up. the second the meter expires, a ticket is slapped on your windshield (no joke).

i agree with you that the medians could be put to better uses. a planted median with some nice vintage-looking street lamps would really liven up some of the aforementioned streets. i like the idea of designated bike lanes, too - it seems that parts of south philly are becoming popular with hipsters and other young people who ride bikes to get around due to the relative lack of septa stations in their neighborhood.

[solibs]

The PPA only operates on blocks in South Philly where you see parking meters or signs indicating 2 hr/permit parking.

If a person is parked illegally in a place that is not under the jurisdiction of the PPA the meter readers can't write a ticket, only the police can. It's why you see people parking on the sidewalk (oh, excuse me, pavements . . . but pronounced "payments"), double parking, or simply blocking traffic completely.

Hipsters may have started the cycling trend in Amsterdelphia but, when it's slightly warmer, you'll see people of all sorts on 2 wheels. There's no lack of transit in Philly and that's especially so in South Philly. The reason so many people ride is because it's completely flat, traffic moves relatively slowly and it's relatively light compared to other big cities, it's free, and because for trips of 2 miles or less
it's usually quicker than SEPTA or driving.