Towing Continues In Philadelphia Ahead Of Papal Visit
By Rahel Solomon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The Philadelphia Parking Authority says they've been preparing for Pope Francis' visit for more than three months.
Sunday evening they began towing cars and some neighbors are not happy about it.
The PPA says since last night, about 120 cars have been towed. But the PPA says you don't have to be one of those folks. Their top advice -- look for signs in your neighborhood.
It started Sunday evening. By Monday morning -- tows were a familiar sight. Pope Francis may not arrive in Philadelphia until Saturday, but if you're parked in the secure zone, the PPA says it is time to move your car.
"You're going to have thousands, hundreds of thousands of people on the street and mixing all those pedestrians with vehicles driving up and down the street is not a good combination," said PPA Deputy Executive Director Richard Dickson.
The sweeps started with the Benjamin Franklin Parkway from the Art Museum extending east to 12th Street.
Monday morning, cars had to be moved from north and south of the Parkway. The area expands east of 12th Street to 3rd Street by 6 p.m. Tuesday. And Wednesday morning, designated emergency routes will be cleared of parked cars. Got that?
"It's hard to tell where we can actually park and where we can't park, I've looked at several different maps they all say something different," said a resident.
"These maps are on the website. They're expandable so you can enlarge it to see if you can't read what the legend the street name is on it, you can increase the size of it on your computer so that you can see what the exact boundaries are," said Dickson.
"We really don't want tow any cars if we can avoid it," said Dickson.
Eyewitness News followed one truck to Lemon Hill Drive where we found some towed cars. The PPA says they hope this area won't grow, but chances are it will. The sweeps continue through the week.
PPA website: http://www.philapark.org/