# WC Fields was right, Philadelphia to close **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 8, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292 "2015-08-08T03:08:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/1 "2015-08-08T03:08:00Z")
The World Meeting of Families (the world’s largest Catholic gathering of families) is going to be in Philadelphia the last week of September. The last two days brings the Pope to town. The various local, state, & federal law enforcement & transportation agencies, being led by the Secret Service (USSS) are combining to close the city for days in what is most likely the single biggest instance of martial law ever imposed upon this country; aka a Clusterfuck of Biblical proportions. Officials are comparing this to a presidential inauguration or the Super Bowl; however, those events are for a few hours, not multiple days of lockdowns. This includes a 3-square mile area of Center City & West Philly under lockdown. The better part of 100m people live in this area, as well as the majority of the city’s hotels, restaurants, & tourist/entertainment venues. Starting Friday evening, Sept 25, no vehicles will be allowed to enter this area, this includes the cars of residents. You can keep your car in the zone, & drive around in the zone, but if you exit, it’s one way & you can’t get back in. They’ve also stated the intent to pull the bike share rentals from some/many of the locations, which means the only way to really get around is by walking. SEPTA (the regional transit provider) will only be running service from about 10% of their total rail (trains, subways, high-speed line combined) stations. For the trains, they’re selling special Pope passes that you must buy, online only, in advance. They first attempt at sales failed miserably, crashing withing minutes. Their second attempt was to sell them by lottery; confirmations only were emailed yesterday but they’re already for sale on e-bay & Craigslist even though none have been mailed out yet. People who purchase weekly or monthly passes will not be able to use them this weekend. The latest rumor is that Septa won’t even do anything for the monthly passholders because they already get a discount built into their pass price. :dubious: They are only doing one station, maybe two per train line; typically the end of the line stations; however, these stations don’t have the parking capability to handle that many people, so bad that at least one town has already stated their intent to declare a state of emergency. Yes, I know this is for state & federal funding purposes, but by definition how can you plan to declare an emergency 6 weeks in the future? > [@Septa](#): > > SEPTA is urging passengers those days to get rides to stations. But Tullytown Police Chief Dan Doyle said he’s still expecting thousands to try to park at a station with just 400 spaces. Due to what has been reported as USSS restrictions, the main train station nearest to the location where Mass will be held is not going to be used. This means that the attendees will need to walk between 1 & 4 miles _each way_, which does not include standing during the day. Yeah, I’m sure Granny & the little kids will do _real_ well walking 4 miles each way, uphill both ways (you have to go over a major bridge), while having to stand for hours in between. :rolleyes: Yes, if you’re coming from South Jersey, you’ll need to walk over the [Ben Franklin Bridge](http://www.drpa.org/bridges/bridges_bf.html), a 7-lane interstate bridge that will be closed to the 100m+ daily vehicles that travel over it daily. There is a moveable concrete barrier so that whichever way is rush hour gets the extra, 4th lane. Earlier today it was reported only 3 lanes will be opened to pedestrians & that the other four lanes will be closed/restricted to PD & emergency vehicles only. 100m estimated people walking over that bridge & you can’t even give them the extra lane, espeically as that would reduce their density that you’re so concerned about? Also, this morning the Philadelphia newspaper was [reporting](http://www.philly.com/philly/news/pope/20150807_Massive_screening_for_bridge_pedestrians.html#3AxpRbgVAMb06aVM.99) that all of the pedestrians will be screened. For what no one knows. If you want to damage the bridge, it’s so much more effective to carry any explosives with your rather than say, drive a truck on those very same lanes. :rolleyes: However, some of the people walking over the bridge will be going to/from work or to see their boy/girlfriend & not giving a hoot about the Pope. Also, they will not be in a secure area once they hit the Philly side so they could go to their work or a residence & acquire any prepositioned weapons they desire. [quote=] If there were 50 screening stations and each person was screened in 30 seconds, it would take more than 16 hours to screen everyone. [/quote] Yeah, that’s gonna work well. People coming in from other directions or on Septa won’t be screen (unless they try to enter the secure area) why should people from South Jersey (obvious they’re from NJ jokes aside) Two of the three interstates in the city will shut down so even people trying to drive past the city will get screwed. Why can’t they just close the off ramps in the area? Museums & cultural institutions in the area of the Ben Franklin Parkway where Mass will be held have already announced plans to close that weekend. Other charity events have been cancelled/postponed due to the logistical issues with getting patrons to attend. Good luck if you had a wedding or Bar Mitzvah celebration planned in this area for that weekend. They are asking for hundreds of bike & gator EMS teams from around the state to volunteer to work 12 hour shifts for four days. What kind of accommodations are these critical volunteers going to get? Since different departments/counties/regions use different frequencies, do they have the couple of hundred extra radios that are necessary to provide to these EMS providers & who is paying for all of those radios that are _not_ inexpensive? I could go on with more examples but it’s already in the TL/DR range. Keep your eyes on this one folks, more halfassed decisions & a bigger clusterfuck you’ve never seen! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Goob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c77e96/32.png) [@Mr.Goob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Goob)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/2 "2015-08-08T03:27:04Z")
Ye Gods. I lived a few blocks from the parkway. What a mess this is going to be. ---
**Author:** ![usedtobe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ec9cab/32.png) [@usedtobe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/usedtobe)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/3 "2015-08-08T04:56:33Z")
Who the hell booked this mess? The City Tourism people? Those are the boosters who typically solicit various conventions and even political conventions. I was in SF when the Democratic Convention was there in 1984. There was a 3-4 block perimeter at that time. A 3 MILE exclusion zone is insane in a large city. String up whoever was responsible for booking this. And leave the bodies hanging on a bridge as a warning to the next bozos ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/4 "2015-08-08T05:04:15Z")
While I agree that this looks like a monumental clusterfuck, I think you need to rein in your numbers a bit. A population of 100 million? The Philadelphia MSA (metropolitan statistical area, which extends beyond the city itself) has a population of ~6 million. Center City has ~56K. Since you use the same 100M figure for daily traffic on the Ben Franklin Bridge, and according to the bridge’s [Wiki article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benjamin_Franklin_Bridge), it’s actually 100K, I suspect you had a persistent typo or something. Again, it looks like it will be an awful mess, and all for something that seems rather pointless to me. I just prefer to quantify the clusterfuck more accurately. Side note: The guy in charge of said clusterfuck, the mayor, is evidently named “Nutter”. We got your truth in labeling right here. ---
**Author:** ![Strassia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e8c25b/32.png) [@Strassia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strassia)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/5 "2015-08-08T05:11:58Z")
If the OP were accurate, 1 out of 3 people in the U.S. would live in downtown Philadelphia, an another 1 out of 3 would be walking across the bridge to join them. That is an XKCD What If? level disaster right there. We’d be cleaning up the bodies for years as we tried to rebuild our society, assuming a foriegn power didn’ t move to take advantage of the chaos. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/6 "2015-08-08T06:38:45Z")
Are there any estimated statistics for: (a) How much money this is going to bring into the area? (b) How much money this is going to cost directly? © How much of indirect expenses this will cause to all the businesses, merchants, and residents in the area, and to anyone else outside the area who would have business in the area those days? Is there any plan to pay off the people in item © for the costs to them, from the money taken in from item (a)? I didn’t think so. ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/7 "2015-08-08T07:43:54Z")
This will be on a weekend, so hopefully the inconvenience to commuters will be minimal. That said, I do agree, it seems to me that whenever theres big a event, the powers that be do all they can to make commuting to the experience as aggravating as possible, because they can and they are arrogant. What if you live in the zone, and have a job outside of it? Surely a provision must be made for residents. I agree, this does seem like the government taking things a step too far. This is the same Mayor Nutter who encouraged everyone to use mass transit to go to the Phillies World Series Parade in 2008, and then didn’t provide enough trains for everyone to go, and thousands missed it. I know scores of fans who simply drove down, parked their car, and walked like 2 blocks and saw everything fine. The 100m number made me scratch my head too, Im guessing however 100,000 people showing up for the mass is not an unreasonable number. ---
**Author:** ![Sinaptics](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Sinaptics](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sinaptics)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/8 "2015-08-08T09:36:44Z")
I’m in the suburbs next to one of few train stations that will be open. I’m going to Erie that weekend to visit family. No way I’m going to be around for that mess. ---
**Author:** ![Spiderman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiderman/32/230_2.png) [@Spiderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiderman)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/9 "2015-08-08T11:17:19Z")
> [@Balance](#): > > I suspect you had a persistent typo or something. m is 1000 in [Roman numerals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals). [Capital] M or mm = 1,000,000 > [@Senegoid](#): > > Are there any estimated statistics for: > > (a) How much money this is going to bring into the area? > > (b) How much money this is going to cost directly? > > (c) How much of indirect expenses this will cause to all the businesses, merchants, and residents in the area, and to anyone else outside the area who would have business in the area those days? > > Is there any plan to pay off the people in item (c) for the costs to them, from the money taken in from item (a)? > > I didn’t think so. a) Millions b) Officially, the WMF is paying for everything local; however, I’m guessing that doesn’t include PSP, National Guard, USSS, or the reimbursement for the state of emergency declarations in the suburbs though. c) Ha, you’re funny! Philly is probably second to NYC in terms of mass transit reach. Many city residents don’t have a car because of the extensive mass transit system. I have no idea how all of the maids & cooks & busboys at the hotels are going to get to work, it’s not like they have so much disposable income that they could afford a taxi to the edge of the exclusion zone, even if they could get one. Didn’t include in the OP, the approx 100 homeless people who live on the BF Parkway where Mass will be & the charity homeless feedings on the BF Parkway - relocated. Kicking out those folks for a religious event, but especially with this Pope is just the type of charity they preach. :rolleyes: There was also an article about the 3000 porta-johns isn’t _nearly_ enough. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 11:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/10 "2015-08-08T11:25:16Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > The various local, state, & federal law enforcement & transportation agencies, being led by the Secret Service (USSS) are combining to close the city for days in what is most likely the single biggest instance of martial law ever imposed upon this country Technically, it’s not martial law if it’s being enforced by _civilian_ agencies. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/11 "2015-08-08T14:18:03Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > m is 1000 in [Roman numerals](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_numerals). [Capital] M or mm = 1,000,000 Your cite doesn’t support that usage, as far as I can tell. I suggest instead you use “100k” to mean “one hundred thousand”, and that this form will be readily understandable. And I agree that the level of shutdown is nuts. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/12 "2015-08-08T14:32:11Z")
After seeing what Philly did to Hitchbot, I understand the extra police presence. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/13 "2015-08-08T15:08:15Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > After seeing what Philly did to Hitchbot, I understand the extra police presence. As I understand it, the Pope comes with somewhat more protection than Hitchbot. But this sounds like majorly poor planning. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/14 "2015-08-08T15:20:00Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > As I understand it, the Pope comes with somewhat more protection than Hitchbot. How long could an old white guy with a funny hat last in the area where Hitchbot met its demise? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/15 "2015-08-08T15:31:08Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Your cite doesn’t support that usage, as far as I can tell. I suggest instead you use “100k” to mean “one hundred thousand”, and that this form will be readily understandable. What’s wrong with using “one hundred thousand” or 100,000 to mean 100,000 rather than silly abbreviations like 100k or 100m. This isn’t Twitter and the OP was ridiculously long anyhow. Twenty years ago, New Haven Connecticut hosted the Special Olympics World Games and there were similar predictions of disaster. This year’s world games are being held in Los Angeles, so that should give you some idea of the weirdness of doing it in New Haven. But those who could worked from home during that time or made other arrangements and things went well. Similarly, I expect this will go mostly smoothly. ---
**Author:** ![Runestar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/74df32/32.png) [@Runestar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runestar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/16 "2015-08-08T16:09:52Z")
My 86-year old father, who has Parkinson’s, and my 83-year old mother, who’s just had knee replacement surgery,live in Centrr City a few blocks from Rittenhouse square. They’re well in the ‘no go’ zone. I have one brother who lives across the river in New Jersey and another one who lives in the Fairmount section of Philadelphia. Heavens knows how they’d manage to get to my parents house during these three days if something goes wrong. Shutting off the entire downtown just for the sake of the Pope, and basically trapping everyone who lives there, is a ridiculous overreaction. Not to mention extremely dangerous for its older residents. There are no words to express just how angry the people who live here are about this… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/17 "2015-08-08T17:38:52Z")
Does the “Gathering of Families” always happen in Philadelphia? Is it always like this? Or is this for the papal visit? > [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > How long could an old white guy with a funny hat last in the area where Hitchbot met its demise? Well, it didn’t go well for [Santa](http://www.snopes.com/holidays/christmas/santa/philadelphia.asp). ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/18 "2015-08-08T17:44:00Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Your cite doesn’t support that usage, as far as I can tell. I suggest instead you use “100k” to mean “one hundred thousand”, and that this form will be readily understandable. How about this [cite](http://www.accountingcoach.com/blog/what-does-m-and-mm-stand-for)? Many, many moons ago, when we were still using abacus (abaci?) for accounting, we always used ‘m’, and for old-timers, some habits die hard. It is archaic, for sure, but when note taking I’ll often use m for thousands and mm for millions. ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/19 "2015-08-08T18:44:28Z")
Well, yes but the “100m people in a 3 mile radius” thing threw me off the track until I could figure out what he really meant. And it’s not like this and prior Popes have not shown up in major cities before coinciding with large Church congresses. Somehow the cities and their populations survived. OTOH as has been said, this IS Philadelphia we’re talking about… I’ll just make a note to NOT be anywhere within 50 miles on those dates. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292/20 "2015-08-08T19:38:12Z")
Let me put this down in my calendar. Oh wait, every day already has a note that says “Don’t go to Philadelphia today”. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wc-fields-was-right-philadelphia-to-close/727292.md?page=2)