(The answer to this one might be Google-able, but my fu is weak today.)
I can see look out my apartment window and see the top of Philadelphia’s City Hall.
Here’s my view.
I will be done with school in this city in May 2010. Will my view of William Penn be unobstructed by then?
Follow-up question: What on Earth are they doing at City Hall that requires the entire building to be covered in scaffolding?
[QUOTE=Randy Seltzer]
(The answer to this one might be Google-able, but my fu is weak today.)
I can see look out my apartment window and see the top of Philadelphia’s City Hall.
Here’s my view.
I will be done with school in this city in May 2010. Will my view of William Penn be unobstructed by then?
Follow-up question: What on Earth are they doing at City Hall that requires the entire building to be covered in scaffolding?
[/QUOTE]
Christo is in town. He wanted to use red, white, and blue bunting but John Street said no dice. So scaffolding it is. Think of it as the Mariano-proof fence. 
As far as the scaffolding in your pic, they are cleaning the statue and applying a protective coat of wax. This was done first in 1983 and is now done about every ten years and takes a few months to complete.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/photography/news_photos/Billy_Penn_Gets_Waxed.html
also see:
The original article is called Inside William Penn’s Head
As far as all the other huge scaffolding that is used for cleaning the exterior, I have no idea. Maybe Milton’s restoration and cleaning crew bills the city by the “lap” and they just start over when they get back to the starting point!
i do hope they don’t have another 'free wm penn" drive. the last one was rather pitiful.
