# Which will leave Philly first: me, or the scaffolding around William Penn? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 21, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-will-leave-philly-first-me-or-the-scaffolding-around-william-penn/423496 "2007-10-21T20:13:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-will-leave-philly-first-me-or-the-scaffolding-around-william-penn/423496/1 "2007-10-21T20:13:29Z")
(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.](http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pennstatueid9.jpg) 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? ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-will-leave-philly-first-me-or-the-scaffolding-around-william-penn/423496/2 "2007-10-21T20:18:25Z")
[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.](http://img70.imageshack.us/my.php?image=pennstatueid9.jpg) 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. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Doubt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@Stan\_Doubt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Doubt)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-will-leave-philly-first-me-or-the-scaffolding-around-william-penn/423496/3 "2007-10-21T20:59:13Z")
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](http://www.philly.com/inquirer/photography/news_photos/Billy_Penn_Gets_Waxed.html) also see: [http://www.phillyskyline.com/](http://www.phillyskyline.com/) 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! ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-will-leave-philly-first-me-or-the-scaffolding-around-william-penn/423496/4 "2007-10-21T22:28:36Z")
i do hope they don’t have another 'free wm penn" drive. the last one was rather pitiful.