Sidewalk Brawl, Cont'd
Lawyers sauntered in and out of City Hall Courtroom 426 for more than an hour today, but for the moment the 1300 block of South Street remains a difficult passage for pedestrians and the disabled. City solicitors had gone to to court intending to force condo developer Samir Benakmoume remove an illegal six-foot-wide platform (see below) in front 1352 Lofts. But after a lot of whispered conversations in the corridor, the two sides worked out a legal compromise. What the terms of that agreement are won't be known until tomorrow, after the legal papers are approved and signed. Stay tuned.....
posted by Inga Saffron at 3:19 PM
9 Comments:
Hi Inga!
I was in the courtroom with you representing Phillyblog. I didn't want to interrupt your convo w/ the lady from HEC as I was also in the hall waiting for Brian and the rep from DiCicco's office to get word of the deal.
The rep from DiCicco's office has not confirmed that the Streets Department has seen the revised plan and is ready to approve it. But... we should know tomorrow or Monday.
--EastChestnut
This is bad news - any "compromise" is a loss for pedestrians. Can there be any doubt that Benakmoume is entirely in the wrong here? For which moneyed interest will Frank DiCicco not roll over?
-gabe
I am guessing a compromise will go something like this.
Benakmoume can keep his pavilion.
End of compromise.
Were it up to me, I'd get all Corleone on his butt and go, "My offer is this: nothing. Not even the sidewalk cafe, which I would appreciate if you would jackhammer personally.
Take away the parking spaces and build the sidewalk out. It's time to start reclaiming the streets instead of fighting for the crumbs of available sidewalk space.
it is likely that he will get to keep the terrance but he will need to put a ramp at each end and leave it open so the general public can use and it is handicap accessible
EastChestnut,
Has Phillyblog appointed or elected you as representative?
or, you were there on your own, expecting to blog about it..
I'm glad East Chestnut was there for all of the PhillyBloggers(and pedestrians) that could not attend.
it is likely that he will get to keep the terrance but he will need to put a ramp at each end and leave it open so the general public can use and it is handicap accessible
4:37 PM
Keep dreaming Sammy. Now run along and go find a jackhammer. You're gonna need it.
so... what happened?!?
The Godfather reference in the 12:00 pm post is awesome!!
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