Petition: Save Philly's Block Party Program! No Police Power Grab!

(Fishtown Block Party | Image: Jon Geeting)

Philadelphia is known as the Block Party capital of the East Coast, closing more streets for community celebrations than any other big city. 

But the Kenney administration just threw a big wrench into the gears of Philly block party culture by requiring communities to get pre-approved by the local Police District first before they can submit a petition to Streets.

This is totally unnecessary red tape that's just going to make it harder for neighbors to organize block parties, and weaken this important part of Philadelphia's culture.

Sign and share this petition to SAY NO to this Block Party Power Grab by the Police Department!

One of the biggest reasons why Philadelphia has such a strong block party culture—which is most popular in majority black neighborhoods in North, West, and western South Philly—is because of how cheap and easy it is to get a permit.

A block party permit costs only $25, and requires signatures from 75% of households on the block (or 90% on a weeknight or non-holiday). As of a few years ago, you can also apply for a block party permit online, thanks to Tim Wisniewski during the Nutter administration, who put the permitting process online in an effort to streamline block party organizing.

Now Mayor Kenney is going in the exact opposite direction, creating an annoying two-step process that's going to be much less clear and straightforward for residents. And by leaving it up to individual Police Districts all over the city, there's going to be too much personal discretion from individual police officers to decide who gets to have a party or not.

That's unfair, and is the opposite of the direction we need to be going in, with even more lax permission requirements to use streets as public space.

The Streets Department is framing this in Orwellian terms, talking about why Police pre-approval will improve "customer service" or the "efficiency and integrity" of the program, but that only makes sense if you consider the Police and City service providers as the customers to be served—not the residents organizing the block parties.

For the real customers, it's going to mean more of your block party applications getting vetoed by the Police for unclear reasons. Maybe police officers just prefer to drive on your block and don't want the hassle of going around—DENIED! There's also the additional hassle and delay of getting a permit reviewed by two separate departments—a burden that should be on the City to coordinate, not the block party organizer.

This policy already went into effect on August 1st and was just announced with no advance warning, so we need to get the Kenney administration to reverse this new rule.

Take Action: Sign and share this petition to help raise awareness of the block party power grab. Then, call your City Councilmembers and ask them to call on Mayor Kenney to support Philly's block party program, and oppose pre-approval by Police.

District Members

District 1: Mark Squilla: [email protected], (215) 686-3458, (215) 686-3459

District 2: Kenyatta Johnson: [email protected], (215) 686-3412, (215) 686-3413

District 3: Jannie Blackwell: [email protected], (215) 686-3418, (215) 686-3419

District 4: Curtis Jones, Jr.: [email protected], (215) 686-3416, (215) 686-3417

District 5: Darrell Clarke (Council President): [email protected], (215) 686-3412, (215) 686-3443

District 6: Bobby Henon (Majority Leader): [email protected], (215) 686-3444, (215) 686-3445

District 7: Maria D. Quiñones-Sánchez: [email protected], (215) 686-3448, (215) 686-3449

District 8: Cindy Bass: [email protected], (215) 686-3424, (215) 686-3425

District 9: Cherelle Parker: [email protected], 215) 686-3454, (215) 686-3455

District 10: Brian O'Neill: brian.o'[email protected], (215) 686-3422, (215) 686-3423

 

At-Large Members

Blondell Reynolds-Brown: [email protected], (215) 686-3438, (215) 686-3439

Allan Domb: [email protected], (215) 686-3414, (215) 686-3415

Derek Green: [email protected], (215) 686-3450, (215) 686-3451

Bill Greenlee: [email protected], (215) 686-3446, (215) 686-3447

Helen Gym: [email protected], (215) 686-3420, (215) 686-3421

David Oh (R): [email protected], (215) 686-3452, (215) 686-3453

Al Taubenberger: (R): [email protected], (215) 686-3440, (215) 686-3441

672 signatures

Will you sign?

Showing 539 reactions

  • Jennifer Bennetch
    signed 2018-08-04 07:26:24 -0400
  • Cynthia Kwan
    signed via 2018-08-04 06:27:41 -0400
  • Danielle Fuscia
    @dendan17 tweeted link to this page. 2018-08-04 04:39:42 -0400
    Petition: Save Philly's Block Party Program! No Police Power Grab! http://www.phila3-0.org/save_the_block_parties?recruiter_id=52111
    Reply · Retweet · Favorite
  • Danielle Fuscia
    signed 2018-08-04 04:38:33 -0400
    Danielle Fuscia
  • Wesley Hinkle
    signed via 2018-08-04 02:51:36 -0400
  • Kitty Heite
    signed 2018-08-04 01:08:58 -0400
    Not only is this new rule clearly targeted at black and brown communities, but it is wholly unnecessary. Police presinctsalready have veto power over block parties, so all this does is complicate the process for the actual “client” which is residents of Philadelphia.


    It’s also incredibly shady to push this through while City Council is on recess.
  • Marina Nir
    signed via 2018-08-04 00:25:33 -0400
  • Danielle Whitmarsh
    signed via 2018-08-03 23:39:50 -0400
  • Joshua Park
    signed 2018-08-03 21:56:45 -0400
  • Brian Fitzgerald
    signed 2018-08-03 21:35:11 -0400
    ACAB
  • Tiara Watson
    signed via 2018-08-03 21:14:19 -0400
  • Juliet Farina
    signed via 2018-08-03 21:09:20 -0400
  • Jonathan Estey
    signed via 2018-08-03 20:31:28 -0400
    There’s no need to curb Philly’s unique block party culture! Surely the police have something better to do than vet block party applications? And, more importantly, there is no need for the police department to decide who can and cannot hold block parties!
  • Edward Mockapetris
    signed 2018-08-03 20:23:47 -0400
    Getting anything done at City Hall is a time-consuming effort the folks living in the City who benefit from this healthy social and community endeavor. So, let’s facilitate this process and make easier for the residents to participate and enjoy without the political interference while protecting those who make this a building experience.
  • Bianca Lewis
    signed via 2018-08-03 20:11:52 -0400
    This is ridiculous, it’s already hard enough to find people still willing to step up and take on the responsibility of filing the paperwork and paying the fee out of their own pocket. Our culture is dying with the older residents during a time where kids spend more time indoors than outside. The block party days are the last thing holding our communities together as far as connecting with each other. It’s a time when neighbors get to meet each other and kids can play safely in the streets. I have met so many of my new neighbors, since I bought my home, at our block parties. The police and the communities they don’t serve well, should not have to deal with each other in the approval process. It is unnecessary. I don’t have to contact the police to get my Tier 1 or 2 dig permits approved by the city. And I’m actually digging holes in the ground and changing parking or traffic, so why should a simple community block party need it. Let’s be honest here majority of the neighborhoods that request block party permits are in the neighbors of color and some of those neighborhoods are changing over, so the newer residents are probably not happy with so many closed roads and having to move their cars in the morning, or having increased parking on their blocks due to some other blocks party. Secondly, this administration is well aware of the problems between police and communities of color, so adding this extra step under the radar was done on purpose, because he didn’t want headline news.
  • William Wieczorek
    signed 2018-08-03 19:42:42 -0400
  • Brett Gerding
    signed via 2018-08-03 19:33:56 -0400
  • Len Bullard
    signed 2018-08-03 18:39:25 -0400
    Len Bullard; SO IN EFFECT IN FAVOR OF, GENTRIFIERS/AKA WHITES THIS IS ANOTHER EFFORT TO SQUEEZE OUT THE BLACK POPULATION, IN FAVOR OF WHITES WHO FEEL THEY SHOULD BE CONSIDERATION AND RULE OVER OUR TRADITIONAL BLACK NEIGHBORHOODS AND TRADITIONS, OVER LONG TERM BLACK RESIDENTS. POLICE OF COURSE WILL DENY BLACK RESIDENTS PERMITS IN FAVOR OF WHITES….FURTHERMORE WHITE GENTRIFIERS ARE TRANSIENT RESIDENTS IN MOST INSTANCES AS MANY OF THEM ARE SHORT TERM RESIDENTS WHO RENT OR MOVE ON AFTER THEIR 1O YEAR RE TAX ABATEMENT IS UP——THIS IS FURTHER PROOF OF SYSTEMIC RACISM
  • Shannon Oneil
    signed 2018-08-03 18:28:51 -0400
  • Lea Sorrentino
    signed 2018-08-03 18:00:42 -0400
  • Karl Natanson
    signed via 2018-08-03 17:55:15 -0400
  • Vera Young
    signed 2018-08-03 17:53:12 -0400
    Vera Young
  • Reneج© Henryhand
    signed 2018-08-03 17:11:50 -0400
  • Cat Ramirez
    signed via 2018-08-03 16:50:13 -0400
  • Brooke Williams
    signed 2018-08-03 16:10:32 -0400
    Brooke Williams
  • Keith Lx Jenkins
    signed 2018-08-03 16:03:13 -0400
    Mayor Kenny can we get the City to better work for the citizens instead of against..
  • Alfred Klosterman
    signed 2018-08-03 15:42:06 -0400
    Alfred Klosterman
  • Isabella Tognini
    signed via 2018-08-03 15:32:37 -0400
  • Rebecca Ebner
    signed 2018-08-03 15:30:35 -0400
  • Nate Hommel
    signed 2018-08-03 15:28:09 -0400