Pope's visit to Philadelphia and Amtrak's 30th Street Station

[northnorthwest]

I thought about not bothering to reply to this, because I am sure I will be attacked, but I don't care. For those of you who hate Philly or hate American cities or whatever it is, that's fine. Stay away. But you don't have to bring your negative attitude to the rest of us.

Philadelphia is a fantastic city with great food, people, parks, museums, orchestra, theater, neighborhoods, and on and on. If you hate it or have all these bad opinions about it, well, that is just your loss. Sorry to be you.

I will be in Philly to see the Pope during this "fiasco", and it will be a fantastic positive experience, and nobody there is going to miss anyone on here who hates Philly or its people. I hope you have an ordinary, uninspiring, mall food court-filled, suburban weekend, with lots of your own traffic, and where you never have to bother to interact with anyone you don't already know.

 

[Bob Dylan]

We totally agree about Philly being a Great Place, we had our AU Gathering there 3 years ago and lots of our members Live And Visit there often! I don't recall ever seeing a Philly hater on this Forum!

Our concern is the un-necessary over planning that will disrupt the daily lives of several million people that have to work during this time!

Many of us have been in cities where Popes and Presidents visit and None have had a "plan" so over done as this fiasco!

Hope you enjoy your visit along with the throngs that come to the City of Brotherly Love. Well be back to visit but not during this Circus! YMMV

 

[Mystic River Dragon]

northnorthwest,

I live in rural south Jersey, and I love Philly, the city nearest to where I live. Philadelphia is like a huge small town, with friendly people, green spaces, and good buses and regional rail. I often go down there just for the day, and sometimes, if hotel rates are good, I even stay over for a day or two.

It is those of us who love Philly so much who are so worried about the negative image it may get from all this overplanning (not the city's fault, as far as I can tell--they are being told what to do by the secret service).

I do hope you and everyone there during the Pope's visit have a wonderful time. I just hope that all who come there for the first time will realize that Philadelphia is a lovely place and will come back to enjoy all the beauty of the city when it is less hectic.

 

[Eric S]

I'm not sure what disagreeing with the (in my opinion) over-the-top security theater planned for Philadelphia has to do with hating the city of Philadelphia.

 

[MikefromCrete]

Same here, my criticism of extreme security shutdowns of roads and transit have nothing to do with Philadelphia itself, one of America's great cities.

 

[JoeBas]

Same here... native South Jerseyan and all I'm seeing is a lot of hating the sin, but not the sinner.

 

[amamba]

I'm also a south jersey native and I'm not seeing hate for the city of philly - just the crazy regulations shutting down the city.

 

[west point]

Had many business trips to PHL and greatly enjoyed PHL...However this absolute ridiculous security will tarnish the city for folks visiting during the POPE"S visit. Hope that visitors will come back. I will be there sometime but not September.

 

[Cho Cho Charlie]

Many of us have been in cities where Popes and Presidents visit and None have had a "plan" so over done as this fiasco!

Where I use to live, Pres Bill Clinton came for one of his first term "town meetings". It was at our middle school. There was an army of telephone trucks parked outside the school for around two-three weeks, installing a major telecommunications center just in the rare case there was a national emergency while he was here. They also had to build in the school a full surgical operating room, just in case the President needed medical attention. All for what, a one hour "chat"?

Where I live now, both Pres Bill Clinton and Pres Obama stopped by for lunch (different years, of course). They didn't shut down the highways, but I remember them stationing snipers on all the overpasses. For both Presidents, they took them to the most horrible places to eat. Clinton was taken to the lunch counter at a run down old bus station (which closed soon thereafter). Obama was taken to an old dinner. I don't know. If I had to take the POTUS out for lunch, I would have splurged for a far more fancy place, like McD's.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Very interesting! When Clinton, W and Obama come to Austin ( all the politicians come here) they eat @ really good joints like Gueros Taco Bar and Franklins Bar-B-Q. (FYI- at one time Clinton was known for eating junk food, even MickeyDs!!)

Their fund raisers are usually held @ Fancy Hotels like the W or Four Seasons or @ some Highrollers Mansion in the Hills.

Unfortunately they do cause a mess @ the Airport ( its very busy and too small) and create massive traffic jams to and from town.

They should use Choppers, the motorcades move so fast and are all just a bunch of black SuVs going 70 mph thruvtown! That's known as Security by the secret Service who can't even secure the White House!

I was speaking more of places like New York and other Real Cities, not wannabes like Austin!

 

[PRR 60]

The issue with the Philadelphia portion of the visit is the public, open-air mass to be celebrated by the Pope on the Ben Franklin Parkway. This event, along with the estimates of over 1 million potential participants, resulted in the Secretary of Homeland Security declaring the Philadelphia visit a "National Special Security Event (NSSE)," which by law, puts the US Secret Service in charge of anything they deem security related. That appears to be everything. Local officials from the mayor on down may be consulted, and there may even be cooperation, but the Secret Service is in charge, so what the Secret Service finally says is what happens. What has particularly frustrated some local officials is that they are getting slammed for the proposed plans, while those who are formulating the plans - the Secret Service - are saying nothing. Note that only the Philadelphia portion of the trip has been declared an NSSE.

For the sake of all those visiting Philadelphia that weekend, I hope things are not as bad as the worst fears are now. For many, this is a trip and spiritual opportunity of a lifetime. Hopefully, the security effort will not ruin the experience.

 

[John Bredin]

Are the inconvenient and puzzling transit-related parts of the Pope Plan -- special passes only, only a handful of outer train stations open -- mandates by the Secret Service, though? I can see them ordering the closing of the nearest downtown station to the Mass as a security thing. I find it harder to believe that closing most of the outlying Regional Rail stations, miles outside the downtown security zone, was the idea of the Secret Service.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

I feel real sorry for those in Philly. Durring my career I have worked with "Secret Service". In mu opinon most of them are the most &^^$#%& people. For the good ones you are judged by the idiots.

Good Luck Philly people.

 

[RPC]

A couple of things to note here...first, SEPTA has suffered from years of budget constraints and as a result is short rolling stock. They either chose not to ask NJT for trains or they were turned down.

Second, about 328,000 of the 350,000 passes available in the lottery were taken (94%), so SEPTA's estimate of ridership is at least in the ballpark. The remaining passes are supposed to go on sale this weekend and are expected to sell out.

So while the plan seems crazy at first glance, SEPTA is betting that it's better to queue people on the ground and have almost all of them have seats than to have jammed trains and platforms with perhaps bypassing of passengers at close-in stations. Similarly, my first thought was, "Why not stop all the outbound trains at all three downtown stations?" I can say from experience that West Trenton trains are frequently SRO by the time they reach Jefferson/Market East. Again, it's more prudent to queue passengers in the station buildings than let them mob the platforms.

What about those who work downtown? Well, maybe that was the reason the lottery was split at 08:30. One could make a valid argument that SEPTA could have canvassed the downtown businesses and sold passes to their employees first, but policing that might have been a nightmare.

So for now I'm willing to give SEPTA the benefit of the doubt. I just hope it doesn't rain - either the people in the suburban queues are going to be thoroughly miserable or the trains will be half-empty!

 

[Chucktin]

We are passing thru 30th St Station the day before! Thankfully.

We made plans before I knew about the Papal visit. Am not looking forward to being even that close.

 

[chakk]

A unique opportunity for those planning to be in Philly during the Pope's is to get a bunk bed on board the battleship USS New Jersey, which is permanently moored in the Delaware River. I believe the bunk beds are being offered for $70 per night and include morning and evening mess (aka, meals).

 

[NorthShore]

If only Francis had not insisted on taking transit to attend the Mass, himself!

 

[Bob Dylan]

A unique opportunity for those planning to be in Philly during the Pope's is to get a bunk bed on board the battleship USS New Jersey, which is permanently moored in the Delaware River. I believe the bunk beds are being offered for $70 per night and include morning and evening mess (aka, meals).

Well, at least it isn't a Tin Can or a Sub!

Those of us that are Navy vets know its not the Love Boat, but that sounds like a very unique expierence and a good deal considering what the area Hotels are charging!

 

[neroden]

I thought about not bothering to reply to this, because I am sure I will be attacked, but I don't care. For those of you who hate Philly or hate American cities or whatever it is, that's fine.

Nobody has said anything of the sort. I love Philly. I visit it often. I don't understand why the mayor has decided to completely trash Philadelphia for the weekend by shutting down all of its transportation.

My fiancee uses a wheelchair and can't walk long distances. If we wanted to visit Philadelphia that weekend, *we couldn't*. It would be impossible to get around. Because the Mayor & Secret Service are shutting down public transportation, shutting down private car access, and so on.

I will be in Philly to see the Pope during this "fiasco", and it will be a fantastic positive experience,

It'll be horrible for huge numbers of people. Get this through your head: they're making it *impossible for people to get to work*. Everything not Pope-related will be shut down due to lack of workers. They're *shutting down Philadelphia*. The workers you encounter will be miserable and frustrated at having to sleep overnight in cots at their workplaces.
I don't think the Pope wanted this. I don't know how much to blame the Secret Service for this -- (they're idiots, they should be ignored, and they also *can* legally be ignored by the state & local government) -- and I don't know how much to blame the Mayor and SEPTA management for this -- but it's a complete fiasco.

I love Philadelphia. It's a city, not a theme park. Seeing it completely shut down for *four whole days* is kind of horrifying. The Secret Service should not be in the business of shutting down cities.

 

[Rob Creighton]

Comparing a pope's visit in 1979 to 2015 isn't really a comparison. It's a spectacularly different time in our Country's history. Obviously, I'm sure the feds, state and local officials all worried about terrorism or someone trying to take the life of the pope, but I don't think the repercussions of something bad happening during the pope's visit to Chicago in '79 were thought of having as far reaching consequences as something happening in 2015. Obviously, there would have been consequences, but there may be a feeling of: we can't have another 9-11, or an incident that would generate world wide coverage... driving those in charge of security to be overly cautious.

That said, business owners, hotels, restaurants, any service industry that stands to make money on this weekend... they'll find a way to get their employees in. There's too much money to be made to just close the city down for 4 days. So I'd be surprised if that happens. That said, it could be a character building weekend for our friends in Philly, and even more so for those dealing with the faithful there to see the Pope.

 

[JoeBas]

It's the job of the security folks to say "From a security standpoint, it's too dangerous to even let anyone in. Or failing that, everyone should arrive naked and rubbing their bodies from the poking and prodding."

It's the job of the people in charge to say "That's nice, Phil, but there's no point in having the event if nobody can attend. Overruled.".

 

[jis]

There will be four NYP - PHL Event Trains run using most likely NJT equipment by Amtrak on Saturday and Sunday, which will stop at Hamilton NJ in addition to Newark, Metropark, Princeton Jct., and Trenton.

See: Northeast Corridor New York and Washington Special Timetable.

 

[Train2104]

There will be four NYP - PHL Event Trains run using most likely NJT equipment by Amtrak on Saturday and Sunday, which will stop at Hamilton NJ in addition to Newark, Metropark, Princeton Jct., and Trenton.

See: Northeast Corridor New York and Washington Special Timetable.

There will also be (2 on Saturday, one on Sunday) WAS-PHL trains, presumably MARC equipment.

 

[SubwayNut]

I think this is the first "Amtrak" marketed at least service to stop in Hamilton!

I can't though seem to be able to find the station in the Amtrak app.

 

[jis]

I think this is the first "Amtrak" marketed at least service to stop in Hamilton!

I can't though seem to be able to find the station in the Amtrak app.

Not just marketed, operated too. It is Amtrak crew that operates these trains. Only the equipment is borrowed from NJT, not crew.