PHILADELPHIA -- Pregnant women are calling up the mayor, concerned they won't be able to get to the delivery room. Some businesses say they've been told to close for a three-day weekend. Others are bringing in cots for workers to sleep. Taxi drivers, fearing onerous checkpoints and distant drop-off locations, are planning to stay home.
With official information scant just eight weeks before Pope Francis makes Philadelphia the centerpiece of his U.S. trip, rumors are swirling about massive security fencing and miles of street closures. Residents and visitors alike fear long walks to and from papal events, too-few bathrooms, and a dearth of food and other amenities in areas where delivery trucks could be restricted.
The lack of clear information is breeding confusion and consternation in the City of Brotherly Love and contempt for the people who run it -- particularly around the downtown parkway where Francis is expected to attend an outdoor concert and celebrate Mass before more than 1 million people.
"There are serious logistical problems for residents and visitors alike," said Barbara Epstein, who lives three blocks from the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. "It would be nice if the powers that be could reassure us that our lives aren't going to be disrupted in an irreconcilable way."
City officials are blaming the Secret Service, which has declared Francis' Sept. 26-27 visit a National Special Security Event. The agency said it would release road closure and security checkpoint information about three weeks before he lands -- leaving the city and visit organizers vulnerable to rumors.
"Security plans are fluid and continue to evolve," Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said Thursday. "As soon as the plans have been settled on by all of the many partners involved in the planning process, we will jointly share the final plans."
The agency said late Thursday that it is not forcing any businesses to close that weekend but instead has agents reaching out to local business owners and residents within the security zone.
Mayor Michael Nutter this week repudiated maps that popped up showing purported security and vehicle-free zones covering most of downtown, saying they were unofficial and premature. He blamed "little people who have little pieces of information" and speculative reporting for misleading the public.
Nutter, who mentioned the calls from the expectant mothers at a news conference this week, said the city would start providing updates next week. Organizers of the World Meeting of Families -- the triennial Roman Catholic conference that is attracting Francis to Philadelphia -- said it will post a "Papal Visit Playbook" for residents to its website next month.
"We're all eager to put the rumors to rest and put the information out there," said World Meeting Executive Director Donna Crilley Farrell. "But as the mayor said, it has to be the correct information."
Officials have confirmed there will be some type of security fencing -- commonly used at big events like presidential inaugurations and Philadelphia's annual Made in America concert -- but the size and scope have not been disclosed.
They have also said there will certainly be street and highway closures, particularly when the pope is in transit, but would not confirm a planning consultant's claim that the Benjamin Franklin Bridge -- a vital link to Philadelphia's New Jersey suburbs across the Delaware River -- would close. The consultant, who also requested that Interstate 95 be closed for the duration of Francis' visit, has since been dismissed from the papal planning process.
Religion on 08/01/2015