USA TODAY International Edition
PHILLY HURRIES TO FIX FLUBS FOR POPE’S VISIT
City officials who had growled about snarled traffic are now singing a happier tune — and not a moment too soon
Talk about unforced errors.
Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to Philadelphia was great news for a city that has been swimming in it lately. The Democratic National Convention is coming to town. The New York
Times listed Philly as the No. 3 place you must visit this year, after Milan and Cuba. Travel + Leisure magazine declared it America’s next great food city.
The Huffington Post even ran a piece titled, “21 Ways Philadelphia is the Coolest City in America.”
But the way the city was handling the pope’s trip, once expected to bring 1.5 million visitors to town, rekindled memories of Philly’s old image as second- class, a place that gets no respect, a city best known for throwing snowballs at Santa Claus. ( Although as former mayor Ed Rendell has pointed out, he was a pretty lame Santa Claus.)
Instead of a cause for celebration, Mayor Michael Nutter & Co. made the papal pilgrimage sound more like the apocalypse. It was a communications debacle of epic proportions.
Officials talked of a mammoth “traffic box” in Center City in which no cars would be allowed to enter, of closed bridges that would result in long hikes for people coming to see the pope. Confusion about logistics ran rampant. There were rumors of a “papal fence.” Restaurateurs worried quite publicly about getting food supplies and about how their employees would be able to get to work.
This is how bad it got: The Washington Post warned that “Philadelphia risks reinforcing the notion that it is a second- rate stopover between Washington and New York City, both of which will host His Holiness and appear to be taking his arrival in stride.”
After weeks of negative vibes, the city and the World Meeting of Families, which Pope Francis will be attending in Philly, came to their senses. Late last month they began to accentuate the positive, to remind people that a visit from a very popular pope was a blessing, not an ordeal. Not a moment too soon. “I think, if we hadn’t changed the course of action, we could have had a really gloom- and-doom experience,” Jack Ferguson, president and chief executive of the Philadelphia Convention and Visitors Bureau, told The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Now officials are urging people to show up when the pope is in town on Sept. 26 and Sept. 27, with public events planned for Independence Mall and near the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
“I hope our message today is clear: Come! Be part of history,” said Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director of the World Meeting of Families. “Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is a moment we will never have again.” Officials launched an “I’ll Be There” campaign and an # OpenInPHL hashtag. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput weighed in, writing a column imploring people to come see the pope. The dreaded traffic box has been re- christened the Francis Festival Grounds. Nutter and Farrell personally delivered # OpenInPHL kits to businesses in the festival zone. Some Philadelphians took umbrage at a newspaper based in Gridlock City suggesting the pope visit fumbles made Philly look like a loser.
But there was no shortage of criticism in the city itself. The Philadelphia Daily News’ Will Bunch, who writes the Attytood blog, wrote a very tough open letter to Nutter in which he said bluntly, “You. Are. Screwing. This. Up.,” adding, “You and your staff clearly need to do a much better job of communicating with the citizens.”
But Bunch noted there was plenty of time to turn things around. And he’s pleased by the progress. “They made a better effort to communicate more information to the public with more frequency,” he says. “They tried to look like they were happy about the pope’s visit and not like they were announcing news of an assassination. They even made some very sensible changes in what had been a fairly nonsensical plan — like an announcement ... that more ( public transportation) stops will be open.”
Nevertheless, it’s hardly time to declare victory.
“There are still too many mistakes,” Bunch says. “Amazingly, they didn’t tell the public until late last week that the best spots on the Parkway ( near the Art Museum) were going to Catholic-church going ticketholders. They never mentioned there were tickets! ... The bottom line is that they will get not nearly as many attendees as predicted.”
But at least things are headed in the right direction.
“I hope our message today is clear: Come! Be part of history. Let’s not lose sight of the fact that this is a moment we will never have again.” Donna Crilley Farrell, executive director, World Meeting of Families