Injunction stops Pine & Spruce loading zones
FOPS President Lloyd Brotman said the group was energized by “a runaway city bureaucracy hell bent on installing concrete barriers along the full length of bike lanes.”
The city’s reckless rush to ruin life for motorists has hit a serious speed bump.
The Friends of Pine and Spruce nonprofit went to court to stop a city one-two-three punch of (1) outlawing stopping in bike lanes, (2) adding loading zones, and (3) installing concrete barriers.
Points 2 and 3 were stopped dead in their tracks by what was called a “sweeping injunction” issued by Common Pleas Court Wednesday, according to Center City attorney George Bochetto.
Judge Sierra Thomas-Street banned the elimination of any more scarce parking spaces for the construction of loading zones, holding that the city’s attorneys used “circular reasoning” to support its claim it was entitled to act under the City Charter.
“There is no special ordinance that allows the Streets Department to eliminate parking spaces or create new loading zones that were not previously authorized by another statute or ordinance,” the court ruled.
The injunction also requires the city to remove, at least temporarily, the loading zones it already installed without proper authority. It rejected the city’s “stitched-together” arguments.
In Point 3 of the injunction, the court bans any work on loading zones, “or related restrictions," which Bochetto told me freezes the city from installing any kind of concrete barriers in the bike lanes on Pine and Spruce.
No answer by deadline to my request for the city for comment. The mayor’s office routinely ignores my requests.
The suit was filed by Bochetto, on behalf of the Friends of Pine and Spruce nonprofit, which was organized in January by neighbors wanting to fight dire changes to bike lanes, which it accepts as a fact of life.
FOPS President Lloyd Brotman said the group was energized by “a runaway city bureaucracy hell bent on installing concrete barriers along the full length of bike lanes.”
In particular, it fought the city’s mad dash to insanely eliminate even momentary stopping in bike lanes.
That recently-enacted statute is being fought in a separate court case, claiming violation of the sunshine law, said Bochetto, who previously prevented the city from cancelling Columbus Day, and forced the city to return to Frank Rizzo statue to its owners. Bochetto seems to know more about city law than city lawyers or politicians.
Brotman said that during the discovery process, FOPS learned that the city Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems had been meeting with bike advocates for seven years, and “we know that the plan to install concrete barriers was on the shelf” long before the tragic death of CHOP physician Barbara Friedes, which was used as a justification for the barriers.
FOPS has achieved legal status, and a victory, and is not going away, said Brotman.
He added that fighting City Hall is expensive and asked for contributions from anyone who wants to support this fight.
He provided this:
1) You can donate via Zelle through your Bank app or you can enroll here. You can donate through PayPal via this link. If prompted by either Zelle or PayPal, enter our email address FRIENDSofPINEandSPRUCE@gmail.com as recipient.
2) You can donate via Credit or Debit Card via this link.
3) You can mail a check, payable to Friends of Pine and Spruce, to our PO Box:
Friends of Pine and Spruce
2037 Chestnut Street
P.O. Box 30638
Philadelphia, PA 19103
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