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Philly Residents Adjacent to Wells Fargo Center are Sick of the Democratic Convention already

Posted by Olog-hai on Wed Jul 27 22:14:13 2016

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Some near the Wells Fargo Center fed up with the DNC

Published: July 27, 2016 — 5:32 PM EDT | The Philadelphia Inquirer
Updated: July 27, 2016 — 5:32 PM EDT | by Ed Barkowitz, Staff Writer

The residents who live in the shadow of the Wells Fargo Center are hot, and it has nothing to do with the heat wave.

Call it Convention Fatigue. The traffic, the noise, the vandalism and the protesters are taking a toll.

"I understand if you want to protest [and exercise] First Amendment rights, but don't be disgusting about it," said Sandra Costanzo. "They were in Marconi Park [Broad and Oregon] running around naked. There's children around here. They see that and wonder what kind of America is this."

The problems persist long after the TV cameras click off for the evening and the delegates are back in Center City at the hotel bar, said Mike, who lives on the 1500 block of Packer Avenue, across from Chickie's & Pete's, and declined to give his last name.

“I got traffic coming through here at 4, 5 o’clock in the morning, and I have to listen to this bull—,” he said. “ This is the worst thing to happen to this area. You build a half-billion-dollar convention center [in Center City] and you have this thing here?”

Paul Perrello was walking his puggle, Mattie, when he came to the intersection of Broad Street and Packer Avenue. That’s as far south as traffic can go. Police will detour everything either west on Packer toward Green’s house or east toward Perrello’s.

A little sedan squeezed past a tractor trailer, which sounded its horn and startled the poor pooch.

But it's the constant buzz of helicopters and the illegally parked cars that are getting on Perrello's nerves. Parking spots in his area are supposed to be for residents only.

"Minnesota license plate? C'mon, they're not from here," he said. "There was a car from Washington, D.C., parked in front of my house all day and night."

There also were strangers hanging outside his rowhome, he said: "One guy was on my patio, another was on my neighbor's step. I don't know what they were doing there."

For now, said Perrello, he'll just wait it out. The convention is over Thursday night. The traffic will dissipate and the protesters will move on.

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