Sixers arena protestors attempted to gridlock Philly on Thursday to simulate what traffic would look like during a future game. Thank God I was there to direct traffic and help holiday shoppers avoid the chaos:

Reports are saying 70 cars showed up. Police told me they were expecting around 100+. The original protest was scheduled for Wednesday, but they moved it because it was raining. Why? Who knows. How does rain affect a car protest? I don’t know. You’d think if you were serious about the protest and not just being performative you’d move hell to get your message across. Since the vote passed earlier in the day it probably took some wind out of their sails, which produced not much of a gridlock. So instead it resulted in protestors honking on their horns and ruining people’s nights at the Christmas Village. It felt like the gridlock plan devolved into making as much noise as possible because they didn’t have the numbers they’d hoped.

When cars would show up, protest marshals would give them caution tape and anti-arena signs and then they’d drive away towards City Hall, which felt ironic. If you wanted to simulate traffic wouldn’t you do your best to stay on Market Street, where the arena will be? Protestors were fighting an uphill battle as the cops did a good job of snuffing it out. They lined the street in cars, on motorbikes, and foot lined from Market East to City Hall keeping traffic moving. It didn’t help the opposition had to pull over in the bus lane to get their stuff from organizers and a cop or a SEPTA bus blaring on it’s horn would be tailing them:

Add this to the list of other unorganized and performative protests the opposition has done. The city didn’t feel more busy than a normal rush hour during the holidays.

Even the Inky, who is in bed with Comcast and the anti-arena protestors, couldn’t spin it as a win.


From Michelle Myers and Anthony R. Wood:

Extra police were on hand for the protest, but traffic continued to move, and no arrests or major incidents were reported.

The vehicles gathered around 5:30 p.m. and continued their protest for about an hour.

Around 6:30 p.m., the sound of the honking horns began to fade as the protesters wrapped up the demonstration.

And now we move on. There is a vote next week. It’s going to pass. The arena will be built. And none of us know what the future holds.