South Philly residents fight to keep median parking

SOUTH PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - "Get it right South Philly and keep it tight we're keeping our center parking."

Members of "Taking Our South Philadelphia Streets Back" set up at Broad and Shunk to save this decades long tradition in South Philadelphia - parking in the median along busy Broad Street.

"Come on out, sign the petition."

The group is trying to get signatures from residents to support keeping median parking.

Organizer Kayla Vas says say when they heard another group wanted the city to crack down, they knew they had to save the tradition.

"They want to end center median parking technically it's illegal but the city for over 70 years has let it go on," Michael Vasilakos said.

Tien Huynh signed the petition.

"I need the parking. I need the spot for parking."

She says finding parking around here is the toughest part of the day.

"We have to drive around and around for a half hour 20, 40 minutes go around looking for the parking."

Michael Russello agrees there's insufficient parking in South Philly even on his street.

"There's 48 houses, and only 24 parking spots do the math. The residents can't park let alone the businesses."

But he's not in favor of median parking.

"It's really not safe, it's not safe, it blocks vision and there's been a few incidents around here but it's like an accepted liability because of the space."