Artists conception. Not sure if the actual Pope will pose with Rocky or a dove.
Francis is coming! Francis is coming! And all of Philadelphia is shutting down. Roads will be closed, including the main bridge into Center City, and the City's public transit system is severely cutting back services.
How exactly will the estimated 1.5 million people who will come to see the Pope get around? I have no idea. Nor, it seems, does anyone else. And even when they do get there, they are not going to find much to spend their tourism dollars on. Restaurants and businesses in "the box" (the restricted areas of Center City where cars will be banned and movement will be restricted), aren't going to be able to get their supplies or employees in to feed those hungry pilgrims or sell them some Papal swag. My office is closed tomorrow. So is Noz Jr.'s school. It would be worse if he went to school in the City. Those schools have a six day weekend (they have been closed since Wednesday and won't open again until Tuesday), thus screwing over thousands of Philly kids and their working parents.
Only Philadelphia could take a visit from a global figure, one who is expected to draw a ton of visitors to the city, and handle it so badly that the City will lose millions of dollars, and probably over a billion if you count all that lost productivity.
But hey, what do I care? I get a three day weekend, maybe four if the city really does fall apart.
Scene in front of my office today.
