News

Someone Give This Woman on South Street an Anti-PPA Hero Award

Yes, there's video. Plus, whose lifespan will be longer: the Portal or hitchBOT (RIP)?


A woman and her cigarette share a moment in a car on South Street while the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) was trying to tow the vehicle

A woman and her cigarette share a moment in a car on South Street while the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) was trying to tow the vehicle. (Image courtesy Noah Webster)

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Someone Give This Woman On South Street an Anti-PPA Hero Award

Everybody seems to be talking about The Portal. That’s the new attraction in LOVE Park that allows people in Philadelphia to interact in real time via video with people in other countries. But if we really wanted to entertain folks on the other side of the world and give them a more realistic taste of Philly, we should have broken out the Portal on South Street on Monday night.

Details are still coming in about the incident, which took place around 6:30 p.m. on South Street between 5th Street and Passyunk Avenue. But the video (below) provided to Philly Mag by South Street tattoo artist Noah Webster says a lot. It starts off with dirt bikers doing wheelies in the middle of the adjacent intersection — because of course — and then the video pans to a woman sitting in the driver’s seat of a car parked on South Street.

So what’s unusual about a woman sitting in the driver’s seat of a car on South Street? Well, she was doing so while the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) was attempting to tow the car. That’s right. The car was partially hitched up by the PPA, reportedly while her friends were shopping and she was catching a snooze in the back seat. And once she felt the car being hoisted, she jumped into the front seat and just sat there, smoking a cigarette and, at one point, seeming to check her appearance in the rear-view mirror. After that, things get a little heated between her friends, some bystanders, a handful of PPA workers, and the cops. And, finally, a female cop was able to get the woman out of the car.

Here’s the full video provided by Webster:

God, I love this town. Some heroes wear capes. Some heroes wear tailored dresses and killer heels while smacking down MAGA hurricane conspiracy theories. And other heroes? Well, other heroes wear an off-white cropped crewneck sweatshirt, black leggings, and sneaks while smoking their cigarette in a car that’s in the middle of being towed on South Street.

Never change, Philly.

Speaking of the Portal…

Here’s a fun video from this morning’s unveiling. In case you didn’t know, the Portal in LOVE Park comes to us from New York City, where officials decided to get rid of it after people did some lewd and otherwise inappropriate things in front of it. Because, naturally, no one in Philly would ever misbehave in front of a live camera to the other side of the world. I’m pulling for you, Portal. May you at least live longer than hitchBOT.

Philly Mega-Lawyer Going After Donald Trump for Defamation

You may have heard that the five men known as the Central Park Five, who were wrongly convicted of attacking a jogger in Central Park years ago, are suing Donald Trump for remarks he made in September at the debate in Philadelphia. (He said they confessed and pleaded guilty to the crime, which is very much untrue.) But what you may not know is that their Philly attorney in the case is mega-lawyer Shanin Specter, as in the son of Arlen. A Trump spokesperson just called Specter a “left-wing activist.” Yes, I’m sure that some radical Marxist is running one of the biggest personal-injury firms in America.

Obama + The Boss

That’s what you’re getting next week, Philadelphia. Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen are teaming up for a concert and rally in Philadelphia on October 28th. Location and time are TBA.

By the Numbers

20: Visits that Vice President Kamala Harris will have made to Pennsylvania this year once her Philly trip this Sunday is complete. Donald Trump has “only” been here 15 times. But at least he made French fries at McDonald’s. By the way, internet trolls have been targeting the review pages for the suburban McDonald’s in question, with one “customer” complaining that there was bronzer on their fries.

0: Amount of evidence that lifelong Republican, former Pennsylvania governor, former U.S. Attorney, and former Pennsylvania attorney general Tom Corbett says there is that the 2020 election was rigged, in my this just-released interview with him. (The Pittsburgh resident also happily points out how many Super Bowl rings the Steelers have compared to the Eagles. He’s not wrong.)

$3 million: What Elon Musk’s PAC has given away thus far to random Pennsylvania voters in his bizarre voting sweepstakes. Yes, it’s bizarre. Yes, it’s highly problematic. It’s possibly illegal. But, well, Elon, you know where to find me.

Local Talent

Sigma Sound Studios was a legendary Philadelphia recording studio. The Jacksons recorded there. So did David Bowie. Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were near constant presences. Finally, Sigma gets the documentary treatment in The Philly Sound … Heard ‘Round the World. It premieres this week at the Philadelphia Film Festival. Here’s the Inquirer‘s Dan DeLuca with more on the man behind the camera.