A Turning Point

How I Became a Democratic Socialist

Asbury Park, 1982.

On Saturday, February 5, Joy Huertas of Philadelphia's Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability posted a charming piece of fiction about Washington Avenue, a dreadful street in South Philly that has been awaiting a remake for nearly a decade. 

In 2020, the City released its "final design decision" for Washington Avenue, calling for a "road diet" to reduce the avenue from five lanes for motor-vehicle traffic to three. 

Then came the calls for more public input. And so began the dance. Whatever proponents of the design did, it was not enough. Surveys, letters of support, community board approvals. Nah. Not the right answer. 

Finally, City officials huddled with groups of residents in Point Breeze and Grays Ferry to gather further information. They then decided that there was significant opposition to the three-lane design. (It appears that these meeting did not violate Pennsylvania's open meetings law, aka the Sunshine Act.) 

So the City dropped the "final design decision" - the product of seven years of work - and is now mulling two significantly weaker designs, with a final final decision expected in weeks and construction to take place this year. (For two stories in PlanPhilly, click here and here.) 

What struck me, in all this recent activity, was that the City was essentially acting as if this project had no history before 2020. 

Just to refresh everyone's memory, this project began in 2013. I went back and reviewed the emails in my "Washington Avenue" folder. They start in 2014. 

I attended two meetings - one in 2014 and one in 2015. The first (October 15, 2014) was at the Bryant Baptist Church on 19th Street a bit south of Washington Avenue, and the second (September 3, 2015) was at the Rock School for Dance Education on Broad at Washington. I have distinct memories of both. I will limit myself to one story. 

At the second meeting we were sitting at round tables, engaging in conversation. A middle-aged Black woman was sitting to my right, and we had a cordial discussion of the issues at hand. It may be a bit difficult to remember today, but back then the focus was on bike lanes. Today the focus is more on the whole street and on dead pedestrians. 

At any rate, I'm a good listener and a genial person, and the lady warmed to me, and at one point leaned a bit in my direction and said, smiling, "Bicyclists are evil." 

I didn't challenge. I just tucked the story away. And now you have it. 

I certainly had no doubt, after the two meetings in 2014 and 2015, that there were Black residents in Point Breeze who were strongly opposed to proposals to redesign Washington Avenue. 

In my opinion, for the City to come back at this late date and say they're shocked, shocked to discover that there is opposition in Point Breeze is disingenuous at best. 

Let me be very clear: I don't think opposition from Point Breeze residents is driving the design decision. Why do I think that? Because I was also present at the Battle of 11th Street, which took place in a community room near the Italian Market in 2019 and was focused on the proposed new, two-way cycle track for a stretch of 11th Street. (To see my report on that evening's meeting, click here.) 

One anecdote I didn't put in the 2019 story: A middle-aged white woman stood up and told the packed room that she had regular fantasies of running bicyclists down with her SUV. 

I thought at the time, and think today, that people who fantasize about committing mass murder should not be allowed to drive policy. And in this case they were not. Despite such vehement opposition from members of the community, the City went ahead and built the cycle track. And guess what? The sky has not fallen. 

Why is the outcome different on Washington Avenue? I will tell you what I think. I think the people in Point Breeze are being cynically used as a smokescreen. As the Wizard of Oz puts it, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain." 

And who's behind the curtain? In my opinion, it's the business owners, many of whom treat Washington Avenue as their own private brick yard, loading zone, and parking lot. The old English common law held that the King's highway was not to be treated as a stable yard. This idea has been worn away over the years, but I still think it's valid to suggest, as a general principle, that we should not allow people to unilaterally privatize public property. 

There's a saying that goes back to Ozzie Myers, although he didn't quite say it this way. Over the years it's been slowly smoothed out. Here's the version that's in the Lexicon of Aphorisms: "Money talks, bullshit walks."

This is, of course, not a problem that is unique to the politics of Philadelphia. We see it in Washington every day. And in both parties. 

My thinking on this subject has undergone an evolution over the past decade or so. I used to be more accepting of the power of money in politics. But, really, how far is "money talks, bullshit walks" from Mao's dictum: "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." 

I think not far. And so I do prefer the notion that power proceeds from the consent of the governed. (I'm not alone in this. Have a look at the Declaration of Independence.)  So, I believe that an objectively good policy, supported by a very good public approval process, should not be trumped by shadowy forces acting behind closed doors. To use Ozzie's words, bullshit should talk, and money should walk. 

And that is why Washington Avenue has brought me to a turning point. For the last decade I have been devoting myself to reimagining Philadelphia's streets. They could, after all, be so much better. And I am perfectly willing to lose in a fair fight. I have volunteered on eight political campaigns, and my candidate has won twice.  

But Washington Avenue was different for me. I still think we need streets that should be safe, useful, and, if possible, even pleasant for all users. But I no longer think that designing better streets and then undergoing a thorough public review process are enough. I think we need to look at our broken political process and fix it. This involves replacing people and also reforming the way we do things in our political life. 

I don't think either the Republican or the Democratic party is up to this job. And so I plan to spend more time working with the Democratic Socialists of America, aka the Party of Bernie Sanders. 

I actually joined DSA about a year ago. My son suggested it to me. You can be a DSA member and also a registered Democrat.  Much of what the DSA does involves nesting within the Democratic Party and pushing it to do the right thing - something Bernie Sanders has had notable success with in the past few years. Dues are on a sliding scale, and you can sign up online. 

They have a nice magazine, and I got a membership card that says "A better future is possible." It sits on my bureau, and I look at it every day. It's red, of course. 

I haven't done much with DSA over the last year - they reach out on a regular basis and are happy to take no for an answer. But now I think I'm going to be reordering my priorities. I'm tired of being played for a sucker. 

See also Flex Posts on Pine and Spruce; About That Parking Lot in South Philly; A New World Being Born; It's the Road Design, Stupid; Looking and Not Seeing, Listening and Not Hearing.