You may not be able to buy alcohol - or congregate in large groups - in certain areas of the city if one city politician has his way.
Mayoral candidate Michael Nutter is urging Philadelphia Mayor John Street to declare a state of emergency in the parts of the city that have been hit by the greatest amount of violent crime.
According to City Code 10-819, the mayor can declare a state of emergency if it is determined that a part of the city is in imminent danger of civil disturbance. A state of emergency lasts two weeks but can be extended for additional two-week periods if necessary.
A state of emergency would prohibit large congregations on public sidewalks, suspend municipal airports and railway terminals, establish a curfew and prohibit the sale of alcohol or firearms.
When Nutter requested that Street consider a state of emergency earlier this month, the city was nearing 300 homicides for the year. As of yesterday, there have been 323.
Nutter said his plan is a response to a violent summer in which city crime rates rose over 7 percent from the year before.
"I don't think the mayor is doing anything other than trying to mount a public-relations campaign to make it look like he's doing something, and the bodies keep dropping," Nutter said in a speech last week.
He added that there is no detailed plan for the state of emergency and which areas it would affect, and Penn's Division of Public Safety officials said is it difficult to comment on any possible ramifications for the University.
Penn's campus would most likely not be affected due to its relatively low and dropping crime rates, but more violent areas on the outskirts of campus could be affected if the state of emergency were to be enacted, DPS officials said.
However, Street's representatives said that he has not made any statements indicating that he is considering a state of emergency, and that he is instead focusing on neighborhood initiatives to keep children and violence off of the streets.
Penn Sociology professor Elijah Anderson said that crime in the city is complicated, and that Nutter's plan, while "respectable," does not tackle the main causes of crime.
"I think it requires more than a state of emergency," Anderson said. "I think that Nutter is certainly expressing his concern and outrage, but we have the drug trade and the availability of guns . and this is what we really have to deal with as a caring society."
