This article is a must-read, but the following is so incredibly amusing. For context, Broad and Ridge is about five blocks from ACORN headquarters, my homebase in 2004, when I worked registering voters in Delaware and Montgomery counties. It’s not an unsafe neighborhood at all, although once you get a few blocks off Broad it can be pretty sketchy. Mainly, it is just a strip of North Broad Street where the businesses have all left. But it is too heavily trafficked by both cars and police to be remotely unsafe. Broad Street, along with Market, is one of the two main drags in Philly.
The rally at Broad Street and Ridge Avenue was supposed to start at 4 p.m. Forty-five minutes later, I sat on the Divine Lorraine’s abandoned steps and called headquarters, asking where everyone was.
“They left already,” a staffer said over the phone. “They should be there.”
There were commuters, homeless men and store owners milling about. I thought I’d have seen someone hopping around with a hand-painted “Honk for Hillary” sign. The only remotely political thing happening was the five or six members of ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), asking people if they wanted to register for the general election.
Finally, at 5 p.m., I spotted a volunteer captain standing on the center island between Ridge and Fairmount avenues. He quickly looked around and returned the way he came, going north on Broad Street.
I followed him a few blocks to Cobre, a Latin-themed restaurant where Chelsea Clinton was scheduled to make an appearance that night. “Sorry,” he said when I caught up, “we got held up at the last stop.” He asked if I’d like to help. “You can be captain of this section, and we’ll go down to Ridge.” He gave me a handful of fliers.
That left me with Lara*, a spunky twentysomething who the Obama campaign would love to have in their corner. Everyone who dared pass her got a flier.
“Chelsea’s going to be here tonight,” she said to a guy on a bike.
“Who?” he asked.
I gradually learned more about why the other volunteers were delayed. “Actually,” Lara said, “we were kind of late because we saw all the bombed-out houses and we were scared to park [the volunteer captain’s] really nice car near them.”
She studied my face. “We were scared.” At Broad and Ridge.
I’m sorry, but for a Philadelphian, that is laugh out loud funny. And it really says a tremendous amount about the difference in the two campaigns.
i grew up in south philly, took the subway every day and night for 5 years, lived in north camden nj as an adult during the years it was named the most dangerous city in america, ran a nightclub of sorts in a pretty bad neighborhood in philly a few years ago, and these days spend a lot of time in the gayborhood at night, and im scared to be on many corners of philly….particularly north philly any time of the day (and im looking to start a new venture in that neighborhood)…so i dont get it. its scary….thats a fact.
i also read both articles and “got” quite a few of the differences…..but not the scared part….that was legitimate.
sorry, I posted instead of replying.
thanks BooMan, I was just about to mention this in the open thread.
I saw this in orange, diaried as HRC Philly Staffer: ” I can’t f*cking stand Obama people”. But the original article is MUCH more interesting than just that inflammatory quote; it makes it clear that Hillary’s campaign is unbelievably lame and disorganized.
I’ve been on many campaigns and Obama has the tightest and brightest I’ve ever seen. They don’t miss a trick. I particularly liked the one they had where I could donate and “match” a newby donor. Now this is incredibly powerful on several fronts. First I didn’t have to have a huge donation. Second, I could leave a message for the newby (which I did saying I was glad they were putting their toe in the water of politics) and the newby could write me back (which they did!)
I’m sorry but Broad and Ridge is not scary. Unless you consider black people to be scary by default, Broad and Ridge has to be considered one of the safer intersections in North Philly. It’s practically in Billy Penn’s shadow.
they opened a movie theatre down the street and there was gunfire the first night!!!!! broad and ridge is very scary….esp at night….and i have been there quite often late at night to get some bar b que….those bar b que trucks with the smoke pouring out are just amazing….but im definitely on guard. but im on guard in the gayborhood too and thats mainly white people walking around…try walking around with a couple of trannies at 11th and pine or near pennsylvania hospital after they kick the drug addists out for the night…every tranny i know has been assaulted in the gayborhood at least once coming home late from bob and barbaras or pure….my parents old neighborhood is all asian and my mom was mugged on her front steps….my sister was robbed at gunpoint across the street in the old days when the neighborhood was all jewish….its not like a corner in cherry hill where the only thing you have to fear is your crazy rabbi husband having you knocked off so he can marry the local dj….its philly…its north philly…..crime happens.
you are comparing Broad and Ridge at 4pm to a tranny walking home from Bob and Barbara’s late at night?
You can get mugged anywhere. A friend of mine got mugged at 3rd and Bainbridge of all places.
There are scary neighborhoods and there are hot corners, and nothing on Broad between Spring Garden and Girard qualifies.
Here’s the Obama version.
JayZ sets the beat
Barack Gets That Dirt off His Shoulders
Nah…folks have been “brushing the haters off their shoulders” before JayZ had anything to say about it.
Theme for the day: Hate on me, haters.
SING!!!
(thanks for the tip!)
Contrast what happens when a leader is in charge. From last night’s Colbert Report, Lynn Sweet’s diary of Obama’s appearance, from the stage
“The crowd on the riser behind the stage had been asked to stay and the audience was told to stay quiet before the show began lest it disrupt Sen. Obama’s ability to hear. The audience didn’t make a sound when Obama came out. He waved and put his finger to his lips to signal the ‘be quiet’ sound. He waved again and the audience waved back, in unison and in silence”
http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2008/04/obama_makes_surprise_appearenc.html
I’m always a little braver when I walk into the wilderness and know that my leader knows where he’s going.