Poll: Where do you stand in the South Broad median parking debate?

Welcome to Friday Open Threads, wherein we'll pass the mic to readers to speak up about topics of interest, distress, horror, and more. This week’s topic: Parking on the South Broad Street median.

Local activist group 5th Square is suing the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) over the long-standing and technically illegal tradition of parking along the South Broad Street median.

PlanPhilly first reported the lawsuit, which states that the “PPD and PPA’s failure to issue a parking ticket to owners of vehicles parked in the Median of Broad Street is in violation of their mandated duties, set forth above, under the law.”

It continues that failure to enforce the law causes “a dangerous condition for those walking, driving or bicycling down Broad Street.”

The South Broad median has long served as an impromptu parking lot, leaving cars parked in the middle of one of the city’s major streets. Yet the Philadelphia Parking Authority (PPA) has turned a blind eye to it for the past 100 years despite it being illegal.

5th Square also spearheaded the online petition that circulated during last year’s Democratic National Convention (DNC), when the city strictly enforced a no-parking rule during the event. The petition, which argued for the city to make the enforcement permanent, garnered more than 1,200 signatures.

Already, feedback from the lawsuit has been swift. Liefer told PlanPhilly that he has received death threats over his efforts.

Philly residents have plenty of thoughts about this parking debate on South Broad Street, and we’re all ears here. So for this week’s Open Thread, we want to know what you think should happen to parking on the South Broad Street median. Take our poll and let us know what you think.

Got something more to say? Keep the conversation going in the comments.

• Courting driver fury, group sues PPA to end median parking on Broad [PlanPhilly]