A Philly Tradition Under Threat: Harold Burnett’s Ode to Saving Block Parties

 
Welcome to the 8th installment of Streets Dept + WeFilmPhilly’s 12-part, collaborative #PhillyMinute series… We took a quick break over the summer to get inspired, but we’re back to round out this series documenting slices of life in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection!

For our latest video, we’ve teamed up with Harold Burnett, whose op-ed this month for the Philadelphia Inquirer went Philly viral. Harold’s article was a personal ode to Philly block parties, as a widely criticized and newly announced rule from the City will soon require neighbors to get pre-approved for a block party by their local Police District before they can submit an application with Phila. Streets. “This adds an unnecessary layer to the process, and in my opinion, it is unfair to ask citizens to act as a coordinator between two city offices who should be able to communicate among themselves,” Harold writes in his article.

Harold’s piece ends with a call-to-action, asking anyone who feels similarly to sign a petition started by Philadelphia 3.0, a political reform organization. The petition asks Mayor Kenney to reverse the policy change, saying it creates “unnecessary red tape … [and will] weaken this important part of Philadelphia’s culture.”

I couldn’t agree more with Harold and Philadelphia 3.0 on this and encourage anyone reading to join me in signing the petition to Mayor Kenney now.

Special thanks to Harold for joining us and orating an abbreviated version of his Inquirer article for this video. Be sure to read his full article here!

See the rest of the Streets Dept + WeFilmPhilly collaborative #PhillyMinute series here:
Part I, Rush Hour at City Hall
Part II, Comcast Technology Center and Philly’s Growing Skyline
Part III, Rolling Through Philly on the Market–Frankford Line El
Part IV, Sunrise at Graffiti Pier
Part V, The Miracle On South 13th Street
Part VI, Philly Goes Green
Part VII, Winter in Philly

WeFilmPhilly is a Philadelphia-based (duh!) video production company that specializes in high quality drone aerial photography, aerial 4K video, and video production. Since August of 2017, Streets Dept has been working with WeFilmPhilly to create a 12-part video series that explores Philly’s public life, public art, and public architecture from new angles. Each video is shot from above with aerial drone footage and sound recorded from the ground.

If you’re interested in collaborating with WePhillyPhilly, reach out to them here.