Skip to content
Link copied to clipboard

City to Occupy Philly: 'Vacate Dilworth Plaza'

The Center City District today officially awarded the Dilworth Plaza construction project to the Daniel J. Keating Company.

Update:

The city posted an official notice advising members of Occupy Philly to "vacate Dilworth Plaza and remove all of your personal belongings immediately."

The notice advises protesters that the $50 million makeover of the plaza "is imminent."

The city said in a news release that outreach workers will tomorrow begin offering to assist homeless people who are living at the movement's camp site to move to another location.

Mayoral spokesman Mark McDonaled noted that Keating has to obtain a number of permits before construction work can begin at the site.

McDonald couldn't say how many days it would take Keating to get the needed permits, but said it would be less than a month.

Earlier:

The Center City District today officially awarded the Dilworth Plaza construction project to the Daniel J. Keating Company.

Keating president Steve McKendrick noted that the plaza "has to be empty" before the $50 million makeover of the plaza can kick into gear.

That simple fact could increase the tension between the city and the Occupy Philly demonstrators who have called the plaza home for the last month.

A group of about 25 members of the movement's "Reasonable Solutions People" met with the city yesterday and agreed to talk about possibility of relocating to another site, just several days after a contingent of other Occupy Philly members voted to stay at the site.

It's not clear, however, how soon an argeement could be reached -- or if all of the protesters at the site will agree to move.

Earlier today, Pat Gillespie, the head of the city's Building Trades Council, said he's asking members of the movent "to change venues, but not to stop their messaging. We can get in there and start putting people to work."