Walk on by

People with business to conduct in Philadelphia Community Court wait on Arch Street for it to open. Though instructed to show up at 8:30 a.m., they could not enter until after 8:50. New rules will tell them to show up at 9.

Seven years, I'd say, I've walked by the downbeat line that begins forming before 8 a.m. at Broad and Arch., and looked the other way. The line grows, wrapping around the McDonald's at the corner, and fanning up Broad Street. The subpoenas say show up at 8:30 a.m. They say nothing about the fact that the doors don't open until 8:50 a.m. at the earliest. They say nothing about bring warm clothes, because you'll likely be out there in the cold and rain and snow more than a half hour if you follow the letter of the letter, so to speak.

Why does Community Court, a progressive approach to lesser crimes, give its clients the Cold Treatment?

In line you'll find those charged with summary offenses, felons paying fines, witnesses in animal cruelty cases.

Witnesses!

That's today's metro column, spurred by a series of challenging, annoying and most-of-all spot-on e-mails from Tommy Massaro, a former housing director who hasn't lost his ability to be outraged.

Outrageous it is.

And Tommy's nagging did some good, it seems.

That doesn't make him satisfied of course.

Posted by Daniel Rubin @ 8:29 AM Permalink | Post a comment

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About Metro Mashup

Metro columnist Karen Heller has been an Inquirer staff writer since 1986. She has won national, state and local awards for feature writing, investigative reporting and criticism, and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Karen here; read her columns here.

An award-winning columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Annette John-Hall’s twice weekly metro columns always illuminate. Her topics and storytelling challenge readers to reflect on their own perceptions, to turn off the auto response and forge a different kind of conversation. She has been nominated twice by the Inquirer for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary. E-mail Annette here; read her columns here.

Kevin Riordan’s daily newspaper byline debuted in 1972, when he was a child prodigy. He got his first real newspaper job four years later, and joined the Inquirer in 2010. A native of western Massachusetts, he lives in Haddon Heights, NJ. E-mail Kevin here; read his columns here.

Since joining The Inquirer as a staff writer in 1988, Daniel Rubin has reported from 27 countries, but most of them were small. He's a metro columnist and has been the European Correspondent for Knight Ridder Newspapers. For two years he sat at home and wrote Blinq, the paper's first daily blog. Dan began newspaper work in Norfolk and Louisville, Ky., after getting his undergraduate and graduate degrees from Northwestern University. He has lived in all four commonwealths, most recently in Pennsylvania. He teaches urban journalism at the University of Pennsylvania. E-mail Daniel here; read his columns here.

Monica Yant Kinney joined the Inquirer as a suburban reporter in 1996, moved to the City Hall Bureau two years later and was named a metro columnist in 2001 at the age of 30. As a columnist, Kinney speaks to, and for, the curious and infuriated masses, writing often about gun violence, casinos, politics, pop culture and parenting. She logs so many miles reporting in the city, suburbs and South Jersey, she finally bought a Prius. E-mail Monica here; read her columns here.

Visit Blinq 1.0 here.

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