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Guests of the Four Seasons Hotel look out their windows at hundreds lined up for free food on the far side of Logan Square.
Brides at the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul alight from limos across from a park where several people live.
Midday runners pass homeless "campers" asleep on benches.
Now, two powerful civic groups are pushing for regulations that will make the area a flash point in the debate over how to manage the city's homeless population.
The Parkway Council Foundation and the Center City District have presented Mayor Nutter with a 30-page report that lays out a legal framework for controlling public feedings, encampments, and aggressive or offensive behavior by homeless people.
"We're pointing out a direction for [city officials] to consider," said Happy Craven Fernandez, president of the Parkway Council, representing museums, property owners, schools, churches and residents.
Donald F. Schwarz, deputy mayor of health, who oversees homeless services, said the city was evaluating the report. "Our intent is to . . . find humane solutions," he said, "and at the same time be supportive of the wonderful development on the Parkway."
Advocates for the homeless contend the report is an attempt to rid the area of homeless people in advance of major spending by Parkway cultural institutions, the city, and the state. Among showpiece projects, the Barnes Foundation is moving to the current site of the Youth Study Center ($150 million), and the Free Library is building a new wing ($175 million).
Sister Mary Scullion, cofounder of Project HOME, a nonprofit provider of services and housing for the homeless, called the report "very, very distressing."
"This white paper is seemingly an organized effort to target the homeless with legislation and other kinds of enforcement," she said.
Dennis Culhane, an expert on chronic homelessness and a University of Pennsylvania professor, said the city's homeless numbers were rising not because of lax enforcement but because of a lack of permanent housing for the mentally ill or addicted.
In Philadelphia, four out of five people living on the streets have severe mental illness, addiction or both, according to city statistics.
"It's not that enforcement is irrelevant," Culhane said. "But you have to be able to compel people to make some behavior change."
Paul Levy, president of the Center City District, said the "extreme behavior" of some has had an economic impact on the city. The group provided "a sampling of complaints": bathing in restrooms, washing clothes in a hotel fountain, picking food from a hotel buffet or the plate of a diner eating outside.
The city spends more than $106 million a year to provide "alternatives to life on the streets," including shelters and transitional housing, Levy said. "But we also need to establish standards of public behavior that apply to anyone and establish certain standards that don't tolerate public urination and defecation, and address intimidation."
The Parkway Council and Center City District are urging Nutter to:
Limit feeding of the homeless. While not calling for a prohibition, the groups say that the city should require anyone who hands out food to be licensed, and that the feedings should be confined to areas with sanitation facilities.
Prohibit camping. The city should use regulations already on the books for Fairmount Park to restrict camping. The park system, which includes the Parkway as well as JFK Plaza and Rittenhouse Square, is closed to visitors from 1 to 6 a.m. The groups say the city also could set aside a camping area in the park with security as well as showers and toilets.
Enforce laws against aggressive or inappropriate behavior. The report states it should be easier for police to enforce existing laws against unruly public behavior, such as drunkenness, disorderly conduct, and obstructing the sidewalk or doorways. It suggests that the city adopt measures used in other cities to limit the hours for panhandling or sleeping on sidewalks.
Under Philadelphia's 1998 Sidewalk Behavior Ordinance, police can cite someone for sitting, lying or leaving belongings on the sidewalk. But before issuing a ticket, an officer must work through a homeless outreach worker to try to move the person into emergency housing.
Sister Mary, of Project HOME, said she believed in a code of conduct for everyone, homeless or not. But, she noted, the city has nowhere downtown for homeless people to shower or use a restroom.
"If a place like that were available, you could go with codes of conduct," Scullion said. "But when it's not available, I don't know how you can enforce that."
The proliferation of food handouts on the Parkway - some on a weekly basis, some sporadically - is particularly contentious. The city has been unable to persuade groups to move indoors.
Adam Bruckner, a professional soccer coach who runs a nonprofit to help the homeless, has served hot dogs and pasta every Monday outside the Free Library since 2002. Passersby, he said, are startled to see him feeding a crowd of sometimes 300.
He said he would buy a feeding permit if need be, but would rather serve people where they live: outdoors.
Maria Foscarinis, executive director of the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in Washington, said laws targeting the homeless were not effective at ending homelessness.
"When there is strict enforcement," she said, "people just get moved around."
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