PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Philadelphia police say they’re revamping the block party application review process and hope to have new standards in place by next summer.
Councilmember Jeffrey Young called a hearing after complaints from constituents about block party permits being denied for what they consider arbitrary reasons.
“They say it was because of ‘criminal activity’ but some of those blocks have not had criminal activity at all,” Young said. “I think it’s just the nature of, we live in North Philly, and because we live in North Philly, we’re all stereotyped to say we’re just bound to have criminal activity.”
Young added that being denied a permit “kind of puts a damper on that community spirit and doesn’t make that particular block feel like the city is supportive of efforts to build that community.”
Deputy Commissioner Fran Healy said the department relies on the district commander, who considers many factors such as criminal activity in the area, calls for service, and other events that might affect logistics in an area.
“Our commanders rely on input by trained intelligence analysts, community leaders and experience of past events,” Healy said.
Healy said new procedures may include providing a written rational and an automatic second level review if a permit is denied.
Block parties in the city have sharply declined since the pandemic. Police said they reviewed about 8,000 applications in the last four years and approved 6,400 of them. They acknowledged some blocks throw parties without permits but they strongly discourage the practice, especially after three people were killed and six others wounded in a mass shooting at an unregistered block party in July.