The Parkwood Shopping Center in the early evening of Aug. 19 was the site of competing rallies on the issue of SEPTA funding.
State Sen. Joe Picozzi (R-5th dist.) has his district office in the center, and supporters of his rallied outside the office.
Meanwhile, on a patch of grass near the Wawa, Transit For All PA and Transit Forward Philadelphia led a rally demanding immediate funding for SEPTA.
Picozzi supporters held signs such as SEPTA runs on taxpayers, Picozzi’s Posse, NE Philly Supports Joe Picozzi and No Yuppies in the Northeast. They chanted, “Stand with Joe.”
“We all need to come together as one city,” Picozzi told the crowd.
Picozzi supported a Senate budget that funded SEPTA and demanded accountability from the transit agency, but the House rejected it. He’d like to see the Senate and House return to session.
“The House and the Senate need to come together,” he said.
Picozzi said he sees an “urgency” to get SEPTA the money needed to close its deficit and prevent service cutbacks, route eliminations and fare hikes, along with preventing any negative impact on Amtrak lines. As public schools opened in Philadelphia on Aug. 25, he suggested a Senate/House compromise.
“There’s no perfect solution,” he said.
As for the competing rally, the crowd chanted, “Fund SEPTA now” and “No cuts, no way, we ride SEPTA every day,” and held signs such as The Wheels on the bus are coming off, Joe and Picozzi Don’t Cut My Bus.
They also sang a song to the tune of the Eagles fight song, changing the words from “Fight, Eagles, Fight” to “Fight, Picozzi, Fight.”
Autumn Fingerhood, a Fox Chase resident and member of Unite Here Local 274, said SEPTA cutbacks will affect her as a stadium worker. She questioned whether Picozzi is on the same page as SEPTA General Manager Scott Sauer, as she said the lawmaker suggested.
“That clearly is not true, Joe,” she said.
Senia Lopez, a lifelong Northeast resident and member of the 215 People’s Alliance, was among those who “took over” Picozzi’s office on Aug. 18. She spoke to Picozzi at the recent National Night Out event in Fox Chase, but she described the Senate legislation backed by Picozzi as a “fake funding bill.”
The crowd also heard from Fernando “Flaco” Romero, who drives the SEPTA 1 bus, which travels Roosevelt Boulevard and includes Lopez as a passenger. Romero, who has worked for SEPTA for 35 years, called for a dedicated source of funding for the transit agency. If he met Picozzi, he said, he’d ask him, “Do you care?” ••
