check two
03-21-2010, 10:59 PM
What's up with all these losers in Philly? They have nothing better to do then to organize a ton of people via Facebook and other sites to run around and cause damage and act like savages? Time to start getting the snipers out on the buildings.
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It was a peaceable, laid-back scene Sunday afternoon on the 900 block of South Street - a far cry from the teenage flash mob scene the night before - and Michael Solomonov reflected on the volatility that had raced through the block like a bad case of raging hormones.
"You don't think about about this sort of stuff when you're making a business plan," he said.
He was having lunch at Percy Street Barbecue, which he co-owns along with other restaurants and, where for a few minutes late Saturday night, startled customers were left gasping from pepper spray that police used to disperse thousands of teens that had swarmed South Street east of Broad, reportedly summoned by text messages and Twitter.
By 10 p.m., crowd control had become a cat-and-mouse game, the overflow on South Street shooed away, only to surface near the Clothespin sculpture at 15th and Market where one witness reported a peak of 32 police cars and helicopters with searchlights overhead.
No significant property damage or injuries were reported and police said they made only three arrests - two for disorderly conduct and one for aggravated assault.
But the numbers didn't fully capture the terrifying moments some businesses experienced.
At Olympia II Pizza, 616 South St., pizza delivery man Seth Kaufman, 20, showed off nasty scrapes and bruises on his face and arms he said he sustained from kicks and punches while trying to keep a rowdy crowd from entering the shop to join a fight in progress: "He got beat up for us," owner Horula Psihogios , said through tears.
She has run the shop for 26 years with her husband, Pete.
Other witnesses described a scene that began innocently before sundown - young teens, most of them about 15 years old, aimlessly strolling the funky avenue of steak joints, tatto parlors and head shops on one of the first truly balmy evenings of spring.
But after sundown and continuing until 10:30 p.m., the crowds grew, and so did the a sense of unease.
How tight was it?
"It was 'concert-packed'," said Barry Williams, who works at Olympia Sports, a sneaker shop. "It was like Japan at lunch time," said his co-worker, Lacy Brown.
It reminded some neighborhood denizens of past mob scenes on South Street - for heavy-drinking Mardi Gras gatherings, and Greek Picnic weekends that once brought a surge of out-of-town African-American college students to the street.
At times harmless teenage high-jinks veered into more threatening scenes. One witness said that about 30 kids gathered in a scrum at the intersection of Sixth and South, jumping up and down until police dispersed them.
Several businesses blocked their doors by 9:30, or in the case of South Street Souvlaki, closed early: "By the time we left at 11ish," said bartender, Tom Morrin, "there was order outside."
The disturbances came against the backdrop of other similar scenes - a crowd that gathered May 30 at Broad and South, leaving a 54-year-old bicyclist critically injured when he was attacked by a gang of young men; roaming bands of youths fighting in The Gallery mall and accosting pedestrians in Center City in December and February; and fights on Broad Street earlier this month that resulted in 28 arrests and charges of felony rioting.
The bad publicity that has stemmed from those episodes left merchants on South Street in a bind, some trying to minimize that event, others calling for prompter police reponse - or restoring the mounted police that once patroled the area.
There was another dilemma: The return of warm weather has finally brought customers back to store's that suffered from slim business during an unusually snowy winter.
Percy Street Barbecue, for one, reported a record 288 covers Saturday night.
"The crowd reminded me of what South Street looked like 10 years ago," said Frank Murphy, at tattoo artist at Tattoo Eddies on Fourth Street's so-called Tattoo Alley. "We wouldn't have minded a flash mob at all. . .if they were all 18 years old and had money in their pocket."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100321_On_South_Street__the_calm_after_flash_mob .html
================================================== =====
It was a peaceable, laid-back scene Sunday afternoon on the 900 block of South Street - a far cry from the teenage flash mob scene the night before - and Michael Solomonov reflected on the volatility that had raced through the block like a bad case of raging hormones.
"You don't think about about this sort of stuff when you're making a business plan," he said.
He was having lunch at Percy Street Barbecue, which he co-owns along with other restaurants and, where for a few minutes late Saturday night, startled customers were left gasping from pepper spray that police used to disperse thousands of teens that had swarmed South Street east of Broad, reportedly summoned by text messages and Twitter.
By 10 p.m., crowd control had become a cat-and-mouse game, the overflow on South Street shooed away, only to surface near the Clothespin sculpture at 15th and Market where one witness reported a peak of 32 police cars and helicopters with searchlights overhead.
No significant property damage or injuries were reported and police said they made only three arrests - two for disorderly conduct and one for aggravated assault.
But the numbers didn't fully capture the terrifying moments some businesses experienced.
At Olympia II Pizza, 616 South St., pizza delivery man Seth Kaufman, 20, showed off nasty scrapes and bruises on his face and arms he said he sustained from kicks and punches while trying to keep a rowdy crowd from entering the shop to join a fight in progress: "He got beat up for us," owner Horula Psihogios , said through tears.
She has run the shop for 26 years with her husband, Pete.
Other witnesses described a scene that began innocently before sundown - young teens, most of them about 15 years old, aimlessly strolling the funky avenue of steak joints, tatto parlors and head shops on one of the first truly balmy evenings of spring.
But after sundown and continuing until 10:30 p.m., the crowds grew, and so did the a sense of unease.
How tight was it?
"It was 'concert-packed'," said Barry Williams, who works at Olympia Sports, a sneaker shop. "It was like Japan at lunch time," said his co-worker, Lacy Brown.
It reminded some neighborhood denizens of past mob scenes on South Street - for heavy-drinking Mardi Gras gatherings, and Greek Picnic weekends that once brought a surge of out-of-town African-American college students to the street.
At times harmless teenage high-jinks veered into more threatening scenes. One witness said that about 30 kids gathered in a scrum at the intersection of Sixth and South, jumping up and down until police dispersed them.
Several businesses blocked their doors by 9:30, or in the case of South Street Souvlaki, closed early: "By the time we left at 11ish," said bartender, Tom Morrin, "there was order outside."
The disturbances came against the backdrop of other similar scenes - a crowd that gathered May 30 at Broad and South, leaving a 54-year-old bicyclist critically injured when he was attacked by a gang of young men; roaming bands of youths fighting in The Gallery mall and accosting pedestrians in Center City in December and February; and fights on Broad Street earlier this month that resulted in 28 arrests and charges of felony rioting.
The bad publicity that has stemmed from those episodes left merchants on South Street in a bind, some trying to minimize that event, others calling for prompter police reponse - or restoring the mounted police that once patroled the area.
There was another dilemma: The return of warm weather has finally brought customers back to store's that suffered from slim business during an unusually snowy winter.
Percy Street Barbecue, for one, reported a record 288 covers Saturday night.
"The crowd reminded me of what South Street looked like 10 years ago," said Frank Murphy, at tattoo artist at Tattoo Eddies on Fourth Street's so-called Tattoo Alley. "We wouldn't have minded a flash mob at all. . .if they were all 18 years old and had money in their pocket."
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20100321_On_South_Street__the_calm_after_flash_mob .html