by KYW's Mike Dunn
Public lewdness by bar patrons is driving residents in the Manayunk-Roxborough area to complain to City Hall, and city officials are now poised to respond.
"This neighborhood is in serious jeopardy right now."
Manayunk resident Peter Rose told a City Council committee on Tuesday that his neighbors are fed up with the actions of drunken visitors running wild when the bars of Main Street let out:
"You have each night a procession of people coming up from the bars on Main Street who think it's great sport to urinate in our alleys, in our front yards, in the parking lots."
Rose said the problem is not just public urination but also defecation, and more:
"I would go further and draw your attention to the witnessed fact that there is also public fornication going on in our front yards."
Hillel Levinson, president of the Manayunk Development Corporation, testified that the perpetrators are not just young men:
"Let me assure you, you can talk to police officers in the Fifth District and they will very clearly tell you it is also becoming a female issue in the Manayunk-Roxborough area."
So the Committee on Licenses and Inspections okayed a measure that raises the penalties for public urination and defecation -- from $300 to a maximum of $1,500 this year, and a top fine of $2,000 in 2009.
The measure now goes to the full Council for a vote, perhaps as early as next week.
(File photo)
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