Orange St. Closure Approved for (Some) Borough Events

Media Borough Council recently approved several mass gathering permits for regular events that will take place in the borough, however, the additional closure of Orange Street was a point of discussion at the March 21 meeting.

Orange Street is considered a state highway and is not owned by the borough, so approval is needed for its closure from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Councilman Paul Robinson said public safety, service businesses in that section of town which are disturbed by the road closure and residents in general, were all concerns over the additional road closure.

Historically, during State Street festivals and events, State Street is closed to traffic from Monroe or Jackson streets to Orange Street but the recent openings of several businesses and restaurants on State Street, west of Orange, have prompted the new closure request.

"I welcome the opportunity to sit down with our police, our highway departments. If there are ways that we can find to get people from the south side to the north side I'm all for it," Robinson said. "If we can find ways to do that, that's great. But the issue is that things come to this council last minute and we're looked at historically as the 'bad guys.' I'm asking the Media Business Authority to take a greater responsibility and not place the blame on this council."

Council approved the additional road closure for the CAC Fine Arts and Crafts Festival on Sept. 28 and the Media Business Authority’s 33rd Annual Media Food and Crafts Festival on Oct. 6, with a 5 to 1 vote, with Councilwoman Dawn Roe voting against. (Councilman Dr. Eric Stein was absent from the meeting.)

A request to close the roadway during Dining Under the Stars, was a larger issue as it's a weekly event over several months and the roadway would be closed during rush hour, down the block from the Delaware County Courthouse.

"This is a multi-week event and you're talking about a 4:30 in the afternoon shut down to one of the major arteries for commuters," Roe said. "I voted against them (the Arts Festival and Food Festival) but they are all really great events. But I personally have never been OK with closing Orange Street. I think it is a safety factor. ...Maybe it could be done once or twice a year, ...but not every week."

A compromise to just close State Street, west of Orange, but have Orange Street remain open to traffic during Dining Under the Stars, was approved by council.