We had company for the weekend.
No, not at home.
I spent most of the weekend here in Primos monitoring developments tied to the visit by Pope Francis. We had a full team of reporters and editors under the direction of Vince Carey downtown covering this historic event. They were part of thousands of journalists from around the globe who found their way to Philadelphia to cover the final events of the Pope's historic week-long visit to the U.S.
Here in Primos, we shared our front office and front parking lot with the good men and women of the Upper Darby police force, along with a crew of emergency services workers.
They could not have been nicer.
Sometimes the relationship between the press and police can get a little testy. We're naturally at odds. We're trying to uncover information. They don't always want to give it out. Sometimes we butt heads.
But a few months ago, when officials from Upper Darby first reached out to me after receiving word that Primos Station would be one of only 18 stations on SEPTA's regional rail lines to be utilized to ferry the thousands of pilgrims into the city to see the pontiff, I decided to reach out.
Our plant is literally right next door to the train station, which is just a block away on Oak Avenue.
The point person for the Upper Darby police here in Primos, Capt. Tom Johnson, sat down with me and went over what they needed. They utilized the front parking lot as a staging point for many of their vehicles. They were able to set up a command center in our front office, which holds our Classified Advertising Department, but which is empty on weekends.
I was here early both Saturday and Sunday to act as a liaison for them.
I spent much of both mornings walking down Cottonwood Lane, the little street that runs from Oak Avenue back to our plant, and keeping tabs on what was going on at the Primos Train Station.
I made sure to tell the many police officers, SEPTA workers and others to make the Daily Times building their home for the weekend. And yes, that meant being able to use the, ahem, facilities when nature called.
Our nice neighbors at our little Wawa on Oak Avenue as well as across the street at Giant got into the act, offering "Pope-alicious" donuts and pretzels to those arriving at the train station. As you can see in the photo, it was much appreciated.
The truth is that on Saturday we were underwhelmed at the number of people who boarded trains at the station. Only about 700 people got on trains at the station on Saturday, less even than the number of special regional rail passes SEPTA sold.
Things picked up a bit on Sunday, but in general I would say it was still less than what was initially expected.
When SEPTA first announced that they planned to use Primos Station, they estimated that 10,000 people would swarm the station both days. That didn't happen. Really didn't even come close.
Upper Darby police, who first envisioned shutting down Oak Avenue, instead simply did traffic control. Both Cottonwood and Mildred, which runs back to our plant from Providence Road, were close.
No, it was not the kind of numbers we expected. I still don't think it could have gone much better.
And I was happy to offer a little bit of hospitality to our friends on the Upper Darby police.
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