The Clash on Walnut Street...

Susanna Foo is one of the great chefs of America and most recently, she found herself in a most unfortunate situation in her hometown of Philadelphia. She was arrested after an alleged physical confrontation with a Parking Authority officer attempting to ticket the truck of one of her purveyors parked at the side of her restaurant.

Things got ugly when the boyfriend of the officer claimed the confrontation resulted in a miscarriage. It is important to note that the officer has a history of lawsuits against various parties for various reasons. She claimed the chef struck her and she was seriously injured after falling down on the pavement.

I wasn't there, so I can't comment on the incident. I can however, suggest that I have known Susanna Foo for years, and this is not the woman that I know. Chef Foo is, and has always been a gracious lady who is quiet and always respectful. The bottom line is that I don't believe the officer, and I will be shocked to hear otherwise.

I do believe the officer was placing a ticket on the purveyor's truck. This is a city that tickets anything and everything that isn't moving (including FedEx vehicles). This is a city that should realize the importance of their restaurants, because without the quality restaurants, Philadelphia would be a ghost town. Yet this is a city that hassles those restaurants with things such as expensive and annoying parking tickets. In most cases, it's virtually impossible to park a truck in a legal space while making a delivery to a restaurant.

I'm not condoning physical violence against the people who write tickets. I am suggesting that the people who actually run this city take another look at what they are doing when they hurt the very thing that keeps them alive.

Susanna Foo has her hands full running two (and soon to be three) magnificent restaurants. I wish her continued success and hopefully, this incident will quietly go away.

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