Neighbors of the Roosevelt Mall plane crash treated to Super Bowl tailgate

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Neighbors around Roosevelt Mall, the site of a deadly plane crash last week, are welcomed to a pre-Super Bowl tailgate party in the parking lot.

Car dealer Gary Barbera and State Representative Jared Solomon pulled together the event over the course of four days to give the community a sorely-needed celebratory event.

“I was there Friday night, and what I saw was just carnage,” Solomon said. “We saw debris everywhere, plane parts, smoke, fire, people being evacuated. First responders swarming the area who did an amazing job. Contrast that to where we are now. Immediately, the neighborhood came together, found ways to support one another.”

“I’m born and raised and work here, Northeast Philly,” said Barbera, whose car dealership is a couple blocks away from the mall. “These are nice people. Nice, solid. Friday night, they just got paid, and they gotta deal with a plane crash? A medical plane crash, even worse.”

Tables set up in the parking lot outside of the LA Fitness gym are laden with trays of complementary hoagies and sodas. Heaters and free toys for neighborhood children are provided by St. John’s Memorial Baptist Church in Fairhill. A large screen is set up with a projection of live pre-game television coverage from the Superdome in New Orleans.

That is where Barbera would have been if a plane had not fallen out of the sky onto Cottman Avenue. He said he had tickets to the Super Bowl.

“Of course I have Super Bowl tickets,” he said. “I’m way happier knowing that this thing came together, and we tried. I’m way happier.”

Barbera said he invited off-duty police officers and first responders, and distributed flyers throughout the neighborhood to attract people.

Pete Sarno and Cindy O’Neil live across the street from the mall and saw a flyer for the tailgate. They had already abandoned their gameday plans and were up for a last-minute pre-game.

“We decided to stay home. It was just so much going on, just to try to catch up,” Sarno said. “The streets were blocked off for six days. The power was out for a day. You had to give ID to go in and out to get food or go to work. It was just hard. Normal things were very abnormal.”

“I just really wanted to celebrate with the community,” said O’Neil. “Go birds.”