Debate on disabled vets' parking turns ugly with flyers Councilman DiCicco, who said he wanted to study the issue first, was compared to bin Laden.

A dispute over a bill allowing free parking for severely disabled veterans has come to this: Someone's been handing out a flyer at popular Center City lunch spots comparing City Councilman Frank DiCicco to Osama bin Laden.

DiCicco says union electricians are behind the flyers, which depict DiCicco and bin Laden with the caption, "Bin Laden attacks our military from caves. Councilman Frank DiCicco attacks our veterans from his hole in City Hall."

The leaflets have appeared in recent days at food courts at the Reading Terminal Market, the Bellevue, and Liberty Place.

DiCicco said he was offended at being compared to "the enemy of this country."

"The coward who is putting people up to this, you can equate that person with Osama bin Laden," said DiCicco, who is involved in a long-running political feud with John Dougherty, the electricians' union head and local Democratic Party treasurer, and his supporters.

DiCicco said his staff had been told that City Councilman Richard Mariano had visited with men wearing jackets bearing the logo of Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers who were passing out the flyers at the Reading Terminal Market.

Dougherty did not return calls asking for comment. But Mariano said DiCicco's accusations were untrue.

"He's not just a liar," Mariano said. "He's confused. I didn't hand any out, and I don't think anyone from Local 98 did."

On one level, the fight is about the issue of disabled parking. DiCicco, chairman of Council's Streets Committee, last week persuaded his colleagues to table a bill written by Mariano that would allow severely disabled veterans to park all day at meters for free.

DiCicco said he was not opposed to the ordinance but felt it required further study. He plans to introduce a resolution today calling on the state to provide more information about its policy for issuing special placards for disabled veterans. The measure also urges the Philadelphia Parking Authority to study how to accommodate the disabled veterans.

DiCicco wrote an ordinance, approved last year, that ended almost two decades of free all-day parking at meters for cars that displayed handicapped placards. The measure, which has since freed up many parking spots in Center City, was designed to end abuse by people who are not disabled. The ordinance still allows the most severely disabled, who drive vehicles with lifts, to continue to park for free.