The people behind The Portal livestreaming device are letting Philadelphians decide its future.
What to Know
- The Philadelphia Portal is remaining in Philadelphia and you can decide where it will stand.
- The livestreaming device was offline and wrapped up in LOVE Park after recent vandalism.
- Philadelphia Portal officials then celebrated it going back online in LOVE Park on Friday, March 28, 2025, by connecting again with Dublin, Ireland.
- The Portals Foundation is now giving Philadelphians a chance to decide if it should stay in LOVE Park or move across the street to the City Hall Courtyard.
The Portal that connects Philadelphia to other cities around the world is back online in LOVE Park, but will it stay there?
"Hello Dublin," Portals principle and Bean Foundation director Joseph Callahan said last week as he waved to people on the other side at the Irish capital after the Philly livestreaming device went back online.
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"The Philadelphia Portal will remain in Philadelphia for the next two years, at a minimum," Callahan said at a morning news conference last week. He teased three possible Center City public locations for it to move to.
Then this week, the Portals folks put the future of the device in the hands of the people with only two choices: staying in LOVE Park over moving across the street to the City Hall Courtyard.
"Where would you like to see the Philadelphia Portal?" the website for location voting asks.
Once you vote, you must answer a text message to confirm your choice. Once confirmed, users get sent to a page urging for support of the Philly Portal.
Callahan said that the new (or now old) location also won't be the Portal's last stop in Philly.
"We are anticipating that we will move the Portal closer to Independence Hall" in time for Semiquincentennial celebrations in the summer of 2026.
"As we prepare for our country's 250th birthday there is now better stage for us to exemplify what Philadelphia is made of," Callahan said.
He also said the possibility of multiple Portals in Philadelphia are possible in the summer of 2026.
"I encourage everyone to love the Portal, respect the Portal, share the Portal and join us on this quest as we have a meaningful impact connecting the world as one without borders, without labels and without prejudice," Callahan said.
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