I ran into an interesting situation yesterday at the Race Street Pier.
I was giving a lesson to a new pilot with a Mavic Air. Nice to have another responsible pilot among us!
We flew through two batteries and just as we were ready to wrap up, a young guy with a bright yellow vest approached us. The vest said "DRWC" on it. He came up to us and said that flying drones was prohibited on the pier. I had no idea who or what DRWC was, but I nicely said thank you and that we would wrap it up.
DRWC is the Delaware River Waterfront Corporation. It is a non-profit that manages projects and public lands along the waterfront. I checked out their website and it says nothing about any such regulation. Since the pier and the other properties it manages are all public (city) lands, I don't see how they could prohibit drone flights. The area is completely clear as far as the FAA is concerned (other than TFRs during local sporting events). The City of Philadelphia has no ordinance about using drones on public property, other than to follow FAA regulations, as shown
HERE. The city even has another more recent web posting
HERE
Also note that there were no people in our takeoff and landing area and our flight was almost exclusively over the river, VLOS at all times, 10 miles visibility, never exceeded 300 feet altitude, and the pilot had a VO at all times (me) as an extra precaution. In other words, we were completely legal.
The pier is a wonderful spot for flying and it just bugs me that people/entities make up these arbitrary rules without any merit or basis in law. The best thing in this case was just to pack up and go home. In a future instance if I get approached by another yellow-vest guy, I may inquire further as to what he believes the laws are in reference to drone flights. The pier is not private property. If it were then the owner could certainly restrict usage. This is public property.
Oh here is a picture of the scenery right there. It was taken on a different day with my Spark. Kind of gray due to completely overcast skies, but still nice scenery.