A Prayer for the City

by Buzz Bissinger

  Chapter Six: “Fast Eddie, We Are Ready”

  David Cohen’s “vacation memorandum,” written in August 1992, was personally viewed. I was present on March 20, 1992, when Cohen decided who should get tickets to the NCAA basketball playoffs in Philadelphia. The account of the city councilperson asking Cohen to do something about the homeless people beneath his window was related to me by Cohen on April 7, 1992. I was present on June 17, 1992, when Cohen assured a city councilperson over the phone that a friend would be getting legal work. I was present on June 16, 1992, when he called the police commissioner about a stolen car that belonged to a friend of the mayor’s. The memo from Cohen about bathroom locations in City Hall, written on October 27, 1993, was personally viewed.

  The account of the union negotiations in general during the spring and summer of 1992 was based on being present at dozens of private meetings held by the mayor, Cohen, and various members of the city’s negotiating team. Hundreds of pages of confidential documents describing in detail the city’s strategy were also given to me. During the negotiations in the spring and summer of 1992, I attempted to gain insight into the strategy of the unions, in particular District Council 33, but efforts to interview union head James Sutton and lawyer Deborah Willig were rebuffed.

  The contents of the “strike contingency plans” notebook were personally viewed. The account of negotiations with the unions during the middle of June 1992 in which Thomas Paine Cronin screamed at city negotiators came from interviews with several of the latter. I was present at the meeting on May 30, 1992, when city negotiators discussed strategy, including the leak of the “Crazy Work Rules” memo. The memo was subsequently supplied to me. I was also present on June 25, 1992, at the meeting in the mayor’s home when strategy was further discussed, including the injection of race by playing one union off against the other, the use of layoff notices, and the possible contracting out of sanitation. The unions’ rally on June 29, 1992, was personally observed, as was the mayor’s reaction to it.

  Chapter Seven: Crisis of Faith

  The account of the mayor at one point promising wage increases of 4 and 6 percent to the unions during the Democratic National Convention in July 1992, as well as the mayor and David Cohen meeting privately with national union head Gerald McEntee, came from an extensive two-hour interview with chief city negotiator Alan Davis. The interview took place on October 13, 1992, a week after the dispute was settled, when events were still fresh in his mind. Davis brought up the mayor’s crisis of faith on his own initiative. Notes of the meeting with McEntee, which took place on July 28, 1992, were supplied by Cohen. The account of the conversation between Willig and Davis at the end of July 1992 was based on the interview with Davis. I was present at the meeting on August 6, 1992, between Rendell and national union leaders. The mayor’s comment about being pregnant all the time if he were a woman was made in my presence on September 21, 1993.

  Chapter Eight: Profiles in Courage

  I was in the mayor’s car when he traveled to the viewing for slain officer Charles Knox on September 3, 1992. I was present on September 16, 1992, when David Cohen told the mayor that the state supreme court had ruled in favor of the city on the issue of fact-finding. The account of the city’s decision to file an appeal with the state supreme court came from being present at numerous discussions. The account of a black politician circulating a letter with the implied threat of violence was based on an interview with Cohen.

  The interior of John Street’s office was personally observed on several occasions. The account of a city official receiving a call from Street’s office about a parking space was based on a memo that was written on February 11, 1992, and personally viewed. Cohen’s response was in his own handwriting at the bottom of the memo. The account of Street’s request for tickets to a sporting event was based on a phone call that the mayor made to an official of the Philadelphia Phillies on December 15, 1992. The account of Street’s meeting with editors of the Daily News was given to me by a participant. The memo from Daily News editor Richard Aregood, describing Street’s behavior, was written on July 1, 1992, and personally viewed.

  The events of September 23, 1992, in which the city elected to implement its last and best offer, were all personally observed. The account of the mayor and Street going through the elaborate choreography of giving up on two outstanding issues was described to me by the mayor. I was present on September 25, 1992, when Cohen discussed the idea of former Labor Secretary Ray Marshall coming to Philadelphia to proclaim the contract a fair one. I was present at the meeting later that day when the mayor, Cohen, and Street discussed the status of negotiations.

  The account of negotiations at the Holiday Inn Midtown was based upon interviews with several city negotiators who were there. I was present for all but one of the events that took place on October 5 and 6, 1992, when settlement was reached. I was not present when the mayor, Cohen, and Sutton met in the mayor’s private office in the early morning hours of October 6. I was in an office next door, however, and was able to hear what was being said. The letter that was written by the mayor to Street promising that sanitation would not be contracted out was personally viewed.

  Chapter Nine: Tidbits of Urban Wisdom

  Extensive interviews with Linda Morrison formed the basis of most of this chapter. Her memo about the Southwark Plaza housing project, which she gave to me, was written on December 21, 1992. Other information about Southwark came from press accounts in the Inquirer and Daily News. The history of public housing in the United States came from a variety of sources, including the essay “Distressed Public Housing: Where Do We Go from Here?” by Michael Shill, a professor of law and real estate at the University of Pennsylvania. Information on the status of families at the Philadelphia Housing Authority in 1959 was contained in a master’s thesis by James C. Webb that is on file at the main library of the University of Pennsylvania. The quote from President Roosevelt on the dangers of becoming dependent on governmental relief came from the book The End of Equality by Mickey Kaus.

  Chapter Ten: Getting Paid

  The account of Commonwealth v. Carlton Bennett and Giovanni Reed was based on personal observation of the trial between January 21 and 27, 1993, interviews with McGovern, and court and police records.

  The account of the Philadelphia Housing Authority in general was based on dozens of meetings with the mayor and other officials at which I was present. As with the union negotiations, I was also made privy to hundreds of pages of documents, many of them confidential. I also benefited from excellent coverage of the authority by Matthew Purdy of the Inquirer. I was present on January 25, 1993, when Michael Smerconish, then the regional administrator for the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development, engaged in a screaming match with Lucien Blackwell, then a local congressman. I was present at the meeting on January 29, 1993, in which Smerconish and the mayor discussed the two finalists for the post of executive director of the housing authority. I was present for several discussions at the beginning of February 1993 when Rendell, after expressing initial enthusiasm for finalist David Gilmore, began to waver. I was also present on May 6, 1992, when Rendell said that the housing authority was being driven primarily by the issues of patronage and race.

  HUD’s draft audit of the authority was made available to me. Gaynell Gillespie’s account of the burning of her infant son by a radiator in a public housing high-rise was based on an interview with her on December 22, 1992. The letter from John Paone to the mayor describing the inner workings of the authority, written on February 8, 1993, was personally viewed.

  Chapter Eleven: Urban Sacrifice

  David Cohen’s reaction to the visit of President Clinton on May 28, 1993, was personally observed. The account of the mayor’s testimony before the Base Closure and Realignment Commission on May 9, 1993, and his reaction on June 27, 1993, when thousands of defense jobs in the city were saved, were based on clippings in the Inquirer.

  I was present on March 15, 1993, when
the mayor made his comment about “giving bread and circuses to the people.” I was present on the tarmac of Philadelphia International Airport on May 28, 1993, when the president arrived. The account of the mayor’s limousine ride to City Hall with the president was supplied by the mayor.

  There have been numerous books written about the impact of federal policy on the American city, but three were invaluable in the writing of this section: Crabgrass Frontier by Kenneth T. Jackson, A Nation of Cities by Mark I. Gelfand, and The Contested City by John H. Mollenkopf. Other sources included History and Policies of the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation by C. Lowell Harriss, the essay “Housing the Underclass” by David W. Bartelt, which appeared in the book The Underclass Debate, and the research report Metropolitan Disparities and Economic Growth, published by the National League of Cities in March 1992. I personally viewed at the National Archives in Washington all the maps and neighborhood surveys by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation for the city of Philadelphia. I am indebted to Kenneth Jackson for making me aware of the existence of such records in the archives.

  In determining the nation’s attitude toward cities, The Intellectual Versus the City by Morton and Lucia White and The Culture of Cities by Lewis Mumford were both quite helpful. So was the essay “City Lights” by Lewis H. Lapham that appeared in Harper’s Magazine in July 1992.

  Roosevelt’s quote about the American city came from Gelfand’s A Nation of Cities, as did the quote by Henry Ford. Mayor Richardson Dilworth’s dire and prescient predictions about the American city were made before the same senate subcommittee that also heard the testimony of Professor Vernon. Professor Robert T. Wood’s speech about American attitudes toward cities was part of a series of lectures in 1959 and 1960 sponsored by the Fels Institute at the University of Pennsylvania.

  William Schneider’s essay “The Suburban Century Begins,” in the July 1992 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, was a penetrating analysis of the significance of the 1992 presidential election. All the events of May 15, 1992, when the mayor went to Washington for a series of private meetings about the plight of the cities in the aftermath of the Los Angeles riots, were personally observed.

  Chapter Twelve: The Last Sermon

  I was present on June 26, 1993, for the opening of the city’s new convention center. The account of the opening of the Centennial Exhibition in the city on May 10, 1876, was based primarily on the book The Illustrated History of the Centennial Exhibition by James D. McCabe. A book published in 1876 called What Ben Beverly Saw at the Great Exposition was also helpful.

  I was present on June 27, 1993, when Robin Hynicka gave his last sermon at Cookman United Methodist Church. Extensive interviews with Fifi Mazzccua and Robin Hynicka were relied upon for the rest of this chapter.

  Chapter Thirteen: Hot Dog Day

  The events of July 23, 1993, when the mayor proclaimed “Hot Dog Day” were all personally observed. I was present on May 10, 1993, when Rendell made his comment about Sidney Kimmel and building a new orchestra hall in the city. I was also present on May 7, 1993, when Rendell called potential campaign contributors over the phone. I was present on December 8, 1992, when Cohen created his plan to trace the source of leaks to the press. The mayor’s strategy in sending people over to see David Cohen was observed on several occasions. I was present on February 22, 1994, when Cohen told the mayor they should no longer pay a campaign worker. I was also present on February 25, 1994, when Rendell talked with the worker and said he was going to assist him in finding a job.

  The account of the city and HUD entering into a partnership for the operation of the housing authority in August 1993 was based on personal observations at meetings and extensive interviews with the mayor and Cohen. In relating his strategy for dealing with HUD, Cohen supplied me with both the draft he sent to HUD officials and the markup of that draft by HUD officials so that I could see the changes. The president’s congratulating Rendell on becoming chairman of the board of the housing authority took place on September 9, 1993, and was related to me by the mayor.

  Cohen expressed his feelings about his son Benjamin in an interview on November 12, 1993. The depiction of Rendell in the aftermath of the two election losses in 1986 and 1987 was based on an extensive interview with his wife on October 9, 1996. I was present on October 11, 1993, when the mayor and Cohen had differing reactions to the Phillies’ win in the fifth game of the National League Championship Series.

  Chapter Fourteen: “We Hardly Knew Ye”

  I was with McGovern during his last two days in the district attorney’s office on September 9 and 10, 1993. The account of the McGoverns’ experience with the Philadelphia public schools was based on an interview with Mary Pat McGovern on March 6, 1995.

  I was present with the mayor on September 14, 1993, when he went by helicopter to the USS John F. Kennedy as it was sailing into the navy yard. The quotes of various politicians about their expectations for the yard came from clippings in the Inquirer.

  The experiences of Jim Mangan’s children in the public school system were based on interviews with Mangan and two of his daughters, Cheryl and Michelle.

  Chapter Fifteen: Vision for the City

  The account of Linda Morrison’s mugging at a commuter train station on December 7, 1993, was based on several interviews with Morrison and was also supplemented by a detailed memo of the incident that she wrote to David Cohen on December 21, 1993. Background on the Chestnut Hill neighborhood came from Suburb in the City by David R. Contosta, as well as my own personal experience of living there during Rendell’s first term as mayor. Morrison’s account of her decision to leave the city’s employ in the spring of 1994 was based on extensive interviews with her. That account was also supplemented by nearly a dozen memos that Morrison wrote to Cohen. Cohen’s memo about parking authority garages, written on February 23, 1994, was personally viewed, as was his memo of May 4, 1994, stating that too much emphasis was being placed on contracting out.

  The account of the administration’s reaction to the Inquirer’s coverage of the Stinson-Marks race for the state senate at the end of 1993 was based on being present for numerous discussions in which the issue was discussed. The letters that Rendell sent to major fund-raisers on October 20, 1993, were personally viewed. I was present on December 6, 1993, when former city controller Thomas Leonard suggested to Cohen the formation of a blue-ribbon panel to help the Inquirer win a Pulitzer. Rendell’s comment about not caring if the paper won a Pulitzer was made in my presence at the beginning of 1994. The mayor’s comments to Democratic National Committee chairman David Wilhelm and White House staffer Marcia Hale about the city dying were made in my presence on December 12, 1993. Cohen’s comment about rewarding Legg Mason for donating to the fund for the city’s Christmas display was made in my presence on December 7, 1993.

  I was present on March 22, 1994, when Rendell and Cohen traveled to Washington for a private meeting with HUD Secretary Henry Cisneros, and was also present for the meeting. James Carville’s quote about Pennsylvania was repeated to me nearly a dozen times in the four years I was with the mayor.

  I was present for virtually all the comments that were made on March 22 and 23, 1994, in regards to the profile of the mayor by Lisa DePaulo of Philadelphia Magazine. I was not present when the mayor spoke to DePaulo on the Metroliner from Washington to Philadelphia, but the contents of the conversation were later related to me.

  Chapter Sixteen: “Inappropriate Conduct”

  Rendell’s intent to give Street $10,000 for a political fund-raiser as “some assuagement” was made in my presence on April 11, 1994. The mayor’s suggestion of a $1 million UDAG grant to the wife of Street’s law partner was made in my presence on July 15, 1993. (The grant was never awarded.) I was present at the meeting on December 14, 1992, in which the mayor and Street met with Willie Mays. The mayor’s assurances to hotel-casino operators that whoever built a large convention hotel would get a casino franchise were made in my presence on January 11, and March 24, 199
4. The account of the city demolishing twenty-five structures a week was based on an Inquirer story by Vernon Loeb on May 16, 1994.

  The account of politicians’ efforts to use the navy yard to turn Russian ships into scrap metal was based on clippings in the Inquirer. I was present on July 15, 1994, when Rendell said he had been asked to revise the findings of a consultant who was negative about the idea. The mayor’s comment that he should quit and run for governor was made to me on February 22, 1994.

  Rendell’s grabbing of Inquirer reporter Amy Rosenberg on May 18, 1994, was personally observed. The letter of Inquirer city editor David Tucker on May 19, 1994, about the incident, was personally viewed as was the mayor’s written response on May 24, 1994. The Daily News’s questioning of its coverage of the mayor was based on a source intimately familiar with the situation.

  The account of the fatal shooting of six-year-old Michelle Cutner on June 29, 1994, was based on clippings in the Inquirer and Daily News. I was present at the neighborhood meeting the next night, and I know that Rendell was aware of it because I asked him if he was going to attend. The reaction of Neil Oxman to the mayor’s absence at the meeting was made during an interview on September 22, 1994. David Cohen’s memo analyzing the mayor’s schedule, written on July 15, 1994, was personally viewed.

  The account of Tony Mazzccua’s life sentence for murder was based on a three-hour taped interview that took place on February 20, 1996, as well as a complete review of the court proceedings against him. I was also present on several occasions when Fifi Mazzccua visited her son in prison. The account of the death of Kim Armstrong on August 12, 1994, was based on clippings in the Inquirer and Daily News. I was present at the community meeting on August 26, 1994, in which Armstrong’s death was discussed.