In the Mirror and In the Spotlight
By Fred Mogul, exclusive to WHYY

Philadelphia: Polished and shining, warts and all

With Republicans streaming into Philadelphia, and the city bracing for an apocalyptic - but perhaps anticlimactic - clash between the establishment and its discontents, even astute news watchers could be forgiven for missing a pretty ho-hum, what'd-you-expect-her-to-say statement that Janice Davis, the city's finance director, released earlier this week.

It seems the city really can afford the peace it just bought with city workers' unions: $160 million worth of pay raises for 14,000 employees over four years. And it can afford a new downtown stadium. And it can afford an urban blight improvement plan. If.

What does all this have to do with the Republican National Convention? That's where the "if" comes in. If the economy stays strong. And while there are many pillars on which the economy rests - financial services, healthcare and academia, to name a few - it is tourism that is front-and-center this week. Tourism, as in Independence Hall, Restaurant Row and conventions, conventions and conventions (most of them far smaller than this one). The city isn't staking everything on the success of tourism , but much of Philadelphia's self-image and image to the world is inextricably tied to its success or failure at luring folks to spend some time and money in The City of Brotherly Love.

Revamping an Image
The Convention, of course, has been years in the making. But as much as it will temporarily affect the city - through commerce, destruction or both - the long-term impact, we are told, will be much greater. The week of festivities - and perhaps violent protests - will showcase a city trying to overhaul its living conditions and trying to bolster its image.

For outsiders who equate Philadelphia with "war zone," this is a chance to find out if things really have gotten better. Many people have read the glowing profiles about former Mayor Ed Rendell and the miracles he - and the economy - wrought. Now they can experience for themselves one of the greatest coups of his much-admired administration: the wooing of the GOP to a city which last elected a Republican mayor when Truman was president.

The media and "the mood"
Most visitors won't have memories that long, but one important group of visitors, on the average, has very long memories, indeed: the media. Thousands of journalists, bored by hour after hour of political pontificating, will go stalk "the mood of the city." They will profile Philadelphia as assiduously as any political candidate. Few will leave out Frank Rizzo. Few will leave out MOVE. And none will leave out carjacking suspect Thomas Jones and the 28-second videotape of his apprehension by enraged police. Most reporters probably will conclude that the city has come a long way but has a long way to go - a reasonable assessment, even if it is one that pertains to everything from, say, the Middle East peace process to American attitudes about smoking.

What the media may or may not pick up on is the resilience of Philadelphians. It is resilience that has been tested in the weeks leading up to the Convention and resilience that will be tested in the weeks, months and years following the Convention. And if things get hot-under-the-collar during Convention Week, that will provide a pretty good test, too.

A resilient city?
So far, so good - at least as of this writing. The Jones arrest sparked outrage and race-baiting on all sides, but Philadelphians have remained relatively calm. Under popular Commissioner John Timoney, the police department seems logistically and psychologically prepared to handle most of the chaos that puppet-wielding protestors - and credit-card-wielding Republicans - can dish out. There is always the potential for extreme violence, especially if frustrated agitators feel they are being shortchanged by the media or thwarted in their First Amendment right to expression (in that order). But as one local commented Friday in the grocery-store checkout line: "I think it's going to be like Y2K: a big buildup and scare that won't really turn into anything."

So what about the long term? Philadelphians will do well to remember that the eyes of the world are on them today but probably will be ignoring them a week later. Try to do what the convention delegates do, and what they've always done: relax, have some fun and adventure, make some contacts and don't mistake all the pomp and circumstance for the hard work and bumpy path ahead.