Democrats’ Convention Choice for 2016 Reflects a Philadelphia Resurgence


PHILADELPHIA — Cheesesteaks? Never mind. Sichuan shoestring French fries? That’s more like it. Like many American cities, Philadelphia has greatly evolved both economically and culturally since 2000, the last time a major political party held its national convention here, not to mention the days when W. C. Fields made it a national punch line.

While its public school system remains a mess, its crime rate elastic and its poverty rate high, Philadelphia has been revitalized over the last decade and a half, with celebrity chefs, a vibrant technology sector and thriving art scene, all boxes to check for cities on the move these days.

“Yes, the schools are still a problem, crime is still a problem, gun violence is still a problem,” said Senator Bob Casey, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has watched Philadelphia evolve over several decades. “But people have much more optimism about the future now. With the pope coming in 2015 and the Democrats in 2016, it’s a one-two punch.”

The story of Philadelphia, which the Democrats chose on Thursday as the venue for their national convention in 2016, is less a tale of two cities than a nuanced novel with overlapping plots.

Its population of 1.6 million has increased by roughly 36,000 since 2000, with many of the newcomers drawn by new tech companies and Comcast, the city’s biggest corporate benefactor.

Yet Philadelphia has a higher percentage of people living in poverty than any other large city in America, including New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. According to the Census Bureau, 27 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

Since 2000, its median income, adjusted for inflation, has actually fallen. It is getting younger, and remains racially mixed; its black population, about 43 percent of the total, is almost unchanged, but the Hispanic and Asian populations have increased significantly. Of the three mayors in the past 16 years, two have been black and one white.

“I would call it almost a communal grittiness,” said David L. Cohen, an executive vice president of Comcast, who was the chief of staff to Edward G. Rendell when he was the city’s mayor. “We fight together, we work together, we try to build the city together again.”

Philadelphia’s self-image as gritty and blue-collar has evolved as the millennials who studied at the city’s many universities have found jobs and affordable housing that have persuaded them to stay.

The influx of millennials is expected to continue, fueled in part by hundreds of new jobs at Comcast, which is building a new tower that will be the eighth-tallest in the United States when it is completed in 2018. But, unlike in other cities, firefighters, students and executives still rub shoulders in many of the watering holes here, even as well-known chefs expand their empires of ethnically diverse fare.

The city’s longstanding inferiority complex about being an impoverished postindustrial center that has neither the financial power of New York nor the political clout of Washington has been replaced in large part by its increasing pride in its affordability, which has helped maintain its diversity and unpretentious flair.

“We are sometimes in the shadow of being between Washington and New York,” said Larry Ceisler, who owns a public relations firm in central Philadelphia.

While the convention will draw national attention, it will not solve Philadelphia’s chronic problems, Mr. Ceisler said. “When people come here for the convention, what are they going to see?” he said, referring to the Democratic National Convention next year. “They are going to see this glittering city core, with lots of restaurants, parks and culture. They are not going to see the poverty that we have, and they are not going to see a public school system that can’t support nurses, libraries and music programs.”

The city has more or less shed its nickname of Killadelphia as the number of murders has fallen to historic lows in recent years, although the 248 homicides last year were a tiny uptick from the previous year, indicating that the city is far from having solved its violence problem.

For Democrats, the city’s growing progressive agenda may be a boon, even as it offers a backdrop against which to discuss the dismal state of the public education system in America, and income inequality.

On Thursday, the Philadelphia City Council voted 14 to 2 to approve an ordinance guaranteeing workers in the city the right to earn paid sick leave. Mayor Michael A. Nutter, who had vetoed the measure twice previously, signed it hours later. “If the national Democrats are smart, they’ll use this opportunity to make paid sick days a national issue in 2016,” said Kati Sipp, the director of the Pennsylvania Working Families Party.

The convention decision comes as Philadelphia is preparing for a visit by Pope Francis in September, an event that is expected to draw millions of visitors to several public events. Some officials questioned whether Philadelphia is equipped to handle the two major public events, but at this point it does not have much of a choice.

“We’ve got to be ready to go two for two,” Mr. Ceisler said.

Last edited by Goose (2/13/2015 8:37 pm)