An East Coast metropolis sees a bumpy road ahead

by Dante Chinni | The Christian Science Monitor

PHILADELPHIA - In the space of a year, the City of Brotherly Love has gone from hopeful and optimistic to tense and glum.

In early 2008, there was hope that the new mayor, Michael Nutter, would usher in an era of change that would help Philadelphia emerge from the shadows of Washington and New York and establish it as a world-class city in its own right. But after a year of recession economics and belt-tightening, Philly is concerned with just getting through 2009.

Like other big-city "Industrial Metropolis" communities, the city took especially hard hits last year.

There is, without question, wealth in the gleaming towers of the Center City area. But there is a great deal of poverty among the 1.5 million people who occupy the sprawling neighborhoods beyond the skyscrapers. More than 20 percent of Philly residents live in poverty. Those people need city services - but the recession has left the city strapped.

In November 2008, the city announced projections of a $1 billion deficit over the next five years. In January, the number was refigured to be more than that - at least $1.5 billion and possibly higher. Everyone knows that difficult cuts are coming, and those cuts have taken some of the bloom off Mayor Nutter, even though the hard times are not of his doing.

Another challenge ahead: Nutter has to renegotiate the contracts of city workers - police, fire, and custodial. He put off those renegotiations when he took office in 2008 with a one-year deal for all employees.

One thing giving Philadelphia hope is the arrival of President Obama about 2-1/2 hours down the road in Washington. Like many residents of the city, Mr. Obama is a Democrat, and it's thought that he understands the plight of cities better than his predecessor.

Philadelphia, in fact, went big for Obama: He earned 83 percent of the vote here. That percentage even tops the big figure - 68 percent - that Obama won nationally in "Industrial Metropolis" communities.

The stimulus package that he began talking about well before Inauguration Day is seen as manna in big cities like Philadelphia. Jobs programs and infrastructure projects - and the money that comes with them - are on the minds of everyone here.

Still, Philadelphia's problems are extremely complicated, as they are in any big city. The schools struggle. Healthcare is a luxury to many here.

One of Nutter's first battles in closing the budget gap had to do with the proposed closing of 11 underused libraries. The plan to shut those facilities, all in the city's poorer areas, was viewed as an attack on struggling families.

"There are already some hard feelings around the gentrification process in the city," says the Rev. Ellis Washington, pastor of the St. Matthew AME Church. "The libraries decision does not help the situation."

If America's economic problems continue to deepen, big cities like Philadelphia will find themselves with bigger budget holes, bigger budget cuts, and growing tensions.