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REFORM AND DECLINE
After World War II ended Philadelphia was experiencing a serious housing shortage. Around half of the city's housing had been built in the 19th Century, and many lacked proper facilities, were overcrowded, and in poor condition. Adding to the housing problem was white flight as African Americans and Puerto Ricans moved into new neighborhoods resulting in racial tension. After a population peak of over two million residents in 1950 the city's population declined while the suburban neighboring counties grew. Philadelphia lost five percent of its population in the 1950s, three percent in the 1960s and more than thirteen percent in the 1970s. Manufacturing and other major Philadelphia businesses were also leaving or shutting down. Development projects included University City in West Philadelphia, the area around Temple University, the removal of the "Chinese Wall" elevated railway and development of Market Street East, specifically the construction the Gallery at Market East. There was gentrification of certain neighborhoods such as Society Hill, Rittenhouse Square, Queen Village, and the Fairmount area. The airport expanded, the Schuylkill Expressway and the Delaware Expressway (Interstate 95) were built, SEPTA was formed, and there was residential and industrial development of undeveloped land in Northeast Philadelphia. Preparations for the United States Bicentennial in 1976 began in 1964. By the early 1970s US$3 million had been spent but no plans were set. The planning group was reorganized and multiple city wide events were planned. Events included the already planned completions of the restoration of Independence National Historical Park and the completion of Penn's Landing. Less than half the expected visitors came to the city for the Bicentennial, but the event inspired future annual neighborhood events and fairs.
Richardson Dilworth was selected as the Democratic candidate in the 1947 election, but lost to incumbent mayor Bernard Samuel. However, during the campaign Dilworth made numerous and specific charges about corruption within city government, which led to the City Council to set up a committee to investigate, which was followed by a grand jury investigation. The five year investigation and its findings garnered national attention. US$40 million in city spending was found to be unaccounted for and the president judge of the Court of Common pleas had been tampering with court cases. The fire marshal went to prison and an official in the tax collection office, a water department employee, a plumbing inspector, and head of the police vice squad committed suicide after criminal exposures. The public and the press demanded reform and by the end of 1950 a new city charter was drafted. The new charter strengthened the position of the mayor and weakened the City Council. The Council would be made of ten councilmen elected by district and seven at large. City administration was streamlined and new boards and commissions were created. After the 1951 election Joseph S. Clark became the first Democratic mayor in eighty years. Clark filled administration positions based on skill and not on political connections and worked to weed out corruption left over from previous administrations. Despite reforms and the Clark administration a powerful Democratic organization ended up replacing the old Republican one. Clark was succeeded by Richardson Dilworth who mostly continued the policies of his predecessor. Dilworth resigned to run for governor in 1962 and city council president James H. J. Tate became the city's first Irish Catholic mayor. Tate was elected mayor in 1963 and reelected in 1967 despite opposition from reformers who opposed Tate for being an organization insider.
As elsewhere in the United States the 1960s was a turbulent decade for the city. There were numerous civil rights and anti-war protests including large protests led by Marie Hicks to desegregate Girard College. Students took over the Community College of Philadelphia in a sit-in, race riots broke out in Holmesburg Prison and a 1964 riot along West Columbia Avenue killed two people, injured over 300 and caused around US$3 million in damages. Crime was also a serious problem. Primarily drug related gang warfare plagued the city and in 1970 crime was rated the city's number one problem in a City Planning Commission survey. The court system was overtaxed and the tactics of the police department under Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo were controversial. However Frank Rizzo was given credit for preventing the level of violence seen in other cities at the time and was elected mayor in 1971. The outspoken Rizzo, who was reelected in 1975, was a divisive figure who had loyal supporters and passionate opponents. Police and fire departments and cultural institutions were well supported under Rizzo, but other city departments like the Free Library, the Department of Welfare and Recreation, the City Planning Commission and the Streets Department experienced large cuts. The radical back-to-nature group called MOVE formed in 1972 and tension soon developed with the city. The first major clash occurred in 1978 at the group's Powelton Village headquarters resulted in the death of a police officer and nine MOVE members were sent to prison. The second major clash occurred in 1985 when a stand off occurred at the group's new headquarters in Southwest Philadelphia. The stand off ended when police dropped a satchel bomb from a helicopter on the house. The bomb set off a fire that killed eleven MOVE members, including five children, and destroyed sixty-two neighboring houses.
Crime continued to be a problem in the 1980s. Deadly mafia warfare plagued South Philadelphia, drug gangs and crack houses invaded the slums of the city, and the murder rate skyrocketed. William J. Green became mayor in 1980 and in 1984 W. Wilson Goode became Philadelphia's first African American mayor. Development continued in areas in Old City and South Street, and large glass and granite skyscrapers were constructed in Center City. City employee labor contracts signed during the Rizzo administration helped set up a city financial crisis that Green and Goode were unable to prevent and left the city near bankruptcy at the end of the 1980s.
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