Read A Prayer for the City Online
Authors: Buzz Bissinger
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.
David Cohen’s account of his conversation with Dwight Evans in Harrisburg was based on an interview with Cohen on August 4, 1994. The events of July 11, 1994, when the Philadelphia Plan was announced, were all personally observed. The mayor’s assessment of the plan as a “drop in the bucket” was made on July 22, 1994. The account of the city’s competition with Camden for twelve hundred jobs at PNC Bank was based primarily on letters and other internal correspondence made available to me. The amount of business that the bank did with the city came from memos prepared by the city treasurer’s office. Rendell’s comment to PNC Bank chairman Thomas O’Brien was contained in a note he wrote on August 24, 1995.
The account of the mayor’s behavior with photographer Sharon Wohlmuth at a party to celebrate the publication of the book
Sisters
on October 20, 1994, was based primarily on an interview with Wohlmuth. At least five other individuals familiar with the details of the incident were also interviewed. I was present when Wohlmuth’s collaborator on
Sisters
, Carol Saline, told a member of the mayor’s office that the incident had been kept out of the press because Wohlmuth had refused to talk about it.
I was present on February 28, 1994, when members of the black clergy presented the mayor with a list of written demands. The letter from
Philadelphia Tribune
publisher Robert W. Bogle thanking Cohen for his help in getting additional parking spaces was written on August 16, 1994, and personally viewed.
The recitation of calls made to 911 operators the night Edward Polec died, on November 11, 1994, came from a police transcription of the calls. I was present on November 29, 1994, when Rendell sought endorsement for reelection from various members of the black clergy. I was also present at the press conference on December 21, 1994, in which the winners of the empowerment zones were officially announced by President Clinton.
The comments by focus-group voters about Street were contained in a January 1995 report by the Hickman-Brown polling firm that was personally viewed. Rendell’s comment about the public never forgiving him if he resigned as mayor was made in my presence on December 22, 1994.
I was present with McGovern on July 28, 1994, when he rode into Center City. I was also present with Morrison on June 10, 1995, when she returned by commuter train to Queen Village shortly before leaving the city.
I was present at the meeting between the mayor and officials representing Breyers on August 23, 1995, when it became evident that the parent company, Unilever, was going to close the Breyers manufacturing plant in the city.
The account of the city’s efforts to bring Meyer Werft into the shipyard in the fall of 1995 was primarily based on being present at dozens of private discussions and meetings. I was also made privy to hundreds of pages of internal documents, and also benefited from comprehensive coverage in the
Inquirer
by Henry Holcomb. The portrait of Bernard Meyer was drawn from coverage by Holcomb and interviews with several people who met and corresponded with him, including David Cohen, financial advisor Samuel Katz, attorney Peter Hearn, and state representative Bill Keller. The account of Keller’s experiences with state officials was based on a three-hour interview with Keller on October 19, 1996. Jim Mangan’s account of his final days at the yard was based on an interview on September 29, 1995. Governor Ridge’s view of the negotiations was given in an interview on February 12, 1997.
I was present on September 18, 1995, when Cohen spoke to Hale, of the White House, and asked if the president might be willing to call Bernard Meyer. I was not physically present in Cohen’s office on September 19, 1995, when Michael Schwarz privately communicated to the mayor and Cohen that Meyer was withdrawing the project, but the mayor positioned me outside the door so that I could listen to what was being said. The letter that Schwarz Delivered to the mayor during the meeting was personally viewed. I accompanied Cohen to his house on September 20, 1995, when he packed to go to Germany to see Bernard Meyer. Cohen’s subsequent experiences in Germany were related to me in interviews that took place on September 23 and October 2, 1995.
The mayor allowed me to listen in when Cohen called from Germany on September 21 and 22, 1995, with various updates. I was present on September 22, 1995, when Rendell wrote his letter to Bernard Meyer.
I was present for Cohen’s last day of work on April 4, 1997. Rendell’s quote questioning whether Cohen would leave as chief of staff, as well as predictions the mayor made about his own political future, came from an interview that was conducted on July 24, 1996. Cohen’s visit to Miami to see Bernard Meyer at the begining of 1996 was based on memos indicating such a visit. Information on the whereabouts of McGovern, Mangan, and Mazzccua in the spring of 1997 came from interviews with each of them. Information on various new economic-development deals for the city came from press accounts
in the
Inquirer
and an interview on April 17, 1997, with William Hankowsky, the president of the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation. Census data for the city came from an article in the
Daily News
on March 21, 1997, and one in the
Inquirer
on April 6, 1997. Information on city and state negotiations with Norwegian shipbuilder Kvaerner ASA was primarily based on internal documents that were personally viewed during the spring of 1997.
The report on the future impact of welfare reform was prepared by Public/Private Ventures on March 28, 1997. Statistics on unemployment rates for the city came from that report. Rendell’s letter to President Clinton, written on July 23, 1996, was personally viewed. The mayor’s plan to help American cities was primarily based on a copy of his urban agenda, which was released on April 15, 1994. Additional ideas came from a letter Rendell wrote to the president on August 8, 1996. Data on the disparity in wages were contained in a speech that was given to the Center for National Policy by Massachusetts senator Edward M. Kennedy on February 8, 1996. The detailed plan for federal tax breaks for Washington, D.C., was spelled out in an article in
The Washington Post
on June 9, 1997.
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