| Sign up | Log in | Forgot Password |
DiCicco Faces the Music
By Ed Goppelt
Wednesday, 07/17/02
(1026916752529)
For a moment, it looked like a normal community meeting. Hoisting a cute tyke in the air, Councilman Frank DiCicco (1st District, South Philadelphia) joked that politicians always get their pictures taken with babies. Then things turned nasty.
The meeting, which follows the death of 2nd Ward Leader Buddy Cianfrani, had been billed as a chance to "meet the elected officials." One of DiCicco's employees told me later that this was the first community meeting held in years.
It showed. The crowd at St. Maron's Church turned out to be more interested in tearing into their elected officials than in meeting them. As the only elected official in attendance, DiCicco might as well have been wearing a giant bullseye on his back. DiCicco's colleagues, Councilman Jim Kenney and State Representative Harold James were no shows last night, leaving DiCicco to face the increasingly restive crowd of around 120 by himself.
DiCicco took quite a bit of heat from the black community last night. Carlton Fox who appeared to speak for a contingent of black neighbors, lit into DiCicco as well as the absent Representative James for not providing for black children. "Six years we won the [youth football] championship. You ain't got nothing for no children" thundered Fox, an imposing physical presence. Fox, who lives on the 1100 block of Clifton St., wants the same money for youth football at Capitolo Playground as the baseball players get. Youth football attracts black kids while baseball at Capitolo is predominantly white.
I've seen the Councilman use charm, guile and quick wits to win over angry crowds before. Not last night, though. DiCicco, wearing a Polo shirt and imported Italian loafers, fought his critics to a draw, but didn't win anybody over.
Perhaps because he felt he had nothing to lose, DiCicco told the audience some hard truths: people's property taxes were going to go up; sometimes elected officials must say "no" to constituent demands. DiCicco refused to support Republican Ward Leader Suzanne Haney's call for a Real Estate Tax Moratorium--a sure winner with older folks who have seen their home values skyrocket in recent years. The Councilman reminded those assembled that the City cannot function without tax money.
DiCicco lost his cool only once. Head Electrician and rising Democratic Party Boss John Dougherty has been threatening to run his own candidate against DiCicco next year.
The Electricians were represented last night by Ed Kirlin of Pennsport Civic. Kirlin, who along with two beefy companions was all smiles, wanted to know why the Councilman only pays $800 in property tax while his neighbors on the same block pay $2200.
The meeting briefly devolved into chaos as the Councilman argued heatedly with master of ceremonies Eric Lincoln about whether or not to respond to Kirlin's question. DiCicco did eventually respond as follows: that in Philadelphia, people who build new homes, don't have to pay property taxes--a tax abatement--for ten years. DiCicco's neighbors' abatement expired recently so they now pay full freight, while the Councilman still has a year or two to go before his abatement runs out.
This was a rough meeting. The Councilman deserves considerable credit, in my view, for being willing to face a tough crowd while his colleagues Councilman Jim Kenney and Representative Harold James took the easy way out.
On the other hand if the Councilman made a point of meeting with the community more often than once every couple of years, I suspect people would be less desperately angry and more willing to hear the Councilman out.
I sometimes have the feeling that DiCicco would prefer it if his job consisted of dealing entirely with the developers and businessmen; if the neighborhoods with their never ending complaints and intractible problems disappeared off the face of the earth.
The Councilman is reported to be interested in the job of 2nd Ward leader. Buddy Cianfrani ran the 2nd out of a coffee shop at 7th & Fitzwater St. Frank DiCicco, a different kind of man from a different time likes to relax at Kristians, an elegant eatery at 11th and Federal. I just hope that Councilman DiCicco, if he becomes ward leader, will remember that he represents all of us, and not just those who eat at Kristian's.