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Last Updated June 22, 2005
Looking out over the Schuylkill River north of Center City Philadelphia, you can still see the landscape painted 100 years ago by Philadelphia artist Thomas Eakins--the tightly-packed but formidable rowhouses, the old fieldstone houses of Germantown, the gray-blue water flowing past boat houses below the small Greek temples of the Water Works and the larger temple of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. On both sides of this romantic scene are some of Philadelphia's long-established black neighborhoods: West Philadelphia, across the Schuylkill on either side of Market Street; North Philadelphia, on either side of Broad Street; Germantown to the northwest, off the narrow diagonal of Germantown Avenue that ran through open fields in Benjamin Franklin's time. Many of these neighborhoods continue to suffer from poverty and blight, and the city has 600,000 fewer people today than in 1950. But the city has launched a plan to reconnect the communities on the Schuylkill by energizing business and residential communities and boosting tourism, including modifications of several downtown bridges over the river and improved links to the river park. Another innovative step has been the city's plan to make inexpensive wireless Internet access a municipal service that is available to all residents, starting in 2006. Although free-marketeers object that this will turn broadband into a public utility, Mayor John Street said that the city's plan will include corporate and foundation financing, with private companies assisting its operation: Shades of Ben Franklin. The 2d Congressional District of Pennsylvania takes in much of the city of Philadelphia west of Broad Street, plus Cheltenham Township in suburban Montgomery County. It doesn't include the key colonial landmarks--they're in the neighboring 1st--but it does include most of the skyscrapers of Center City and well-heeled Rittenhouse Square, the Philadelphia Zoo (America's first), the University of Pennsylvania, Drexel University, and lush Fairmount Park, the largest landscaped urban park in the world, which climaxes at the grand Philadelphia Museum of Art, where a Rocky-like run up the steps became de rigueur for tourists. The 2d includes West Oak Lane, Strawberry Mansion and, further west, the distinguished old neighborhoods of Mount Airy, Chestnut Hill and East Falls, mostly pleasant these days but dotted with some grittier precincts. The 2d also covers Roxborough and the old mill area of Manayunk, recently renovated. This is Pennsylvania's one black-majority district: 61% of its population in 2000 was black. Pennsylvania never had slavery--thanks to William Penn and his Quaker legacy--and Philadelphia has been home to a large black community since before the Civil War. That heritage is reflected in places like the John Coltrane House on North 33d Street, designated a national historic landmark in celebration of the jazz innovator's early years here. Suburban Cheltenham Township includes old, comfortable communities like Cheltenham, Melrose Park, Elkins Park and Glenside. The 2d was George W. Bush's 3d-worst performing district in the nation--he won just 12 percent here in 2004, the same as in 2000. The congressman from the 2d District is Chaka Fattah (pronounced SHOCK-ah Fa-TAH), first elected in 1994. Fattah grew up in Philadelphia, and in 1982, at 25, was elected to the state House--the youngest member ever. In 1988 he was elected to the state Senate, where he worked to fend off bankruptcy for Philadelphia. In 1991, much to everyone's surprise, 2d District Congressman William Gray resigned to become head of the United Negro College Fund. In the election to succeed him, local Democratic ward leaders nominated Councilman Lucien Blackwell, a former longshoreman, boxer and labor union stalwart. Fattah ran under the Consumer Party label while state Welfare Secretary John White ran as an independent. Blackwell won the November 1991 special election with 39% to 28% for Fattah and 27% for White. In 1994 Fattah ran again, in the Democratic primary. Blackwell relied mostly on ward politicians; Fattah was endorsed by the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity and by state Senator Hardy Williams. This time Fattah won, 58%-42%. Fattah's voting record has been among the most liberal in the House. Much of his focus has been on education issues. He talked up his proposal for a study to eliminate the federal tax code and replace all individual and corporate taxes with a system that would tax all individual transactions; this generated some interest among Republicans. But most Democrats were leery of something that looked like a consumption tax and were not much interested in broad tax changes so long as they remained in the minority. Unlike locally oriented Bob Brady, the city's other congressman, Fattah's focus is more as a national Democrat. "My number one political priority is to elect a Democratic majority in Congress," he says. In 2001, with the help of senior Pennsylvania Democrat John Murtha, Fattah won a seat on the Appropriations Committee, a useful slot for a member who seemed intent on a long House career; he said that he would use the position to push for more money for education. In 2003, he suffered an unexpected setback. He hoped to become the ranking minority member on the House Administration Committee. But Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi decided to enforce the rule barring a second committee assignment for members on Appropriations, and Fattah got bumped off House Administration altogether. Since entering the House, Fattah has had no serious primary or general election challenge. After the 2004 election, he expressed interest in running for mayor of Philadelphia in 2007, a sign of the restlessness among talented Democrats who have little prospect for influence in the Republican House. This prompted grumbling among other local Democrats already planning to run for mayor, and even some threats that Fattah could face a primary challenge in 2006.
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