At the end of the Ed Rendell era, Philadelphia is a city that has solved its age-old image problem but has hardly begun to address its reality problem. Its national reputation stands high.
Center City looks great.
The upgraded airport sparkles, and new jobs are starting to sprout after a slow start following the last recession. The city finally seems free of the self-denigrating spirit. Much of the last decade's new urban thinking, which has put the bloom back on cities from coast to coast, has yet to reach the City of Brotherly Love. One lesson of the Rendell era is that to revive a city, a mayor must draw on the full array of urban policy reforms - and if he's unwilling to force change on almost every front, he will at best preside over managed decline. Rendell at first seemed a Hercules of a mayor, able to tame mighty unions and bring a dying city back to life.