On Radio Times today, Marty Moss-Coane will be talking with Melissa Grimm the executive director of Philadelphia 2016, which is leading the city's bid to host the Olympics and Alba Martinez, who is co-chair of Philadelphia 2016's Community Relations Committee (and another person whose name should be tossed out there for mayoral consideration). Marty's basic question will be, "Would you like to see Philadelphia host the Olympics in 2016?"
I'm interested in a slightly different question. Whether Philadelphia is or isn't eliminated from the running when the USOC makes its first round of cuts in the coming weeks, what else could the 45 business and civic leaders who have come together to form the board of Philadelphia 2016 do to make this city a better place? Is it naive to think that they could do something about the murder rate that continues to claim lives at a rate of one person per day?
Could the current mayor or the next mayor tap into this unprecedented collection of wealth, influence and experience to solve a problem that results in stories like this one from Saturday's Inquirer:
Raymond Ruffin, also known as "Dude" or "Black," was shot in the forehead and again in the top of his head.
Whoever killed him made sure he was dead.
His mother, Celestine, who lives on neighboring Pierce Street, ran to the corner and held his fallen body.
It wasn't the first homicide in the family.
Ruffin's cousin, Anthony Dickerson, 27, also was shot in the head and killed at 24th and Dickinson Streets early last year. Police reported an arrest in the slaying.
The day before Ruffin was shot, Antose H. Brown, 19, the nephew of Ruffin's stepfather, Reginald Brown, was shot to death at 18th and Ellsworth Streets. There has been no arrest in that case.
This story is about Army Sgt. David Wright, widower of Neshia Wright, Raymond Ruffin's neighbor who was killed earlier this week by a stray bullet. Ruffin himself seems to have been mixed up in some criminal activity but the block captain from this neighborhood, Al Payton, sums it up best when he says:
He was no angel but he didn't deserve that.
So my question is, can the same group who is competing with Chicago and San Francisco and other "world class cities" to bring the Olympic games here, do something so that people like Neshia Wright and 4-year old Nashay Little no longer have to compete with flying bullets just to live in their neighborhoods?
Here's a start, maybe each and every one of them can heed Daily News columnist Sandra Shea's call to participate in WorkReady Philadelphia. Making sure that EVERY Philly teen who's old enough to get working papers can get a job or an internship is a good start.
Sorry to rain on the "Yay! Olympics!" parade but since Philly 2016 has done such a good job getting the whole region behind this and since there's probably going to be very few people who say no to Marty's question (Would you like to see Philadelphia host the Olympics in 2016?), maybe it's time to ask this group some different questions.
Click on "Continue Reading" to see a complete list of the board of Philadelphia 2016.
· Renee Amoore, Founder and President of The Amoore Group
· Clarence D. Armbrister, Senior Vice President, Temple University
· Frank Baldino, Jr., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO, Cephalon, Inc.
· Dorrit J. Bern, Chairman, President and CEO, Charming Shoppes, Inc.
· John K. Binswanger, Chairman, Binswanger Company
· Bob W. Bogle, President and CEO, The Philadelphia Tribune
· William G. Chadwick, President, Chadwick Associates, Inc.
· Betsy Cohen, Chairman and CEO, Resource Asset Investment Trust
· David L. Cohen, Executive Vice President, Comcast Corporation
· A. Bruce Crawley, President, Millennium 3 Management
· Pat Croce, President, Pat Croce & Company
· Nicholas DeBenedictis, Chairman and CEO, Aqua America, Inc.
· André L. Dennis, Partner, Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young, LLP
· Joanne Denworth, Vice-Chair, Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission
· Nelson A. Diaz, Partner, Blank Rome Cominsky & McCauley, LLP
· Valerie C. Ferguson, Regional Vice President & Managing Director, Loews Philadelphia Hotel
· Daniel K. Fitzpatrick, President PA Region, Bank of America
· Nikki V. Franke, Fencing, Head Coach, Temple University and two-time Olympian
· James P. Gallagher, President, Philadelphia University
· Kenneth Gamble, Chairman, Universal Companies
· Pat B. Gillespie, Business Manager, Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council
· Dexter Green, former Director of School Safety, Philadelphia School District
· Amy Gutmann, Ph.D., President, University of Pennsylvania
· Robert Hall, Former Publisher and Chairman, Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc.
· William P. Hankowsky, Chairman, President and CEO, Liberty Property Trust
· April Holmes, Paralympian, Track & Field
· Ronald Jaworski, President, RJ Management
· Billy King, President and General Manager, Philadelphia 76ers
· Joel S. Lawson, III
· Meryl Levitz, President and CEO, Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.
· Paul R. Levy, President and CEO, Center City District
· Hugh Long II, State CEO for Pennsylvania and Delaware, Wachovia Bank
· Alba E. Martinez, President and CEO, United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania
· Virginia McDowell, Executive Vice President, Trump Entertainment Resorts
· Travis Mohr, Paralympian, Swimming
· Jerry Mondesire, Publisher and Editor, The Philadelphia Sunday Sun
· Tom Muldoon, President, Philadelphia Convention & Visitors Bureau
· Stephanie Naidoff, Philadelphia Commerce Director
· Larry Needle, Executive Director, Philadelphia Sports Congress
· Peter J. Neeson, Partner, Rawle & Henderson, LLP
· Marcus OSullivan, Director, Villanova University Track & Field and four-time Olympian
· Constantine Papadakis, President, Drexel University
· Dawn Staley, Head Coach of the Temple University Womens Basketball Team and three-time Olympian
· Sam Staten, Sr., Business Manager, Laborers International Union of North America, Local 332
· David Thornburgh, Executive Director, Eastern Division, Pennsylvania Economy League
· Joseph M. Torsella, President and CEO, National Constitution Center
· Kenneth I. Trujillo, Member, Trujillo, Rodriquez & Richards, LLC
· Judith von Seldeneck, Chairman, Diversified Search, LLC
· William L. Wilson, Principal in Charge, Synterra, LTD
· Kenneth Wong, President, CIG Asia, Ltd.