How to ensure Philadelphia takes the road to urban health
Comparison of police forces, taxes in major cities
Changes in city services, 1952-1998
The move to the suburbs

Much of the city was farmland. Much of the power structure was, as Lincoln Steffens so aptly observed, "corrupt and contented." Many of its challenges seem quaint now.

But the Philadelphia of the early 1900s resembled the Philadelphia of today in one startling and important way: Population.

Philadelphia will end the 20th century much as it began it - with about 1.4 million people. But with a government created in the 1950s to serve more than 2 million.

Nothing sums up the challenge before the next mayor as neatly as those numbers. What should the size, shape and scope of city government be in the next century? How should it be recalibrated to better meet the needs of the population and the imperative to create wealth? How radical should the adjustment be?

Those questions must be asked of every mayoral candidate, City Council hopeful, and official who draws from the city payroll and holds in his or her hand the city trust.

The rationales offered in the past - that the city's government had to grow because the population was older, poorer, more needy - are not enough to justify ignoring this yawning mismatch now. Unless highly-taxed Philadelphia right-sizes itself, it won't have the resources or the political capital to take care of those who need government's help.

The progress achieved in the last decade toward making city government saner, more efficient and more responsible never can be discounted. When he leaves office next year, Ed Rendell will bequeath many legacies, but among his most significant is this: He restored our belief that the city could be governed and governed well.

Without that, nothing discussed here would be possible. But even if that legacy were to continue, it won't be enough to face the next challenge, when shifts in population, technology and the economy will force a 21st century city to redefine itself, or wither away.

This requires more than fiscal discipline, although that is essential. It requires inventiveness and courage.

The facts and figures on this page, and the selections from urban experts below, are intended to jump-start the conversation for anyone invested in the future of the city and region. Right-sizing is not synonymous with downsizing; it's not an excuse for public anorexia.

It should lead to an examination of which services a city government created and structured in the 1950s must shed, expand or change to meet 21st century needs.

For starters: Should city spending continue to grow - albeit slightly slower than revenues - even as population decreases?

How can Philadelphia justify maintaining its antiquated structure of disparate Council, health, highway, planning and sanitation districts? The map of these overlapping districts drawn by the City Controller's Office couldn't be reproduced on a black-and-white page of newsprint because you'd never be able to read the crazy-quilt of boundaries.

Yet New York City, as unmanageable as any metropolis, has coterminous districts for delivering city services.

And should all those services be delivered only by city workers, directed only by City Hall? "Just because government has a duty to ensure that citizens receive certain services," wrote Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith, "does not necessarily dictate that government must produce those services itself." Privatization has to be part of the vocabulary of reform.

So must compassion - which any government must exercise as part of its contract with the people. Compassion and effectiveness are not mutually exclusive, but leaders too often sacrifice one for the other.

And citizens must be willing to understand. Look at the graphs below: By any measure, there are plenty of police. Do citizens want fewer police for the sake of lower taxes? What are the trade-offs? Fewer L&I inspectors? Fewer rec centers?

For too long, politicians and the voters they serve have asked for more, and acted as if more were available. Rendell began to persuade Philadelphians to get used to no, or at least maybe.

The public must think about that as it hears, considers and questions the mayoral candidates. Who among them has the ideas, strength, character and conviction to right-size the city?

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