On Jan. 25, a group of South Philadelphia residents took part in a Citizen Voices forum at St. Maria Goretti High School. The moderators were Harris Sokoloff and Michelle Charles.

The 25 citizens who participated in the evening program were a diverse lot, but shared one abiding passion: their neighborhood. They loved it. When asked to describe what they liked best about Philadelphia, they invariably talked about the friendly people, about living where they were raised, about the joys of a close-knit community.

"In a neighborhood, you never feel alone," one said.

"You can sit on your porch, and you're never at a loss for anyone to talk to," said another.

Many of the participants were transplants, especially from New York, and they appreciated the scale and friendliness of Philadelphia. "It's not huge like New York, not small like New Jersey," one noted.

The questions for the panel focussed on a number of issues:

Schools
They wanted to know how the panelists thought Philadelphia had reduced class size, paid for physical improvements, increase the quality of teaching, get and keep the best teachers, improve relations with Harrisburg., use money more wisely, pass vouchers, and ensure childrens' safety.

Crime
How did they bring back the beat cop, reduce the recidivism rate, focus on crime prevention, cut down on juvenile crime through after-school programs, improve the quality of recruits for the police, and improve the judicial system to back up the cops.

Neighborhoods
How did they eliminate housing projects, stimulate home ownership, deal with vacant housing, create more green space, zone for hazardous facilities, turn the Delaware waterfront into a park, encourage small businesses, restaurants and stores, and "pick up the dog poop."

From the panel came these replies and ideas:

To be so successful, they believed, Philadelphia was made a safe city by recruiting police from the outside, renovating abandoned housing and turning it into day care centers, and expanded jobs. One idea was to turn the Navy Yard into the nation's biggest computer compound.

Teachers were paid well, and class size reduced to 15 to 20 children per teacher. Principals were required to teach one class a year. Parents were more involved -- school administrators went to their homes to get them to participate.

Quality of life issues were featured prominently on the front page of each newspaper.

Big business was recruited to develop partnerships. Nike used a public relations campaign to drum up pride in the city. Business even funded snow removal.

Philadelphia sold itself on its university and medical systems. Developed the waterfront "so that it looks like the Bahamas."