The moderators of this forum in Manayunk were Michelle Charles and Louise Giugliano.

The Citizen Voices of Roxborough and Manayunk were determined to improve a city they love, even if it meant creatively envisioning events in the future to push the city in the direction they desired (See Kvaerner and oil embargo below).

Philadelphia in 2010 is the city with "the lowest rate of drug addiction in the Western world," according to the five-member panel appearing on the Oprah show. Drugs were conquered when the city began treating them as a health problem and not a law enforcement problem. Treatment was available on demand; mental illness was treated concurrently.

The effort was paid for through federal revenue sharing and a public health initiative in 2005 that switched every one to a single-payer health insurance system.

The city cracked down on crime in other ways, too, mainly by putting more highly trained officers on the street by switching to less expensive civilians in the desk jobs. Town Watches sprung up around the city.

Candid discussions about race improved tensions in the neighborhoods. In 2010, anyone can walk down any street in any neighborhood at any time of day.

Philadelphia improved the schools by slashing administrative costs; mentoring new teachers by pairing them with experienced ones; reducing class size; raising teacher salaries to attract high quality applicants; using nonteaching assistants (especially people from the neighborhoods) to volunteer in schools. Universities were encouraged to become much more involved in helping run public schools.

Education became a lifelong experience; adults were offered continuing education in their communities. As adults began to stress good grammar in public places (according to at least one panelist enamored of this idea of the "grammar police"), it became "uncool to be uneducated."

Economic revitalization came when Philadelphia and Harrisburg shifted their focus to small and mid-sized business. "Kvaerner's bankruptcy showed subsidizing big business to be a bad policy," explained panel member Dan Hoffman. Disney on Venice Island and Six Flags Over the Liberty Bell brought tourists into the city. Some city services, such as sanitation and PGW, were privatized. The city refused to build new stadiums for its sports teams. The city switched to a progressive wage tax and earned a higher municipal bond rating. Better job training programs led to a qualified workforce.

Public transportation improved "after the third oil embargo in 2005 pushed gas to $6.50 a gallon." The city did what it should have done for years and improved SEPTA. SEPTA switched to a tier system of fares based on the income of riders.

The Oprah audience's great area of skepticism was where the money was found to make the school and drug rehab improvements cited. One questioner asked, "And explain to me again how you got that deer hunter living up in Potter County to see some self-interest in his tax dollars going to Philadelphia?"