Season 2 of MTBW starts off with a little known history lesson and profiles in courage. In the early 90s, Philly was $3.25 billion in debt and Wall Street would not loan money. Bankruptcy was imminent. The federal government was not in the mood to bail out cities.
We start Season 2 with a background story, and origin story, so to speak. Episode 1 covers the birth of the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, better known as PICA.
Before you hit fast forward, know that this story is a real-life story where legislators had to pull up their big boy and girl pants and work together.
Without city and state politicians from both sides of the aisle coming together, the City would have been bankrupt, threatening not only city jobs, but services that everyone depends on.
Episode 1, only 36 minutes, is not the only story. We are inviting a group of insiders who can give us their perspective on what happened. Labor leaders, Council members, department heads, budget people, and more, will help us understand how the 4th (or are we 5th?) largest city in America and an economy that ranks in the top 50 in the world, almost went bankrupt.
We thank all of our listeners and welcome all the new ones. Season 1 featured 20 episodes of the wild '80s in Philly. Don't know how we survived that.
If you like us, please share with your family and friends. We appreciate any opportunity to share this work.
