The curse of William Penn

When I moved from Philly in the late '70s, the city was the midst of urban decay. Industrial jobs were leaving the city, inner city homes were being boarded up and police brutality went unabated. My city has risen like the phoenix and I have been enjoying its beauty. I had a destination in mind. I decided to visit the Rodin Museum and the Philadelphia Museum of Art and I will eventually get to a description of my visit, but, I have to get there first. I walked from the Suburban Regional Train Station onto 18th and JFK Boulevard and was in the midst of sky rise buildings. Philadelphia's newest skyscraper, the Comcast Tower, is a 57 floor glass building and in fact, later that evening they had an opening ceremony and reception. This building is especially significant to me because I looked at its beauty and thought "thanks for the health care benefits". If you looked over toward Market Street, you can see City Hall, the setting for many television shows and movies. On the top of the building stands a statue of William Penn, one of the founders of the city. Under a gentleman's agreement, no building in the city was to rise above this statue. This ended in March 1987, when a modern steel-and-glass skyscraper called One Liberty Place opened three blocks away. One Liberty Place dwarfed City Hall by 397 feet, soaring 945 feet in height compared to City Hall's actual height of 547' 11-3/4" to the top of Penn's hat.
Prior to 1987,Philadelphia sports teams enjoyed an enviable run of success: The Phillie's won the 1980 World Series and the 1983 National League pennant; and the Flyers had won back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1974 and 1975. The Eagles had appeared in Super Bowl XV, losing to the Oakland Raiders; and the 76ers had won the championship in 1983, as well as making the finals in 1977, 1980, 1982 and 2001. Construction on One Liberty Place began in 1985, two years after the last championship season in Philadelphia. In a coincidence, the ground was broken on the same day as the MOVE tragedy that left numerous members of a group dead, and burned down several blocks of West Philadelphia neighborhood.
It is believed that the city cannot win a sports championship because of the curse of William Penn. In an attempt to end the curse, workers John Joyce and Dan Ginion attached a small figurine of Billy Penn to the beam of the Comcast building, along with an American flag and a small tree. I hope that it breaks the curse. Philly knew how to throw a great celebration party!