[quote=sdrealtor]I remember it well. It was an absolute disaster. The MOVE group were dangerous animals. So was the mayor and the police.[/quote]
If the MOVE debacle was ever released as a film, no one would ever believe that it wasn’t complete fiction. John Africa and his loyal subjects held West Philadelphia by the balls for over ten years. Following the disaster in 1985, the national press corps flocked to Philly, and regularly dispatched stories that described MOVE as a “back-to-nature group”, “environmentally concerned”, “animal rights activists”, and MOVE’s own “”Christian Movement for Life”, which left outsiders outraged not only at the death and destruction, but also at the fact that the government had, for years, persecuted a hard-working peace-loving group of people with no concern for their constitutional rights.
What all except the Philly-based press didn’t realize was that the constitutional rights of hundreds of truly innocent Philadelphia residents has been ignored for years by MOVE. Fellow residents of the neighborhoods in which MOVE took up residence quickly found that they were condemned to a living hell, courtesy of the MOVE folks, whose philosophies were random, contradictory, and cumulative. They disposed of garbage, trash, and human waste by simply tossing it out their windows (creating extremely hazardous health conditions, along with an intractable vermin problem), were physically and verbally abusive to neighbors, stockpiled arms, ammunition, and explosives, and operated a 24/7 bullhorn-enhanced broadcasting system from their windows, unleashing a constant nonsensical threat-filled, profanity-laced verbal barrage from which residents over a several-block area were unable to escape. MOVE declared itself not subject to man-made laws, and in 1978, engaged in an armed standoff with police who were carrying out a court-ordered vacating of the premises; Philadelphia police officer James Ramp, a former U.S. Marine with a record of WWII and Korea combat tours, and 23 years on the Philly force, was killed. MOVE simply relocated to another crowded working-class neighborhood after another, finally settling on Osage Avenue in 1981. In each location, they continued working at what appeared to be their goal of making daily life a living hell for fellow residents, with the added bonus of simultaneously lowering neighborhood housing values.
That being said, the actions employed by the city in May 1985 were inexcuseable and criminally stupid to boot. If the city had developed a strategic plan for dealing with the danger posed by MOVE, no evidence of anything resembling planning or strategy was apparent in it its execution. Key individuals made decisions on using materials with which they had little experience or knowledge. Leadership was in short supply, as was effective communication.
The city was successfully sued by a number of MOVE members and deceased members’ families, and ended up paying out over $30 million to them. This did not include the cost of non-MOVE litigation and reconstruction costs, which is still going on today. The city had the houses on Osage razed and new ones built for $80,000 each (a heckuva lot in 1985 for 800 sf row houses in a sketchy inner-city area). True to Philadelphia back-room politics form, lots of businesses were on the project payroll; it’s just too bad that there weren’t any licensed/ experienced tradesment among them, apparently. From the beginning, the residents have had valid issues with major construction deficiencies, and many have been boarded up and condemned. Here’s a link to a recent article on the continuing debacle.
You can “walk up and down” the 6200 block of Osage by using Google Street View. While the West Philadelphia area remains sketchy, you can go one block south to Addison Street and see a shocking difference. However, I did get a chuckle out of the “gentrification” comment by the one woman in the article. Perhaps one day, but now……?? Don’t think so.
You’ll be gratified to know that the lives of some of the key MOVE members from that time have changed for the better….. much better. They’ve made a business out of their alleged persecution. In fact, I seriously question whether it’s MOVE in the wings, trying to buy up all the Osage properties, so that they can build a MOVE theme park…..
