Word: philadelphia
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...fire had destroyed 53 houses and severely damaged eight others. It left some 240 people homeless. The financial cost: at least $8 million. The historic City of Brotherly Love was numb, the onlooking world aghast. In newspapers and on television, the story created a first-glance impression that Philadelphia police had launched a cruel military operation against an entire neighborhood...
...disastrous episode provoked widespread criticism and questioning of the Philadelphia police tactics. Should a bomb have been used at all in an urban location? On a house occupied by children as well as wanted adults? Shouldn't the authorities have known fire might result? Hubert Williams, president of the Police Foundation in Washington, said the tactic was, at the very least, "an extreme police response." Mayor Ed Koch of New York said he would fire a police commissioner who even proposed such a "stupid" idea. Even those who held criticism in check could hardly help wondering how in the name...
...city would rebuild the houses lost in the fire, and at no cost to the owners. He promised to make the neighborhood residents "whole again." With perhaps too much optimism, he promised that reconstruction would be completed by Christmas. Goode insisted that the fire, one of the worst in Philadelphia's history, was simply the result of an accident, not bad judgment. According to the mayor, Police Commissioner Gregore J. Sambor and Managing Director Leo A. Brooks decided at the site of the action to use the explosive device, then obtained his approval some 20 min. before the drop...
...waste and for its scurrying rats and dozens of dogs. Bullhorns blared forth obscene tirades and harangues at all times of day and night. Move members customarily kept their children out of both clothes and school. They physically assaulted some neighbors and threatened others. Move members in two other Philadelphia houses have not earned any similar notoriety (though they have been watched recently by police...
...making terroristic threats. To facilitate the execution of the warrants, authorities on Sunday cordoned off five blocks around the Move house and ordered the evacuation of 300 people by 10 that night. Last-ditch efforts to negotiate a peaceful resolution were made Sunday by Bennie Swans, director of Philadelphia's Crisis Intervention Network. The Move group, he said, insisted they would cooperate with the authorities only after their nine comrades were released from prison. As the hours passed, the chances of an armed confrontation rose: it was common knowledge that Move had plenty of weapons and probably a store...