City names street for controversial former mayor

PHILADELPHIA » Former Philadelphia Mayor W. Wilson Goode Sr., who led the city in 1985 when police dropped a bomb on a rowhouse and caused an inferno that killed 11 people and destroyed more than 60 homes, defended his legacy against shouting protesters Friday as the city named a street in his honor.

Speaking at a dedication ceremony in a west Philadelphia neighborhood, Goode said he would not be defined by one day of his life. But more than a dozen protesters disagreed, shouting from behind a metal riot barrier that the city was co-naming a street after a murderer.

Goode, the city’s first black mayor, led Philadelphia when the city clashed with members of MOVE, a radical, black back-to-nature group. It culminated in the bombing of MOVE headquarters, which engulfed a city block in flames. Five children were among the 11 people who died.

Testifying at a trial more than a decade after the bombing, Goode said he ordered the fire to be put out, but the fire commissioner later testified that he never received the order.

“I accept responsibility. I was mayor that day,” Goode said Friday as protesters shouted over a sound system a short distance away. “You will not define me by one day of my life. I am more than that.”

The city added a red strip across the signs for the 2400 block of 59th Street bearing Goode’s name Thursday night ahead of the dedication.

The city council voted in June to co-name the street. Residents and community activists said no one ever notified or contacted them about the plan.

Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza lives nearby and canvassed the five surrounding blocks, speaking to dozens of neighbors. She said she found only one person who supported the designation.

“There are still people suffering from post-traumatic stress from that day. Where’s our sensitivity to those survivors who are still traumatized?” she said. “I was there that day. It felt like a war zone ... and I resent that we give him the chance to walk this back.”

Councilman Curtis Jones defended Goode at the dedication and called the former mayor a mentor. He said the decisions the day of the MOVE bombing were something that Goode has lived with.

“It’s not all peaches and cream and sunshine and roses,” Jones said. “But it’s a historical fact that he has made a contribution” to the city.