Daniel Rubin: Three coins won't be nearly enough

Two of the cherubim have quit - they've stopped shooting water from their little trumpets. The mermaid's not working, either. Her bronze dish used to purl all day, but the pump's broken, awaiting funds for repair.

A couple of floodlights are busted. The tiles drip algae. And with half the speakers missing, the Singing Fountain that dominates a slice of East Passyunk Avenue barely makes a squawk, now that its benefactor is headed behind bars.

The colossal fountain was one of the pet projects built by Vince Fumo's "baby," Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods. But with Fumo disgraced and Citizens' Alliance shuttered, the fountain would seem to be a fitting symbol of the hard times on the blocks that Vince built.

But look again.

There's something to the claims of East Passyunk locals that the discredited nonprofit has transformed a business district that was going the way of once-thriving, now-blighted Point Breeze Avenue.

Thirteen of Citizens' Alliance's properties on Passyunk sparkle - a scooter shop, gift and baby stores, a high-end women's clothing boutique, a family hardware, distinctive places to eat and drink, as well as a welcoming gay and lesbian street culture.

"The artists are here, the hipsters and the gay people," said Jimmy Contreras, who opened a gift store a month and a half ago in the last property leased by Citizens' Alliance. "The next thing, all the yuppies will move in."

He and his partner, Matt Vlahos, live above the store, which as part of the lease agreement is open into the evening and has no grate over the front windows so that after-dinner strollers linger.

The couple moved in during the Fumo trial, and Vlahos said he was surprised to find Citizens' Alliance to be a force for good. "It's kind of sad to see that what they got started could be going by the wayside," he said. "They've done a lot of good work down here."

So the newcomers are joining hands with those who grew up in the neighborhood, like Lynn Rinaldi, co-owner of Paradiso Restaurant, in sponsoring a "Save the Fountain" fund-raiser set for Tuesday night. A dozen businesses are volunteering food, drink, and labor to raise money so the fountain keeps flowing.

"You can sit there and complain about the lights and the pumps or you can do something about it," Rinaldi said.

Helping her is Jim Gallo, head of the business improvement district. He figures it will cost $4,000 a year to maintain the fountain, which Citizens' Alliance built in 2004 on a forlorn triangle of land where a steak shop used to be. The fountain cost about $50,000, said City Councilman Jim Kenney, the land an additional $80,000.

Citizens' Alliance doesn't have the cash for anything at the moment. It stopped its street sweeping and trash pickups in April after Fumo and former executive director Ruth Arnao were convicted on federal corruption charges. Fifteen of the nonprofit's workers were let go. Two part-time workers hold down the fort. "I'm sorry, honey," the office manager told me the other day when I knocked, asking about the fountain's history. "I've only been here a couple years."

The Attorney General's Office has sued to dismantle the alliance and sell off what's left.

Citizens' Alliance last week issued a victim's impact statement, saying Fumo and Arnao had damaged it beyond the $1.7 million in fancy tools, flashy vehicles, and other goodies the government figures the pair looted as the handpicked board remained mute.

As you might imagine, attitudes toward Citizens' Alliance are confused here. "How can you be a victim and the bad guy?" asked Gallo, 49, who runs four child-care centers on the strip.

It's complicated, like feelings for Fumo, the ruthless provider. The judge ordered him to pay $676,000 in restitution to Citizens' Alliance, which may or may not stick around. That could buy a lot of Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett CDs for the fountain at Tasker and Passyunk.

But maybe that money should be spread around, considering that Fumo helped save this little business district by squeezing $17 million from Peco Energy and $10 million from the Delaware River Port Authority.

"I never intended to steal anything from anybody," he told the judge Tuesday.

Fumo just seemed to think his 30-year star turn in the halls of power entitled him to a fabulous gift bag.

In the Singing Fountain, his extravagance now sits side by side with the quirky little shops that are lending the neighborhood distinction. It's complicated, like the man himself.