Reaction: In South Philly, varied views of 'fallen legend'

On the tight streets of South Philadelphia where Vince Fumo once walked like a king, his former subjects had a quandary on their hands yesterday:

Is a man who does good but acts badly someone to revere or revile?

In other words, what can South Philly think of its one true Vince now that he has been found guilty of 137 counts of defrauding taxpayers, obstruction of justice, and diverting money for personal use from a nonprofit he ran?

"Hang him, pure and simple," said Neil Spitz, a South Philly contractor with Lucky tattooed on his right forearm, standing, symbolically enough, where a street named Titan dead-ends. "What he did for this neighborhood - that all goes out the window once you defraud people."

Then there was Dave Glazer, 29, walking a roiling pack of canines in the dog run at Christopher Columbus Park, a place residents say Fumo helped build, down the street from his now-infamous Citizens' Alliance for Better Neighborhoods.

"He put in plenty of time for this neighborhood, and there was no good evidence against him," Glazer said, as the restless beasts strained at their leashes. "He was convicted of only nitpicky stuff."

While opinions varied, there was no glee about the crashing end, no schadenfreude in the gray damp.

Yesterday was a time for sober reflection among those in a neighborhood where Fumo's name is literally engraved in stone on buildings, where his presence and sharp shepherding of money into the area are local legend.

News of the conviction shot at Internet speed through the streets and avenues. It makes a large noise when a big man falls.

"No statement!" a grave man said curtly at Citizens' Alliance, where someone shut the blinds when a news photographer peered in.

"It's best I not talk to you," a Columbus Park employee said.

"I will say only I liked Fumo," said Betsy Haralambous, owner of the Atlantic Diner, which, she said, kept Alliance employees - and possibly Fumo himself - fueled for years with takeout orders of cheesesteaks and salads. "I heard only good things about him."

It's more nuanced than that for Robert Segal, 60, a former college music instructor, who was reading in the Fumo Family Library, a branch of the Free Library named, in the late 1990s, in the former state senator's honor. The city had recently slated it for closure before a judge ordered library branches to remain open.

Segal, who lives in the neighborhood, said Fumo once interceded to help his father with a property-related problem.

You'd think that would predispose him to like Fumo, Segal said. But then came the litany of Fumo's crimes, reading like a checklist of sins against the city Segal loves.

"If you're using other people's money, you have an obligation to behave," Segal said.

"This library," he added, "is a legacy of the good things Vince did. They were going to close this library; then it had a stay of execution. But Vince didn't."

Mary Beth Bongiovanni, 38, a teacher/coach with ResulTech, a private education company that works with public schools, strained for perspective.

"It's disturbing to hear of so many counts of misuse of power," said Bongiovanni, of South Philly, as she exercised her two yellow Labradoodles in the Columbus dog run.

"His good works will have this draped over them."

Bongiovanni said there had been "pretty adamant discussion" about Fumo in the area, with people's opinions predicated by their ages.

"It's not a big deal for the old-timers, but it resonates more deeply among the young," she added. "And I think for students, it would be a fabulous ethics lesson to teach."

Perhaps. But if Fumo is destined to become a cautionary tale and an object lesson for school kids, some say, he should also be lauded for his real-world accomplishments.

Like dealing with trash.

"I'm grateful for his Citizens' Alliance for picking up my garbage and sweeping the sidewalks," said Nancy Trachtenberg, 36, owner of B-2 Cafe at Dickinson Street and Passyunk Avenue. "When the Alliance works, it works very nicely."

They'll continue debating for some time in South Philly the knotty problem of how to remember Fumo.

The one truth everyone could agree on yesterday, however, was something Bongiovanni said:

"Vince Fumo is now a fallen legend. I think it's pretty discouraging."