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The people who paid for the Frank L. Rizzo sculpture removed from Center City in 2020 say they're close to having it returned, pending settlement of a long-running lawsuit. The bronze monument of Philadelphia's former mayor and police commissioner remains a divisive symbol, and its removal was among the most visible changes sparked by racial justic...

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Frank Rizzo is returning to the light of day. No, not the in-the-flesh Bambino, the Cisco Kid, the police commissioner and mayor in the flesh — but his 9-foot bronze likeness. Crusading lawyer George Bochetto filed suit against the city in July 2020 alleging improper treatment of the statue, which had been erected in 1998. You may recall the Frank...

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The protesters who made their way through Center City on the first day Philadelphia saw mass demonstrations following the murder of George Floyd were looking for places to direct their anger. They came upon the statue of Frank L. Rizzo, the late mayor and police commissioner whose legacy so perfectly captured the style of policing they were fightin...

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The owners of Nannie Franco's Pizza decided to remove the mural of former mayor Frank Rizzo of Philadelphia from the side of their building. As their new project is being funded by online fund-seeking to replace the mural, we would like to step in and make a suggestion to paint a mural of Mother Cabrini. Mother Cabrini, the saint of immigrants, is...

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One of the unexpected results of last week’s protest marches in Philadelphia was the removal of the statue of the late Police Commissioner and two-term Democratic Mayor Frank Rizzo from downtown. Rizzo’s statue, current Democratic Mayor James Kenney wrote on Twitter, "represented bigotry, hatred and oppression for too many people, for too long." (O...

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Hours after the statue of Frank Rizzo was removed from the steps of the city’s Municipal Services Building, officials announced they would replace the mural of the controversial former Philadelphia mayor and police commissioner near the Italian Market in South Philadelphia.  “Together, The S. 9th Street Shopping District, the property owners and th...

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A crane lifted a long-polarizing statue of former Philadelphia Mayor Frank Rizzo from its home outside a public building in the wee hours of Wednesday, whisking it away after recent protests against police brutality hastened its removal. As National Guard troops deployed for the protests watched, the crane lifted the 10-foot (3-meter) bronze statue...

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After a deadly white nationalist riot in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 forced cities around the world to reckon with their Confederate and other controversial monuments, Philly announced that it would remove its Frank Rizzo statue from the steps of the Municipal Services Building. In the weeks before the announcement, the statue had been egged...

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Even to the eyes of a 6-year-old, Frank Rizzo, the mayor of Philadelphia, was a presence. He stepped out of his car on Independence Mall one day in 1976, just in front of me, my sister, and a few Midwestern cousins. He looked down at us, extended his hand toward the heavens, and said “Hello, kids!” The Midwestern cousins had no idea who he was; I f...

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John Romani figured there would be a lot of attention. He gets the appeal: He’s Italian, the son of a cop, a Philly native. “Mayor Rizzo was talked about on a daily, weekly basis in my house,” said the certified appraiser. Along with his mother, Romani has run Sales by Helen, a firm specializing in high-end estate sales, for 30 years. But they’ve n...

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