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  A changing Philly could be key to Pa. primary
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Last EditedArmyDem  Apr 15, 2008 10:23pm
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News DateWednesday, April 16, 2008 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionBy William Douglas | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2008

PHILADELPHIA — South Philadelphia's Ninth Street Italian Market isn't as Italian as it used to be, and that may affect Pennsylvania's politics as Democrats prepare to vote in next Tuesday's presidential primary.

Sure, you can still get a healthy scoop of water ice, a fine linguine and salty prosciutto at the shops and booths along the narrow street made famous by movie boxer Rocky Balboa's training jogs through it.

But these days you also can grab a good burrito from a Mexican restaurant or a juicy pomegranate from an Asian greengrocer, all a reflection of dynamic change in a city that's often failed to live up to its motto as the City of Brotherly Love.

"You would have sections of Philadelphia that were one ethnicity: Polish, Irish, Italian, black," said Harry Crimi Jr., a third-generation butcher at the market's family-owned Cappuccio's Meats. "It's different now. It's all mixed."

Change is the buzzword in Philadelphia and its suburbs as Pennsylvania's Democratic primary approaches. Its neighborhoods have become more diverse, thanks largely to a 14 percent boost in its foreign-born population, according to Census Bureau figures, and to a strong migration of New Yorkers lured by cheaper housing and a civilized rail commute to their Big Apple jobs.

"You've got the influx of yuppies gentrifying the place, you've always had places like (upscale) Society Hill and there's a much more diverse community in South Philadelphia," said G. Terry Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall University in Lancaster, 83 miles to the west. "It's a city in transition."
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