The curse of William Penn is officially lifted!  If anyone wasn’t sure about that, Joe Blanton’s home run was absolute proof, that Comcast’s putting William Penn up in the sky in June of 2007 was indeed the curse breaker!  No building for him yet, he’s up there on a beam until the building is complete in 2012…but Billy must be happy enough.

For most of Philadelphia’s history, no one was allowed to construct a building taller than the William Penn Statue on top of City Hall.  Mr. Penn looks out toward the Delaware River from the top of City Hall, as I recall, and was visible outside of the window of my office across the street for many years.  In 1987, they built One Liberty Place to be TALLER than Billy Penn.  They tried the excuse that they weren’t “blocking his view”, but apparently Billy was not pleased, as NO sports team in Philly has won since that happened.

So thank you Comcast for not waiting for the building to be finished in 2012 before hoisting Billy Penn up where he belongs…higher than any building in Philly.  Tonight he has thanked you…and so do we.

The Curse of William Penn is LIFTED!