What could happen to Philadelphia under Trump's reign?

W. Wilson Goode Sr. knows all too well what Mayor Kenney might now be facing with the election of Republican Donald Trump to the presidency.

Goode, a Democrat like Kenney, became mayor in 1984 with another controversial Republican in the White House.

"I was mayor when the administration went from Jimmy Carter to Ronald Reagan and I think that's a good comparison between the Obama administration and a Trump administration," Goode said last week.

Goode said Reagan's presidency was "absolutely devastating" to Philadelphia because of the cuts made to local governments. Social- and human-services programs faced significant budget cuts, which the city tried to make up but ended up digging itself into a budget hole.

"We were not able to deal with it," Goode said. "At the end of the administration it all caught up. . . . It became a very, very challenging time then."

Goode and other former mayors are concerned that the same might happen under a Trump presidency.

Trump has said he would cut federal funding to municipalities that declare themselves sanctuary cities, of which Philadelphia is one. Sanctuary cities do not notify federal immigration officials when undocumented immigrants are in police custody for nonviolent crimes.

Aside from the sanctuary cities threat, Goode said that Trump, along with the Republican-controlled House and Senate, could prioritize the budget imbalance, which could cause Philadelphia to see "significant reduction in federal funding."

The city's general fund gets about $30 million in federal aid but tens of millions more flow to the city through grants for police, housing, human services, and other government programs.

"Deeper cuts could come at the expense of people who are beyond the poverty index," Goode said. "Homelessness in the city continues to be very, very high."

A day after Trump's unexpected victory, Kenney was reluctant to address the possibility of federal funding cuts.

"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it and we'll see how it goes and we'll try to figure something out," Kenney said.

In just the last month, Kenney had called Trump a creep and a nincompoop, and speculated he'd be the favorite candidate for the "Oompa Loompa vote."

Now Trump is president-elect.

"He is our president and . . . we're gonna have to make it work," Kenney said.

Kenney noted Trump is "the consummate deal-maker, so maybe there are deals to be made. We'll see."

It's unclear what - if any - relationship Trump will have with big-city Democratic mayors like Kenney, but it seems likely to be a sea change from the last eight years when the Philadelphia mayor's office and the Oval Office had a largely open line of communication.

"I could talk to [Obama's] people - and if I needed to talk to the president, I could do that too," former Mayor Michael Nutter said.

Nutter said he's concerned with the way Trump has described large cities and whether he understands the challenges urban areas face.

"He spent the campaign talking about the inner cities and black people in a context of apparently, 'black people are the only people who live in the inner cities,' which he characterized as hell, where everybody's shooting everybody," Nutter said.

Sam Katz, a Republican and three-time mayoral candidate, said it's too soon to assume that a Trump presidency will be bad for Philadelphia. He pointed to Trump's acceptance speech as a sign of some common ground.

"The first thing Trump said in his acceptance speech was to trumpet a very popular Democratic initiative of investing in infrastructure, and Philadelphia is desperate for infrastructure investments," Katz said.

"Whether he can succeed getting something through Congress I don't know, but Donald likes to build things. That's his schtick. That might be the olive branch. It could be good for Jim Kenney and Philadelphia."

Rob Wonderling, CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, agreed that Philadelphia could benefit from investments in infrastructure. In particular, he said, the city's airport, roads, and bridges need help.

"We have a backlog of repairs but we also have to look at innovative ways," to build infrastructure, Wonderling said.

In addition, Wonderling, who is a Republican and former state senator, said that Philadelphia businesses could benefit if Trump as president reduces government regulations.

"In all sectors of the business community, there's been a clear increase in regulation," Wonderling said, pointing to the Affordable Care Act, indoor air quality, and mandatory overtime regulations that have become law in recent years.

Wonderling stressed that it's too early to tell what Trump will actually do and how that will affect Philadelphia.

Sometimes Republican presidents have helped Democrat-controlled cities. Former Gov. Ed Rendell remembers when he was mayor and George W. Bush was president. Philadelphia received additional funds for welfare and transportation through a stimulus package, following the 2002 recession.

Rendell said if Trump were to follow through on his promise to cut funding to sanctuary cities, "it would cause a lot of loss and disruption."

His advice for Kenney is to reach out to the Pennsylvania delegation in Washington.

"Get them to help protect us. More importantly, to get them to talk to the administration," Rendell said.

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