The dead duck is a phoenix.
Yet, at what appears to be a moment of triumph, the civil servant who worked longest and loneliest is on the verge of leaving.
Richard Moore, a researcher and planner who was the justice center's behind-the-scenes shepherd for 14 years, said yesterday he is "seriously considering" leaving city government for a private-sector job with a company he did not name.
He said he would announce a decision by Wednesday.
Moore, 50, whose formal title is Justice Facilities and Systems Improvement Director, said he was considering leaving because much of his work is finished with key elements of the justice center in place, and because the new job offers substantially more money.
Without strong leadership, Moore But he also said he has become worn down by years of bureaucratic and political infighting. And he warned that Mayor Rendell and City Council President John F. Street must take strong control of the project.
Without strong leadership, Moore said, "the most narrow interests of the bureaucracy will tear it apart like bones in the desert."
Moore, a cigar-smoking, academic-minded native of Chicago, advocated a planning approach that sidestepped normal bureaucratic channels.
Instead, it employed mostly outside experts to study the needs of the justice system and then design facilities based on those needs.
Moore often served as a back-channel conciliator among warring interests - the Mayor's Office, City Council, judges, legal groups, the federal court - during their frequent clashes or deadlocks over a succession of justice facilities and reform proposals.
Now, said Moore, "the possibility is here for probably the most comprehensive significant system reform initiative in the United States. If everybody gets behind it now, all they'll have to do is do it."
