Philadelphia

For the first time in four years, Philadelphia won the Lord Percival Cup, in intercity court tennis team doubles competition yesterday at the Racquet Club. Philadelphia players defeated Newport, R.I., the defending champion, in the final round by 2-1. With the sides at one match apiece, the father-son team of Steve Simpson and Steve Simpson Jr. won the deciding point for Philadelphia by defeating John Lieb and Berry Packham, 6-4, 6-2.

In regard to the news in the Oct. 11 issue about Philadelphia middle-level school administrators voting to join the Teamsters, I have learned from highly reliable sources that the immediate result will be to unify all present positions into the single designated position of "vice principal. " Rudolph Lea Melrose Park.

Starved for sports triumphs as Philadelphia is, you'd think more would have been made of the Wings winning the National Lacrosse League championship last weekend in Toronto. Granted, lacrosse isn't considered a "major" sport - but it's fast and it's exciting and it's gaining popularity (a record crowd of more than 19,000 watched the Wings edge the Toronto Rock in the title game). What's more, Philadelphia has won six titles since they began big-league professional competition.

Philadelphia and New York won yesterday in the opening round-robin singles softball squash racquets matches in the annual men's series for the Lockett Cup at the Berwyn Squash and Fitness Club. The Lockett Cup event had been held every year since the early 1920s until it was wiped out by a snowstorm two years ago. It also missed play last year, when squash racquets was in a transitional period from hardball to softball play. Yesterday the cup play was at softball for the first time in the history of the inter-city series.

Philadelphia was much on President Clinton's mind yesterday when he visited Londonderry, the second city of Northern Ireland. Speaking to citizens gathered in a square beside Guild Hall, the city hall, Clinton noted that "one of our greatest cities, Philadelphia, was mapped out three centuries ago by a man who was inspired by the layout of the streets behind these walls. His name was William Penn. He was raised a Protestant in Ireland by a military family. " Noting that Penn rejected warfare, converted to Quakerism, and became a champion of religious tolerance, Clinton held him out as an example for Irish peacemakers today - and cited Philadelphia again for offering a similar example.

Boston won the women's Inter-City golf matches for the Griscom Cup with 28 1/2 points yesterday at the Myopia Hunt Club in Hamilton, Mass. Philadelphia finished second with 20, and New York was third with 14 1/2. Nancy Porter, former Philadelphia and Eastern champion from Merion, and Alexandra Walling of Gulph Mills scored four points apiece in the match-play contests, and Dorothy Porter of Riverton, Nancy Porter's mother and former U.S. amateur...

Pro cyclists from 20 countries will return to Philadelphia on Sunday for the TD Bank Philadelphia International Cycling Championship. Billed as America's biggest single-day race, this will be the 26th men's race and the 16th Liberty Classic for women. Here is the schedule of weekend events: Sunday: 8 a.m. to end of championship race. TD Bank Family Fun Zone. Looking for something fun to do with the kids between laps? Check out the zone at the base of the Art Museum steps.

The Golf Association of Philadelphia extended its lead over the New Jersey State Golf Association in the annual Frederick M. Compher Cup by beating the NJSGA, 10-8, yesterday at Galloway National Golf Club. Huntingdon Valley's Jim Sullivan Jr. and O. Gordon Brewer each contributed singles victories for the GAP. The competition between the neighboring associations began in 1962 and includes 12 players on each team with a dozen singles matches and six better-ball-of-partners matches.

IN HIS recent column on the future of the city, Michael Smerconish makes the wrong diagnosis and prescribes the wrong medicine for Philadelphia. All across America, cities written off as dead are springing back to life as people tire of maintaining their backyards and rediscover city life. In the last decade, Boston and Chicago have reversed their history of population decline, and Newark's decline has slowed to a trickle. The same trends will reach the Delaware Valley, although perhaps not as quickly as we would like.

By Donn Scott The central Delaware River waterfront has been a focus of economic development in Philadelphia and the region for centuries. From the construction of Delaware Avenue at the behest of Stephen Girard to the creation of a shared railroad giving businesses equal access to the river, Philadelphia's government has long recognized the riverfront as an economic center. Previous investments in the waterfront were meant to keep Philadelphia competitive with other American cities as a commercial center.