John Street Continues To Ride The Rails of Controversy - My Take On His Tenure
When you meet John Street in person it has always been such a contrast from his public persona - one of intransigence and sometimes, defiance. He can be very personable and at times, charming. But in public life,he is his own man - always has been, but his “I do it alone” kind of leadership has never taken him to the greatness that was forecast for his time as Mayor. Instead, he infuriated even his friends by simply, in the end and most of the time, not listening to advice.
So much promise. He had so much of it when he became the Mayor of Philadelphia. John Street had more knowledge of how government worked in Philadelphia that I was sure he was a good bet to get things done. But leadership is more about taking command and leading than all the spreadsheets on city finance, or projections of things to come.
Mayor Street entered office with a promise to change Philadelphia for the better. In his first year, he accomplished the impossible - cleaning up neighborhoods that were bring rotted by abandoned cars. It was a good move. He was sincere about making Philadelphia a world-class city by changing the face of its neighborhoods, doing for the neighborhoods what Ed Rendell had done for the core of the city and its image worldwide, restoring their vitality. His government presided over a successful Republican National Convention with a huge assist from the business community.
Come October 2003 , the Mayor’s world was shaken by the discovery of a bug, a listening device and with that, the revelation that an exhaustive investigation of municipal corruption was underway. The Mayor was never charged with anything but he consistently, and with fervor, attacked the investigation. That was not a good thing to do. As the leader of the city, sending messages from top down is very important. His top-down message was that the investigation was politics, which we have learned, it wasn’t. Bad form? Yes.
And now in the final days, Mayor Street has decided to take, in lump sum, the pay raise he so proudly refused to take four years ago. This is his choice and his right, but again he has stirred controversy over his idealism as he is about to leave office.
The lesson of John Street’s tenure is that no person is an island. Everyone is answerable to others. When good and decent people offer input, they should at least be listened to. I know so many people who served in the administration who could have helped the Mayor along the way. He decided to ignore them. The result was a bad public image for a man who really, at the core, wanted to do great things. He still can as a former Mayor, if only if he is willing to explore the past and find out why things went right and wrong.
Now he moves on. I hope when he teaches his students that he will stress the importance of properly communicating your goals to the people.
In the meantime, I wish him well. I hope he can use his almost 30 years in government to help the city that he governed.
FARE WELL TO :
john street you alienated the white citizens in all aspects of city programs.
you were as bad for philadelphia,as george bush is bad for this great country.
excitment is high in phidelphia city with the in coming Mayor Mike Nutter.
(thank god we have a 2 party system).
also excitment will be high in the great american states in the coming year that will bring the first woman president in 231 years,HILLARY CLINTON,(BY TH WAY NUTTER ENDORSED HER).
LARRY.THERE IS GREAT HOPE IN PHILADEPIA,AND GREAT HOPE IN WASHINGTON D.C. AND THE GREAT UNITED STATES..
NOTE:PLEASE HOLD YOUR BITTER ATTACKS
ABOUT MAYOR NUTTER AND PRESIDENT TO BE HILLARY CLINTON-TRY TO LOOK ON THE POSSITIVE SIDE OF THE DIFFICULT JOB THEY HAVE TO CLEAN UP,
LARRY,I AM EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW YEAR AND I THINK YOU ARE TO LARRY.
It’s curious that Street “turned down” the raise for 4 straight years, yet the City employees’ payroll guru kept the raises in each budget year…
Well, stranger things than that happen when it comes to payroll…how about the 87 year old President of ComcCast has a new deal…when he dies, his salary will go on for 5 more years…yep, the guy gets paid a salary even after he is dead! That gives new meaning to not being able to take it with you…I guess money talks even in the afterlife!
Jack: I too have high hopes for Mayor-elect Nutter, The jury is still out on Clinton’s chances.
We’ll see this week and next,
Larry
I would have thought that John Street would have the smarts and activist moral fiber to be a better leader than he was. I met him at Wilson middle school when my son attended there in his first year. I shook his hand and let him know I was glad he came out to the neighborhood and faced a packed auditorium of students, parents and citizens who did not give him a hard time at all but were relieved he came out to listen to what we had to say. I was amazed that he cleaned up the streets of abandoned autos, lead the anti crime clean up in the badlands and brought some world class professionals to give us a wireless internet city, at no cost to the taxpayers, as well as cleaned up public housing and started a neighborhood transformation initiative. But as much as it was, he could have done so much more because he knows so much more about how to get things done in the city from his council days. He had 8 successful years to build on from Rendel and an economic expansion and urban real estate boom to suport the NTI. The corruption and pay to play weighed down his ability to do more or maybe that was all there was to him. I sure do not know but he did enough to allow Nutter to build on 16 years of momentum to turn Phily around even if it was not comparable to the tidal wave of change from the 90’s.
John Street was a “race man” — he built his city on race, he used race, and banged that one note his whole career. It worked at one time during the campaigns. From an article on Obama, who represents the contrasting approach:
“There was a time when black politicians had little in common with white politicians. They had been educated in segregated schools and historically black colleges; many had entered politics through the civil rights movement, social activism or the black church. Their districts and constituents were overwhelmingly African-American. They were “race men” who had built their careers advocating for blacks.” from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22052552/
“In his 2006 book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama recalls sitting with a white, liberal Democrat in the Senate and listening to a black, inner-city legislator, whom he identified only as John Doe, speechifying on how the elimination of a particular program was blatant racism. The white colleague turned to Mr. Obama and said, “You know what the problem is with John? Whenever I hear him, he makes me feel more white.”
“Mr. Obama finds a lesson in that moment: White guilt has exhausted itself. Even fair-minded whites resist suggestions of racial victimization. Proposals that benefit minorities alone cannot be a basis for the broad coalitions needed to transform…”
from http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22052552/page/2/
Wonder which black inner city legislator Obama refers to? John Doe aka John Street? Who else?
John’s hair and his political framework are from a bygone era. He can’t transition into the Philly that elected Nutter, nor into the Hillary administration that would distance itself in the same way Obama has from identity politics. Race cards are no longer Hallmark cards.
Street’s fundraising ties (Ron White, drug extorting Imam Shamsud-din Ali, and similar pals who had, have, or were going to get felony convictions) made Philly a circus of graft.
Street was pay to play, all the way. Street tried to oppose campaign finance in the city, ethics reforms, and pretended that “nepotism” is not a word in the black vocabulary. Street’s whole point of view is “hey, if white politicians did it in Philly, I can too! It’s my civil right!” Meanwhile, even as Fumo, Mariano, Leonard Ross, et al. are prosecuted, Street is saying, OK, so it’s wrong, but it’s not against the law. When the federal law is pointed out to him, Street says, “OK, pay to play is not against local and state law! So there!” His political influences are Stuey.
Street gave a bad name to all black politicians. Nutter will have to overcome the perceptions created by Street in order to grow regional ties that work. Good thing Nutter can do that no problem, but Philly has to wait for Nutter to fix the rifts and mistrust Street created.
“Content of character,” indeed. Street escaped prosecution for Connie Little taking drug extortion money via Shamsud-din Ali aka Clarence Fowler only because someone in the PPD tipped the mayor’s people off. Hear that, Sylvester Johnson? See no evil is not a defense. No wonder the murder rate skyrockets under Street. What drug dealer is going to cooperate with an NOI extortionist/community activist if the drug corners are being closed by a police commish that stops and frisks? No, murder is from a “lack of civility” and “lack of jobs” and “you can’t arresth your way out of thith prolem.” Thanks, Sylvester.
Black organized crime has tight ties at the top to Street’s fundraising and campaign apparatus. It’s been well-documented in the press and in books on black organized crime in Philly.
Suddenly getting weak and confused on drug crime, even being unable to see it as such, disputing how to address it even as police did so with effective measures like stop and frisk, deriding Nutter for properly referring to drug killings as genocide makes Street more like a Theoden under Grima Wormtongue.
Perhaps people once loved him, but he’s done too much damage to be viable.
Street tended the crack house vote like a garden of weeds.
When will blacks in the major cities wise up. The theory of “the man will take care of us ” is false. Look at Wash DC and how they put Marion Barry back in office after he bankrupted the city twice and was served time for buying crack. …Remember Coleman Young in Detroit?….Black people have to start voting for the best cannidate regardless of his color..White folks elected Mayor Bradley (black Man)of LA forty years ago because he was the best choice..In most cases “the Man” is out for himself not the folks who elected him. If Ron White had not died it is likely John Street would have been indicted and would be in prison now.And where are you now Wilson W. Good?
When will blacks in the major cities wise up. The theory of “the man will take care of us ” is false. Look at Wash DC and how they put Marion Barry back in office after he bankrupted the city twice and served time for buying crack. …Remember Coleman Young in Detroit?….Black people have to start voting for the best canidate regardless of his color..White folks elected Mayor Bradley (black Man)of LA forty years ago because he was the best choice..In most cases “the Man” is out for himself not the folks who elected him. If Ron White had not died it is likely John Street would have been indicted and would be in prison now.And where are you now Wilson W. Good?
I wish I had something nice to say about John Street. I do know he said, “the brothers and sisters run the city…” “we are in charge…”. What a great way to promote social harmony. If I had said that, larry would be all over my case. Larry doesn’t even mention it in his assessment of the Street tenure. For me, that was the last time I ever gave a thought to whatever that man had to say. A complete ignoramus with no class or reverence for the position he held as a mayor of a once great city.
In regards to the first post by jack russell where he says “(thank god we have a 2 party system)” - I don’t know what city you are thinking about Jack, but it ain’t Philly. It’s been one-party rule for the past 50 years.
OK, maybe sometimes you’ll have the Democrat carpenter’s union vs. the Democrat electrician’s union - maybe that’s what you’re thinking about? That’s as close as you get to two parties in Philly.
In the end, the Philly Democrat robo-voters will vote for whoever their union or ward leader says they should vote for - it’s easier than thinking.
I too was somewhat hopeful about Nutter - until he ran some campaign ads on TV just before the election.
The first question was “why?”. Did he think he really needed to run ads? Or did he just have some extra money he needed to spend?
But in those ads, instead of bringing people together, he has to put up black-and-white pictures of George Bush and Dick Cheney. In a mayor’s race? Why?
Those ads just made me realize he was just another Philly Democrat political hack. Mark my words - nothing great will come from Nutter if that’s his thinking. When things go wrong, he’ll be blaming George Bush for the next four years, even when Bush is no longer in office. Just like every other Democrat hack.
Just look at the people Nutter is surrounding himself with. Angel Ortiz? Come on. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Just watch.
Joe , only Larry would comment on JR’s rant and not mention to JR that there is only one political party in Philly. The Demonic party. It runs Philly and all of its’ corruption. From pay to play to accepting retroactive cost of living raises when you leave office.
Something tells me that if we were in the 1940’s or 1950’s - when Philadelphia existed under one-party Republican rule, Joe and Ed wouldn’t have as much of an issue. Just a friendly observation.
Why put George Bush and Dick Cheney in a campaign ad for Mayor of a major city? Think of what they have done to hurt the middle class, and especially, the working poor - many of whom live in cities like Philadelphia. No new federal funding for law enforcement (except where it concerns “Homeland Security”, an Education policy that mandates better schools but does nothing to assist that process, TWICE vetoing the Children’s Health Insurance Program bill, before finally signing a much less effective version just today. Certainly President Bush and Vice President Cheney have quite a lot to do with the problems of urban American - not to mention the fact that if you are making a commerical about bringing people together, it’s not a terrible idea to highlight two individuals who have dedicated the last 7 years to divisiveness, to show how much better government can be.
I truly believe that will be the kind of government we see under Mayor Michael Nutter. A city government that listens to it’s constituents - their concerns, their suggestions and their hopes for the city. He is hiring well trained, thoughtful people for his administration, not party insiders, and the first thing the Nutter transition team did was put out a blanket request for resumes from anyone who thought they could help the city - on a paid or volunteer basis. Bringing people INTO city government, not excluding them - that’s what I think Nutter administration will be about. And it’s the opposite attitude and method of doing business that made the Street years far less palatable.
NP, the last Republican mayor elected in this city was in 1948. Just a friendly observation.
As for Nutter , what makes you think this guy is any different than Street?
He comes from the same background and knows how to play the game quite well.
With the political machine so entrenched in the city of Phila, I’ll just sit out here in the suburbs and wait to see what happens.
You know, I wish just once I could make a point without some yahoo trying to make it personal.
Larry so are sooo right in seeing that Mayor Street had no ears for anyone with good advice. He could have accomplished many more of his goals if he only had listened.
The Great Expectations Program put on by the U of P, the Inky, Chris Satullo and the Citizens of the Region have a new and different impact on the next administration. A progressive program, Mike Nutter was elected because of it and he knows his base has been proactive in saying what is on their mind.
Mike Nutter has the opportunity to do what Rudi did for New York, Fast Eddie did for Philly or Daley did for Chicago. The time is right,the opportunity is now. Philly has alot going for it and Mike Nutter is the right guy to bring out the best.
Let us pray! g
NP, exactly what do you consider “middle class”?
I consider myself “middle class” and guess what? I don’t WANT the government giving me things, and neither do most “middle class” people.
The federal government *should not be funding* law enforcement in the city of Philadelphia or any other city. That’s up to each city and state. The same with education - that’s a local school district and state function, not the federal government. So if you want more cops in Philly, ask city council to raise your taxes and pay for them.
But it’s typical of socialists to want central (Federal) government control over everything. It makes it easier for them because they only need to gain control over one place of government rather than 50 state governments or hundreds of cities and school districts.
I have not been “hurt” by anything Bush has done “to” the middle class, nor do I know anyone else. That’s all Democrat propoganda. Exactly what is it that he has “done” to the middle class that has “hurt”? Lowering taxes? Ouch, that really hurt…. Cutting government spending? Hah. The government is spending more than ever. Unemployment has hovered in the 4-5% range almost Bush’s entire term.
The CHIPS health program? Hah. That was just a Democrat attempt at incrementally implementing Hillary-care. The Democrats wanted the CHILD health care program to cover ADULTS. Bush was right to veto the attempted Democrat corruption of that program.
But you don’t read about things like that in the Inquirer and Daily News - they are just part of the Democrat-Media Complex.
Joe, I couldn’t have said it better. I’m just tired of the personal retaliation that responses such as yours evokes.
As Ed said earlier of the Mayor Elect, “…what makes you think this guy is any different from Street?” Just look at the appointments that Mr. Nutter has made so far, and the connection that those appointments have with Harrisburg and Washington, D.C. It’s a case of the same game being played over again. Nothing has changed.
Joe.
Most of the issues and and viewpoints HAVE been covered in the Inquirer. I don’t read the Daily News so I can’t speak to that. You have to read the paper, not throw it aside holding the view that it ( and all the print media)
are part of the Democrat-Media complex. Editorially, the Inquirer is certainly more liberal than Fox news but you know that going in. Over the years they’ve supported dozens of Republican candidates. The deal seems to be: blow enough smoke about the ‘liberal media’ and no one will bother to read it to find out if it’s true. This is the line parroted by Rush and Company - given voice locally by CBS- the great Satan of liberal media.