Editorial for February 22, 2007 edition:


Say Uncle Miltie

It’s been nearly five years since a certain big-city mayor named John Franklin Street boasted at a convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People that "the brothers and sisters are running the city."
That obscenely racist statement to a race-based group and other missteps notwithstanding, however, Mayor Street has not done nearly as poorly as many had feared. But love him or hate him, in 11 short months Philadelphians will no longer have him to kick around. From a purely entertainment standpoint, though, if we’re lucky, the mayor will get his wish; we will have another "brother running the city" — the mayor’s big brother, the infamous and beloved Thomas Milton Street, has joined the crowded field of Democrats running in the May 15 primary election for mayor.
Never mind a couple of humongous reasons that Milton would be an absolutely terrible mayor — he might have to run the city from a jail cell since he is to go on trial on federal corruption and tax evasion charges the day before the election; he was arrested Monday for having unpaid traffic tickets in New Jersey; he apparently lives and sleeps in his ladyfriend’s home in Moorestown, N.J., and not, as he says, in his home on Anchor Street in Wissinoming; like his baby brother, he will never escape a checkered past: In Milton’s case, unpaid tickets in Philadelphia Traffic Court, punching a court officer, etc.
Milton Street is a colorful, flamboyant character who, if he miraculously overcomes his obstacles and wins the primary, will give Republican mayoral candidate Al Taubenberger a good run for his money in the general election. Milton brings great shame to the city, but gosh, he’s such fun to watch and listen to. He’s what folks in the news business call "great copy." Milton is a black version of the late, great Mayor Frank L. Rizzo — outrageously outspoken to a ferocious fault. ••

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