FOP taps Brady
for mayor

Campaign Bits
By Tom Waring

Bob Eddis, a Parkwood resident and president of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5, said good police work includes a relationship with the community.
"We see congressman Brady as someone who understands that bond," he said.
Eddis spoke at a news conference last week at FOP headquarters, where the union endorsed U.S. Rep. Bob Brady in the Democratic mayoral primary.
The FOP also interviewed state Rep. Dwight Evans, former City Councilman Michael Nutter and businessman Tom Knox. Evans had little chance of winning the nod because he’s called for the return of former Police Commissioner John Timoney, who occasionally clashed with the police union.
The union did not consider U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah because he favors a new trial for convicted cop-killer Mumia Abu-Jamal. Eddis added that he was turned off when Fattah told him he did not support a congressional resolution condemning a French town that named a street after Abu-Jamal simply because it was introduced by a Republican, former Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick.
Eddis, who was joined by former union leaders Bob Hurst, Rich Costello and others, described Brady as a consensus builder with a vision for the future. He thinks the congressman has a personal touch with police officers. He said Brady made no promise to hire a commissioner from the ranks of the police department to replace Sylvester Johnson, who will retire at the end of the year.
Including active members, retirees and their immediate families, Eddis estimates that his union can deliver 35,000 votes for Brady.
It was a good week for Brady, who was also endorsed by District Attorney Lynne Abraham. He vowed to continue to ask beat officers what they need to do their job. He’ll go to Harrisburg, Washington and City Council to secure funding for equipment, squad cars, bulletproof vests and other items.
"I’m going to do it in correlation with everybody standing behind me," he said.
The FOP endorsed Mayor John Street four years ago against Republican Sam Katz. The union did not make an endorsement in the first Street-Katz face-off in 1999.

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Speaking of crime, Nutter is appalled that Philadelphia has more murders this year than New York despite having less than one-fifth the population.
"If Mayor Street still thinks that we are in an ‘up tic’ of murders or that someone else is to blame, then he is delusional and needs to resign," he said. "Let someone assume the leadership of the city since the mayor seems to be all but absent."
As mayor, Nutter would hire 500 officers over three years, install surveillance cameras in high-crime areas, enforce arrest warrants against fugitives and provide jobs for ex-cons to deter recidivism.
In other news from the Nutter campaign, he has developed a Plan for Emergency Management and Disaster Response.
Nutter explained that Hurricane Katrina and the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have changed the job description of big-city mayors.
The candidate wants to build a joint operations center to assist emergency management workers in a disaster. He’d also improve the emergency readiness of Philadelphia ports. And, he’d make changes to the radio communications of Philadelphia police and firefighters in SEPTA tunnels, among transit and port agencies and between city and private ambulance services.
A good plan, Nutter believes, can save lives in a terrorist attack, natural disaster or industrial catastrophe.
"Continuous preparation is the foundation for saving those lives," he said. "This preparation requires a special kind of leadership: a steady dedication to necessary reforms in a variety of areas before disaster strikes rather than in the middle of one."
Meanwhile, Nutter released a proposal to create proactive community master plans under the City Planning Commission. As part of the effort, he would provide the planning commission with the budget and authority to do its job.
In addition, he would empower qualified staffers from the Department of Licenses and Inspections to review simple zoning variance requests to cut down on the length of the permit process.
And, he wants to reform the membership of the five-person Zoning Board of Adjustment to consist of an architect, an urban planner, a traffic engineer, an attorney experienced in land use issues and a representative of a community group.

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Fattah is calling for four debates between March 20 and April 30.
Under his proposal, one debate would focus on crime and another on jobs, education, health care and housing. The other two debates would be open to questions on all topics.
Already, Fattah has committed to appear on KYW Newsradio’s Breakfast with the Candidates and a debate sponsored by CBS-3 Eyewitness News, the League of Women Voters and the Committee of Seventy.
Fattah wants a debate hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists and another on a Spanish broadcast station.

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Former state Sen. Milton Street will undoubtedly want to be included in those debates.
Street, the older brother of Mayor John Street, is making a late entry in the race. He faces a potential challenge to his candidacy based on residency.
Last year, a judge ruled him ineligible to run for the state legislature because he could not prove he lived in the city. He has acknowledged staying sometimes at a friend’s house in Moorestown, N.J.
To run for mayor, he must have lived in Philadelphia for the three prior years, according to the Home Rule Charter. He claims to live with his daughter on the 1700 block of Anchor St. in Wissinoming.
In addition, Street is scheduled to go on trial on May 14, a day before the primary. He’s facing federal charges of income tax evasion.
Nevertheless, Street is proceeding with his mayoral campaign. He held a rally last week outside City Hall that attracted no more than 200 people. He’d earlier said that he’d drop out of the race if he couldn’t draw 5,000 to the March 1 noontime rally.
At the rally, Street stood on a stage with a casket to signify the city’s rising murder and violent crime rate.
Editor’s note: As the Times went to press, Milton Street announced that he would run for City Council at-large instead of mayor.

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Councilwoman Blondell Reynolds Brown announced she’s running for re-election to a third four-year term.
The announcement was held in the mayor’s reception room in City Council and attracted Mayor John Street, Council President Anna Verna, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell and state Sen. Vince Hughes. The master of ceremonies was former City Controller Jonathan Saidel.
In Council, Reynolds Brown has advocated for funding for arts and culture programs and helped broker the agreement that requires the Phillies and Eagles to each pay $1 million a year to a children’s fund as per their stadium deals with the city. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com