Street looks back
at eight busy years

By Tom Waring
Times Staff Writer

John Street is now a private citizen and expects that his days as a public official are over.
Street left office on Monday after two terms as mayor. He attended the swearing-in of his successor, fellow Democrat Michael Nutter, that morning at the Academy of Music.
Over the last 28 years, Street has been in office for 27. Besides his eight years as mayor, he represented the 5th Councilmanic District for 19 years, including seven as president of Council. He resigned to run for mayor in 1999.
"I have enjoyed my tenure in City Hall," he said.
Unlike his predecessor, Ed Rendell, Street does not appear to have a political future. Rendell used his popularity from eight years as Philadelphia’s mayor to win the governor’s seat in 2002.
Street, though, enjoys no such popularity and would appear to have little chance of winning a statewide election. There was speculation that he would run for Congress if U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah was elected mayor, but Fattah lost badly and remains in the House of Representatives.
For now, Street, 64, will teach an urban politics course at Temple University. He’ll work just six hours a week, teaching Tuesdays and Thursdays, starting Jan. 22. He’s already getting into the Owls spirit, buying a Temple sweatshirt and hat.
Looking back on his record as mayor, Street had plenty of ups and downs.
In 2000, he started with ambitious plans to remove abandoned cars, plow snow from streets and revitalize poor neighborhoods that had been ignored for years. He generally received high praise for his effort.
There was plenty of controversy on several other matters.
Street bragged to an NAACP convention in 2002 that "the brothers and sisters are running this city." In 2005, he walked past a ticket-taker and into a movie theater at the AMC Franklin Mills after being asked to open his bag for a security check. That same year, Time magazine named him one of America’s three-worst mayors.
One day last June, he waited in line, off and on, for 15 hours to buy the new iPhone. And before leaving office, he collected more than $111,000 in pay raises that he had declined earlier in his tenure.
Of course, Street prefers to focus on his successes. His Neighborhood Transformation Initiative tore down abandoned buildings, cleared vacant lots and planted trees.
At the same time, NTI was flexible enough to work in neighborhoods like the Northeast, where there is relatively little blight and abandonment. In an effort to stabilize and preserve good neighborhoods, Street and Councilwoman Joan Krajewski created the Community Life Improvement Program.
CLIP became a popular feature, with crews removing graffiti, clearing high weeds and addressing other quality-of-life issues. It later expanded to the 7th and 10th councilmanic districts.
"I think it worked enormously well for the Northeast," Street said late last week in an interview at City Hall.
As for crime, Street notes that only once in the eight years of his administration did annual homicides top 400. He adds that there were 400 or more murders in nine of the 11 years before he took office.
Violent crime and shootings fell in 2007, as did overall crime in 22 of the city’s 23 police districts. Only the 24th Police District experienced a rise in crime.
Street rejects suggestions by some — including his longtime rival Nutter — that he should have declared a state of emergency on crime. He favors more anti-gun laws.
How will he be judged on his handling of crime?
"This wasn’t an unsafe city in that period of time," he thinks historians will say.
As part of his anti-crime effort, he created 11 curfew centers across the city. One is located at Frankford Group Ministry. Another is at Max Myers Playground.
Police pick up minors who are out past curfew and take them to a center, where Department of Human Services employees interview them and release them only after a parent arrives at the site.
Street said curfew violators are more likely to commit a crime, become a victim of crime or miss school.
"That’s just plain old trouble," he said.
Street is glad he fought against an effort to turn public schools over to for-profit companies. He likes the School Reform Commission format and the hiring of a CEO to run the School District of Philadelphia. He approved of the job done by former CEO Paul Vallas, but he acknowledges that Vallas left the district in a "little bit of a money problem."
As mayor, he selected Marty Bednarek, a banker from Lexington Park, to serve on the former board of education and later the SRC. He hired 400 parent/truant officers and brought 6,000 truants and their parents to the Liacouras Center to show them the city was serious about the issue.
Standardized test scores are on the rise, and schools are receiving more resources, according to Street.
"I think our schools are better," he said.
On fiscal matters, city taxes were cut $1.3 billion in the last eight years. The budget fund balance is almost $300 million, slightly higher than Street inherited from Rendell.
"The city does not have a financial problem," Street said.
The former mayor describes Center City as a vibrant place with great restaurants and sidewalk cafes. He pointed to national magazines and out-of-town newspapers that have written glowing pieces on the city.
In the near future, the Pennsylvania Convention Center will expand, the Barnes Foundation will bring works of art to a new site on the Ben Franklin Parkway and slot machine parlors will rejuvenate the Delaware River waterfront.
"These are nice things happening," Street said.
Before leaving office, he was hoping the city would have an agreement to allow Fox Chase Cancer Center to expand into Burholme Park.
The matter could be resolved soon, but Street blames City Councilman Brian O’Neill for delaying final approval. He fears the cancer center will look for another site outside the city.
"If we would have gotten more cooperation from Councilman O’Neill, it would have happened," he said of the deal.
Street is no fan of multiple mini-City Hall facilities, but he can live with the two that exist. One of those is at 9239 Roosevelt Blvd., and the ex-mayor thinks it works well for Northeast residents — especially senior citizens — who live far from City Hall.
Still, he wants to see the transactions completed on computers, not by city employees.
"The city’s business with people should be done online, not in line," he said.
Street defended his administration against accusations that it was corrupt. An FBI investigation that was made public a month before the 2003 mayoral election eventually led to more than two dozen guilty verdicts and pleas.
Former city treasurer Corey Kemp was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for accepting cash, trips and other gratuities for official favors.
Street pointed out that his administration cooperated with federal authorities, adding that Kemp was the only city official convicted.
"I don’t think that makes a corrupt government," he said. ••
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215-354-3034 or twaring@phillynews.com