Street Cred

This article shows why John Street has been such a poor mayor. He dismissively knocks Michael Nutter for offering ideas to reduce gun violence and the crime rate in Philadelphia, saying the problem is more complicated than Nutter suggests. Gee, thanks for the insight, Mayor.

The issue is not whether Nutter or any of the other candidates to succeed Street are seeking a campaign edge by touting solutions that sound good but may not work. It's that Street never, ever shows the slightest leadership, on public safety or any other issue (city finances? tax structure? Center City development? effectiveness of City services?).

I'm not talking about the phony swagger, flight jacket, "Mission Accomplished"-type of faux leadership we have had coming out of Washington in recent years. What I am talking about is, as St. Joe's political analyst Randall Miller says in the article, "seize[ing] the bully pulpit of office to articulate a consistent, strong message," ensuring that the specific measures employed effectively further that message, and accepting responsibility when things go poorly, as they so obviously have in this City on the issues of violence and crime.

But you also get the credit when things go right, which they are more likely to do if you know what you are doing. Obviously, Street learned nothing from watching Ed Rendell all those years. And we City residents have paid dearly for that failure.