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Three years into a four-year mayoral term seemed as good a time as any for Mayor John Street to tout the accomplishments of his tenure in City Hall.
Never mind that Republican Sam Katz recently positioned himself to oppose him in next year’s election or that Street has never been particularly comfortable around the media.
"You never stop running," Street replied when asked if last Thursday’s press conference officially kicked off campaign season. "You run all the time."
Before turning control of the session over to members of the media, the mayor offered some opening remarks. He praised the city’s success in recruiting Paul Vallas to run the school district and the administration’s ability to negotiate a deal to build the new Eagles and Phillies stadiums.
Street puffed out his chest at how he has addressed quality-of-life issues. Some seemed small, he said, like snow plowing. The city cleared 2,320 miles of Philadelphia’s total 2,340 miles of roadway during the most recent storm.
Other programs were quite expansive, like the battle against crime waged by Operation Safe Streets and the mayor’s Neighborhood Transformation Initiative, which occupied members of City Council last Thursday as they voted to condemn 2,700 properties around the city.
"When I think about where we were just a few short months ago," Street said, "I have to be very pleased with the progress."
But things got a little fuzzy when Street counted last April’s move to continue wage-tax reductions for another five years in his win column.
"We are fully committed to the most aggressive tax-reduction program in the history of this city," Street said. "That is a huge commitment to make and I think that is going to bode well for us as we move into the future."
Last spring the administration lobbied against the reductions to the wage tax proposed by Councilmen Frank DiCicco and Michael Nutter. At the time, the mayor predicted doom and gloom for the city’s budget, saying it would not be able to cover the hole left by the lost tax revenue.
Street signed the tax-cut legislation into law after Council unanimously passed it but, even last week, maintained the measure has a downside.
"We won’t have every city facility after we implement our program that we have before we implement our program," Street said. "We won’t have every recreation center, we won’t have every pool, we won’t have every playground."
Back in April he predicted the city would be forced to close 23 public pools, 17 recreation centers and four branch libraries to make ends meet after the wage-tax cuts. No updated numbers were offered on Thursday. Street also declined to give specific details on how the city would trim 2,500 employees from the city’s payroll, saying he would address the issue during his January budget speech.
"Part of the difference I had with some people in the spring," Street said, "was there was this feeling that we could take this huge tax reduction program and everything was going to be the same, that there wouldn’t be any who would feel any pain."
The mayor does not believe his reluctance to reduce and contain taxes — including his recent veto of a bill that would cap property-tax increases at 10 percent — will hurt him in November.
Rather, he believes voters will give him high marks in the areas of cleaning up blight, reducing crime and focusing attention on the neighborhoods.
If the voters don’t remember Street’s position on tax cuts, some members of City Council certainly will.
"There seems to be some incongruence between [his comments at the press conference] and his actions," Councilman-at-Large Jim Kenney said when asked about the mayor embracing the wage-tax reductions.
Councilman DiCicco said he already has seen evidence that the tax cuts are stimulating economic development in the city.
"I guess we were right and he was wrong," DiCicco said.
Indeed, the mayor cannot list a strong working relationship with City Council among his accomplishments. Street attempted to refrain from criticizing the legislative body as he searched for a way to describe its relationship with his administration, but his true feelings shined through.
"When I was Council president, I felt a duty to make sure things happened expeditiously and that they happened with a minimum amount of aggravation," Street said. "This Council has a different way of doing business."
He blamed Council members for the communication problems with his office. Former Mayor Ed Rendell and he would meet any time of the day or night to straighten out differences when Street was Council president, the mayor said. Rendell always knew Council’s position on every issue, Street added.
Council members, for their part, said relations were better during the Rendell years because the former mayor and his staff shared information.
In response to Street’s remarks, Council President Anna Verna spokesperson Bob Previdi said Verna has always been willing to work to improve communication with the mayor.
"The mayor, too, could be more helpful and forthcoming with information," Previdi said. "Mrs. Verna clearly has a different style. She feels it is best to run Council in a way that information is shared among all the members and a consensus is developed."
Kenney fired back at Street that the legislative process is slowed by an "absolute lack of any credible information" from the administration.
"There is not an issue that I can think of that we have been asked to vote on and make a decision on that [Street] has given us information that we needed in a timely fashion," Kenney said. "It is up to him to come halfway and he hasn’t even come 2 feet."
