John F. Street
Encyclopedia
John Franklin Street was the 97th Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. He was first elected to a term beginning on January 3, 2000, and was re-elected to a second term beginning in 2004. He is a Democrat and became mayor after having served 19 years in the Philadelphia City Council
, including seven years as its president, before resigning as required under the Philadelphia City Charter in order to run for mayor. He followed Ed Rendell
as mayor, assuming the post on January 3, 2000. Street was Philadelphia's second black mayor.
Notably, in an unusual circumstance, the City Council President at the time, Anna Verna
, was briefly in the position of running the city before Mayor Street was sworn in, as Rendell resigned the post in December 1999 to become the head of the DNC
(per Article III, Chapter 5, Section 3-500 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter).
, and grew up as a member of a farming household. He graduated from Conshohocken High School, received an undergraduate degree in English
from Oakwood College
in Huntsville, Alabama
, and his law degree from Temple University
, which he had to apply to several times before he was accepted. Following his graduation from law school, Street served clerkships with Common Pleas Court Judge Mathew W. Bullock, Jr. and with the United States Department of Justice
from which he was quickly terminated for poor performance. In his first professional job, Street taught English at an elementary school and, later, at the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center. He also practiced law privately prior to entering into public service. He is married and has four children. He is also a practicing Seventh-day Adventist
. His brother, Milton, is a former member of the state legislature
, and two-time mayoral candidate.
First elected to City Council in 1979, he represented the city's Fifth Councilmanic District for two decades.
Street was chosen unanimously by members of the Council to serve as President in 1992, after incumbent Joe Coleman
retired, and was re-elected in 1996. Street, working closely with former Mayor Ed Rendell
, was instrumental in crafting and implementing a financial plan that passed Council unanimously, and turned a $250 million deficit into the largest surplus in city history. Despite decreasing the business and wage tax four years in a row, Philadelphia still has the 10th largest tax burden in the United States. This is due to the financial burden to run the city's prisons, pay debt service, and employee pensions and health benefits.
In 2001, he was named runner up "Politician of the Year" by PoliticsPA
. He was named the 2003 Politician of the Year by the political website PoliticsPA
, because "It takes an extremely shrewd and effective politician to turn an FBI bugging of the mayor's office into a positive but that's exactly what Mayor John Street did."
Street is very passionate on the importance of the Democratic Party
. He once floated the possibility of being a candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania. Since some recent corruption scandals, those prospects have diminished.
His relationship with the City Council was tenuous at best. He and former councilman Michael Nutter, who is the current Mayor of Philadelphia, often engaged in public political sparring. Regardless, Street ultimately agreed to a 2005 revision of Nutter's New York-style smoking ban (after much public criticism over his failure to support a smoking ban in Philadelphia).
The April 17, 2005, issue of Time Magazine listed him as one of the three worst big-city mayors in the United States.
Initially, opponents raised objections to the program's emphasis on demolishing abandoned buildings rather than seeking re-use or restoration of the sometimes historic properties. Others hailed the program for bringing much-needed investment to the city's many poor neighborhoods. However, initial results have been positive. Since 2000, the average home in Philadelphia has appreciated by approximately 30 percent. The housing market continues to thrive, and developers have created more than 4,880 market-rate apartments and condominiums in the past several years.
Street also made children and their welfare a focus of his first term in office. In his first inaugural address in January 2000, Street officially proclaimed the year 2000 "The Year of the Child" in Philadelphia. He sought to increase funding for after-school programs, and formed the Philadelphia Children's Commission, a diverse group of government, civic, business, and faith-based leadership, whose job it was to advise Street on policies and programs that would have a positive impact in the lives of Philadelphia's children. He also sought to fight truancy among school aged children.
The city's public schools were among the worst in the country when Street took office, and much of his attention early on went into difficult decisions about the schools. In November 2001, a compromise between Street and the Republican-controlled General Assembly
allowed for the privatization of the Philadelphia Public Schools. Edison Schools
took over day-to-day operations of some of the worst-performing city schools, while a small number were taken over by other institutions, primarily area universities.
In August 2001, the lucrative Philadelphia Parking Authority
was taken over by the Pennsylvania government in a compromise designed to help the Philadelphia School District out of its fiscal crisis. Many believed that the Parking Authority's revenues were politically insubstantial in comparison with the high-profile patronage
positions on the Parking Authority's board that were transferred from Democratic to Republican hands in the move.
Drawing ire from skateboarders, he banned skateboarding from the internationally famous Love Park
after the city had hosted the X-Games in 2001 and 2002 at the Wachovia Center
. In 2004 he turned down a $1-million offer from DC Shoes
to maintain and renovate the park to allow skating. Instead the city spent $800,000 on adding obstacles to prevent skaters from skating in the park.
Street created the Office of Health and Fitness after the city was named the fattest city in the nation by Men's Fitness magazine in 1999. The magazine cited the low number of athletic facilities and high number of fast-food restaurants. Street also signed into law a smoking ban on September 12, 2006.
Street also advocated the construction of a city-wide Wi-Fi
network. The network is to be run by the non-profit organization Wireless Philadelphia in partnership with the city and commercial internet service providers. Opponents of the plan suggest that government involvement will quash innovation. Supporters hope that the plan will help bring information access to poor Philadelphians and make the city more attractive to young and educated people.
In a 2002 address at a convention of the NAACP, Street said that “the brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don’t you let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love. We are in charge! We are in charge!” This observation attracted some criticism and charges of racial divisiveness.
The murder rate in Philadelphia hit a seven-year high during Street's tenure, but the overall trend was significantly lower than in the 1970s under Frank Rizzo. In 2005 there were 380 murders, up from 330 in 2004. Forty-five percent of those murdered were 25 or younger. 2006 saw 406 murders in the city, including a Philadelphia police officer. This murder trend continued to escalate into 2007, with 127 murders occurring by the end of April, 2007, a rate far in excess of the larger cities of New York
, Los Angeles
and Chicago
. http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a10_phillyhead.5816464apr24,0,6303084.story. At least one commentator referred to Street as being "strangely silent" in his efforts to reduce the city's murder rate. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/mayors_race/20070516_Man_of_street__not_of_Street.html
On July 27, 2006, Street launched the Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership (AVRP) as a way to prevent high risk youth (target age 10-15) from being victims of combat violence. He also expanded the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) into the 19th Police District in West Philadelphia.
On September 12, 2007, Philadelphia Police Commissioner
Sylvester Johnson, an African-American, supported by Street, called on "10,000 black men" to patrol the streets to lessen crime. On Halloween Day, with the 2007 murder total above 335, a Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed for the second time in as many years (he was the third officer to be shot in a four-day period).
, the FBI acknowledged that it had placed listening devices in the Mayor's office as part of a sweeping investigation of municipal corruption. The FBI's investigation uncovered a corruption scheme led by Street's friend and fund raiser Ron White, who died before going to trial. Former city treasurer Corey Kemp, a member of Street's administration, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty on 27 corruption-related charges in May 2005. One Additional prosecution of members of Street's administration took place in the wake of the Kemp conviction and resulted in an acquittal of Mayoral Aide John D. Christmas.
In September 2005, a prominent Muslim clergyman, Shamsud-din Ali, in Philadelphia was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on racketeering and other charges. Prosecutors said the cleric, who was once a member of Mayor John F. Street's transition team, used his political connections to obtain dubious loans, donations and city contracts. Mr. Ali was sentenced to 87 months in prison. His conviction was affirmed on July 18, 2007, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (493 F.3d 387).
Leonard Ross, a lawyer and close advisor of Mayor Street, who led a committee trying to develop a crucial piece of city-owned property, was charged with fraud and conspiracy in December 2005, and later pled guilty to the charges.
The race was captured in the documentary film "The Shame of a City
," directed by Tigre Hill
, which gave viewers an inside look at the campaign.
It should be noted that Street has never been formally charged with any crime, nor has he ever been identified as having been a target of the long-standing federal investigation.
In November 2006, federal authorities charged that Milton Street, Street's older brother, traded on his last name to obtain lucrative city contracts and failed to pay taxes on more than $2 million in income. It was alleged that soon after Mayor Street took office in 2000, Milton Street began hiring himself out as consultant to companies that thought he could help them get city contracts. One company paid Milton Street, who is a hot dog vendor, $30,000 a month consulting fee.
council, Cradle of Liberty Council, to admit gay scout leaders, vacate the city-owned building that it has occupied since 1928, or pay market rent. Although the city subsidizes rental space for more than 75 community and activist organizations, including 14 other youth organizations and several religious groups that have restrictive membership policies, the Mayor took the position that the Boy Scouts were not in compliance with the city's anti-discrimination ordinance.
article on John F. Street stated that Street, for a four year period in the late 1980s, portrayed the character Bozo the Clown
on a Philadelphia television station. Representatives of Mayor Street were forced to issue denials after the story was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer and on local sports radio station WIP. The Wikipedia article was corrected after six days.
Department of Political Science
. That spring, he taught two sections of a class on urban politics. Asked about his transition from public life to academia, the former mayor was quoted as saying, "You know what? I think I'm really going to like it here!"
Street is Chairman of the Philadelphia Housing Authority
board.
In 2011, he changed his voter registration from Democrat
to Independent
. Though Street maintained the switch was only, "..a means of keeping a variety of options available as a matter of good politics...", some had speculated that he intended to challenge incumbent Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter in the 2011 mayoral election
. He ultimately did not participate in the primary, and instead his brother, Milton Street
challenged and lost to Mayor Nutter.
Philadelphia City Council
The Philadelphia City Council, the legislative body of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, consists of ten members elected by district and seven members elected at-large. The council president is elected by the members from among their number...
, including seven years as its president, before resigning as required under the Philadelphia City Charter in order to run for mayor. He followed Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
as mayor, assuming the post on January 3, 2000. Street was Philadelphia's second black mayor.
Notably, in an unusual circumstance, the City Council President at the time, Anna Verna
Anna C. Verna
Anna Cibotti Verna is the current President of the Philadelphia City Council on which she has served since 1975 as the representative of the Second District, which encompasses most of South Philadelphia as well as most of the western end of Center City. She is a Democrat. Her husband operates a...
, was briefly in the position of running the city before Mayor Street was sworn in, as Rendell resigned the post in December 1999 to become the head of the DNC
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
(per Article III, Chapter 5, Section 3-500 of the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter).
Biographical details and political career
Street was born in Norristown, PennsylvaniaNorristown, Pennsylvania
Norristown is a municipality in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, northwest of the city limits of Philadelphia, on the Schuylkill River. The population was 34,324 as of the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Montgomery County...
, and grew up as a member of a farming household. He graduated from Conshohocken High School, received an undergraduate degree in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
from Oakwood College
Oakwood College
Oakwood University is a private university located in Huntsville, Alabama, United States. It is owned and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist Church...
in Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville, Alabama
Huntsville is a city located primarily in Madison County in the central part of the far northern region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County. The city extends west into neighboring Limestone County. Huntsville's population was 180,105 as of the 2010 Census....
, and his law degree from Temple University
Temple University Beasley School of Law
The Temple University James E. Beasley School of Law is the law school and a constituent academic unit of Temple University. Informally referred to as Temple Law School, the school is located at the Main Campus of Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Temple University James E...
, which he had to apply to several times before he was accepted. Following his graduation from law school, Street served clerkships with Common Pleas Court Judge Mathew W. Bullock, Jr. and with the United States Department of Justice
United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
from which he was quickly terminated for poor performance. In his first professional job, Street taught English at an elementary school and, later, at the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center. He also practiced law privately prior to entering into public service. He is married and has four children. He is also a practicing Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
. His brother, Milton, is a former member of the state legislature
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
, and two-time mayoral candidate.
First elected to City Council in 1979, he represented the city's Fifth Councilmanic District for two decades.
Street was chosen unanimously by members of the Council to serve as President in 1992, after incumbent Joe Coleman
Joseph E. Coleman
Joseph E. "Joe" Coleman was an American politician, attorney and chemist. He was a member of the Democratic Party.-Early life:Coleman was born in 1922, and grew-up in Mississippi during a time in which the southern United States was dominated by racial segregation and the Jim Crow laws. In 1948, he...
retired, and was re-elected in 1996. Street, working closely with former Mayor Ed Rendell
Ed Rendell
Edward Gene "Ed" Rendell is an American politician who served as the 45th Governor of Pennsylvania. Rendell, a member of the Democratic Party, was elected Governor of Pennsylvania in 2002, and his term of office began January 21, 2003...
, was instrumental in crafting and implementing a financial plan that passed Council unanimously, and turned a $250 million deficit into the largest surplus in city history. Despite decreasing the business and wage tax four years in a row, Philadelphia still has the 10th largest tax burden in the United States. This is due to the financial burden to run the city's prisons, pay debt service, and employee pensions and health benefits.
In 2001, he was named runner up "Politician of the Year" by PoliticsPA
PoliticsPA
- Content :The website focuses on news aggregation, linking to major political news making headlines across the state. The editors write occasional features, like the weekly "Up & Down" scorecard and one-off lists like "Harrisburg's Smartest Staffer" and "Best Dressed Lobbyist" lists...
. He was named the 2003 Politician of the Year by the political website PoliticsPA
PoliticsPA
- Content :The website focuses on news aggregation, linking to major political news making headlines across the state. The editors write occasional features, like the weekly "Up & Down" scorecard and one-off lists like "Harrisburg's Smartest Staffer" and "Best Dressed Lobbyist" lists...
, because "It takes an extremely shrewd and effective politician to turn an FBI bugging of the mayor's office into a positive but that's exactly what Mayor John Street did."
Street is very passionate on the importance of the Democratic Party
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
. He once floated the possibility of being a candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania. Since some recent corruption scandals, those prospects have diminished.
His relationship with the City Council was tenuous at best. He and former councilman Michael Nutter, who is the current Mayor of Philadelphia, often engaged in public political sparring. Regardless, Street ultimately agreed to a 2005 revision of Nutter's New York-style smoking ban (after much public criticism over his failure to support a smoking ban in Philadelphia).
The April 17, 2005, issue of Time Magazine listed him as one of the three worst big-city mayors in the United States.
Policy
During Street's first term, much emphasis was placed on the "Neighborhood Transformation Initiative." The Neighborhood Transformation Initiative (NTI), which was unveiled in April 2001 was an unprecedented effort to counter the history of decline in the City of Philadelphia and revitalize its neighborhoods. The program was designed to revitalize and restore communities, to develop or restore quality housing, to clean and secure streets, and to create opportunities for vibrant cultural and recreational facilities.Initially, opponents raised objections to the program's emphasis on demolishing abandoned buildings rather than seeking re-use or restoration of the sometimes historic properties. Others hailed the program for bringing much-needed investment to the city's many poor neighborhoods. However, initial results have been positive. Since 2000, the average home in Philadelphia has appreciated by approximately 30 percent. The housing market continues to thrive, and developers have created more than 4,880 market-rate apartments and condominiums in the past several years.
Street also made children and their welfare a focus of his first term in office. In his first inaugural address in January 2000, Street officially proclaimed the year 2000 "The Year of the Child" in Philadelphia. He sought to increase funding for after-school programs, and formed the Philadelphia Children's Commission, a diverse group of government, civic, business, and faith-based leadership, whose job it was to advise Street on policies and programs that would have a positive impact in the lives of Philadelphia's children. He also sought to fight truancy among school aged children.
The city's public schools were among the worst in the country when Street took office, and much of his attention early on went into difficult decisions about the schools. In November 2001, a compromise between Street and the Republican-controlled General Assembly
Pennsylvania General Assembly
The Pennsylvania General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The legislature convenes in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. In colonial times , the legislature was known as the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly. Since the Constitution of 1776, written by...
allowed for the privatization of the Philadelphia Public Schools. Edison Schools
Edison Schools
EdisonLearning Inc., formerly known as Edison Schools Inc., is a for-profit education management organization for public schools in the United States and the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1992 as The Edison Project, largely the brainchild of Chris Whittle...
took over day-to-day operations of some of the worst-performing city schools, while a small number were taken over by other institutions, primarily area universities.
In August 2001, the lucrative Philadelphia Parking Authority
Philadelphia Parking Authority
The Philadelphia Parking Authority was created by a Philadelphia City Council ordinance adopted on January 11, 1950, as authorized by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Parking Authority Law The Philadelphia Parking Authority was created by a Philadelphia City Council ordinance adopted on January 11,...
was taken over by the Pennsylvania government in a compromise designed to help the Philadelphia School District out of its fiscal crisis. Many believed that the Parking Authority's revenues were politically insubstantial in comparison with the high-profile patronage
Patronage
Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows to another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings or popes have provided to musicians, painters, and sculptors...
positions on the Parking Authority's board that were transferred from Democratic to Republican hands in the move.
Drawing ire from skateboarders, he banned skateboarding from the internationally famous Love Park
LOVE Park
Love Park is a plaza located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The park is nicknamed Love Park for Robert Indiana's Love sculpture which overlooks the plaza.-History:...
after the city had hosted the X-Games in 2001 and 2002 at the Wachovia Center
Wachovia Center
The Wells Fargo Center is an indoor arena located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania....
. In 2004 he turned down a $1-million offer from DC Shoes
DC Shoes
DC Shoes is an American company that specializes in footwear for extreme sports, skateboarding, snowboarding as well as snowboards, shirts, jeans, hats, and jackets.The company was founded in 1993 by Ken Block and Damon Way, and is based in Vista, California...
to maintain and renovate the park to allow skating. Instead the city spent $800,000 on adding obstacles to prevent skaters from skating in the park.
Street created the Office of Health and Fitness after the city was named the fattest city in the nation by Men's Fitness magazine in 1999. The magazine cited the low number of athletic facilities and high number of fast-food restaurants. Street also signed into law a smoking ban on September 12, 2006.
Street also advocated the construction of a city-wide Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi
Wi-Fi or Wifi, is a mechanism for wirelessly connecting electronic devices. A device enabled with Wi-Fi, such as a personal computer, video game console, smartphone, or digital audio player, can connect to the Internet via a wireless network access point. An access point has a range of about 20...
network. The network is to be run by the non-profit organization Wireless Philadelphia in partnership with the city and commercial internet service providers. Opponents of the plan suggest that government involvement will quash innovation. Supporters hope that the plan will help bring information access to poor Philadelphians and make the city more attractive to young and educated people.
In a 2002 address at a convention of the NAACP, Street said that “the brothers and sisters are running the city. Oh, yes. The brothers and sisters are running this city. Running it! Don’t you let nobody fool you, we are in charge of the City of Brotherly Love. We are in charge! We are in charge!” This observation attracted some criticism and charges of racial divisiveness.
The murder rate in Philadelphia hit a seven-year high during Street's tenure, but the overall trend was significantly lower than in the 1970s under Frank Rizzo. In 2005 there were 380 murders, up from 330 in 2004. Forty-five percent of those murdered were 25 or younger. 2006 saw 406 murders in the city, including a Philadelphia police officer. This murder trend continued to escalate into 2007, with 127 murders occurring by the end of April, 2007, a rate far in excess of the larger cities of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/state/all-a10_phillyhead.5816464apr24,0,6303084.story. At least one commentator referred to Street as being "strangely silent" in his efforts to reduce the city's murder rate. http://www.philly.com/inquirer/special/mayors_race/20070516_Man_of_street__not_of_Street.html
On July 27, 2006, Street launched the Adolescent Violence Reduction Partnership (AVRP) as a way to prevent high risk youth (target age 10-15) from being victims of combat violence. He also expanded the Youth Violence Reduction Partnership (YVRP) into the 19th Police District in West Philadelphia.
On September 12, 2007, Philadelphia Police Commissioner
Police commissioner
Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces and may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police. In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a...
Sylvester Johnson, an African-American, supported by Street, called on "10,000 black men" to patrol the streets to lessen crime. On Halloween Day, with the 2007 murder total above 335, a Philadelphia police officer was shot and killed for the second time in as many years (he was the third officer to be shot in a four-day period).
City Hall corruption scandal
During the re-election campaign against Sam KatzSam Katz (Philadelphia)
Sam Katz is an American politician from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is most notable for his three unsuccessful campaigns as a member of the Republican Party for Mayor of Philadelphia...
, the FBI acknowledged that it had placed listening devices in the Mayor's office as part of a sweeping investigation of municipal corruption. The FBI's investigation uncovered a corruption scheme led by Street's friend and fund raiser Ron White, who died before going to trial. Former city treasurer Corey Kemp, a member of Street's administration, was sentenced to 10 years in jail after being found guilty on 27 corruption-related charges in May 2005. One Additional prosecution of members of Street's administration took place in the wake of the Kemp conviction and resulted in an acquittal of Mayoral Aide John D. Christmas.
In September 2005, a prominent Muslim clergyman, Shamsud-din Ali, in Philadelphia was sentenced to more than seven years in prison on racketeering and other charges. Prosecutors said the cleric, who was once a member of Mayor John F. Street's transition team, used his political connections to obtain dubious loans, donations and city contracts. Mr. Ali was sentenced to 87 months in prison. His conviction was affirmed on July 18, 2007, by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (493 F.3d 387).
Leonard Ross, a lawyer and close advisor of Mayor Street, who led a committee trying to develop a crucial piece of city-owned property, was charged with fraud and conspiracy in December 2005, and later pled guilty to the charges.
The race was captured in the documentary film "The Shame of a City
The Shame of a City
The Shame of a City is a 2006 feature-length documentary, which premiered at the Philadelphia Film Festival,. Filmmaker Tigre Hill chronicles the 2003 Philadelphia mayoral race between Democrat incumbent mayor John Street and Republican challenger Sam Katz...
," directed by Tigre Hill
Tigre Hill
Tigre Hill is a filmmaker known for tackling controversial subjects. He is perhaps best known for his first documentary, The Shame of a City.-Background:Tigre Hill was born in Pittsburgh and raised in the western Philadelphia neighborhood of Wynnefield...
, which gave viewers an inside look at the campaign.
It should be noted that Street has never been formally charged with any crime, nor has he ever been identified as having been a target of the long-standing federal investigation.
In November 2006, federal authorities charged that Milton Street, Street's older brother, traded on his last name to obtain lucrative city contracts and failed to pay taxes on more than $2 million in income. It was alleged that soon after Mayor Street took office in 2000, Milton Street began hiring himself out as consultant to companies that thought he could help them get city contracts. One company paid Milton Street, who is a hot dog vendor, $30,000 a month consulting fee.
Boy Scout controversy
On July 31, 2006, Mayor Street ordered the local Boy ScoutsBoy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
council, Cradle of Liberty Council, to admit gay scout leaders, vacate the city-owned building that it has occupied since 1928, or pay market rent. Although the city subsidizes rental space for more than 75 community and activist organizations, including 14 other youth organizations and several religious groups that have restrictive membership policies, the Mayor took the position that the Boy Scouts were not in compliance with the city's anti-discrimination ordinance.
The Bozo the Clown incident
In January, 2007, the Philadelphia news media reported that the WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
article on John F. Street stated that Street, for a four year period in the late 1980s, portrayed the character Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown
Bozo the Clown is a clown character very popular in the United States, peaking in the 1960s as a result of widespread franchising in early television.Originally created by Alan W...
on a Philadelphia television station. Representatives of Mayor Street were forced to issue denials after the story was reported in the Philadelphia Inquirer and on local sports radio station WIP. The Wikipedia article was corrected after six days.
Post-mayoral career
John Street's mayoral tenure ended on January 7, 2008. Upon leaving office, Street accepted an adjunct faculty position in the Temple UniversityTemple University
Temple University is a comprehensive public research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Originally founded in 1884 by Dr. Russell Conwell, Temple University is among the nation's largest providers of professional education and prepares the largest body of professional...
Department of Political Science
Political science
Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...
. That spring, he taught two sections of a class on urban politics. Asked about his transition from public life to academia, the former mayor was quoted as saying, "You know what? I think I'm really going to like it here!"
Street is Chairman of the Philadelphia Housing Authority
Philadelphia Housing Authority
The Philadelphia Housing Authority is a municipal authority providing Public housing services in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.It is the 4th largest housing authority in the United States and is the largest landlord in Pennsylvania.-Board of Commissioners:...
board.
In 2011, he changed his voter registration from Democrat
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
to Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
. Though Street maintained the switch was only, "..a means of keeping a variety of options available as a matter of good politics...", some had speculated that he intended to challenge incumbent Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter in the 2011 mayoral election
Philadelphia mayoral election, 2011
The 2011 Philadelphia mayoral election was held on November 8, 2011 to elect the mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Incumbent Michael Nutter has been Mayor of Philadelphia since 2008 after being elected in the 2007 election...
. He ultimately did not participate in the primary, and instead his brother, Milton Street
Milton Street
Thomas Milton Street, Sr. is an entrepreneur, former State Senator, and convicted felon from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the brother of former Philadelphia mayor John Street...
challenged and lost to Mayor Nutter.