GOP Philly Mayor Candidate Opens Campaign

The Associated Press ^ | 5/2/03 | Ron Todt

[LdSentinal]

PHILADELPHIA - Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz kicked off his campaign Thursday as the man who narrowly defeated him four years ago, incumbent Democrat John F. Street, marked the one-year anniversary of a program to shut down open-air drug markets.

Katz, speaking to about 100 supporters outside a South Philadelphia restaurant, said the city had lost "momentum" and was having continued population loss, business woes and problems with its schools.

"I am running to end the cronyism, the cynicism and the secrecy inside City Hall," Katz told the crowd. He accused Street of practicing "the politics of division and confrontation" with the City Council, state lawmakers and labor unions.

Katz said he wanted to bring 250,000 new residents into Philadelphia over the next 15 years — "and I will stake my own re-election on measurable progress toward that goal" — and bring 100,000 new jobs to the city in the same period.

The GOP candidate, who took the stage to a Dixieland-type band playing the "Rocky" theme, also promised to work toward improving the city's troubled public schools and reducing crime.

Street, speaking in North Philadelphia about an hour before Katz's address, rejected the charge of divisiveness, saying he had worked among diverse groups in the neighborhoods as council president. He accused Katz of doing nothing but criticizing the current administration.

"I just think that for any candidate to become the mayor of this city, you're going to have a positive program, a very aggressive message that you can make things better, and I haven't heard any of that from Sam Katz," Street said. "The only thing I've heard him do is whine ... and I don't think whining is going to do it in this election."

Street also unveiled his first television campaign ads Thursday, touting his efforts to improve public education, featuring the mayor speaking to schoolchildren and testimonials from educators.

The mayor and a parade of city officials went to a former drug market to mark the one-year anniversary of "Operation Safe Streets," which deploys police officers — many of them being paid overtime — to 300 of the city's worst drug corners for around-the-clock protection.

"This is the largest investment in public safety that we've ever made in the history of Philadelphia," said Street, crediting the program for an 11 percent decrease in major crimes. He vowed to continue the program, which is expected to cost $35 million this year, and said he expects costs to drop as neighborhoods are revitalized.

Later Thursday, police said a daylong drug sweep that was part of the Safe Strees program netted 118 arrests and the seizures of 20 guns, 15 vehicles and $3,900 in cash. Police confiscated cocaine, heroin, marijuana and pills with an estimated street value of about $330,000, said Cpl. Jim Pauley, a police spokesman.

"Today happened to be the day where everything came together to a point where they were able to serve the warrants," Pauley said.

Street said he would push for changes in state law to reduce the number of illegal guns in the city, allowing seizure of property used for any violation of gun laws and requiring gun owners to immediately report missing or stolen guns. He also said he would push for nationwide background checks for gun purchases and mandatory sentencing for gun violations. He also vowed to try again to limit gun purchases to one gun a month.

Residents watching the news conference said there had been a dramatic change since the program took effect.

"It was like a flea market of drug activity; I used to nickname it the 'drug union hall,'" said Mark Lumpkin, 55. "I've been living here for 40-some-odd years, and I couldn't even get on my own steps to get into my house. That's how bad it was."

"It was hell; you couldn't even come out of your door," agreed Renee Wyche, 44, who lives across the street. "They didn't care about the little kids."

Now, she said, "It's nice out here."

Katz, who earlier called the program "scarecrow policing" and questioned its cost-effectiveness, acknowledged that it had made a change in some neighborhoods, but not in others.

"There are some safer streets in Philadelphia and there are streets that are not safer, and we need to do both," he said.

Katz, a businessman who has most recently headed the nonprofit business advocacy group Greater Philadelphia First, ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1991 and 1999 and for governor in 1994.

Street beat Katz by fewer than 10,000 votes in the last election in the strongly Democratic city. No incumbent Philadelphia mayor has lost re-election under the city's current form of government and the city hasn't had a Republican mayor for half a century.

[republicanwizard]

Mayor Katz!