Michael Nutter had his press conference Thursday afternoon, calling for a state of emergency in the most crime-ridden parts of the city. The Daily News' Catherine Lucey was there -- and got the sharp response from Mayor Street as well.
Here's an excerpt from Catherine's story, which will be in the Daily News tomorrow:
Mayoral candidate Michael Nutter yesterday decried the rising homicide rate and said Mayor Street should crack down on crime by calling for a State of Emergency.“We cannot wait any longer. The daily death toll continues to rise, said former Councilman Nutter, who spoke in front of the Criminal Justice Center where he is currently serving as a juror.
Through Tuesday, 313 people had been killed in the city.
Under the City Code, the mayor is allowed to declare a state of emergency, which would temporarily give the city broad crime control powers, like establishing curfews, restricting traffic flow, closing bars and prohibiting the sale of guns and weapons.
But then Street fired back:
“For Councilman Nutter, it's very late in the day for him to now be talking about hiring police and spending more money in the prisons,” Street said. “For almost the entire time that I was mayor, he wanted nothing but tax reductions.”
And there was Street's comment on Nutter's job with consultant firm Econsult, which has done work for the city on tax structure and other issues:
"I do know he had a relationship with Econsult. I think he should have gotten an ethics opinion, I guess," said Street.
Read the whole story in tomorrow's Daily News. Read Nutter's press release in the PR archive.
Comments (6)
Street may or may not have made a good point with his hiring police vs. tax reductions comment. But, what does that have to do with declaring a state of emergency?
Posted by Dave | October 12, 2006 10:29 PM
I searched around the blogosphere for some reaction to Nutter's idea and commentary by Young Philly Politics's Ray Murphy. Murphy compares Nutter to a young Frank Rizzo, Sr. He pokes holes in Nutter's idea and suggests what he should have said. Check it out:
http://youngphillypolitics.com/node/1589.
Posted by Dan | October 13, 2006 11:50 AM
Mayor Street is funny:
Did he forget about the job that he held before becoming one of the most corrupt Mayors in this City's history?
Leonard N. Ross, the former law partner of Philadelphia Mayor John Street, joined the Greenberg Traurig Philadelphia office in April 2000. Ross, 58, is a former city prosecutor and was Street's sole law partner in the 1990s. When Street became mayor, he appointed Ross to head his transition committee. Ross joined the law firm Greenberg Traurig L.L.P. in 2000 under an unusual deal in which he would be paid $10,000 a month “for so long as John Street is the mayor of Philadelphia.” Ross resigned in November 2005. Leonard Ross became the 18th person charged in a City Hall corruption probe when he plead guilty December 6, 2005, to corruption and extortion charges - allegations that he used his public position to win business for his wife, pay off an embarrassing $80,000 debt, and raise campaign cash for Street. According to U.S. Attorney Patrick L. Meehan, Ross chaired a Street-appointed panel in 2003 that was to select a developer for Penn's Landing and used that position and his relationship with the Mayor to sell his office and to sell out the people of Philadelphia.
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Leonard_N._Ross
Posted by Philly Phantom | October 13, 2006 12:30 PM
I haven't read Ray Murphy's blog entry yet, but just reading the first sentence makes me want to mention the fact that I have plenty to say about his and DanielUA's "objections to Nutter" (which are many, apparently). However, when I tried to respond to them a while back, I was basically told to shut up (though not in so many words -- I was directed to a discussion where all bases on the topic at hand had supposedly been covered, except tha the points I was making were nowhere to be found in it).
Regardless of whether their opinions are sincere, they definitely aren't very open to outside input.
Posted by Dave | October 13, 2006 3:18 PM
I think that Ray is working for or wants to work for another potential Mayoral candidate (Fattah) and is disengenuously attacking Nutter. I mean, it's hard to believe that somebody as hardworking and effective as Nutter has been over the last 15 years as a Councilperson would be subjected to so much negative criticism - particulary from one person - Ray.
I also think that he and a few others over at that blog (which is an awesome blog by the way, read it everyday) are unwilling to accept that Philadelphia's burdensome tax structure is one of - certainly not the only - the things that keep us from our destiny to become a great City.
Posted by Philly Phantom | October 13, 2006 4:23 PM
I stopped reading YPP altogether after that experience. Doesn't DanielUA basically run the site? He was featured in an article about YPP in the Metro newspaper a while back and sounded like he was speaking for the entire YPP community (coincidentally, that's also when I realized that he appears to be related to one of the candidates running against Reed-Miller for the 8th council district seat).
Posted by Dave | October 13, 2006 4:54 PM