Heard in the Hall

The morning papers look ahead to education and crime in the Nutter administration. The Inquirer interviews the next police commissioner, Charles Ramsey, you can see watch a video here. The Daily News gives the mayor-elect a platform to talk about public education. John Baer ponders State Sen. Vince Fumo's latest image. Here's a fascinating look at how the city'd criminal justice system works - and sometimes doesn't. The Metro takes a look at the severely strained relations between City Council and Mayor Street.

Sixteen years ago, he pushed through the legislation to create the agency. Now he wants to run it.

The who is former state House Speaker Robert W. O'Donnell. And the what is the Pennsylvania Intergovernmental Cooperation Authority, the state agency charged with monitoring Philadelphia's finances.

Rob Dubow, the agency's executive director, will leave at the end of this month to become city finance director under Mayor-elect Michael Nutter.

O'Donnell - who these days is a lobbyist by profession - is lobbying for his job.

"I'm extremely hopeful about the Nutter administration," O'Donnell said. "But I really think the city is on the verge of another financial crisis, and I think PICA will play a big role."

He described his efforts as "preliminary" at this point, and said he wasn't sure if it was a "doable deal."

If it doesn't work out, he said, "I'm still a supporter of Nutter, and I'll get through the night."

Yes, yes, there's a new sheriff coming to town.
And it looks like he'll be working with some new deputies, so to speak.
There's still a little over a month until Michael Nutter takes office as mayor, but deals have already been cut for the assembly of a new City Council leadership in the next four years.
Anna Verna will remain as Council president.
But Jannie Blackwell will step down from her majority leadership post, replaced by Marian Tasco.
Tasco currently serves as majority whip. The new guy in that position: Darrell Clarke.
From a Blackwell press release issued moments ago:

The State Supreme Court dealt casinos foes a major defeat yesterday, clearing the way for the construction of the SugarHouse casino in Fishtown. The 6-1 decision concluded that City Council had deliberately delayed acting to stymie construction of the slots parlor, and the opinion stated that the city "ultimately has no discretion to preclude gaming." Casino Free Philadelphia responded by notifying the press and its members of a "week of actions," including a "Practice Run of a SugarHouse Site Occupation." The Daily News take is here.

Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell may have gotten what she wanted out of the relocation of the Youth Study Center, but she lost the battle to retain her position as council's majority leader. That post will go to Councilwoman Marian Tasco, who moves up from her old majority whip post. That slot will go to Councilman Darrell Clarke, who edged out Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. for the position. Tasco is expected to work closely with Nutter, as the two have been friendly for years. Nutter and Blackwell would have been a more, um, combustible combination.

Elsewhere, the Daily News reports that top Philadelphia Parking Authority execs are taking an immediate six percent pay cut, a move forced by press scrutiny and the parent groups who've been watching the authority like hawks. And Dave Davies has some ethics suggestions for Mayor-elect Nutter.

And the Philadelphia Tribune has the first entry: a long, largely favorable look back. Read it here.

Tow truck drivers testified Wednesday in support of the city's first real effort to regulate their industry, which includes the creation of a towing rotation to be used by police at accident scenes. The present system fosters the practice of "wreck chasing," by which drivers listen to police radio, then race to the scene of an accident, trying to arrive first and claim the tow. Councilman Frank Rizzo has tales of trucks stopping on the opposite side of the highway so the driver can jump the guardrail and claim to be first. By creating a regulated list, Councilmen Rizzo, Dan Savage and BIll Greenlee hope to create a more sane environment and regulate prices across the industry. One driver encouraged the city to maintain detailed and open records of the rotation system so that companies can verify that it is being used fairly.
One sore point: Tow truck operators want the State Police -- who are taking over patrol of I-95, I-76 and I-676 -- to use the same rotational system, instead of using the Philadelphia Parking Authority exclusively for towing.

Yesterday was relatively quiet in City Hall. At the recommendation of the Ethics Board, mayor-elect Michael Nutter will subject his inauguration fundraising to $2,500 per individual (compared to the $5,000 cap that existed this election season, courtesy of Tom Knox's self-funded campaign). Technically, the Ethics Board has no authority to impose inauguration contribution caps at all, but Nutter - given his ethics first platform - had self-imposed a $5,000 per person limit. Yesterday, the board asked him to use the lower limit, and his campaign agreed.

In an emotionally charged hearing in City Council chambers, the African American construction worker who said he'd been taunted with a noose at the Comcast construction site claimed he's since been blackballed.

And in Harrisburg, at least a dozen members of the Legislative Black Caucus walked out on a session to protest the chamber's resistance to seemingly all gun-control measures.

This intruiging op-ed in yesterday's Inquirer is generating a good bit of discussion in City Hall and elsewhere. In it, mayor-elect Michael Nutter rides to the defense of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady, who'd been derided in an earlier Inquirer editorial for, among other things, having a legislative record "thinner than Kate Moss." Ouch. Prompting the Inquirer editorial was recent word that a young doctor named Keith Leaphart who plans to challenge Brady is lining up big financial support.

Over at Young Philly Politics, they're wondering why Nutter would so publicly have Brady's back, and they're asking similar questions at the Next Mayor.

Heard in the Hall hears that Brady asked Nutter to write the op-ed, and Nutter acquiesced. The letter is bound to make some Nutter supporters uncomfortable, or at least those who are heavily invested in his "New Day" message. As Democratic Party Chairman, Brady doesn't exactly represent a new day, and his pro-patronage record wouldn't appear to match up real well with Nutter's ethics-first approach either.

But consider the other side. Brady bent over backwards following his defeat in the mayoral primary, rallying the party behind Nutter. And Brady is now chairman of a House committee, which will likely help him direct more federal money to Philadelphia. Plus, he's the city's resident labor mediator, and given the contract negotiations Nutter will face immediately after taking office, he could be a real asset to the next mayor.

The mayor elect's got a lot on his plate, and he seems to have concluded there's little to be gained in snubbing a party chairman who's had his back since the primary.

A City Council committee just dealt the city's building trades a serious punch, essentially declaring the $700 million Convention Center expansion an open shop construction site. The move, which appears to have the full blessing and encouragement of mayor-elect Michael Nutter, was prompted by the building trades less-than-strong record of hiring minorities and its leaders' repeated refusals to disclose the racial makeup of their memberships. The open-shop declaration - an amendment to the convention center's operating agreement - still has to be approved by Gov. Rendell and by the rest of council. There was no word from Rendell yesterday. It'll be fascinating to see what Rendell's views are, and to see how the politically potent building trades respond.

In other news, campaign finance reports show that Nutter raised a total of $7.9 million during his mayoral campaign. The Daily News points out that it was far and away the cheapest (finanically speaking, of course) mayoral campaign by a victorious candidate in decades. Finally, Clout takes a look at the crowded cast of characters manuevering to replace State Sen. Vince Fumo.

...And they might get them this Saturday. Casino Free Philadelphia has a rally planned outside the SugarHouse Casino site at 2:30 p.m. tomorrrow. They've got a permit for those demonstratous who stay outside the site. Those who want to practice "site occupation" - i.e., throwing themselves in front of the soon to arrive bulldozers - may well run the risk of arrest. Follow the link to see the organization's latest missive to members.

The weekend that Pennsylvania politicos have been awaiting all year finally arrived, with less intrigue than last year but as much liquor as ever.

Largely gathered under one roof - New York City's Waldorf Astoria Hotel - the annual schmoozefest known as the Pennsylvania Society got off to its usual start Friday night, complete with at least one stumblng figure carrying a bottle of eggnog down East 49th Street, outside the hotel, in the wee hours of the night.

But there was no drama like last year when Bob Brady suddenly surfaced in the hotel lobby as proof he was serious about joining the five-man race for mayor, while the then-underdog and now Mayor-elect Michael Nutter drew nary a crowd.

Last night, though, mixmaster Mike was mixing it up on the dance floor - arms out, hips grooving - at the reception sponsored by Local 98, whose leader John Dougherty is hardly known to be his best friend. Meanwhile, Nutter's two-man plainclothes security detail stood at the edge of the dance floor prepared for potential trouble. It was not something Nutter had to deal with when he was here before as a mere City Councilman.

Reporter Tom Fitzgerald appreciated these wise words from Ken Lawrence, a rising-star lobbyist based in Plymouth Meeting:

1) PA Society is a marathon not a sprint. Eat full meals, wear
comfortable shoes, sleep when you get back to PA.

2) You are at PA Society to be seen. People you know are on the train,
on the streets, in your hotel lobby and everywhere. Assume someone you
know is always watching you and act accordingly.

3) Just because the alcohol is free doesn't mean you have to drink it.
Soda, juice and water are free too.

4) You can crash parties but your name-tag will be hand-written. Don't
bother saying it was a mistake you're not on the list. People know you
crashed. They don't care. It helps them feel superior.

5) Drinks and food are not free in hotel bars. Unless you can figure out
someone's tab or room to put them on. Make sure you leave before they
get their final bill.

6) If an elected official asks you if you want a drink, it means they
want a drink. They expect you to buy it. They may offer to pay. They
don't mean it. If you lobby them, disclose it.

7) It's cool to say how boring the Dinner is and how you never go.
Unless you say it to someone who always goes. Don't insult the Dinner.
It is eternal.

8) Elevator doors always open after they close. People have eyes to see.
Don't kiss someone who is not your spouse on an elevator. Ditto for
closets, stairwells and alleys.

9) Every year there is a story about someone who does something very
foolish during the weekend (see 3,4 and 9). Everyone hears about it. See
the story, tell the story, don't be the story.

10) When in doubt and if you can't remember anything else on the list,
always remember number ten. "Don't be the story".

My colleague, City Hall Bureau Chief Marcia Gelbart, and I finished our forced march through the receptions at Pennsylvania Society and overheard these nuggets that we share with you:

-- Michael Nutter and his wife, Lisa, hosted a private lunch reception at the 21 Club today for about 50 financial supporters and his political team.

-- Nutter was also one of the featured speakers at the Pennsylvania Manufacturers Association breakfast, where he shone the spotlight on his vanquished Republican opponent Al Taubenberger, a hit with the largely GOP audience. "A heck of a lot more people know me this year," Taubenberger later remarked.

Reprinted from today's print edition...

Digital eyebrows jumped when Mayor-elect Michael Nutter wrote an Inquirer opinion piece last week defending the congressional record and Democratic Party leadership of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady.

Did it signal that Nutter wasn't interested in reforming the city Democratic Party? Had he cut some deal with Brady? Those and other questions were raised at Young Philly Politics, a discussion blog favored by progressives who would like to see big changes in the city Democratic Party.

So how about it, mayor-elect?

"Reforming the party is a priority for me, and I don't think people should try to read any tea leaves or read too much into the letter," Nutter said Thursday from New York, where he was attending the annual Pennsylvania Society political pow-wow.

The former President is expected to speak at a fundraiser for his wife at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the National Constitution Center.

Mayor Street is also expected to attend, in what will be one of his last gigs on a somewhat national stage as Philadelphia mayor.

The days are quickly going.

Street has not been couped up in his office, though.

Here's a look at today's calendar.

EVENT: Mayor Street will offer remarks and present a ceremonial ReStore Corridors check to the Hispanic Association of Contractor and Enteprises (HACE). TIME: 11:00 a.m. LOCATION: El Centro de Oro, 2708 N. 5th Street

EVENT: Mayor Street will announce this year’s New Year’s Eve Fireworks Display.
TIME: 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Mayor’s Reception Room 202

EVENT: Mayor Street will offer remarks at the Keep Philadelphia Beautiful Token of Appreciation Event.
TIME: 2:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Mayor’s Reception Room 202

EVENT: Mayor Street will offer remarks opening of the City’s 11th Curfew Center.
TIME: 5:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Ken Crest Services, 901 E. Ontario Street

EVENT: Mayor Street will offer remarks at a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton featuring former President William Clinton.
TIME: 7:30 p.m.
LOCATION: National Constitution Center, 525 Arch Street

One of Mayor Street's favorite nonprofits, Philadelphia Safe and Sound, announced an interesting pick today for its latest board member.

That person is Michael Pearson, president of a company named Union Packaging. According to the press release, the company "manufactures folding cartons in FDA regulated packaging industries. It is one of the fastest growing minority-owned packaging companies in the U.S."

But it's not Pearson's job that's so interesting. It's his position as a co-finance chair of Mayor-elect Michael Nutter's campaign committee.

Nutter is no big fan of Safe and Sound, mostly because the nonprofit has tight ties to Street's wife, who at one time was its president. And for the last few months, Street has been working quietly but assiduously to transfer tens of million of city dollars there, to pay for youth-prevention programs.

That did not make Nutter happen, who told the Inquirer in June: "The next mayor should have the opportunity to structure the government as he wants to and should not be faced with a significant loss of general-fund dollars shipped off to organizations not within the control or oversight of the city government."

Is Safe and Sound trying to get on Nutter's good side?

The mayor-elect has actually gone 12 days without making a staff announcement.

Well, that drought is about to end.

At 11 a.m. tomorrow, Michael Nutter will name his managing director. The announcement will take place inside City Hall, in Conversation Hall.

Mayor-elect Michal Nutter endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at a fundraiser last night attended by former President Bill Clinton. We'll leave it to others to speculate as to what, if any, impact Nutter's endorsement will have on Hillary Clinton's fortunes, but it's worth remembering that Mayor Street has also already come out in support of Clinton. Street and Nutter have more in common then the casual observer might think. But that's a topic for another day.

There's a huge showdown brewing in City Council over the question of the use of non-union labor on the $700 million Convention Center construction site. Council's historically been very labor friendly, but the composition of the building trades unions - largely white laborers living outside of Philadelphia - has been a sore point for years. Gov. Rendell and the Convention Center board would have to sign off on any plan to use non-union labor, and that's not going to happen. Council itself may step back from the brink (the chamber appears evenly split), but there's a lot of frustration in play here.

The Daily News speculates that District Attorney Lynne Abraham may quit early next year to run for Attorney General. Earthlink was a no-show at a Council hearing on the future of Wireless Philadelphia.

From the second-floor news conference still going on, Inquirer City Hall reporter Patrick Kerkstra tells us that Mayor-elect Michael Nutter has chosen Camille Barnett of Washington D.C. to be his managing director.

Barnett currently works as the Strategic Consulting Director for Public Financial Management - the company co-founded in 1975 by none other than three-time mayoral candidate Sam Katz (a Nutter supporter).

It's an unusual move for an outsider to be appointed to this position, which is the go-to job for day-to-day government matters from snow removal to policing.

From her resume online with the company:

Condolences to two Philadelphia state representatives - former Speaker John Perzel and Jewel Williams - who lost their mothers recently.

Word of their passing was announced on the House floor earlier today.

Busy, busy, busy. A lot of big stories today. First off, Michael Nutter has named his new managing director: Camille Cates Barnett, a well-traveled professional city administrator who last held a government post managing Washington D.C. in the late 1990s. Heard in the Hall's initial impressions: she's charismatic, smart, and not at all shy of the press. She's a hired gun, and it seems like she's a force to be reckoned with.

That big, confrontational City Council vote on the Convention Center which would have allowed non-union labor to help build the $700 million expansion in an effort to expand minority participation in the construction trades? Well, it's on hold. Council was set to vote on it at a busy session today, but will instead take it up in a special session next week while Gov. Rendell and senior legislative leaders try to hammer out a compromise deal. That was reported exclusively today by our own Jeff Shields.

There is good news on violent crime in Philadelphia. It's down. Following four years of increases, violent crime has fallen off by eight percent citywide, though homicides were down by just one percent.

Mayor Street had high praise for the board of the oft-troubled Philadelphia Gas Works, which the Daily News reports will pay off half of the $45 million loan it took from the city (and which many assumed was lost forever) at the end of the month. Street said the board had presided over a "miraculous metamorphosis."

In Harrisburg, the legislature extended the Philadelphia Parking Authority's red-light camera program by four years, but refused to divert proceeds from the program to the city's public schools - a move decried by parents of public school students seeking financial assistance from the parking authority.

Finally, at an address to Center City business leaders, mayor-elect Nutter covered a host of topics near and dear to Center City hearts. He also called the Zoning Board of Adjustment an "absolute embarassment" and promised to "clean up that place." Ouch.

Has Michael Nutter made his first patronage hire?

To fill the position of "special assistant," the Mayor-elect turned to Jordan Schwartz - son of U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz. Her membership on the powerful House Ways and Means Committee in Washington is probably something not lost on the man about to become mayor.

Nutter and the congresswoman go way back, as he pointed out. Schwartz, for instance, first ran for a seat in the Pennsylvania state legislature in 1990, a year before Nutter won his first election as City Councilman. Jordan, now 28, was 11 years old.

Jordan also interned for Nutter in his Council office about five years ago. "I've known him a long time," Nutter said.

His decision to hire Jordan also speaks to Nutter's recognition of an important base of his support: young reformers. Jordan is the former state director of the Pennsylvania Center for Progressive Leadership, a nonprofit that trains progressive politicos how to be political leaders. It operates programs in four other states.

What does his new job entail? "He travels with me, follows up on anything that happens in the course of the day or evening."

Newly elevated Catholic Cardinal John P. Foley, a Darby native, entered City Council Chambers for the first time in his life Thursday as Council proclaimed Dec. 13 as Cardinal John P. Foley Day. "What a nice way to come to Council," said the famously humble Foley. Councilman Juan Ramos had the idea of inviting him, and Foley did get the treatment reserved for Philadelphia royalty -- he got to park on the sidewalk.

Philadelphia magazine editor Larry Platt, who had been weighing a challenge to U.S. Rep. Jim Gerlach, has decided journalism is better than politics.

What helped him make that decision? Attending last week's Pennyslvania Society weekend at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

"After being a prospective candidate for two days at PA Society last weekend," he said in an email sent to his staff, "I was so sick of my own voice, so tired of hearing me talk about me, that I realized this life change wasn't for me. When you're a journalist, I realized, you're interested in hearing and conveying other peoples' stories. When you're obsessed with your own story, you create your own little echo chamber inside your head. It's not fun."

Fun, after all, is what it's all about.

If you didn't get the chance this weekend, take some time now to read this vitally important story on policing tactics in the city's suburbs. It's an important subject in and of itself, but for city residents, it offers a window into what can happen when aggressive measures like stop and frisk aren't properly managed.

Elsewhere, the Philadelphia Parking Authority is way behind on its payments this year to the City of Philadelphia, which means the School District once again stands to get nothing from the agency.

Mayor-elect Nutter and his new managing director, Camille Barnett, haven't worked together yet, but there's ample evidence they're already on the same page on perhaps the city's most pressing problem: crime.

Nutter, of course, recently selected Charles Ramsey as the city's next police commissioner. Nine years ago, Barnett did exactly the same thing, hiring Ramsey away from Chicago's police force to lead the department in Washington, D.C., where Barnett was chief management officer.

"He was a great choice for D.C., and seeing him here made me think Nutter knew what he was doing," said Barnett, who went to Chicago in 1998 with a member of the city's control board to woo Ramsey.

Though their paths quickly diverged (Barnett left D.C. within a year of Ramsey's arrival) and Ramsey didn't report directly to Barnett, they worked together frequently.

According to Philadelphia's charter, the police commissioner's boss is technically the managing director. How would Ramsey feel about working directly for Barnett?

"I don't know what Mayor-elect Nutter's setup is going to be, but I don't have a problem with that," Ramsey said. "We've got a very good relationship."

That doesn't mean Ramsey wasn't stunned when he learned Barnett would join him in Nutter's administration.

"You should have seen his expression when he saw me the first time in Philadelphia," Barnett said.

Mayor-elect Michael Nutter last week wholeheartedly threw his support behind Hillary Clinton in next year's presidential race.
"Philadelphia, we need a friend in the White House," he said at an Electric Factory fund-raiser for the New York senator, before a crowd of about 1,000 people - including former President Bill Clinton.

That might be.

But several months earlier, Nutter left the distinct impression that Philadelphia might need a different friend.

At a mayoral forum at Central High School in Philadelphia last February, each of the five Democrats running in the primary was asked to predict the next president.

Nutter's answer: "I'll go out on a limb. Sen. [Barack] Obama." His response triggered a round of applause and whoops from the young audience.

Of course, that was before the Illinois senator distributed an e-mail to the supporters of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, one of Nutter's rivals in the race, asking them to contribute to Fattah's campaign committee.

Asked last week about why it was Obama then and Clinton now, Nutter said: "That was during the election campaign, and I certainly wish him well. I wish him the best. That's what campaigns are about. They evolve over time."

Mayor Street and his successor Michael Nutter both brokered some pretty big deals int he past few days. You can read about them both in today's Inquirer. Marcia Gelbart takes you behind the scenes to show how Street stepped into council's deadlocked debate over the inclusion of minority workers at the Convention Center construction site, and gently (yes, gently) pushed council to a compromise position. Mayor-elect Michael Nutter, meanwhile, won some concessions from the state-run Philadelphia Parking Authority - winning a commitment from the agency to give the city's general fund at least $25 million in parking profits in each of the next two years, and providing a little money for the schools as well.

A city official in the city controller's office, one Theresa Pinkett, was charged by U.S. Attorney Pat Meehan yesterday with extortion. She was a fairly low-ranking employee, and the amounts involved ($5,000 and the use of a cell phone) were small. Still, she was a longtime employee of Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller and, more recently, in the office of Controller Alan Butkovitz - who is himself on the lookout for wrongdoing in the city. Stories here and here.

Finally, Heard in the Hall once again urges you to read this important series on policing in the city's suburbs. Read it to make sense of this instant-classic editorial cartoon from Tony Auth.

It seems there will be at least one holdover from the Street administration: Chief Information Officer Terry Phillis.

The city's so-called techology chief has confirmed that he was approached two weeks ago by members of Mayor-elect Michael Nutter's transition team, who "asked me if I would stay on and be part of the Nutter administration."

He says he quickly answered yes. "I had been getting some calls about some other opportunities," Phillis said, "but I really didn't want to do that. I really like what I'm doing."

Phillis was named CIO in August 2006, replacing Dianah Neff, Street's hand-picked and well paid technology chief who left under a cloud because of her role in the failed water billing system project. He was hired as Neff's deputy the year before.

Phillis has his own difficulties ahead, namely dealing with Wireless Philadelphia, which has been marred by Earthlink's rethinking of its business strategy, i.e., wanting to get out of the municipal wireless business. "The experience with Earthlink hasn't been exactly wonderful to this point," he said. "We'll continue on, because we view it as a city asset. I don't know what the future will bring."

Who else will Nutter keep? Stay tuned.

Like many who have come before him, at-large City Councilman Juan Ramos will launch his post-elected official life as a lobbyist.

Ramos was voted out of office this year after one term on Council. His last day is Jan. 7.

It was announced this morning that he will join Bravo Group as a senior associate, and help lead their government affairs practice in Philadelphia. The state ethics act prohibits Ramos from lobbying City Council for one year.

Here's the official release:

State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo (D., Philadelphia) has been nominated for a "Golden Duke" award in the category of Best Local Scandal over at Talking Points Memo, a national progressive blog that helped push investigations into the firing of U.S. Attorneys by former AG Alberto Gonzalez.

Fumo's got some impressive credentials: a 139 count indictment for fraud and obstruction of justice that includes allegations taxpayers helped pay for his 33-room mansion, fix leaky toilets, work as a farmhand on his 100-acre hobby farm, pay his personal bills, organize fundraisers, and wrap 150 Vince Fumo bobble head dolls. He also allegedly used taxpayer money to hire private investigators to spy on his political rivals, his ex-wife, former girlfriends, and their new boyfriends.

That's not to mention the 19 Oreck vacuum cleaners for $6,500. The award is named for convicted former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California on bribery charges.

Check out the story here http://http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/061480.php.

]In the latest addition to his staff, Mayor-elect Michael Nutter this afternoon named Stephen J. Agostini, a 47-year-old municipal finance expert, to be his budget director.

A native of Queens, N.Y., Agostini currently works as the chief financial officer and director of administration for the economics and statistics bureau of the U.S. Department of Commerce.

His municipal finance experience comes from a variety of positions he has held in Milwaukee and San Francisco.

As budget director, he will report to city Finance Director Rob Dubow.

Although Agostini won’t be a member of Nutter’s cabinet, Nutter said today that he hoped to announce his remaining Cabinet-level positions — city solicitor and city representative — before his Jan. 7 inauguration.

Today is Mayor Street's second to last Wednesday in office, and he spent part of the day singing.

As in: "On the first day of Christmas, the Mayor gave to me
A health plan, en-tire-ly FREE!"

That's the first verse of "a healthy re-interpretation" of the 12 Days of Christmas that was unveiled at an afternoon press conference in City Hall. The purpose of the presser: To announce the city's newest health initiative, which will feature different fitness activities everyday until Jan. 6.

Street, along with his fitness czar, Gwen Foster, also lauded the city's achivements - it is less fat, they said, then when he took office.

Here's the rest of the song.