Heard in the Hall

Senior members of Michael Nutter's staff are meeting for a retreat at the University of Pennsylvania this afternoon. No word yet on what team-building exercises they have in mind.

Bring on the champagne, the whiskey, the cerveza.

In just about an hour from now, Mayor Street and dozens of his current top aides and those from years past will begin toasting The End.

A private 200-person goodbye party is being held at the Convention Center. It's Street's way of saying "thanks" and a way to celebrate and bring closure to a turbulent eight years. (Okay, turbulent is our word.)

The party's official organizer: David L. Cohen, Mayor Rendell's former chief of staff.

In the fall, Cohen said, "The mayor and I had a conversation about what Ed did at the end of his term, from packing and storing of files to helping people find jobs to employment for himself. I sort of made a list of things for him (Street)."

Also on that list: Hosting a reception and dinner for senior staff members. Street, Cohen said, "decided this would be a nice thing to do for his administration."

The day after his inauguration, Mayor Nutter will invite the public into City Hall. Visitors should stop by between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m. Tuesday. Three of City Hall's four portals will be lit just in time for Nutter's inauguration (the 4th portal will be lit once renovation of the south side of the building is complete). Follow the link for the full press release.

Yesterday was a busy day politically, and not just in Iowa. We'll start with City Council, where our own Jeff Shields has exclusively reported that three council members - Frank DiCicco, Anna Verna and Frank Rizzo - have enrolled in the controversial DROP program, joining Mayor Street, D.A. Abraham and fellow Councilmember Krajewski. It sounds that other council members are considering enrolling as well, and it looks like a full-blown rush is on by the city's elected officials to take advantage of the lucrative program before it's shut down by the Nutter administration.

Staying with City Council, the results of Inspector General Seth William's investigation into soon-to-be Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. are in, and they are ... kind of fuzzy. Get the details from the Inquirer here, and DN here.

On the mayoral front, while Michael Nutter was attending a prayer service held in his honor, the Fraternal Order of Police was sharply questioning his pick for Deputy Mayor of Public Safety. That would be Everett A. Gillison, a lifelong public defender and accomplished attorney whose client list includes the convicted killer of Police Officer Gary Skerski. Don't expect this issue to go away soon. As a member of Nutter's team, Gillison will bring an important perspective on the rights of defendants (he will no doubt keep a close eye on stop and frisk, for example) but his selection was bound to rile police officers.

Departing Police Commissioner Sylvester M. Johnson bid a caustic farewell to the public yesterday, using his last press conference largely to crtique press coverage of the police department and crime in the city. He went after the Inquirer and Daily News in particular. DN take is here.

Lastly, the Daily News has the second part of its two-day look at the successes and failures of Mayor Street's hallmark program: the Neighborhood Transformation Initiative. The Inquirer will take a look at Mayor Street's legacy this weekend.

The husband of Camille Barnett, named Michael Nutter's managing director, was killed last night on his way to join her in Philadelphia.

Until her appointment to the city's number-two job by the mayor-elect, Barnett worked in Washington D.C. for Public Financial Management.

Here's the statement just issued by Nutter.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened to learn of the sudden passing of James M. Barnett, husband of Camille Barnett who is the incoming Managing Director in the Administration. Mr. Barnett was killed early this morning in a car accident during his commute from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia. During the process of bringing Camille to Philadelphia and announcing her appointment, I, as well as many of the staff members and volunteers on the Nutter Transition Team had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know James. We found him to be a warm and a gentle man. All of our hopes and prayers are with the Barnett Family in their time of loss.”

At this time, Mayor-Elect Nutter nor his staff will make any further comment on this matter out of respect to Camille and the Barnett Family.

We overlooked this tough take on the city's Zoning Board by Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron in our morning briefing. It's a must read.

It's no secret what job outgoing Inspector General Seth Williams really wants - District Attorney - but a guy's got to make a living between now and 2010. Williams has taken a position as of-counsel at the 170-lawyer, enter City firm Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young. Williams, who advocated increased powers for the Inspector General's office, which is responsible for investigating city and city-funded agencies but has little power over elected officials. Michael Nutter did not reappoint him, choosing instead veteran federal prosecutor Amy Kurland.

John Street will not be mayor by lunchtime Monday, but he guaranteed his presence will be felt for years with a couple of last-minute appointments to the Redevelopment Authority and one not-so-last minute pick for the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

Instead of leaving open two positions on the five-member RDA board for new Mayor Michael Nutter to fill, Street late last week appointed attorney Roxanne E. Covington and old ally Asia Coney to five-year terms.
Covington is a member of the city’s Human Relations Commission and a former city attorney; Coney is director of Tenant Support Services, Inc., a non-profit contracted by the Housing Authority to coordinate a host of services for its residents.
They replace Shawn Fordham, who resigned earlier in 2007, and Sharmain Matlock-Turner.
Street also made another interesting appointment, although this one happened quietly about six months ago.
He named himself to the five-member Philadelphia Housing Authority board for a five-year term, insuring himself a place at Mayor Nutter’s table.
Under the housing authority's bylaws, the mayor of Philadelphia is entitled to make two of five board appointments. But the bylaws are not crystal clear about whether those appointments begin simultaneously with a new mayor's term, or when a seat opens.
What is clear is that Street, in meetings with housing authority residents, has said he intends to stay on the board. For the next five years.

Last week’s last-minute Inspector General’s report on new City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. essentially characterized his severance package with the quasi-governmental agency he used to head as a sweetheart deal that allowed Jones to run for Council.
Jones, former president of the Philadelphia Commercial Development Corporation, got a $31,000 parachute and was allowed to take over the lease of the company car he drove. The extent to which these were legitimate decisions by the PCDC board was hotly debated by outgoing Inspector General Seth Williams and PCDC president Aqil Sabur, as well as Jones, who said everything was done properly.

Some feel that Williams' 11th-hour poke at Jones, who is being sworn in today, was a cheap shot. The investigation itself was controversial: Williams openly discussed the investigation over the summer -- to the chagrin of Jones and others -- and some accused him of taking revenge on Jones on behalf of Carol Ann Campbell, the City Councilwoman Jones beat in the primary. Sources in the IG's office said Williams was being hit from both sides of the black community -- some who thought he wasn't pursuing Jones hard enough, others who thought he was being too tough. It was a tricky spot politically, pitting Williams and Jones, two relatively young, ambitious African-American politicians with strong resumes, against one another.
But one action that didn’t pass the smell test by anyone’s standards was PCDC’s payout for a 3-feet-by 20-feet vinyl banner, hung in front of Jones’ campaign office at 63d Stret and Lansdowne Avenue. While PCDC was mentioned in the banner, it was the “Curtis Jones Jr.” in bold letters that inspired PCDC to bill Jones the $380 it cost for the banner. Jones paid the bill.
But Williams wanted to know: Why would PCDC pay for such a banner — nominally a PCDC banner but clearly a Jones promotional sign — in the first place?
“The expenditures of PCDC for them purchasing a banner of a potential campaign for anyone is inappropriate, regardless of whether he pays them back,” Williams said in an interview.
Jones called it “an error in judgment.”
.

It was always amusing to the press corps that Mayor Street refused to remove the term “acting” from his Acting Director of Communications, Joe Grace. Grace, a former Daily News reporter and City Council candidate, took over as the mayor’s spokesman in June 2005 and held onto to a volatile job that has been filled by four different people this term alone.
On Friday Grace (pictured in a Daily News photo) received perhaps the highest honor the quirky Street could offer – a letter praising his service, with a removal of the “Acting” word from his title, retroactive, good for Grace's whole tenure. Street said in his letter that it should have been done much earlier -- but Grace still got to enjoy his new moniker as "Communications Director" (sounds so permanent!) for three days.
“It meant a lot,” Grace said by phone Sunday night in what he claimed would be his final press call. “It was a gracious gesture and I appreciated it very much.”
Street’s fondness for retro activities inspired him last month to lay claim to $111,000 worth of raises he had spurned since 2004. Could Grace be in for such a bonus? Nope. Getting out of politics will have to be bonus enough. Grace will become executive director of CeaseFire PA, a gun-control organization based in the city.

John Street's eight eventful and sometimes difficult years as Philadelphia's mayor will come to an end this morning, as Michael Nutter is sworn in as the city's 98th mayor. That new day he's been promising has finally arrived, and we expect he'll make that clear in his inaugural address, which will be broadcast live on most local television stations around 11 a.m.

We'll begin with the end. The Inquirer took a long look back on the Street administration in Sunday's paper. You can find the story here. It's a mixed legacy. There were failures, to be sure, but there were plenty of successes as well; successes that were overshadowed in many cases by the mayor's own prickly personality.

Looking ahead to Tuesday... Geez does Nutter has a lot to do immediately after taking office. The budget. The fiver year plan. Contract negotations. Finish assembling his team. Roll out some splashy new initiative. Show folks change is afoot in the police department. Shake up city government. Reassert the leadership role of the mayor's office.

Expect that last item to be the focus today. If his remarks of late are any indication, Nutter is going to use today's big bully pulpit to try and recruit Philadelphians to his cause. Expect him to urge its residents to do their part. Wash their steps. Look after their children. Take pride in their city. That sort of thing. There's no way he can fix the city on his own, and Nutter knows it.

Lest we forget, City Council will also be sworn into. Three new members: Bill Green, Curtis Jones Jr. and Maria Quinones Sanchez will join council today.

In other news, the Inquirer's Tom Ferrick - who writes for the opinion section these days - did some digging and got the numbers (not definitive, but informative nonetheless) on minority particpation in the city's building trades unions. Check it out here.

Finally, one member of Nutter's new team - Managing Director Camille Cates Barnett - won't be attending today's party. As reported Friday, her husband was killed in a car accident while driving to Philadelphia. The Daily News reports that his wake will be held tonight, and his funeral will be tomorrow. Given the tragedy, it is unclear when Barnett will rejoin the administration.

The inaugural ceremonies are underway. Anna Verna has been named council president, as expected, and is in the midst of her address. Her biggest applause lines so far? A thank you to mayor Street and a call to fight violent cre. Like the rest of council, she wants gun control.

"The rennaisance period of Philadelphia started about a half hour ago." -- Mayor Michael Nutter, as he wrapped up his inaugural address.

Mayor Nutter's first act was to sign an executive order declaring a crime emergency. He'd pledged to do that during the campaign, but backed off that pledge in recent weeks, so the signing was a bit of a surprise. It likely won't lead to any clear tactical changes for at least a few weeks. New Police Commissioner Ramsey will report back to Nutter at the end of the month with his plan.

With his second act, Nutter formally established the office of Chief Integrity Officer, a post he filled a few weeks ago with former assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Markman. The third executive order gave his deputy mayors and yet-to-be-announced deputy managing directors the authority to oversee certain city departments.

This just in...
After 31 years, Daily News city hall fixture Mark McDonald has hung up his reporter's hat, and is crossing over to be part of Mayor Nutter's "new day, new way."
In fact, McDonald will still be writing the news. But now he will write it for the new occupant of the second-floor executive office across the hall from the press room he has occupied for so many years.
And instead of writing articles, he'll be writing speeches for the new mayor.
Affectionately nicknamed as "the dean" by former Mayor Street, McDonald showed in press conferences that he could go head-to-head with most any city bureaucrat about, say, the genesis of the liquor-by-the-drink tax.
His last newsroom day was Sunday.

Sharif Street - former Council candidate, real estate attorney, and the son of former Mayor Street - was the beneficiary of one of his father's last-minute flurry of appointments. His post? A seat on the Zoning Code Commission, which is rewriting the city's zoning code. Street had five slots to fill on the commission, but he let them languish empty for months. Team Nutter clearly expected to fill the posts itself. No word yet on whether or not Sharif Street was the only new member named, but we'll find out shortly.

Sharif Street confirmed the appointment himself following this morning's inauguration of Mayor Nutter. What'd he think of the speech? He said it was solid, and he appreciated the respect Nutter paid to former Mayors Street and Rendell.

Elvis is in the house!

Err... well, he's in City Hall.

Err... well, it's not actually Elvis, but Michael Nutter.

At this moment, with the new mayor shaking the hands of what feels like thousands of people waiting in line to greet him, City Hall is feeling more love than it has in years. Maybe decades.

The buzz, the aura, the excitment is unmistakable. It must be true: Philadelphians sure like to get to know their mayor.

As of 6 p.m., the line extended halfway around City Hall, from the portal facing South Broad Street, west to Market Street, and then to the portal facing North Broad, up a staircase that hasn't been open to the public in years, and finally, into Conversation Hall.

There, one by one they come to shake Nutter's hand. His personal assistant, Jordan Schwartz, stands behind him to collect whatever it is people give him. Some have brought pictures of Nutter and seek his autograph.

Also standing by as trusty greeters of the public: Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers, and City Councilman Jim Kenney.

Then it's down to the City Hall courtyard where a large white tent is pitched. Inside: Tastykakes, pretzels, chocolate chip cookies.

Evening has arrived, but it's still a new day.

One moment you're grilling a witness on the stand.

The next, you are occupying his office.

Welcome to Joan Markman's world.

Two years ago, as a veteran federal prosecutor, she was cross-examining George Burrell during the first City Hall corruption trial. Burrell, then a senior adviser to Mayor Street, had testified as a defense witness in the case of acquitted investment banker Denis J. Carlson, who was accused of lying to the FBI about his relationship with lawyer Ronald A. White.

Of course, that was then.

Today, Markman worked her first full day as Mayor Nutter's chief integrity officer - from a desk inside the same digs, inside the mayor's second-floor suite, that Burrell toiled in for years.

Says Markman: "It's a lovely office."

John Street unsheathed a rare weapon in his final days in office, using the obscure pocket veto available to a mayor only once in four years.
Street pocketed four relatively minor bills with the pocket veto, so he didn't torpedo big Council initiatives.He nixed two streets bills, shot down Darrell Clarke's bill requiring developers to submit "economic opportunity plans" to qualify for tax abatements, and axed Carol Ann Campbell's bill to force the city recreation department to devote 10 percent of its services at one large recreation center for autistic children.
Here's how the pocket veto works.
Typically, any bill becomes law in three ways:
1) It is signed by the Mayor.
2) The mayor vetoes it, sending it back to Council at a Council meeting no earlier than 10 days after it was passed. Then the Council overrides the veto.
3) The Mayor does not sign the bill by that first meeting, no earlier than 10 days after it is passed, and it automatically becomes law.
But every four years, at the end of a Council term, all bills die and must be reintroduced the next session. Any bills passed at the council's last two meetings, Dec. 13 and Dec. 19 can not become law if Street fails to sign them, because there is not another Council meeting that occurs 10 days after the bill's passage. So Street just doesn't sign the bills, and they die -- there's your pocket veto.
This was codified in a 1971 opinion. If you're not confused enough by now, read on...

As Mayor Nutter himself put it, it was as if he was doing a campaign transit stop.

This morning, after taking part in a press conference about new federal funds for SEPTA, the mayor took nary a step back from the podium before being surrounded by People.

More Ordinary People just reaching out to shake his hand beneath the Clothespin at 15th and Market Streets.

Not everyone could make it to City Hall yesterday to wait in line to meet the mayor during the open house, one woman told him.

Another thrust her cell phone at him. “It’s my mother’s birthday, she’s on the phone!”

“Hello? This is Michael Nutter,” he told Betsy Paris, newly 67.

“Oh, you’re at the hairdresser! Getting ready for tonight, eh?” he went on.

Betsy’s daughter beamed as the mayor handed her back the phone. “Thank you! You’re like a breath of fresh air.”

Philadelphia, meet your new mayor.

He gets going in earnest at the one minute mark in this video.

Yes, that's right, that was Mayor Nutter delivering a credible version of the Sugarhill Gang's Rappers Delight. It is one of Heard in the Hall's deepest regrets in life that we left the inaugural party before Nutter laid this one down.

via Philebrity.

Now that the rapping is done, and the greatest hand-shaking marathon in the city's recent history is over, it seems the time has come for Mayor Nutter to buckle down.

For the first time since taking office, Nutter has no public appearances on his schedule. He's holed up with his senior staff right now, and so far he no public events scheduled for tomorrow either. We're told the meetings are of the basic, settling-in variety.

He's certainly got plenty of work to do.

As one mayoral aide put it while Nutter was shaking the hands of thousands who attended Tuesday's City Hall open house: "This is the easy part."

The hard part starts today.

Mayor Nutter announced his highest profile nominees during the transition period, picking a chief of staff (Clarence Armbrister), a police commissioner (Charles Ramsey) a managing director (Camille Barnett) and a host of other cabinet members.

But there still were still plenty of critical positions left open, particularly at the commissioner level. Now we know who's staying and who's going (Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers gets to keep his job, for instance). The full list, plus bios of the permanent appointees, can be found below the jump. A lot of folks on this list are on an "acting" status, so the roster will likely change significantly, but for now, the Nutter team is largely in place.

Pay particular attention to the names and bios of the folks who will be working in the mayor's office: Pauline Abernathy, Julia Chapman, Tricia Enright, Terry Gillen and Wendell Eric Pritchett. They're some of Nutter's closest advisors and are likely to play big roles in his administration.

With the notable exception of U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, there haven't been a lot of local pols lining up to support Sen. Barack Obama's presidential bid. That could change, of course, if Obama continues to challenge Hillary Clinton for front-runner status, but until now most local politicians have either backed Clinton (a la Mayor Nutter and U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwarz) or stayed on the sidelines.

But State Rep. Tony Payton, who beat the party endorsed candidate to become the youngest representative in Harrisburg, is pulling for Obama, and even went to campaign for him in New Hampshire. Still, we suspect this photo does Payton more good than Obama. How long until it's hanging on the wall of his office?

Update: As noted in the comments, U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy (who represents Bucks County and a pair of wards in Northeast Philadelphia) is also backing Obama.

It was one of the most memorable lines of Mayor Nutter’s inaugural address.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the renaissance period of Philadelphia got started about a half-hour ago,” he proclaimed, to thunderous applause.

Gov. Rendell — who was sitting about 20 feet away — clapped along with everyone else, but his eyebrows briefly furrowed at the line.

After all, many would argue that Philadelphia’s renaissance got started sometime after then-Mayor Rendell took office in 1992. Remember the fawning profiles in the national press? The sobriquet “America’s Mayor,” bestowed by none other than Vice President Al Gore? The resurgence of Center City and the dramatic turnaround in Philadelphia’s fiscal standing?

Rendell sure remembers.

So when asked about Nutter’s “renaissance” remark minutes after the inaugural ceremony ended last Monday, Rendell sought to subtly remind folks that his tenure wasn’t so shabby.

“Well, we’ll just chalk that up to poetic license,” Rendell said when asked how he liked the remark.

Rendell approved of the rest of Nutter’s address, saying it set the right tone and appropriately reminded residents that government couldn’t solve the city’s ills on its own.

Mayor Nutter's top aides just filed into Room 221 for their their first Cabinet meeting.

So who's in the Cabinet? Not the education secretary; the Nutter Administration doesn't have one.

In any mayor's Cabinet, the City Charter dictates the inclusion of four people: the managing director, the finance director; the city solicitor and the city representative. In addition to those folks, initial plans for Nutter's Cabinet also include his three deputy mayors, his chief of staff, and the commerce director. Excluding the mayor himself, that's nine.

"The goal for the first meeting is to really begin to develop a team atmosphere and see to it that everyone understands where we are going," said Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister. Efforts to do so at a retreat two weeks ago were interrupted by the sudden news of the death of managing director Camille Barnett's husband, Jim.

Armbrister said the group this afternoon would also discuss "near-term challenges" and legislative initiatives, beginning with the budget and five-year plan, which must be submitted to Council by the end of this month. No time to waste.

Referring in jest to the chaos in setting up a new administration, Armbrister said he has another goal in mind as well: "To make sure we can get to the second Cabinet meeting."

Inquirer columnist Monica Yant Kinney reports that Nutter was yukking it up at this morning's Independence Historical National Park Service dedication of the "People's Plaza," a new $268,000 granite space at Independence National Park dedicated for groups to demonstrate and celebrate the ever-important First Amendment.

After speaking about the power of free speech - "You never know what you might learn if you listen to other people" - Nutter turned his attention to a Park Service maintenance staffer named Steve Murphy, who won a department-wide contest by coming up with the name, "People's Plaza."

"To Steve, by the power vested in me, you have the rest of the day off," Nutter said, to laughter and shivers at the outdoor event. "Of course, I have nothing to do with the National Park Service."

Following Nutter, Joe Torsella, president of the Constitution Center, said his staff would be watching closely to see whether Murphy indeed got the day off, to see if our system of "checks and balances" actually works.

It does.

"He's getting a day off, but not today, said Park Service spokeswoman Jane Cowley, noting that this way he'll get an entire day off, not just part of it. The Park Service had already planned on giving Murphy a free day, she said, but Nutter sort of moved it along.

This in from intrepid Inquirer education reporter Sue Snyder:

Lori Shorr, vice president for policies and planning at the Philadelphia Youth Network — the organization that is pioneering an effort to cut the city's dropout rate — is expected to be named Mayor Nutter's point person on education, sources said today.

Shorr, who previously worked in the Pennsylvania Department of Education and at Temple University, did not return calls for comment.

Nutter's staff also declined comment.

Shorr reportedly will be appointed director of education initiatives under an office of education that Nutter plans to create. More details are expected later this month.

Nutter in his inaugural address said he planned to cut the city school’s 45 percent dropout rate in half over the next five to seven years.

Shorr lives in the city, and her children have attended Philadelphia public schools.

At the state department of education, she served as a special assistant to Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak. While at Temple, Shorr was the director of schools and community partnerships.

Rina Cutler, Mayor Nutter's new deputy mayor for transportation, has an interesting notion. She'd like to see one card that can be used instead of cash with the city's three principal transit/transportation agencies: SEPTA, PATCO and the Philadelphia Parking Authority. It wouldn't be an easy feat. After all, SEPTA doesn't even have an electronic fare card yet (monthly passes aren't the same thing at all), and getting three individual systems to talk to each other would be a real technical challenge. PPA's card is used at meters, while PATCO's is good for rides on the system's trains, parking fares at its lots and even station vending machines.

Cutler is well aware of the hurdles: "It's going to be an interesting discussion to say the least."

It's certainly possible that a citywide card won't work. Still, it's a compelling idea, and it highlights the value of having a senior city official thinking about transit and transportation across agency lines.

The new budget season has officially begun in City Hall.

Various commissioners, as requested by the Nutter administration, are busy compiling memos that detail how they can make their departments more efficient - and trim spending by 3 to 5 percent.

"The point of this was not for them to come back and say 'here is how we are cutting,'" said Finance Director Rob Dubow, "but 'here’s how we can improve things.'"

Some of the memos have already reached his desk, with "some interersting ideas of how to reorganize, how to run things better."

Dubow, though, wouldn't yet say what those ideas are.

To put a finer point on it, Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister said, "I don't view this as a mandate to cut their budgets, and we made it clear we are not looking at any reductions in services."

What are they seeking? "Innovate ways they can do things more efficiently."

Get out those checkbooks!

The new campaign finance caps have been announced, and there's room for more - more collecting of campaign dollars, that is.

Instead of being limited to $2,500, individual donors can now give up to $2,600 to city candidates. And businesses and political committees can now give up to $10,600, busting through the $10,000 cap that existed until now.

As required by law, the new caps were adjusted for the new calendar year, taking into account
the consumer price index, and more.

So this is it, this is the way fundraising will work in Philadelphia - now that it's been legalized by the state Supreme Court - until the next time the caps are adjusted.

That will be in 2012.

Our own Marcia Gelbart got a list of salaries for Mayor Nutter's top salaries. Some may seem high at first glance, but if anything, Heard in the Hall expected that Nutter would have to shell out even more to secure the services of well-traveled pros like Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey and Managing Director Camille Barnett. Chief of Staff Clarence Armbrister is no slouch either: as the Inquirer's story today pointed out, he took a roughly 50 percent pay cut when he signed on with Nutter, and he was making that money at Temple University, not in the private sector.

Today's Inquirer also advances a story on the FBI probe of Christopher G. Wright, Councilman Jack Kelly's chief of staff. The feds seem interested in the ties between Wright and Northeast Philadelphia's largest property owners, Hardeep Chawla and his brother Ravinder Chawla, who have been longtime supporters of Kelly. Heard in the Hall's Jeff Shields first reported on the Chawlas' relationship with Kelly back in October, and the Daily News caught wind of the FBI probe yesterday.

The Chawlas and Wright seem very close. As Shields reports, they gave him $1,000 for Christmas in 2005. Wright acknowledged the gift, as required by city law, on his financial disclosure form.

Susan Jaffe, Anthony Lewis, Jr., Joseph Manko, Lynette Brown-Sow and Carol Tinari. Jaffe will be the chair.

Bios available after the jump. More to come later.

Councilman Wilson Goode Jr. has just shared some thoughts on the police shooting of his cousin, Timothy Jerome Goode, over at Young Philly Politics. He suggests the shooting was a case of mistaken identity. Here's a sample.

"The police shooting of Timothy Jerome Goode was a case of “mistaken identity”. Tee was probably mistaken for someone who had nothing to live for - but he wasn’t a high school dropout, he was a valedictorian. Tee was to become a father for the first time this spring. He was running for his life - and into a brighter future - until he was mistaken for not having one."

In addition to today's story, here is a fuller look at the salaries of high-level aides in the Nutter administration, according to a list the Inquirer requested from the mayor's press office. Many of the salaries for commissioners and department heads are determined according to ranges set under a city ordinance. And this list is by no means complete; several top positions have yet to be announced.

Mayor Michael Nutter $186,044
Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister $198,500
Managing Director Camille Barnett $195,000
Deputy Chief of Staff Patricia Enright $155,000
Chief Integrity Officer Joan Markman $150,000
Director of Legislative Affiars Julia Chapman $150,000
Director of Multicultural Affairs Israel Colon $90,000
Director of Research, Policy and Planning Wendell Pritchett $150,000

She came, she conquered - she left. And she doesn't want you to forget.

"For A Brief Moment... There Was Carol Ann."

That would be City Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell, and those were the words she used to highlight her tenure in a gold-colored 16-page brochure that began arriving this week in the mailboxes of her 4th District constituents.

"Wait 'til you get a load of her," U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.) said when she was sworn into Council in November 2006.

Well, City Hall did - as Campbell made clear herself in the brochure, which on gold page after gold page lists what she did on Council in the year or so she was there, from creating the handicapped and disabled advocate's office, to renovating the Shepard Recreation Center.

Mayor Nutter is continuing to clean house, replacing all five of Mayor Street's last-minute appointments to the Zoning Code Commission with five new appointees. That means Mayor Streeet's son, Sharif Street, is off the commission.

Nutter also appointed five new members to what he hopes will be a much more muscular Planning Commission. He also retained one Street planning appointee, Pat Eiding, president of the Philadelphia Council of the AFL-CIO. We'll have more on this in tomorrow's paper, but you can read the full release and the bios of the new members after the jump.

Alan Butkovitz may be just a local government official - Philadelphia's city controller - but that hardly seems to limit him from trying to involve himself in national and world affairs.
Namely, the U.S. race for president.

From a press release just issued by his office:

Today, City Controller Alan Butkovitz called upon the Republican and Democratic Presidential Candidates, the Chairs of both the Democratic and Republican parties, and the hosts of future scheduled presidential debates, to bring up in the debate discussion of the ongoing tragedy of the genocide in Sudan.

To read a draft of the Butkovitz letter:

Mayor Nutter appeared on Hardball with Chris Matthews tonight. Matthews, of course, is a Philly native, and he served as moderator for a debate during the mayoral primary. He seems to have taken a shine to Nutter, who was asked for his thoughts on the presidential elections. No video available yet, but you can read the transcript after the jump.

Nutter endorsed Sen. Clinton a few weeks ago, and he noted that in the interview. Nutter appeared to support Sen. Obama during the mayoral primary last year, but that was before Obama lent his support to Nutter mayoral rival Rep. Chaka Fattah.

Back to the interview. Matthews closed the segment by wishing Nutter and the city well.

"Good luck in your term as mayor of Philadelphia. We're all rooting for you. Anybody that gives thought or caring to Philadelphia wants you to make it, sir."

Click below for the full transcript.

We knew it was going to be bad when City Council Clerk and the council members themselves seemed to have a hard time separating Councilman Bill Greenlee (below) from new Councilman Bill Green (right) at the inauguration. But we caught a veteran staff member yesterday confused as to who their boss actually was between Green and Greenlee and mail is already getting mixed up. Wasn't it hard enough not to confuse Bill Green with his father, the former mayor, of the same name?
To further flabbergast us, they've teamed up on an ethics proposal to be introduced in the coming weeks.

Ever wonder how many people want to be a Philadelphia police officer?

Well, in the last go-round, some 15,000 people applied to the police academy - for some 120 spots.

Not into the uniform? Well, it turns out that other city jobs are in demand, too... Of course, it could just be that any job is in demand.

Whatever the case, here are the numbers: In fiscal 2007, the city received 25,841 applications for jobs. Out of that, 11,303 people took and passed the civil service test. Out of that, 2,146 were hired or promoted.

The source of all this: A new study released today by the Pew Charitable Trusts and the Economy League of Greater Philadelphia. The study's title: "Philadelphia's Quiet Crisis: The rising Cost of Employee Benefits."

John Street is a lot of things to a lot of people, but stupid ain't one of 'em. So it seemed really odd for the former Mayor, in a final and surprise address to Council in December, to brag about the fat check he was going to receive from the city's Deferred Retirement Option Plan, or DROP. Street walked away with more than $450,000 for a program that critics say should be reserved for regular employees as an inducement to stay beyond their retirement age. It seemed that Street was drawing attention to himself in a negative way when he didn't need to.
But the theory among City Council and staff seems to be that Street knew what he was doing -- that by drawing attention to his pot of gold, he would simultaneously be turning the heat on a City Council that was still going to be around when he was long gone.
"He got exactly what he was looking for," said one Council staffer.
Street wanted to get rid of the whole program in 2003, four years after it was introduced, when a study produced by his administration argued that DROP cost $7 million annually. City Council defied him and renewed the program, initially adopted on a test basis, indefinitely. Street then signed up in 2004, and cashed out at the end of his term. Now, five City Council members have followed suit, getting the editorial pages up in arms. New Councilman Bill Green said his proposal to prevent future city elected officials (himself included) from entering DROP has gotten a cold reception from his colleagues, who resent the fact that they're being publicly flogged for joining DROP. That bill is to be introduced Thursday. Let's see how much political capital Green and the new mayor want to invest at the risk of alienating the Council's DROPsters, who include President Anna C. Verna, Majority Leader Marian Tasco, and longtime members Frank DiCicco, Joan Krajewski and Frank Rizzo. More are sniffing around DROP, including Brian O'Neill and Jack Kelly.

My colleague Jeff Shields reports that there is a frenzy of activity going on in Council chambers, where Council is convening its first session with Mayor Nutter at the helm.
Here's a look at some of what is taking place.

In addition, Nutter has transmitted three proposed charter changes:

The first would give the inspector general broader jurisdiction than just the executive branch, which it is limited to under current law. However, the proposal is not as far reaching as the one set forth by former Councilwoman Carol Campbell last fall.

The second would define and separate the duties of the city representative and the Commerce Director. Right now, they are joined at the hip as one job.

The third would allow the Nutter administration to increase the number of departmental deputies who are exempt from Civil Service.

.As one of 10 district council members, new Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. had to pick one person as his "community leader" on the Zoning Code Commission, the appointed body tasked with reforming the city's convoluted and outdated zoning laws. He chose fellow rookie Councilman Bill Green. Green has expressed a keen interest in zoning reform, but isn't from Jones' "community." Green doesn't live in Jones' 4th District, which includes Roxborough, Manayunk, East Falls and parts of West Philadelphia. "He has a strong interest in it and I think he's value-added to the board," Jones said before Council's first regular meeting Thursday. Word is that Jones knew he would take a hit with this appointment, but wanted to put Green at the table anyway. Jones' spokesman, Al Spivey, said Green has agreed to withdraw if Jones comes up with someone else. "Bill Green has a perspective on zoning and a number of issues, and he should be heard," Spivey said.
In reality, Jones is moving a little closer to the 4th District with his choice. Former 4th District Councilwoman Carol Ann Campbell's pick for the commission, MeLinda DeNofa, lived in Montgomery County. Ralph Wynder, one of the ward leaders from the 4th, said he was okay with Green on a commission that is tackling such a citywide issue as zoning for reform.

We already knew that Council rookies Bill Green, Curtis Jones Jr. and Maria Quinones Sanchez had formed a mutual admiration society over their many months together on the campaign trail, coming in together as fresh faces who went through a grueling and unique orientation process over the past eight months.

It didn't take long for that alliance to show itself. Thursday morning we reported that Jones chose Green as his "community leader" to be on the city's Zoning Code Commission. Thursday afternoon we found out that Green admired Sanchez enough to hire her husband, Tomas Sanchez, as his "Senior adviser."
Not that Tomas Sanchez doesn't come with his own resume. Educated at Harvard and UPenn Law School, Tomas Sanchez (pictured above with Maria Quinones and Sanchez and their children) is head of procurement and business relations for Temple University's Office of Multicultural Affairs. He is also a former chief of staff for Councilman Juan Ramos.
Whoa! Green said Friday. Green says he hired Sanchez in spite of his marriage to Quinones Sanchez, not because of it, because "I thought I might get a little flak over it."
But, he said: "Tomas was the most qualified person who applied to my office for any position."

NOTE: The original entry identified Tomas Sanchez as a lawyer. He graduated law school but is not a practicing lawyer.

We couldn't reach the NRA's point-man in Pennsylvania last night for reaction to Michael Nutter's stated intention to enforce Philadelphia gun laws, even if they go against state laws. This morning John Hohenwarter, the NRA's lobbyist and representative in Harrisburg, said Nutter would be squandering taxpayer dollars -- which could be better used to put police officers on the street -- if he mounts a futile legal challenge to established precedent that prevents local governments from enacting their own gun laws.
"We heard the same thing out of Mayor Street’s office the last couple of years," Hohenwarter said. "The programs that the mayor is backing are nothing more than attempts to grab headlines," he said. "Chances are, it’s going to be thrown out immediately, and if they keep trying to appeal it, you’re looking at a lot of cost to the city for nothing."
A reader agreed. Check out this note from A.J. Borelli of Springfield, Delaware County:

Mayor Nutter anticipates that Managing Director Camille Barnett will return to work shortly, perhaps as soon as next week. Barnett's husband was killed in a car crash shortly before Nutter's inauguration, and she has understandably not been in City Hall since. Nutter told Heard in the Hall that he's talked to her and expects she will be on the job soon.

Mayor Nutter still plans a citywide cleanup - powered by volunteers with a big assist from city agencies - but it won't happen for a few months. The mayor says his administration decided it was just too cold. They figured a spring cleaning would see better participation. Think late March or April.

Dianne Reed has found a new life after City Hall.

Mayor John Street's budget director, Reed starts Monday as executive director of CADE, an anti-violence nonprofit that does most of its work in the schools.

"The reason I'm interested in it is I think this is the right kind of thing for the corporate world to be supporting," Reed said, saying part of her job will be to further open up the wallets of the region's corporate leaders.

She also will busy herself expanding CADE's board, including the possible addition of Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey.

Speaking of new jobs, David Glancey has one, too.

Glancey, past chairman of the Board of Revision of Taxes, is taking on part-time employment at the University of Pennsylvania. His title will be director of special projects in the office of governmental affairs and community relations, where he will be a liaison with city regulatory agencies, and will also work on Penn's expansion plans.
"I think it's a good fit," he said.

But he has no interest in doing the job full-time. "I'm a retiree, what can I tell you?"

When City Council issued an ultimatum to the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council to come up with minority inclusion plans for all 17 unions involved in the $700 million Convention Center expansion, many observers thought labor leaders would never bend to Council's will in that way. And early last week, events seemed to bear that out.
Union heads failed to show up for a scheduled meeting at City Hall, and Convention Center and state officials reportedly suggested in negotiations that they could go ahead with construction with or without the Council's assent -- which would erase the Council's efforts to force the unions to increase minority membership.
But in what some called a "historic" session on Thursday at the Chamber of Commerce - arranged by Councilwoman Donna Reed Miller (pictured left with Michael Nutter) -- 15 of 17 union reps showed up for negotiations with Council members. There were between 8 and 10 council members, participants said, shuttling between two rooms. {This is how Council said it avoided breaking Sunshine Laws in December when it hammered out a Convention Center labor proposal with Mayor Street -- 9 Council members in a room constitutes a quorum and an official meeting that should be open to the public.}
Sunshine issues aside, Council negotiators called the meeting very encouraging -- the historic part being that the two sides had a civil discussion. Building Trades chief Pat Gillespie (above) and the unions offered what Council regarded as meaningful inclusion plans and promised to provide demographic information about their members, which they had previously refused to do.
Council staff will work this week on a proposed plan that everyone can agree on, so the Council can introduce legislation Thursday. Bids for construction are supposed to go out Friday, but Gov. Rendell has said he wants the unions and council to agree on terms of a project-labor agreement before then.
What separates the sides right now are long-term plans that go beyond the Convention Center. Some are saying those plans can't be done on short notice and need to be worked out over the coming months.
Majority Leader Marian Tasco (pictured above) was not celebrating yet -- "We should have had the conversation a few weeks ago," she said. But she did say the meeting was productive. "It’s going to take some work," she said Friday. "And we’re really trying to get something worked out."

While some City Council members were upbeat about a "historic" meeting with Building Trades unions over minority inclusion Jan. 24 (see entry below), City Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr. announced last night that he would be calling for hearings, complete with subpoenas, of the Building Trades unions and their minority participation. Goode said he would introduce a resolution Thursday. Check it out here first:

After a delayed start because of the sudden death of her husband, new City Managing Director Camille Barnett has officially begun her job today.

A few minutes ago, she breezed down a hallway in City Hall on her way into Room 221 to attend a Cabinet meeting in the mayor's office.

Barnett is scheduled to be sworn into office at 4:15 p.m. today, along with new city Commerce Director Andy Altman.

Also today, Nutter is expected to formally name Lori Shorr as his education director, as the Inquirer reported a few weeks ago.

We knew former Inpspector General Seth Williams would get a little chilly out of the glow of the public spotlight. He has quickly jumped back in, as PA coordinator for the Barack Obama campaign. See press release on next page.....

"Luxury Redefined. Arriving Fall 2008."
So reads the website for The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, the half-built, super-swell residential tower rising next to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel south of City Hall.

Well, no one ever accused electricians boss John Dougherty of being "luxury redefined," but he might want to arrive this fall as the next state senator from South Philadelphia.
On the same day The Inquirer reported that Dougherty is circulating nominating petitions for a potential run against State Sen. Vincent Fumo, Dougherty apparently received an endorsement from unnamed workers inside The Residences. Those fans nudged open a couple of window panels seven stories up and hung either a luxury bedsheet or a dropcloth out the window with the following message spraypainted in day-glo orange:

JoHNNY DOC
FOR
SENATE
The sales staff at The Residences didn't appear to know about the sign, and neither did they seem to excited to be joining the Johnny Doc campaign. "GRRRRR!" reacted one sales person. Another said they would alert their production people.
Dougherty apparently can feel the groundswell.
""No one at Local 98, including John Dougherty, was even aware of the sign," said Frank Keel, spokesman for the electricians union. "There are significant pockets of support for John throughout the 1st District. We can only assume the creators of that particular sign are politically astute members of the Building Trades."

You knew this was coming: When State Rep. Tony Payton Jr. challenged the Democratic Party establishment two years ago -- and had to go to court to win the 179th Legislative District over Emilio Vazquez, the party-backed candidate who had been forced to wage a write-in campaign -- we knew the party would return for Payton's head. On Saturday the party endorsed newcomer Guy D. Lewis to challenge Payton, identified in Lewis' press release as "the incumbent," in the May primary.

Lewis' press release follows:

When Mayor Nutter stepped inside City Council's Caucus Room earlier today, he shook his head in seeming disbelief that he was now standing there as mayor, no longer as one of 17 Council members.

His reason for being there: To brief his former colleagues, and three newly-elected ones, on matters related to the budget he will present to them Feb. 14.

What followed in the next 90 minutes was less newsworthy than noteworthy: The context of the dollar discussion was not new, but the fact it was taking place at all surely was.

"This is the first time I remember being briefed as we are now," Council President Anna Verna remarked. During John Street's years, his aides typically briefed Council on the budget the same morning, sometimes within the same hour, that Street formally presented it to them.

In fact, Nutter met with Verna inside her office just a little bit earlier, the first of weekly Tuesday meetings he intends to have with her to share his agenda.

"The administration is reaching out. I can't think of anything better," said Charlie McPherson, Council's chief financial officer.

Some of that good will, though, was lessened by what happened next, after Nutter left the room.

Chief of Staff Clay Armbrister stood up to personally invite each Council member to a special briefing tomorrow morning at the Wachovia Center, where Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey is expected to unveil his crime-fighting plans.

Looking a tad bit chagrined, Councilman Frank DiCicco shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't mean to be critical, but it would be nice if we had a couple of days notice."

Commissioner Ramsey and Mayor Nutter released their much anticipated crime plan. You can read it yourself on the city's website here. Philly.com has video of Ramsey explaining the plan, and the Inquirer's Andy Maykuth has an early rundown of the new strategy. Ramsey will direct police to focus their resources on the city's nine most violent districts. You can see how those districts stack up relative to the rest of the city here.

As promised, SugarHouse Casino has challenged the city’s revocation of its license to build over state-owned riverbeds, saying the Nutter administration cannot take away the license while it is the subject of legal proceedings.
The Street administration in its final weeks issued a license giving SugarHouse the right to build over and along the Delaware River. Such rights are normally given out by the state, and a group of state legislators challenged the action in state Supreme Court, which hears appeals of all casino matters.
Mayor Nutter announced last week that he was revoking the license because it was issued without proper consideration. SugarHouse argued in its latest filings on Monday that Nutter could not rescind the license, particularly if it is being fought over in the Supreme Court.

City Councilman Brian J. O'Neill said he expects Thursday to jump start the controversial expansion of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, with plans to introduce legislation that has been tentatively agreed upon following a meeting with Mayor Nutter. "It's the beginning of the finality" for the project, he said.

The $800 million expansion has been stymied by community opposition stemming from traffic and other concerns about from plans to build in publicly-owned Burholme Park.

In December, O'Neill withheld a proposed lease agreement on the park land, saying despite months of negotiations, there were still outstanding issues.

On Wednesday, O'Neill said those issues have now disappeared. While some details must still be worked out, he said, "We got a deal.... I'll have the broad agreement to introduce tomorrow."

The councilman credited Nutter, saying he has spoken with the mayor "three or four times" since he took office Jan. 7. "All this took was somebody who was really smart, and a really good listener," O'Neill said, referring to a recent meeting with the mayor.

Also in Council Thursday,

In case you missed it, Gov. Rendell took a shot at City Council yesterday for being a body "with no guts" that was "extorted by Community groups," as reported in Thursday's Metro.
City Councilman Frank DiCicco, who has led the fight against the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casinos, both in his district, fought back yesterday, suggesting the Governor was having a "bad day," and accused him of pandering to his "buddies" -- the investors in the projects such as developer Ron Rubin or Comcast/Spectacor chairman Ed Snider in Foxwoods.
"To call us gutless is a disgrace," DiCicco told fellow Council members at their regular meeting Thursday, questioning whether the Governor was having one of "those tantrum days."
If that's the case, DiCicco said, "Get over it, Governor."
Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo was game for that challenge: "The governor is passionate about the opportunity to provide thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in tax relief," Ardo said. "He will not get over that passion easily."

As a candidate, Mayor Nutter paid homage to other cities, visiting their City Halls to see what Philadelphia could learn from what they did right.

Tomorrow, Nutter's press secretary, Doug Oliver, will embark on a similar "best practices" tour.

He is expected to go to Chicago, with a visit to Washington scheduled for this Wednesday, and a brief trip to New York City slated for the following week. The fact that these cities have good reputations and are well-positioned nationally "doesn't happen by accident, it is by design," Oliver said.

Some of what he will be looking for are tips on how to better structure the press office; how much time to spend reacting to news versus pro-actively placing it; who to choose what are good issues to associate his mayor with; and how to choose what are potential national stories versus local.

"We're doing okay," he said, "but if there is some trick of the trade, I want to know it."