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.
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