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."
Rendell, to pay for his farewell dinner, dipped into his campaign funds.
Street, though, has no funds to dip into. He hasn't raised campaign money in nearly two years.
Cohen stepped up to the plate. He made fund-raising calls and pulled in dollars from 10 to 15 private contributors. In all, he says the cost of the dinner - it's salmon - is well under $100,000. (He notes, by the way, that the money was all raised under the city's campaign finance limits, though it didn't have to be.)
By the way, goodbye calls are being made all around City Hall. And it's not hard to trip over cardboard packing boxes.
City Commerce Director Stephanie Naidoff had her farewell dinner last night.
Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson is having a shindig tomorrow night at the Kimmel Center.
This gig is really up.
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