Results tagged “mayorjohnstreet”

Has Philadelphia dropped the cheesesteaks and picked up the barbells? That's what the latest issue of Men's Fitness claims, reporting that Philly is now America's "23rd fittest" city. Sounds mediocre, but that's quite a climb from 1999, when we were ranked the most obese city in America. That's a lot of uneaten scrapple!!

Oh potholes, how you mock us! Lying in wait for us to bicycle into your Cadillac-sized craters, laughing maniacally when our gaping head wounds bleed onto your broken edges - no more! Or so says Mayor John Street.

Mayor John Street is nearing the end of his second term. You know what that means: it's time to look toward Mayor Street's legacy. Mayor Street will present the new budget to city council today.

• Montgomery County resident David Downey can't keep it in his pants - less than a week after being freed on $250K bail for third degree murder charges for feeding a 17 year old 'escort' a lethal dose drugs and paying off a couple of people to dispose of the body, he violated his bail by having a professional booty call in Upper Merion. At least he didn't kill this one.
• Governor Ed Rendell is opposing a proposed Environmental Protection Agency regulation that would "limit public access to information about the chemicals companies legally release into the air." Current regulations state that any 500 pound release of certain chemicals must be reported yearly. The proposed regulations would raise the release amount to 5,000 pounds and require only biennial reporting. Perhaps the EPA should change their name to something else, because it certainly doesn't seem like the agency is too interested in protecting the environment. Six former heads of the EPA agree.
• There's a rapist on the loose in Center City - if you live in the Rittenhouse Square area, ladies, now might be the time to brush up on your self-defense skills.

It feels like a broken record around here: SEPTA is still on strike, commuters are still pissed (and sometimes stranded), and the union and management aren't on speaking terms.

Mayor John Street insists that Councilman Rick Mariano never planned to take a swan dive from the City Hall observation deck, although it's easy to understand why it's an easily jumped to conclusion. Fraud indictment looming, Mariano did comment earlier in the day that he wished a bus would run him over.

There's good news a-brewin' if you're really into death and destruction -- the crime rate in Philly is up for 2005. Woohoo!

City Councilman Rick Mariano, a local politician who has had federal indictment rumors swirling about him recently, climbed onto a ledge and City Hall tonight and threatened to commit suicide. He was talked down from the ledge by Mayor John Street and Police Commissioner Sylvester Johnson.

Last week Mayor John Street announced a ten year, $10 million plan to eradicate homelessness in the City of Brotherly Love. The $10 million for the project is already accounted for, having been earmarked from city, state and federal funds. There's a plan, devised by city officials meeting with homeless advocates and other experts.

Living up to its moniker of the City of Brother Love, Philadelphia welcomes Hurricane Katrina survivors today. City officials expect 600 survivors to arrive later today. Philadelphia's newest residents will go to two buildings converted to shelters -- one located at 1701 N. 11th St. in North Philadelphia and other at the Palumbo building at 11th and Catharine Streets in South Philadelphia.

Trusting Mayor John Street has been difficult. It never seemed like a good idea to put a guy with a history of serious financial problems in charge of a city the size of Philadelphia, not to mention Street's history of inappropriate nepotism. Hey, we're all for picking your friends and family for things -- if you're in the seventh grade and choosing kickball teams. As an adult and a public official, we'd like to see things run a bit more fairly. Of course, considering the pay to play scandal plaguing City Hall, believing that the mayor would be ethically upstanding is an exercise in naivete. So what exactly are we kvetching about? Last week Festival Foods was chosen to oversee the entire vending operation at Live 8. The deal provides that Festival Food pays the city $90K and guarantees that 30% of the vending spots go to minorities and women. And then, miraculously, Festival Foods makes John Street a minority partner (which could net Mayor Street nearly 30% of the vending profits from Live 8) and John Street's brother, Milton Street, is awarded 17% of the minority vending spots. That just smells bad. Considering that a judge ordered all of Milton Street's vending equipment be confiscated on Friday, we're not sure how Milton managed to hawk overpriced hot dogs and water in 17% of the minority vending locations. That's right -- Milton was a baaaaaad boy. He's neglected to pay several years' worth of concession fees totally more than $36,000, and now has had his vending equipment taken to pay for it. We're not worried. His brother will no doubt pull those chestnuts out of the fire.