I sensed this would happen...CP makes it 3-1 Street in the endorsement game.

In endorsing Street, all 3 papers have essentially said that Street's policies made a difference to people living in very blighted, crime-ridden neighborhoods who had been ignored for too long. You know what? I'm willing to grant that that's true (for now) and that it's a good thing.

But what the papers don't address in their endorsements is: What comes next? How long can the city afford Safe Streets, and what happens to those neighborhoods when we don't have the money to put a cop on every corner anymore? Has the city undertaken anything to solve the problems that put drug dealers at those corners in the first place? No. And so when the money's gone and the political will is no longer there it'll be back to the bad old times. And the people who live in the poorest, most neglected neighborhoods will be left without a political voice once again.

NTI is all about demolition. There's precious little community planning, preservation, or any thought as to how to build an entire neighborhood back again.

Neither of these programs will benefit people in these neighborhoods in the long run, and all 3 of these papers' endorsement just don't seem to get that crucial point. Fine, Street did them some good, but his ideas won't carry things the next step.

CP suspects Katz won't be able to get anything done with Council because of his being a Republican, and that plus a few other comments in the endorsement indicate to me that the editors of the CP are incapable of separating the man from the label - of seeing Katz as an individual with ideas. That, in turn, tells me that they don't really get it.

Thinking of that "endorsement score," however...didn't Katz have the 3-1 edge last time? And Street won. Hmmm...

The bums in city council need to be thrown out too. I'm neither Dem not Rep but its pretty clear what the track record of the Democratic party in this city has been for the half-century they've been in power: declining population; Philadelphia declining as a business location; other regions superceding Philadelphia in prominence, etc. This may be a little simplistic but not anywhere near as simplistic as Street's mantra of "vote for me - I'm a Democrat".

We might as well not have elections and endorsements in this city anymore since people seem to pull the lever for the Democrats regardless of what the individual candidates are about, regardless of the political record of the party, and regardless of what the opposing candidate stands for.

perhaps we need an independent party here. i'm very frusrtated by the fact that no one seems to care about a long term plan in philly. that mayor street will at some point have to say, okay neighborhoods, that's all we can afford for you. even more upsetting to me is pw's assertion that they trust street to change and reform the pay to play system. what? street has never led anyone on how this works. he'scomfortable with it.
and for indigo, what i would vote for is a mayor that is willing to take on SEPTA and change things there. that is my personal stake. andof course lower taxes but since thse fall most heavily, percentage wise, on working poor and middle class families i can't call it selfish.

For now, the best thing to do is push ahead with this Election - it's not nearly over yet. Katz is much stronger this time around, with union endorsement and such. Somehow I think we can get him to the finish line a winner.

Use the energy to campaign harder for Katz, let it energize you and ride the adreneline rush!

A poll last week at KWY.COM showed that only 5% let their votes be affected by newspaper endorsements.

Polls suck too - they are taken during the day, as someone told me, with people at home. What typical kind of person do you think of being at home during the day on a Mon-Fri? You decide.

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[ PHILLYTIM.NET ]
ROCK AND ROLL HAS ARRIVED & THE STREET SHACKLES ON THIS CITY ARE GONE!

Philadelphia Weekly, the City Paper, the Tribune... all jokes. I could care less who they endorse until they become a respected paper, what do I care? They're no better than this forum. They throw out opinions whether they're based on fact or their own conjuring.

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CafeParents.com

I actually like the City Paper in general. That's why I was surprised & dismayed at Howard Altman's "turn" recently. This was a guy who routinely called Street on his lack of responsiveness as mayor. Wha' happened? Anyway, the CP is good for other things, including coverage of city issues the Inky never touches, so I'll continue to read it. But with a slight grudge.

PhillyTIM is right - there's nothing to do now but wait it out and contribute where we can, and then hope that Katz's get out the vote forces do their job well.

There will be plenty of time later for I-told-you-so's if Street lasts another 4 years.

Remember...failure is NOT an option.

Make sure that you VOTE Sam Katz for Mayor on Tuesday, November 4th. Email a reminder to your friends; call your neighbors; leave no stone unturned! EVERY VOTE FOR SAM KATZ COUNTS!

YOU AND ME BOTH. do you read the Independent? sometimes th articles lick like last month when they had some halfwit communist writer from NY write an article on deregulation who had obviously never bothered with facts put in a large piece i don't like it. however, their articles covering the divine lorraine and safe streets hve been great.
somtimes i like altman, other times i just like the CP in spite of him. he was gone in NY for two years and ahs since ret'd. i was disappointed to learn that they endorsed street. they have always been the alternative willing to consider an issue rather than the PW's unabashed left wing approach.

Yes, I do like the Independent quite a bit. The first issue disappointed - it fairly reeked of 20-something faux-literary pretension. But it's stabilized quite a bit and they have a good corps of contributors now. The stories on the Divine Lorraine and the Victory Building were fascinating, and the 2-part series on Safe Streets was illuminating in a way that nothing in the Inquirer has been.

Furthermore, rather than endorsing a candidate, they simply offer pros & cons of both in the latest edition, but in a very intelligent and thoughtful way. They are still prone to the lefty tendency to view Katz as a closet Bushie, so I can't agree with their observations on him totally, but I still think their take on the candidates is in many ways more intelligent than anything I've seen in the other papers.

Well worth the 50 cents, though the box here on campus (36th & Walnut) will eat your quarters & not open, so don't get it here.

i usuall get mine either at the Last Drop or AKA depdning on which I go to when the new issue is out.