So now that Street's been reelected - what exactly are his plans for the next four years? Anybody recall any specific policies or initiatives he talked about for the second term? And don't just say "more of the same" - that's not good enough.

What is Street going to do for us now that he's won back the office he so obviously covets?

I don't know what Street will do over the next four years, but I know what we on the board need to do.

First and foremost, we need to move on. Street won, Katz lost, it's done and over with. Complaining about the campaign tactics and the city's population for voting for Street doesn't accomplish anything.

Suggesting ways to change campaigning methods is a good thing. Figuring out how to educate the masses on the issues so that they make future election decisions based on who's the best candidate instead of party affiliation.

Enough with the "I've had it, I'm leaving this bleeping city" talk. If you're that fed up, leave. Best of luck wherever you go, but if you're going to give up on the city that quickly, then you're not going to be much help to us that do want better for the city.

I saw on another thread someone thinks Street is already on Katz's site and will steal all of his initiatives. If that actually happens, great. To me, I don't care who gets credit for the idea or who makes it work. I just want the good ideas to work, period. I hope we on the boards come up with 25 tremendous ideas for improving the city and someone steals all of them and makes them happen.

Lastly, stop the mentality that Street being re-elected is going to cause the city to become a smoking crater. It didn't happen in his first four years and with work and luck, he'll make some good things happen in the next four. Just don't give up on the city yet.

As a conservative, why would I want to live in a city the hates Reps so much, they would rather vote for a crook? Doesn't say much for my chances of ever being satisfied with my mayor.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

Just because Street wasn't the best candidate to the majority of the people on this board does not mean that those who voted for him did so because of party affiliation. I can't speak for every single voter who voted for Street, but I know many who voted for Street because of what he has done for them and their neighborhoods. First and foremost, we need to stop acting as if the people who voted for Street are all idiots who don't know what's best for them.

Zog, you leavin?

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It is obvious to me, reading this board, that most Dems in this city hate Reps. We have no place here. No matter how often I explain things, they assume motivations for policy. They use race to qualify my ideology and don't care to listen to any reason. I love cities, so I'm forced to listen to Dems, the majority in every city. As someone said elsewhere, bashing Republicans is the only bias still accepted by the PC crowd in this country.

With that said, I would say 70-30 toward leaving. Not only because of this election. I want to live in other major cities while I can enjoy it. This election tiped it to 70-30 from 60-40 and it sped up my desire to leave. NYC might be liberal, but they have had a Rep mayor for the last 10 years. I will probably end up back here and I'm not selling my house. I'll probably rent it.

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Jason
Lynn Swann 06'

"Individualism is absent when other peoples' standards, not reality and reason, are ones primary guide."

I'll be interested to see how many people do leave over the next few months. And the people leaving are the major taxpayers, this could hurt the city fiscally, big time.

Maybe that would send a message. While we may not be the majority voters, we take the least from the system and contribute the most.

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I agree that talk of leaving just doesn't make much sense. I don't know about the rest of you, but I can't just turn off my great affection for this city. That affection was never based on the political system, which, I will point out, is just continuing on as it always has done. It was based on walking down any of a number of leafy rowhouse-lined street, standing in the great court at Wanamaker's watching the Christmas show, sitting on a bench in Ritt. Square, etc. etc. All that corny stuff. That's not going anywhere, really.

Believe me, I'm plenty disappointed - disappointed that yet another great opportunity has been lost, disappointed that the electorate is so shallow and unwilling to educate itself about the candidates for such an important job. I also think that if Katz couldn't do it, nobody will be able to, which suggests to me that the Democratic party has a complete and permanent lock on city politics. And that really degrades the democratic system, which is a huge loss for all of us. We won't see a mayoral candidate as good as Katz again for a long time, I suspect.

Nevertheless, I'm not going anywhere. I don't want to live in another city - I like this one (and they all have screwed up politics anyway). And I don't want to live in a suburb anymore either.

Let's continue to work on our own blocks and in our own neighborhoods - progress can happen, even with poor governance. We just have to be more self-reliant. And let's watch Street and the Democrats, local and national, who supported him so prominently. They wanted him in there so bad...now let's see him deliver. I'm not going to kiss & make up with either Street or the local Democrats. I will remember what they did, and it will impact my voting patterns. But I do think there's limited value in staying angry too long.

(snip)
It is obvious to me, reading this board, that most Dems in this city hate Reps. We have no place here.
(snip)

Not entirely- the basic point, as stated by Ambrose Bierce, is that the government that takes from Peter to pay Paul can count on Paul's support at election time.

It is very hard for a minority party to win elections over a well entrenched majority party that has controlled patronage jobs for half a century.

There is some paranoia, where people are voting for Street because of the conspiracy theories, but I belive that generally people are voting for the (D)emocrat, because they have cousins, uncles aunts and friends who have city jobs- they are making short term economically rational choices.

The City of Philadelphia is one of the largest employers IN Philadelphia.
Philadelphia residents vote based on jobs - and those are often safe public service jobs. Philadelphia has a huge tax burden, but it's distributing those taxes to city workers. This is an old (D)emocratic idea from WPA times, but it was used by Street, Rendel, Goode, Green, Rizzo etc.

The way to win Philadelphia is two steps-

1) Increase the presence and effectiveness of the Republican Party in Philadelphia. Winning Philadlephia requires a bottom up approach.

There's a great Inq story about the Katz supporter arguing issues, contrasted with the Street supporting Ward leader who knows everyone.
The way to win an election is not Ward by Ward - as the Inquirer's report shows, but rather at the neighborhood level - it has to be done at the lowest scale, polling place by polling place.

This means getting a party mobilized that works with the historical conservative trends in Philly, such a strong church ties to the community, strong interested in education, and using that to bootstrap the Republican presence. This will require time, and most imporantly people to work at the neighborhood level to groom candidates to run in 4 or 8 years.

2) Create more jobs in Philadelphia that are not government related and & tax based. I worry that Philadelphia's long noted defeatist attitude reinforces a subliminal desire to sabatoge business growth to protect government job security. Phila Business Journal notes that U-Penn trains huge numbers of Wharton business graduates. We have legions of fiscal wizards who are experts at analyzing business opportunities - and these fiscal experts all seem to vote with their feet and leave Philly as soon as they can to go establish companies and get consulting jobs running corporations. Get some of these people to stay by getting the beauracracy to actually listen to the experts.

Hal

I wasn't speaking for myself when I mentioned the "vote only one party" issue. I brought it up because it's been discussed in other threads.

That's part of the reason I got so aggravated during the build-up to the election. A couple of posters, specifically niksiz, wrote of how Street has done nothing. No, he's done nothing for certain groups and quite a bit for others. People has badmouthed the Safe Streets programs, but I imagine there's quite a few people who are glad it's there. Is it the solution? No, but it's a start. Stop expecting everything to change overnight and then be ready to head for the hills when it doesn't change overnight.