John Street won't be on ballot

FORMER MAYOR John Street has chosen teaching and traveling over tormenting Mayor Nutter.

Street, a high-profile critic of Nutter, has ruled out running for mayor or City Council at large as an independent this year.

Street toyed with the notion for months, clearly enjoying the platform it gave him to attack Nutter on issues such as property-tax increases and a proposed tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

Street said he encountered "a great deal of very enthusiastic support." But he enjoys the life he is leading after 28 years in local government - teaching at Temple University and traveling.

"I decline to run not because I feel too old or lack the energy," Street said in an email yesterday. "Frankly I have never felt better and maintain an intense passion for local government. I intend to stay active and will do so in a very direct and organized way, which I will announce shortly."

Street played an active role in trying to foment a primary challenge for Nutter. He hit the mayor hard on race in September, pointing to Nutter's soft support among black voters in the city.

"He's always held himself out as being a kind of postracial, I'm-for-everybody kind of person," Street said of Nutter then. "And I'm telling you in many, many quarters of the African-American community, they don't see him as a black mayor."

Although many flirted with a Democratic primary-election run, only Street's brother Milton, a former state senator, got into the race. Milton, who recently served 26 months in federal prison for not filing taxes, won 24 percent of the vote.

Street's decision is good news for attorney David Oh and state Rep. Denny O'Brien, the Republican front-runners for two open Council at-large seats set aside for candidates who are not members of the majority party.

Although Street was unlikely to best Nutter in a mayoral challenge, he was widely regarded as a very real threat to take one of the two set-aside Council seats.

Street said he continues to coach Karen Brown, the Democratic City Committee member recruited by the Republicans this year to run for mayor. He said she is as "sincere, enthusiastic and hardworking a candidate I have ever seen.

"She deserves the full support of the Republican Party, which could be considerable if the powers in that party decide to cooperate in her effort to make the general election a competitive and worthwhile experience for the citizens of our city."

Nutter is on vacation this week. His campaign released this statement: "Mayor Nutter wishes former Philadelphia Mayor John Street the best in his current and future endeavors."