Professor Street uses Council chambers as classroom

A City Council hearing last week was delayed for more than 30 minutes as the mayor presented his budget address to City Council in a closed-door session orchestrated by former Mayor John F. Street.

That improbable scenario did materialize, in a way. Street, now a professor at Temple University, took over Council chambers with his students taking his course on urban, state, and local politics.

In this academic exercise, faux-Mayor Fernando Jones (son of U.S. District Judge Darnell Jones), laid out his budget to a mock Council that included six students seated at Council desks, with student Kymberly Bays doing her best imitation of President Anna C. Verna in the president's chair. Jones' number-one priority was - are you listening, professor? - education.

Street sought no media spotlight for the group, as they began a process that will include budget hearings and negotiations, just like in the big time.

"They're just picking their way through this," he demurred when Heard in the Hall offered to provide a free, no-holds-barred, media grilling for his students.

Street said bringing the class to Council chambers really underlined the gravity of what he is trying to teach them.

"The idea is to develop a different appreciation for the magnitude of local government for citizens in the city of Philadelphia," Street said.

The students will go through four weeks of hearings, with each one tackling a different issue, and comparing Philadelphia's predicament in housing or education, for instance, with other cities such as Chicago, Atlanta, or Phoenix.

- Jeff Shields

Is Mayor Nutter trying to make nice with his old City Council pal Jim Kenney?

Might be too early to say. But for months now, Kenney has publicly voiced frustration with Nutter and some of his actions, such as his strategy in dealing with Harrisburg during the summer's protracted battle to increase the city sales tax.

Now it turns out that out of Council's 17 members, the mayor has tapped Kenney to fill a vacant seat on the board of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corp.

It is the first time a Council member has served on the tourism agency's board in its 13-year history.

"Councilman Kenney had been a longtime supporter of GPTMC, and the mayor thought he would be a good fit," Nutter spokeswoman Maura Kennedy said.

Kenney said his appointment was as simple as the mayor calling him, and him saying yes. "Generally, I've been interested in these issues," the councilman said. "Our tourism and hospitality industry is a major leg in our financial stool."

Kenney fills a board seat reserved for a "community representative," according to the agency's bylaws.

Until now, though, just one person has filled that spot, and that's outgoing board member David Hyman, a lawyer who served through the Rendell and Street administrations.

Hyman recently decided to rotate off the board. Kenney will attend his first official meeting Thursday.

- Marcia Gelbart

Former city controller candidate and prominent tax activist Brett Mandel spent a few months in the wilderness following his electoral defeat in May's primary.

Well, the wilderness of Fitler Square, anyway, where Mandel spent the summer building a tree house for his kids in the backyard, all the while keeping a very low public profile.

Last week, though, Mandel resurfaced with a typically tough e-mail op-ed piece sent to his old supporters that blasted Mayor Nutter for falling well short of his promise.

"What happened to the crusading Mayor who was going to throw the bums out? Vast bastions of political patronage remain intact and agencies Nutter once declared he would 'blow up' conduct business as usual," Mandel said. "Through his first two years in office, Mayor Nutter has simply not been the man who promised bold ethics reforms, major bureaucratic shake-ups, and dramatic governmental overhauls."

Though he clearly plans to stay engaged in local politics, Mandel's new job is not particularly Philadelphia-focused. He will be heading up the National Education Technology Funding Corp., a federally supported nonprofit that helps school districts across the country find low-cost financing for school construction projects.

- Patrick Kerkstra