COLUMN: A mayoral race that matters

From Kent Malros', "Everything Old is New Again," Fall '99 From Kent Malros', "Everything Old is New Again," Fall '99This might be news to many Penn students, but Ed Rendell is more valuable to the University as a mayor than as a basketball fan. But the mayor's relationship with Penn has been, and inevitably will continue to be, much more than fanfare and public appearances. The head governing official of this city has been crucial to the development of our West Philadelphia community. And reciprocally, Penn is of great importance to the success of the city. And with a mayoral election coming up this fall, it just may be the case that Philadelphia's next mayor won't be a Penn basketball fan. "Any mayor will pay more attention to Pennthan any other institution because we are the largest institution [in Philadelphia] and the largest [private] employer," said Carol Scheman, Penn's vice president for government, community and public Affairs. "We are the international university of Philadelphia and we are the Ivy League institution of Pennsylvania. On a very fundamental political level, anything that happens at Penn that is really newsworthy is national news." When someone is shot at Penn, the nation hears about it. And public safety is only one item on a crowded slate of significant issues that confront the city and Penn together. And though most students are not from Philadelphia, these issues affect their quality of life every day. It is short-sighted for Penn students to be unaware of Dwight Evans stance on guns -- or John Street's, Marty Weinberg's or any of the other candidates, for that matter. The candidate's positions on crime and related issues are particularly important to Penn as the University expands its plans to secure the West Philadelphia neighborhood. As University President Judith Rodin says, the "mayor's willingness to expend resources on safety and security" is of critical concern. The Penn community should use the service of the next mayor to the fullest because every mayoral candidate plans to use Penn. "It's a reciprocal relationship," Bob Barnett, Sam Katz's campaign director, said of the importance of Penn to the city and the race. "You've got to keep people like the Penn graduates here in order to have the work force to attract the employers -- at the same time that you need to be attracting the quality employers into the city to give the Penn graduates who would really like to stay here the choice." Students that are here now may not realize that they have the right to vote in Philadelphia but they are nonetheless important investors in the future of the city. And that is something students often don't realize. According to Scheman, that is a shame because "the mayoral election here and the City Council election probably matter more to their quality of life than other elections." The mayoral race has implications for Penn students that extend outside of University City as well. Most students, and certainly many employees of the University, thrive because of the urban environment. Philadelphia is in the midst of a renaissance that can be embraced by those of us in West Philadelphia. "People who watched Rendell's administration realize that as life around the city has improved, life around Penn has improved," Scheman said. And all of these issues intertwine in the most pragmatic fashion. Public safety, cleanliness, education and culture are all part of the larger picture. As Scheman said, it is of very real concern to many Penn students for them to be able to sit outside at Xando and enjoy a cup of coffee safely without being nauseated by bad-smelling sewers on the street. It makes Xando better, so it makes Penn better. As a student, faculty member or employee of Penn, you want to be able to call City Hall and know someone will respond to these concerns. Since the success of our community is important to them, the people making those decisions should be important to us. In a year, Rendell will be a memory in City Hall --Ea vivid memory, but a memory nonetheless. And before us, there are six mayoral candidates, one of whom will exert considerable influence on this University. For Philadelphia, this mayoral election is enormous. For Penn, it is no less important. With Happy Fernandez as the only Penn graduate in the race, the odds are that come next fall, Ed will still be at courtside -- and the new mayor will be in City Hall shaping our city.