Mayor Street loses top official

Philadelphia Mayor John Street lost yet another high-ranking member of his administration yesterday,when Communications Director Barbara Grant announced that she will leave to pursue a career in television news. Grant, 50, said she was leaving City Hall effective October 16 to take a newly established executive position with KYW-TV, the city's local CBS affiliate. "It's like the line in The Godfather," Grant said. "They made me an offer I couldn't refuse. "I don't mean that just in terms of money," she added, "because they just offered me a really wonderful opportunity in a field that I love. It's a really good fit for me." At KYW, Grant -- a former radio and television reporter -- will assume a new position devoted to special features and programming. "In that position, [Grant] will coordinate the reports of our special features," KYW spokeswoman Joanne Calabria said. Grant now becomes the fourth high-ranking administration official to leave since Street took office in January. Earlier this year, the mayor fired his first communications director, Ken Snyder, in a move that opened up the position for Grant, who had been serving as press secretary. Street also relieved airport director Alfred Testa and saw controversial Chief of Staff Stephanie Franklin-Suber resign under what many said was heavy pressure from the mayor himself. "There's definitely been some degree of turnover," said Snyder, who is now working in the office of State Sen. Vincent Fumo. "Some of it has been unfortunate and some of it has been distracting." Grant said that her departure had nothing to do with the other recent high-level personnel moves. "I think in the first year of any administration, you're going to have some ups and downs in terms of where people are," she said. "In the first year of both the Rendell and Goode administrations, they both lost press secretaries," Grant added. "So I don't think we're setting a precedent here." In the interim, Street has named Deputy Communications Director Luz Cardenas to assume Grant's responsibilities until a permanent replacement can be found. But relying solely on internal candidates may be dangerous, said Snyder, who added that the mayor would benefit by conducting a broader search to fill the job on a permanent basis. "I hope [Street] does a national search because it's an incredibly important job and the mayor has an awful lot between now and the end of his term to sell to Philadelphians," Snyder said. "Communications director is a really taxing job," he added. "There are a lot of really top-notch, experienced reporters out there who will keep your feet to the fire and it's easy to get lost in the shuffle." Grant agreed, saying that the job was one of the most challenging of her career. "It was a difficult decision because I've enjoyed my job here," she said. "This was the most challenging and enjoyable thing I've ever done."