Katz opens new West Phila. office

Reiterating the theme of taking back the city "block by block, neighborhood by neighborhood," Republican mayoral candidate Sam Katz and his supporters celebrated the opening of the campaign's new office at 51st Street and Baltimore Avenue Saturday.

The rally took place after a 20-minute march up Baltimore Avenue in which Katz led a small group of supporters, as well as a drill team and drum corps, from 48th Street to the office, stopping traffic at several major intersections along the way.

Shaking hands and waving to the curious onlookers while playing "air drums" with significantly less rhythm than the nationally acclaimed Carmelites Drill Team and Drum Corps, Katz loudly made his presence known throughout the neighborhood.

Katz is running against incumbent Democratic Mayor John Street in a rematch of the 1999 election that Street won by just a 1 percent margin -- less than 10,000 votes.

The opening of the West Philadelphia office, in an area known as a Democratic stronghold, is in stark contrast to Katz's strategy last election, when he virtually ignored such areas, considering them to be impossible to win.

"Last time we got what we deserved," Katz told the crowd of approximately 50 supporters. "But this time we're going to be out in every neighborhood, on every block. We're going to shock the Street campaign."

The crowd responded to the candidate's remarks with gusto, and a sense of hope was palpable.

"I hope and pray with all my strength that you become mayor," West Philadelphia resident and Katz supporter Steve Austin told the candidate in an impromptu address to the crowd. "Street hasn't created jobs. We're looking for jobs."

Surrounded by several boarded-up homes and closed businesses, Katz stressed his desire to revitalize West Philadelphia, in terms of both economics and safety.

"We have to get up into the drug organizations to arrest those folks who are making money at the expense of our kids," Katz said. "We've got to get the dealers, and the people above them."

He pointed to youth organizations such as the Carmelites Drill Team, a youth organization run by Philadelphia's Mount Carmel Baptist Church, as an exemplary model for getting kids involved in the community and keeping them out of harm's way.

Despite the jeers of a few neighborhood Street supporters, Katz expressed confidence in his chances of being elected.

"We can win this election and change Philadelphia," he said. "We can, and we will."

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