Mayor's Race 2007: Four major issues highlight election

Crime

Crime has become the defining issue of this mayoral campaign, owing much to a murder rate that is spiraling out of control. Homicides topped 128 by Monday evening, a 17 percent increase from last year's pace, which ended in a total of 406.

It has consistently topped polls of Philadelphians as the issue most in their mind when they head to the ballot box on May 15.

As a result, all five of the mayoral candidates have devoted a significant amount of time explaining why they would be the best person to bring the crime rate down, and voluminous position papers have been released on the subject.

All five, however, agree that some sort of increase in the police force is necessary, and all five are fuzzy on the details of how they would go about paying for their anti-crime initiatives.

Also key to this issue is the proliferation of legal and illegal guns in the city, and pressure has been put on Harrisburg to grant Philadelphia the right to enact special gun-control legislation for itself.

These cries, which fell on deaf ears when the legislature was controlled by Republicans, may be more successful with Democrats in charge and with the support of Gov. Ed Rendell, previously mayor of the city.

Economic Development

Underlying the debate on crime is that of economic development; Philadelphia is the poorest out of the 10 largest cities in the country.

About 25 percent of residents live below the poverty line, and, with the collapse of the city's industrial core in the 1970s, Philadelphia has seen consistent population declines in whole sections of the city as areas like Kensington, Parkside and Mantua have deteriorated.

It will be the next mayor's job to usher Philadelphia into the 21st century, bringing in new jobs and extending the prosperity of Center City, which is experiencing a condo boom, to outlying neighborhoods.

Education

But the sort of economic development the city needs will be difficult to achieve unless the city finds a way to improve its public schools.

Philadelphia, as the poorest large city, is also the least educated, with only about 20 percent of residents possessing a college degree.

This relatively uneducated working base makes it difficult to convince businesses to locate here and contributes to poverty.

While the mayor has little direct control over the school district - the state took it over after much public protest - he can use his bully pulpit to advocate for change and greater accountability.

A new chapter in the education story may be playing out with the growth of charter schools like the Microsoft School of the Future, which opened this year under the supervision of the computer giant.

Microsoft helped to specially design classrooms to take advantage of the latest in computing technology.

Ethics

Ethics underlies all of these issues, however, as many Philadelphians have lost faith in local government.

And when one looks at the amount of corruption in City Hall, it's difficult to blame them: One former councilman is siting behind bars, a prominent South Philadelphia state senator is under a federal indictment, and the mayor's office was bugged by the FBI in an investigation of the allegedly corrupt practices of his underlings.

Philadelphians by an overwhelming margin say that the city is on the wrong track, and many see Mayor John Street as the personification of these problems.

To capitalize on public discontent, the Committee of Seventy, a local watchdog group, asked the five candidates to sign onto a series of measures intended as a first step toward a transparent and efficient government.

While all of the candidates quickly agreed to the principles Seventy laid out, the big question is which of them will actually be able to rise above the city's pay-to-play culture.

Please note All comments are eligible for publication in The Daily Pennsylvanian.