Michael P. Kelly, administrative receiver of the Philadelphia Housing Authority, resigned Friday, which he said is due to family responsibilities.

“Franky, I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” Kelly told the Tribune Friday afternoon. “Believe me, it has nothing to do with politics, or with the public officials and the citizens of Philadelphia. Mayor Nutter has been very gracious, and I’ve had positive experiences with city council. I’m thankful for my time here in Philadelphia, and I’m grateful for the opportunity. The Tribune has been especially gracious and fair with us, and I really appreciate the support we’ve gotten from the community.”

Pressed on the reason for his resignation, Kelly said he won’t elaborate, but promises more information next week.

“It really was a personal, painful decision for family reasons,” he said. “I know that sounds like a typical politician’s line, but it happens to be true.”

Karen Newton-Cole of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development accepted Kelly’s resignation Friday during the monthly board meeting.

Additionally, HUD announced that Estelle Richman, a senior adviser to the HUD secretary, would replace Cole and return to her role as the one-person authority board commissioner and receiver. Richman served as the PHA board when HUD took control over the agency last year.

“It has been my pleasure to serve you as the commissioner of the Philadelphia Housing Authority,” Cole said.

Kelvin Jeremiah, PHA’s current director of audit and compliance, was appointed by Cole to be the provisional executive director of PHA. Janea Jordan will have Jeremiah’s position.

“We are going to launch a national search in terms of identifying an executive director,” Cole said.  

While at the helm of PHA, Kelly was credited for many sweeping reforms. He re-established the Office of General Counsel — which manages PHA’s legal affairs, and he created the Office of Internal Audit and Compliance to ensure business transitions were compliant.

Kelly headed PHA’s Transition Plan — which aims to establish a culture of respect, accountability and transparency at the agency. A zero tolerance policy was instituted, and employees were held to new ethic policies and procedures.

Under Kelly, PHA reached a new contract agreement with Building and Construction Trades Council regarding workers pensions. He is also given credit to his ability to maintain focus and provide uninterrupted service at PHA during the Greene controversy.

In 2008, accusations of sexual harassment against PHA director Carl Greene surfaced. Greene was fired in September 2010 after the board of directors discovered that Greene used approximately $900,000 of federal funding for multiple harassment settlements.

Using his architecture, urban planning and 30-year housing authority experience from other cities like San Francisco, New Orleans and Washington, D.C., Kelly arrived to PHA in December of 2010 in the midst of the internal turmoil.

As the interim executive director, Kelly was on loan to PHA from the New York City Housing Authority, based on agreements that he serve both roles while maintaining duties as general manger of NYCHA. It wasn’t until August 2011 that Kelly was named permanent executive director at PHA.

HUD asked the five-member PHA board to quit, thus gaining control of the agency. Philadelphia City Council member Jannie Blackwell, Philadelphia AFL-CIO President Pat Eiding, Debra Brady, wife of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady (D., Pa.), tenant leader Nellie Reynolds, and former Philadelphia mayor John Street eventually stepped down from the board.

“Mr. Kelly came to PHA at a very difficult time and he immediately focused on getting back to basics in property management and resident services and making PHA accountable and transparent in business practices,” Richman said in a press release. “We will miss his energy and his ability to connect with the community.”

“I do love this work,” Kelly said. “I do love this housing authority. I do love the residents that I have been honored to serve. I love the colleagues that I had an honor to serve with.”

Lawyer says he did not benefit when his dad was PHA chair

Local attorney Sharif Street did not benefit from the fact his father, former Mayor John F. Street, chaired the board of the Philadelphia Housing Authority during a period when his son billed the PHA for hundreds of thousands of dollars, according to a spokesperson for Sharif Street.

The younger Street worked at Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen during the period under investigation. The firm, which has since gone out of business, had done business long before Sharif Street joined it, said Harriet Lessy, his spokesperson.

“They had that business for many years before he was an associate there,” she said on Friday, declining to comment further.

Sharif Street left the firm in 2008 before it was dissolved.

John Street chaired the PHA board from 2004 until March when he, along with the rest of the board, resigned in the wake of the scandal that erupted after the firing of former executive director Carl Greene. The board’s resignation paved the way for a federal takeover of the agency, still under the control of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Federal investigators looking into the allegations against Greene also raised questions about John Street.

While his father was at the helm, Sharif Street billed the PHA for $700,000.

News broke Friday in The Philadelphia Inquirer that the former mayor was the subject of an investigation by the state Ethics Commission, which is probing the fact that his son’s former law firm collected millions in legal fees from the Philadelphia Housing Authority while Street chaired the board.

John Street did not respond to requests for comment from the Tribune on Friday.

He told the Inquirer that he was sure a full investigation would vindicate him.

“Hopefully, Wolf Block or PHA will make all the relevant information available so we can move on,” Street told the newspaper.

According to published reports, John Street, on at least five occasions, voted to give PHA contracts to Wolf Block Schorr & Solis-Cohen.

A report by HUD’s inspector general, released earlier this year, said the chairman’s votes constituted a conflict of interest.

In September, the Ethics Commission subpoenaed PHA billing records from Wolf Block and according to Sherry A. Swirsky, deputy general counsel for litigation with the PHA, the agency is in the process of turning them over to the state.

“It’s an ongoing series of requests,” Swirsky said, noting that not everything has been turned over to the state so far. “We’re in the process of processing everything for turn over in the near future.”

She expected that process to be wrapped up in the next week.

Ethics Commission officials requested all bills involving Sharif Street and a broader set of bills from Wolf Block between December 2004 and the end of 2007.

Officials with the Ethics Commission declined to comment on an ongoing investigation.

The commission has the authority to fine public officials who violate state ethics law and order them to pay restitution.

In addition, the commission can refer matters to state and federal prosecutors for criminal prosecution.

Contact Tribune staff writer Eric Mayes at (215) 893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

City Council President Darrell Clarke’s head is full of ideas, and he just wants to get on with it already.

“I have a sense of urgency,” Clarke said, as he reflected on his first few months as president. “I’ve got to do stuff. I’ve got municipal marketing. I’ve got a development district. And, the other members too, we’ve got projects.”

Some of his ideas — like municipal marketing, selling advertising space on city property — have been controversial. But, Clarke, at a recent Tribune editorial board meeting, said it's time for city government to begin looking at fresh ways to generate revenue.

He’s going to keep throwing out ideas until he’s solved the problem.

Clarke has been portrayed as something of a sphinx – quiet, diligent, a man who worked best behind the scenes. That’s pretty much how he’s operated since being first elected to council in 1999. He held a leadership role, majority whip, but it was one that allowed him to remain in the shadows.

That’s impossible as council president. Yet, his tendency to shun the spotlight is evident in his leadership style.

“I guess I’m decentralizing the council president’s authority. I think it’s been very helpful, and I think it’s been good for the members,” he said.

Already the tenor of council has changed.

For the first time, a council president, who has traditionally exercised great authority in what legislation moves, when and who on council is involved, has delegated quite a bit of that authority.

“I think I’ve tried to be fair,” he said. “Every council person chairs a committee, which is unprecedented.”

As an example, he pointed to Councilman David Oh, a freshman and a Republican, two strikes against him under traditional council leadership, but Clarke has put in him charge of the Committee on Global Opportunities.

“He’s supposed to be chairing that committee,” Clarke said.

As president, he also expects every member to pull his or her weight.

“Don’t expect me to do the follow up,” he said. “You do the follow up and make sure the legislation gets enacted properly. They love it.”

Clarke recognizes that to get some of his ideas put in place he’ll have to collaborate even more – primarily with Mayor Michael Nutter.

“The reality is that the legislative branch of government cannot implement programs. That is, to a large degree, some of the frustration that a legislator suffers. Because at the end of the day, you can have nine million great ideas, but if the mayor chooses not to implement it that’s all it is, an idea,” he said.

The relationship between the two men – often acrimonious – is evolving.

“To be determined,” was how Clarke described it.

He stepped into the city’s top legislative job in January during a period that was deceptively quiet. Council, now knee-deep in budget hearings that are convoluted with concerns over a move to a property tax system based on full property values, and this week’s bombshell about the school district’s budget, is wrestling with issues that will shape the city’s long-term future.

Critics worried that the influence of his political mentor, former Mayor John F. Street, would be too evident.

Nutter campaigned vigorously behind the scenes against Clarke’s election to the presidency. The mayor backed former Majority Leader Marian Tasco.

Clarke doesn’t seem to hold a grudges.

He joked about Tasco’s recent participation in Dancing with the Philadelphia Stars, a charity dance contest Tasco won.

“It was a little bit rigged,” he said laughing.

As far as Nutter is concerned, Clarke admits that for progress to be made the two men will have to collaborate. The city made little progress under Mayor Bill Green, who was constantly at odds with council, he said. W. Wilson Goode had a better relationship with council but the city was broke at the time. Ed Rendell, during his tenure as mayor, managed to work well with Council President John Street.

“Street sat down and said ‘this is what I want’ and Ed said ‘this is what I want’ - they worked a deal and stuff happened,” said Clarke.

Whether that will happen remains to be seen.

In any event, Clarke now has a greater respect for former Council President Anna C. Verna, who steered council from 1999 to 2012.

“Every day I think about Anna Verna with a newfound respect,” he said, adding that he hoped he could be an example for his colleagues. “We’ve been given a significant opportunity and responsibility — and we need to treat it as such.”

To comment, contact staff writer Eric Mayes at 215-893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The special election to fill the vacant seat in the state’s 186th Legislative District, formerly held by Councilman Kenyatta Johnson, seems to be shaping up into a contest between two front-runners — former Youth Commissioner Jordan Harris and former state Rep. Harold James, who held the seat for nearly 20 years.

Six candidates — Fawwaz Beyha, Tim Hannah, Harris, James, Ed Nesmith and Damon Roberts — will appear on the April 24 ballot. But, James and Harris appear to have important backers within the Democratic Party that make them the candidates to watch.

Two well established lawmakers are backing Harris — Johnson and his political patron Sen. Anthony Williams. Harris has a long history with Williams. The two met when Harris was still in high school, he said. Harris also worked with Johnson for several years, most notably on Johnson’s Peace Not Guns initiative.

In addition, Harris has secured endorsements from several labor organizations that will be able to mobilize voters.

Over the weekend, Harris announced that he had secured endorsements from the AFL-CIO, Transportation Workers Union Local 234, the Laborers Local 332 and the Fraternal Order of Police, Lodge 5.

Harris characterized his campaign as a community based “movement.”

“We are in the process of building a movement to engage a community that is often left out. We are building a movement of citizens who won’t sit quietly on the sidelines as they watch opportunity pass them by,” he said, noting the endorsements. “This is much bigger than an election and the community is an important part of this movement building.”

Backing from labor, Williams and Johnson would appear to give Harris, a political newcomer, a powerful boost in the contest for the seat.

But, according to one party official from South Philadelphia, who asked not to be named, the majority of ward leaders were expected to support James. It’s too early to tell if that will happen, or just how it might affect the race, but in Philadelphia ward leaders are political forces to be reckoned with. Many elected officials start out as ward leaders and retain the post after winning higher office.

James represented voters from the 186th District from 1989 to 2008.

According to the Tribune’s source, most ward leaders in the 186th would rather stick with a candidate they are familiar with and worked with for nearly two decades.

“They know Harold,” said the source.

James has been running a very low-key campaign. He has a campaign office at 20th and Federal streets, directly across the street from Harris’, but does not appear to have a website or Facebook page, two touchstones of modern campaigning.

He did not return the Tribune’s phone calls Monday afternoon.

In other special election news, Milton Street, brother for former Mayor John F. Street and perennial candidate for office, has reportedly withdrawn from the Democratic race in the 197th District to replace former state representative, now Sheriff, Jewell Williams.

Street reportedly plans to form his own party — the Milton Street Party — and run

Philly Clout reported that Street had withdrawn from the race where he faced a legal challenge to his nominating petitions but declined to say why.

“Now you’re looking for trade secrets,” Street told reporter Chris Brennan.

Contact Staff Writer Eric Mayes at (215) 893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Feds could expand fraud probe of Kobie West

Federal investigators appear to be poring over the business dealings of insurance executive Kobie T. West in an effort to expand an investigation of fraud that started with the Philadelphia Housing Authority.

The revelation emerged last week in federal court when Judge Joel H. Slomsky, who serves in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, spoke from the bench during a plea hearing for West.

Slomsky referred to a confidential plea agreement entered by West on May 18, in which West told federal investigators that he was “conspiring with another person to provide bribes and kickbacks to persons, including public officials known to the U.S. government, in order to maintain business for West Insurance.”

The judge later added that West was involved in “three to four other areas of cooperation with the government.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said she could not comment on, or even confirm the existence of, such an investigation.

“Everything in the Kobie West case is under seal,” said spokeswoman Patty Hartman. “So, there is nothing public and the practice is, in general, for investigations we don’t comment, confirm or deny.”

However, a source described as a “business acquaintance” of West’s said the insurance broker had deep political connections in the city and that reporters might be surprised at some of the names that emerged from “the shakeup” — hinting that federal authorities have expanded their probing beyond the PHA contracts.

The source declined to elaborate or speak on the record.

West’s company, the West Insurance Agency, a minority-owned firm, did much of its business through political contacts with public agencies.

According to a recent story in The Philadelphia Inquirer, West and his father, the firm’s founder Bernard West, were major political donors, contributing $95,000 to Pennsylvania politicians between 2000 and 2009.

The biggest beneficiary of the Wests’ largesse was state Rep. Dwight Evans, who received more than $38,000 from the father and son while he was the ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee. Other powerful politicians who received money from the pair were: former Gov. Ed Rendell, who received $16,500; former mayor John Street, to whom the pair gave $8,250; and Mayor Nutter, who received $5,000. Two disgraced former legislators also received cash: state Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, who got $4,500, and former House Speaker John M. Perzel, who received $5,000.

It is not the first time West’s business practices have been called into question. West was also named in the federal investigation at City Hall during Street’s tenure as mayor.

That investigation ended with the indictment of the late Ronald White, a friend of Street’s, and the conviction of former City Treasurer Corey Kemp.

On May 18, West pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud in a plea agreement with federal prosecutors.

He told federal officials that he, with the help of accomplice inside the PHA, created a fake invoice of $2,141,523 for worker’s compensation coverage, then included a commission of $181,202.

A senior vice president at the West Insurance Agency, Edgar Bridges, has been sentenced to two years of probation for tax evasion as part of the investigation into the kickback scheme. He took “bonuses” totaling $65,000 from West while working at PHA and failed to report it on his income tax returns.

Bridges was sentenced last week by Slomsky. In addition to probation, he was fined $5,000.

In March, New Jersey Controller A. Matthew Boxer accused Tribune’s CEO and President Robert W. Bogle, a member of the Delaware River Port Authority’s board from 1997 to 2011, of steering authority business to West’s insurance firm, where Bogle was also a board member. He accused Bogle of steering a no-show contract to West.

The report quoted an email from William Graham of the Graham Company, the DRPA’s Pennsylvania insurance broker of record to Willis Holding Group, its New Jersey counterpart.

“Bob Bogle … and the Board of the DRPA expects these commissions to be paid to the West Agency, or another select MBE (Minority Business Enterprise).”

Bogle pointed to the report, quoting it “or another select MBE” and added, “Bogle never said a word about West.”

The company received $684,254 in commissions, but Boxer’s office was unable to determine what, if any services it provided.

Contact staff writer Eric Mayes at (215) 893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

The federal trial of ousted housing director Carl Greene has again been halted – with testimony expected to resume Friday.

Greene was expected to take the stand Wednesday in a second day of testimony, this time under cross examination. However, shortly before 10 a.m., U.S. Judge Ronald Buckwalter announced that the court would recess until Friday.

The reason for the recess was unclear.

Greene’s attorney, Clifford Haines, when approached by reporters Wednesday morning, declined to discuss the reasons for the recess and would only say that he was “leaving the building.” The trial, which started last week, was expected to conclude Friday. It was unclear Wednesday whether that timeline still held firm.

In an earlier recess, called Monday, an attorney connected to the case said both sides were trying to reach a settlement. However, the case resumed as scheduled.

Greene is seeking more than $1 million from the Philadelphia Housing Authority, alleging that he was wrongfully terminated in 2010 after news broke of a series of sexual harassment suits against him had been kept from the board. He was fired in September 2010 for allegedly “abandoning his duties” as executive director. He has sought $743,000 in back pay and additional damages.

Much of the trial has centered on the bad blood between Greene and former Mayor John F. Street.

In testimony Tuesday, Greene spoke out for the first time about the board members who voted to fire him.

“It was really an absentee board,” Greene said. “Each board member had their own interests.”

The board, which at the time was made up of Street, who served as chairman, and members Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell; Debra Brady, wife of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady; Patrick Eiding, head of the local AFL-CIO and Philadelphia Housing Authority resident Nellie Reynolds, fired Greene on Sept. 23, 2010.

Aside from interviews shortly after his dismissal, it was the first time Greene has spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding his firing in August 2010.

“I haven’t had the chance to talk about this before,” he told the judge, adding that he had been “sitting on the sofa watching everyone else talk about me” for the last two years.

And, it was the first time he’s given his perspective of the people who dismissed him.

In an interview at the time, Greene denied allegations of sexual harassment and financial misconduct in his operation of the housing authority.

In lengthy, sometimes rambling testimony, Greene gave Buckwalter thumbnail sketches of each of the board members.

His depiction of Street was the most scathing, portraying the former mayor as a man who tried to use his position to secure a job for his son, attorney Sharif Street, and as a platform to maintain a position in city politics after he left the mayor’s office.

“I never trusted him,” Greene said, testifying that he and Street had an “unhealthy” relationship.

Greene said Street was looking for a position that would allow him to maintain his political influence.

“It created a certain dynamic that wasn’t helpful for me,” Greene said.

In addition, Street pressed Greene to force PHA to hire an board assistant. Greene said he didn’t approve of hiring the assistant because Street spent a maximum of six hours a month on agency business.

“I felt it was a violation of my duty to protect the assets of PHA,” Greene said.

Greene felt trapped between Street and Nutter, telling the judge that Street often “degraded and berated the role of Mayor Nutter.”

After the news broke that Greene owed back taxes and was behind on his mortgage payments, Street and Greene stopped speaking.

“I never spoke to John Street after Aug. 23,” Greene said.

As for the other board members, Greene said he had the most cordial relationship with Blackwell, though her primary concerns as a board members revolved around her personal efforts to help individuals in terms of housing or jobs, or her advocacy for the homeless. She had little influence on the day to day operations of the PHA.

“She was the chief person who was there for me,” Greene said, adding that the two still talk from time to time.

Brady was largely unconcerned about agency business, he said, except where it affected contracts with her employer, who had a contract with the PHA.

“It was a Philadelphia-style deal. It wasn’t something that was written down anywhere,” said Greene. “It was part of the political process here in Philadelphia.”

Otherwise, she rarely attended meetings, he said, estimating maybe once a year.

Eiding’s only concern was PHA’s interactions with the unions, Greene said, noting, “He was not keeping two hats.”

Reynolds was typically concerned only with conditions in the development that she lived in, or if matters affected her son or daughter, both of whom worked for the authority.

“She was very narrow in her interests,” Greene said. “Her interests were her car, her driver, her development and her family.”

The 56 year-old Greene also revealed a great deal about himself, telling Buckwalter about his childhood, raised by a single mother in Washington D.C.’s public housing projects where he was the seventh of eight children, the first in his family to graduate from college. Greene’s left arm was paralyzed while playing high school football.

Since then he’s been on painkillers and anti-depressants. Greene now lives in Decatur, Ga. He continues to be unemployed, and said his termination and the circumstances surrounding it left him feeling “abandoned and isolated.”

As the scandal at PHA unfolded, Greene went into seclusion – checking into a mental health facility in August 2010.

“Things were catching up with me and I didn’t have any support,” he said. “I felt a personal sense of collapse.”

To comment, contact staff writer Eric Mayes at 215-893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Former housing director Carl Greene told a federal judge Tuesday that the Philadelphia Housing Authority board that fired him was made up of absentee members who used their positions to advance their own narrow interests.

He saved his most damning words for former Mayor John F. Street.

“It was really an absentee board,” Greene said. “Each board member had their own interests.”

The PHA board at the time was made up of Street, who served as chairman, and members Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell; Debra Brady, wife of U.S. Rep. Bob Brady; Patrick Eiding, head of the local AFL-CIO and Philadelphia Housing Authority resident Nellie Reynolds, fired Greene on Sept. 23, 2010.

Aside from interviews shortly after his dismissal, it was the first time Greene has spoken publicly about the circumstances surrounding his firing in August 2010. U.S. Judge Ronald Buckwalter is presiding over the civil case in which Greene is seeking more than $1 million, alleging wrongful termination.

“I haven’t had the chance to talk about this before,” he told the judge.

And, it was the first time he’s given his perspective of the people who dismissed him.

In an interview at the time, Greene denied allegations of sexual harassment and financial misconduct in his operation of the housing authority. He testified Tuesday as the trial entered its second week. The former housing director is expected to take the stand Wednesday and perhaps Thursday. The trial is expected to wrap up Friday.

In a lengthy, sometimes rambling testimony, Greene gave Buckwalter thumbnail sketches of each of the board members.

His depiction of Street was the most scathing, portraying the former mayor as a man who tried to use his position to secure a job for his son, attorney Sharif Street, and as a platform to maintain a position in city politics after he left the mayor’s office.

“I never trusted him,” Greene said, testifying that he and Street had an “unhealthy” relationship.

Greene said Street was looking for a position that would allow him to maintain his political influence.

“It created a certain dynamic that wasn’t helpful for me,” Greene said.

In addition, Street pressed Greene to force the PHA to hire an assistant. Greene said he didn’t approve because Street spent a maximum of six hours a month on agency business.

“I felt it was a violation of my duty to protect the assets of PHA,” Greene said.

Greene said he felt trapped between Street and Nutter.

After the news broke that Greene owed back taxes and was behind on his mortgage payments, Street and Greene stopped speaking.

“I never spoke to John Street after Aug. 23,” Greene said.

As for the other board members, Greene said he had the most cordial relationship with Blackwell, though her primary concern as a board member revolved around her personal efforts to help individuals in terms of housing. or jobs, or her advocacy for the homeless. She had little influence on the day-to-day operations of the PHA.

“She was the chief person who was there for me,” Greene said, adding that the two still talk occasionally.

Brady was largely unconcerned about agency business, he said, except where it affected contracts with her employer, who had a contract with the PHA.

“It was a Philadelphia-style deal. It wasn’t something that was written down anywhere,” said Greene. “It was part of the political process here in Philadelphia.”

Otherwise, she rarely attended meetings, he said, estimating maybe once a year.

Eiding’s only concern was PHA’s interactions with the unions, Greene said, noting, “He was not keeping two hats.”

Reynolds was typically concerned only with conditions in the development that she lived in, or if matters affected her son or daughter, both of whom worked for the authority.

“She was very narrow in her interests,” Greene said. “Her interests were her car, her driver, her development and her family.”

The 56-year-old Greene also revealed a great deal about himself, telling Buckwalter about his childhood, being raised by a single mother in Washington D.C.’s public housing projects where he was the seventh of eight children and the first in his family to graduate from college. Greene’s left arm was paralyzed playing high school football. Since then he’s been on painkillers and anti-depressants.

Greene now lives in Decatur, Ga. He continues to be unemployed. His termination and the circumstances surrounding it left him feeling “abandoned and isolated.”

“Things were catching up with me, and I didn’t have any support,” he said. “I felt a personal sense of collapse.”

To comment, contact staff writer Eric Mayes at 215-893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Darrell Clarke presumes post as next council president

The changing of the guard at city hall has begun, with Councilman Darrell Clarke poised to assume the city council presidency as six council members and their staffs prepare to leave and six others prepare to take their seats.

Council will officially reorganize Jan. 2 at a ceremony at the Academy of Music, which will also include the inauguration of Mayor Michael Nutter for his second term.

At that meeting, members will officially choose a successor to retiring Council President Anna C. Verna. Unofficially, Clarke, the majority whip, who has represented the 5th District for three terms, has already assumed the role.

“All 17,” he replied, when asked how many council members were backing him for the presidency.

He needs just nine of council’s 17 members to win the chair.

Clarke was one of three veteran council members vying for the seat left vacant with Verna’s retirement. Majority Leader Marian Tasco, the 9th District representative, and at-large Councilman Jim Kenney both wanted the seat too.

Tasco, the most senior of the three, ran into problems because of her involvement in the city’s controversial DROP program. Her participation in the program made it politically unpalatable for veterans and newcomers alike to back her.

Kenney pitched himself as an alternative to both. Citing Tasco’s pending $478,057 DROP payment and Clarke’s close ties to former Mayor John F. Street – the political nemesis of Nutter – and to union boss John Dougherty, Kenney said he thought he had a decent chance to capture council’s top job.

But, Clarke lined up his supporters quietly - and in a relatively short period.

And so, council’s reorganization proceeds under both Verna and Clarke.

Verna has asked, in a routine procedure based on the fact that all council employees come under the president’s authority, that most of the employees on outgoing council members’ staff – approximately 40 people for the five outgoing members, not including Verna – resign by the end of the year.

She also asked for the resignations of the 45 staff members in her office. Clarke, in a move he called “unofficial - since I’m not council president yet,” has further asked that they delay their resignations until Jan. 15, anticipating that he may keep some of them.

“I needed time to analyze the individuals who currently work for the council president,” he said. “I thought it was prudent for me to give them the opportunity to submit their resume and job descriptions … because some of those people might stay.”

This year is the first major remake of council leadership since Verna won the presidency in 1999.

Five council members opted before the primary to retire and a sixth, Frank Rizzo, lost his bid for re-election. They were: Frank DiCicco, who has represented the 1st District for 16 years; Joan Krajewski, 6th District representative since 1979; Donna Reed Miller of the 8th District, who has held her seat since 1996; at-large council rep. Jack Kelly, who has served on council since 1988 and Rizzo, who has served as an at-large member since 1995.

Contact staff writer Eric Mayes at 215-893-5742 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

BALTIMORE — In an unusual foray into policy, City Council President Darrell Clarke has begun a quiet campaign to bring more surveillance cameras to Philadelphia’s streets.

The program comes under the mayor’s authority, but Clarke has some ideas of his own.

So, he led a delegation of four council members — Cindy Bass, Curtis Jones and Bill Greenlee — in daylong tour of Baltimore on Thursday to look at its much-lauded program. It was an effort by Clarke to prod administration officials in Philadelphia into embracing a more expansive and sophisticated camera surveillance program.

“The camera program, for one reason or another, never really realized the expectations that we anticipated,” Clarke said. “We’re trying to get this back on track. It’s gotten to a point where I felt the need to personally go out and see what I believe to be one of the best models.”

His frustration goes back to former Mayor John Street’s administration. But, Clarke has raised his concerns with the Nutter administration, he said, and has not gotten what he considers an appropriate response.

“We haven’t gotten a real explanation as to where we are going with this in the City of Philadelphia,” he said.

The visit hinted at a divide between Clarke and Mayor Michael Nutter. Clarke, while remaining extremely circumspect in his comments, said: “I need to get a little more engaged. I need to arm myself with as much information as possible. That’s why I took this trip.”

Though Baltimore has roughly half of Philadelphia’s population of 1.5 million, officials there have put in place a network of more than 700 surveillance cameras that combines public and private resources, a move that police officials said cut crime by 25 percent.

Despite the difference in size, there are many similarities between the two cities. Both have working class roots and similar demographics. Both have a prosperous downtown heavy with tourist sites. About 38 million people visit Philadelphia each year. Baltimore greets about 11 million each year. Both cities are made up of strong neighborhoods, many of which are decaying, and both have similar housing stock. Both are regional centers for large research hospitals and universities.

And both have also been plagued by high crime.

In 2011, murders in Baltimore hit a 34-year low at 197. In the late ’90s that number was often above 300. Last year the number of murders crept up again — hitting 217 — but, according to Lt. Robert Morris, crime in all other categories has dropped.

Baltimore spends about $1.8 million annually to monitor and maintain the network of cameras, said Lt. Samuel Hood III. Determining the city’s initial investment is difficult, Hood said, because from the start the city relied on private partners. He estimated a municipal outlay of roughly $8 million.

Hood estimated that Baltimore gets a $1.50 benefit from every $1 the city spends, and that 97 percent of cameras are fully operable every day.

Philadelphia has a $13.9 million surveillance camera program, but a recent report by Controller Alan Butkovitz found that it is largely dysfunctional. The report, released in June 2012, found that fewer than half of Philadelphia’s police cameras worked. According to Butkovitz’s audit, only 102 of 216 cameras worked.

“This has resulted in a cost to the city of $136,000 per operating camera,” wrote Butkovitz in the report.

More importantly, Clarke said, Philadelphia’s thugs know the cameras don’t work.

“Quite frankly, no one is watching — and the criminals know it,” he said.

In Baltimore, someone is always watching.

“We don’t have enough police officers,” said Baltimore Councilman Brandon Scott. “But, we have [cameras] and someone is always watching.”

The Baltimore Police Department has 3,000 officers and 700 civilian employees. Philadelphia has a force of about 6,600.

A group of retired police officers — hired through a private company that contracts their services to avoid pension rules that would force them to forfeit their pensions if they returned to a city job — monitor the cameras 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. In addition, the data is stored for 28 days. They do more than just watch. They are trained to keep an eye out for signs that a crime is about to happen, and work to stop it.

“Before it hits the news we stop it,” Hood said.

As an example, he showed a video clip of man leaving a parking garage with a conspicuous bulge at his waistband. The monitor suspected that it was gun. That suspicion was confirmed when police later confronted the man, and he did indeed have a gun.

The picture quality of the video footage is so good that in one example, a bullet could be seen streaking across the screen. Faces are easily identified.

The camera network doesn’t just monitor high crime areas. It is also used near the Inner Harbor, a busy tourist hub, where it helps police officers monitor crowds, especially during large scale events.

“There is no more anonymity downtown,” said Hood.

Cameras are just part of the city’s crime prevention efforts, which also include giving police officers mobile phones that include GPS and a tracking device that allows them to see video feeds from nearby cameras in real time — giving them the advantage of being able to see the scene of an incident as they prepare to respond. School police help monitors during student arrival and dismissal times.

In addition to capturing images, the camera network is part of a larger intelligence network that uses computers to bring together information from a number of sources including arrest, prison, probation and parole records, traffic records, gang affiliations, and whether or not the person was the victim of a crime. Hood said police also used Facebook.

Hood admitted that cameras sometimes push crime out of one area and into another — but as the number of unmonitored areas shrinks, criminals have fewer and fewer options. Scott added that at first, many residents resisted the idea of cameras in their neighborhoods.

“Now we have people asking for them,” he said.

The tour included a stop in East Baltimore, once one of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods. It still displayed signs of distress. Many houses were abandoned and boarded up — in some cases entire blocks. But, under a program administered by the city’s East Baltimore Development Inc., a nonprofit group charged with turning the neighborhood around, even boarded up homes are neatly kept, and the streets were spotless.

Surveillance cameras are part of a broader strategy to turn the neighborhood — an 88-acre swath of city adjacent to Johns Hopkins — around.

At the close of the tour, Clarke said he was impressed with the city’s surveillance program.

He was not prepared to discuss how much he’d like to spend on a similar program in Philadelphia, saying only that it was time for the city to “get fully committed.”

There are several hurdles — chief among them money. Baltimore’s timing contributed to its roll out of cameras. The city installed large chunks of the fiber optic network that links the cameras in the years after 9/11, a time when the federal government was providing funding for such projects. That funding is largely dried up.

Council members also worried about privacy concerns. They seemed to agree that in most instances, safety concerns were paramount.

“Post 9/11, I’m willing to give up a little of that,” Jones said. “Criminals will evolve as we do.”

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The contest between Mayor Michael Nutter and members of the city’s municipal unions boiled over in City Council chambers on Thursday in an unprecedented show of rage by union members that forced the mayor from the room.

Ultimately, the commotion also drove all of Council out of the chamber and the meeting was recessed indefinitely, a success for frustrated union members, said Herman ‘Pete’ Matthews, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33.

“Yes,” said Matthews, when asked if it had been union leaders’ plan to force Nutter off the dais during his speech. He said he had not discussed those plans with Council leaders.

Hundreds of union members shouting “No contract no peace” overwhelmed the mayor’s attempts to deliver his speech. Council leaders charged with greeting Nutter and standing by him during his speech left the platform and chaos briefly reigned in the chamber.

The mayor stood, shrugging, and turned questioningly to Council President Darrell Clarke before finally starting his speech – in a sort of unintelligible pantomime – unable to talk over the deafening noise.

To spectators it appeared that Clarke had abandoned his chair. Nutter, effectively silenced by the crowd, eventually left too.

“I’ve been to a lot of Council sessions in my time, so I’ve seen some activity upstairs. I think going into it everyone knew it was going to be a very loud day,” said Nutter, speaking to reporters afterward.

The exodus by the mayor and Council members overshadowed the substance of Nutter’s presentation – his $3.75 billion fiscal year 2014 budget and spending plan for the next five years.

The mayor seemed unclear as to exactly why Council leaders allowed the meeting to recess.

“What I didn’t realize was that there was some activity going on behind me as I was delivering my remarks,” he said. “The session was apparently recessed by motion and vote. It’s a little difficult to give a speech to a Council that is not there.”

In reviewing a recording of the meeting, it was discovered that Councilman David Oh made a motion to recess while Nutter spoke. It was seconded and voted on as the mayor continued to speak. Council simply recessed without hearing the city budget details.

Questioned later, Nutter said he wouldn’t second-guess their decision.

“That is a decision made by members and the president. It’s their house,” he said, adding that he would have kept on talking despite the din.

Hundreds of union members mobbed the corridors of City Hall and Council chambers, blowing whistles and chanting slogans in the hours leading up to and even during to the budget address. Admission to Council chambers was by invitation only. Unusually, additional security was posted at both of the large grills guarding the corridor that leads to Council chambers. Union members gathered by the hundreds at both the east and west ends of the hallway. A police officer scanned the crowds with a camera.

Nutter and the unions have been jousting since 2009.

“These workers are frustrated,” said former Mayor John F. Street, who routinely attends budget addresses and remained in the room after Council’s exit. “They’ve been six years without a contract.”

Most recently, the administration has taken its case to the state Supreme Court in an effort to force the unions’ hand.

“He wants to impose a contract instead of negotiating a contract,” Street said, adding that Nutter’s approach has been “ineffective. Here we are – it’s been six years and he has not negotiated a contract. That’s crazy. Mayors negotiate contracts.”

Matthews said the municipal unions wanted an administration plan to allow furloughs struck from its list of negotiating points.

“Take furloughs off the table,” he said.

Taking questions from reporters later, Nutter said he understood that union members were frustrated, and that he too wanted a contract – but not without necessary reform.

Furloughs were crucial, he said.

“Rather than having as our only tool that we would lay someone off, we would rather have the authority to give a one-day furlough and have them return to their job the next day,” he said. “It seems to me that having a job always beats not having a job.”

As Council melted away, some members paused to consider what had just happened.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell with a shake of her head.

Nutter’s exit was followed by loud chants of “piece of sh**” from union members.

Council did not return to chambers.

Nutter retreated first to Clarke’s office, then to the second floor of City Hall, an area barred to union members, and from there – with chants from the unions seeping in from the street below – Nutter gave his speech in the Mayor’s Reception Room in front of administration officials and reporters.

Officials from his administration gave him a standing ovation just prior to his remarks.

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