City Council overrode Mayor John Street last week for the first time during Street’s tenure as mayor. Street had vetoed a somewhat controversial housing measure, introduced by Councilman Michael Nutter, that would monitor college students in his district who live off-campus.

The bill was inspired by complaints from neighbors -- specifically those living near St. Joseph's University -- about disruptive behavior and excessive numbers of illegally parked cars, attributed to students living in off-campus housing.

St. Joseph's avidly supports Nutter's bill, which will require students 23 or younger living off-campus to inform their landlord that they are students.

Members of PhilaCity, a quasi-public program that strives to attract students and keep them here, have argued that nuisance laws for bad public behavior are already in place and that students should not be subjected to additional laws.

Last Thursday, only five Council members sided with the mayor's veto; Councilwomen Jannie Blackwell and Joan Krajewski and all three Republicans, Councilmen Thacher Longstreth, Brian O’Neill and Frank Rizzo.

"I was disappointed that the mayor vetoed my bill, but I am pleased to see that Council voted to protect my constituents," said Nutter.

Street had procedurally sent Council members a letter stating his reasons for the veto.

"His letter was far-fetched and did not make any sense," said Nutter, but added that the mayor was entitled to his opinion.

In his letter to Council members, Street wrote: "This legislation is overreaching. It creates a discriminatory pattern of enforcement, thereby raising issues of fundamental fairness."

He continued, "Let me emphasize that it is not my intention to minimize the concerns that have been raised by neighborhood residents who feel the student population has negatively affected their quality of life."

In conclusion, Street said in his letter that he lives in a university community, 10 blocks from Temple, and that students are loud, have parked in his driveway and "play music with lyrics I abhor. But they are our children and future leaders."

Could Street's veto be politically motivated, since adversaries of the mayor have been tossing around Nutter's name as someone to run against Street next year?

Nutter doubted that action and said that he did not think that political motivation factored into the mayor's decision to veto his bill.

Mayoral spokesman Frank Keel concurred with Nutter for a change.

"This mayor does not operate on political vendettas," Keel said. "He was and remains concerned about this bill."

As for running against Street next year, Nutter said he was only focused on his job in Council.

He praised St. Joseph's for its cooperation in working with him on his bill, which he said was good for the school and the neighborhood.

"The long-term plan is expanding student housing and parking on campus," said Nutter.

Same Sex, Same Issues

On June 11, at the sixth anniversary party for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil Rights, Mark Momjian was honored as pro bono attorney of the year. Momjian practices family law at Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis.

His father and noted celebrity divorce attorney, Al Momjian, also attended the event, which was held at the Philopatrian Club in Rittenhouse.

The Center's executive director, Stacey Sobel, said Momjian was chosen for his work with the lesbian and gay community and specifically on same-sex domestic issues.

There is a large increase in same-sex couples who are either adopting or using a surrogate mother or a form of fertilization.

Currently, Momjian is representing a lesbian in Cumberland County who is suing her partner for child support. The plaintiff, who is an official in the Navy, is the biological mother of quadruplets plus one other child. She and her partner went through the in vitro fertilization process together.

"This is the third case in Pennsylvania where the court will impose the obligation of support for same-sex partners," said Momjian.

In other news, Sobel had been working with Irene Benedetti and David Fitz of Councilman Frank DiCicco's office on the gender-identity bill that passed in Council and was signed by Street last month.

The new law expands the definition of discrimination in Philadelphia's Fair Practice Code and applies to transgendered people who need protection in areas of housing and employment. Those who feel they are aggrieved may now file a complaint.

Others that had worked on the bill included Doug Shaps and Michael Williams of OutFront, Kathleen Padilla of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC); Mara Keisling, of the Pennsylvania Rights Coalition; and Lisa Mottet of the Transgender Civil Rights Project, an arm of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

The city now defines gender identity as the self-perception or perception of others as male or female and shall include a person's appearance, behavior or physical characteristics that may be in accord with or opposed to one's physical anatomy, chromosomal sex or sex assigned at birth.

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