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September 19-25, 2002 political notebook Starting the Dialogue
It seems that everyone is talking about race lately. Recently, voters in Northeast Philadelphia got fliers in their mail bearing the phrase “the brothers and sisters are running the city.” The phrase comes from the now-infamous remarks of Mayor John Street at an NAACP meeting last April. Now Republicans are using the “brothers” statement against him as a voting tactic in Northeast Philadelphia, a mostly white area. Street is not up for re-election this year, but Republicans hope that his remarks will sour white Democrats enough to vote for GOP gubernatorial candidate Mike Fisher in November. The race issue has reached into Center City, enough that a small business organization is devoting a night of discussion to the matter. The Center City Proprietors Association, (CCPA), is convening in October at the Loews Hotel for a special forum called, "Forging Alliances." The concept was the idea of CCPA president Krista Bard, who has her own business consulting and marketing company. Bard said that Street's remarks were a catalyst, and caused concern in an already fragile economy, further compounded by 9/11. "This has been a tough year for our businesses," said Bard. Although in existence for 25 years, CCPA consists now of mostly service-related businesses, retailers and restaurateurs. "I went to Jerry Mondesire," said Bard, "and asked him how we could take a positive step towards building bridges." Mondesire, the local head of the NAACP and publisher of the Philadelphia Sunday Sun, is not a fan of the mayor. "All the more commendable that he advised positive action," said Bard. Bard said that Mondesire suggested she contact Lazar Kleit, the executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, to start the dialogue. "The mayor's remarks were unfortunate and ill-timed," said Bard, "but they have inspired action." Street is not scheduled to attend this forum, but the city's Commerce Director/City Representative Jim Cuorato is, as well as Rev. James Allen, chair of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations. "Forging Alliances" will include roundtable discussions and networking. What if the event becomes racially tense? “I would not want to overscript it,” said Bard. “It is hard to say what would happen.” After the forum, there will be a report issued on the discussions and a follow-up forum. "Everyone knows we need to have better cultural understanding and we can start to improve dialogue in our own back yards," said Bard. The Katz MeowAlthough he shrugs off any suggestion that he may be running for mayor next year, Sam Katz is certainly acting like a candidate. The 52-year-old financial adviser, investor, business and civic leader and current CEO of Greater Philadelphia First he will be the speaker at a business leaders' event on Thursday at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Katz will speak to the regional corporate community after the big reception. This event is sponsored by the Academy of Vocal Arts. AVA president and American Business Financial Services CFO Albert Mandia was apparently impressed enough to ask Katz to speak. His topic will be 9/11. In his formal statements announced by AVA, Katz called for the business community to take action. There is an increasing number of Center City residents pushing for Katz to run against Street next year. Katz's reluctance to run stems from the fact that he has run twice unsuccessfully. He did run a poll to see what his chances were in a race against Street, and will not publicly reveal those numbers. Yet. Ladies Who LunchIn an effort to show support for Mike Fisher among women here in Philadelphia, Fisher’s southeastern finance co-chair Bernadine Munley is hosting a pricey lunch fundraiser for him next week.U.S. Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton is scheduled to attend the event at the Rittenhouse Sheraton Hotel. Raising money for Fisher has not been a problem, although he trails Democrat Ed Rendell in the polls. Munley is an attorney with Ballard Spahr and has been aggressively raising money for Fisher, along with candy magnate Bob Asher. Manny Stamatakis is Fisher's main finance chairman. Fisher had no primary opponent, while Rendell had to deal with Bob Casey Jr., who effectively made Rendell spend all his money. Now Rendell is starting from scratch, while Fisher's money chest builds. The campaign plan is to bombard the market with Fisher ads attacking Rendell. However, this tactic did not help Casey. How negative Fisher gets remains to be seen. 
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