Also this issue:

A Nutter Disappointment
City Councilman fumes over déjà vu veto override vote.
-Daryl Gale

Office Politics
State Rep. Rosita Youngblood is suing her party's leadership over how much money she is given to run her office.
-Daniel Brook

They Took Manhattan
-Mary F. Patel

Gail Shister
-Interview by Deborah Bolling

The Bell Curve
City Paper's weekly gauge of Philly's Quality of Life

December 19-25, 2002

hall monitor

by Daniel Brook

While most of the official City Council session on Dec. 12 dealt with Councilman Michael Nutter's property tax bill that went south after a veto by Mayor Street, there were a few other matters worth noting.

Council adopted a resolution sponsored by Councilman W. Wilson Goode Jr., honoring civil rights legend Sam Evans on the occasion of his 100th birthday. Most remarkable was Evans himself: The centenarian is an astounding specimen. His back is still ramrod straight, and the towering 6-foot-6 Evans walked to the podium with the spry, determined stride of a man half, no, a quarter his age. His deep baritone voice is a bit raspy, but still powerful enough to fill the room without the aid of a microphone. Evans thanked Council for the honor and posed for photos with Council members, and then strode back to his seat. At that moment an audience member, obviously not a civil rights history buff, turned and asked, sotto voce, "Is he famous or something?"

Councilman Frank DiCicco then honored St. Andrew's Russian Orthodox Church, whose representatives presented Council with a large, intricately carved bell on behalf of the Russian delegation. Folks seemed to be nodding off until one of the representatives hit the bell with a striker, sending a nerve-shattering peal through the room. The entire time, workers on scaffolds outside the window hammered, drilled, sanded and sawed, distracting audience members and Council alike. Several times Council President Anna Verna chastised those assembled for talking loudly during the proceedings, at one point saying Councilwoman Joan Krajewski deserved more respect as Krajewski stumbled, misspoke and gaffed her way through a resolution honoring the News Gleaner on its 100th anniversary. The more Krajewski fumbled through the reading of the resolution, the more the crowd tittered and snickered, and the more steamed Verna got, banging her gavel more than once and calling for order.

In other news, Councilman Thacher Longstreth has returned, and spoke for himself for the first time in a good while. The aged and infirm Councilman was looking pretty good, and healthier than he's been in quite some time. He also got himself a makeover. Gone were the trademark geek glasses and argyle socks, replaced with a snazzy-cut black suit worn over a black turtleneck. Thach looked almost, dare we say it, hip. The only thing missing were the Ray-Bans.